Clean eating

[Woraloralaughs]

Anyone having a go at cutting out all ultra processed foods?

Reducing carbs by not eating bread, white rice, pasta and only small portions of potato.

Not counting calories at all - as much fruit, veg and salad as I like.

Home cooking everything.

No alcohol, just drinking teas, pure fruit juice and water.

Looking to drop 2 stone in 6 months.

Im trying, I have type 2 diabetes. I need to lose around 3 stone.

I have cut out most upf and have happily reached the stage where a lot of upf tastes weird and either chemical or slimy to me. Honestly though I think it would be incredibly hard and create a lot of work to cut out all upf so I do still eat a little bit here and there for the sake of convenience.

How is your diet currently? Your plans seem quite dramatic to me and if be worried that all those restrictions would make it difficult to follow. How much alcohol do you drink atm? And what will you eat instead of the carbs?

How's it going? @Chocchips123 How long ago did you start?

I managed to lose 1.5 stone (around 9.5 kg or 21 pounds) in 3 months using this method, with 2 gym classes every other week - one cardio and one strength training, using weights.
(At home workouts with free YouTube videos would be fine too).
I was overweight but not obese at the time.

Best of luck to you. 🍀

I pretty much do that but not lost any weight. Have put weight on recently too, after a very stable period.

You still need to "diet" in some way.

Unless you currently eat lots of upf & a cleaner diet is a natural calorie restriction for you.

Hey @Fattybottom it's all or nothing for me. If I grab one chocolate bar then I find everything starts to unravel.

I'm still eating carbs with this diet but trying to avoid the 'instant hitters'. So brown rice, lentils, rolled oats etc instead of pasta, noodles and white rice. Also plenty of eggs, nuts, seeds, good quality cheeses, whole milk, fresh fish and meat from butchers (no sausages, bacon, ham or cured meats like chorizo). Also like I said as much fruit as wanted (also sources of carbohydrates).

I don't tend to drink more than a small glass of red wine every now and then, so cutting out alcohol isn't an issue anyway.

Current diet is balanced but too many convenience foods and takeaways at the minute. It does take quite a bit of willpower to follow this but works a treat - fast results!

Hi, what do you mean by 'pretty much' do it? @Chazbots. If done correctly, clean eating naturally cuts down on calories. Watch the liquids and sauces. I don't have anything which I can't make from scratch at home with raw ingredients.

You're almost convincing me to follow it now - sounds good!

And definitely worth persevering with ditching the UPF, and are you thinking about adding more ferments to your diet as well?

Um, exactly what I said.

It doesn't cut calories if it's your normal diet, which it is mine. I don't have good fat or carb processing, so a clean diet is standard for me.

All food cooked from scratch, pretty much the last 10 years.

If you're losing weight, you're in a calorie deficit somewhere, either portion control or time control, eg IF.

Agree with the above, I eat pretty cleanly, but it’s certainly not low in fat or calories, and I wouldn’t lose weight in this without some sort of restriction. In terms of spikes from white vs brown rice, a friend has a monitor and said there was little difference, the brown actually gave her a higher spike, so I’d just eat what you prefer. Cheese, meat, nuts, milk are all quite high in fat, so you might not lose weight, especially with all the carbs too.

I'd say it's a lifestyle choice, not a diet.

Firstly your body needs to detox and get used to the different foods and nutritional values. That takes time.... then as foods have more fibre you need to reduce the amount you eat. If you can, go for dried pulses instead of tinned. Better taste for starters!
Snacking on fruits is fine, but be aware that some can still give you that sugar high. I found following loosely GI values for fruit and veg helped with the sugar craving.
I'd also reduce the amount of meat in the diet. even your butchers meat (and organic) is still pumped full of antibiotics and fed processed corn stuff.

I'd give this diet style at least 6 months before you notice lasting changes in weight, energy levels and overall mood.

As an example our weekly average is 1-2 meat dishes 1 fish, 2-3 vegan and rest is vegetarian. My meat is organic, fish is often trout from a local hobby fish farm.

And lastly, do not demonise the humble potato!! It's the food of gods-

Some tips I used last time:

Eat until satisfied but not stuffed - slow down, relax, turn off devices and focus on what you're doing. Enjoy the food.

Drink lots and lots of water (tap will do)

Have a glass of warm water (cooled, boiled water) with the juice of a whole lemon before breakfast.

Drink green tea with breakfast.

Do not add sugar to anything. If sweetness in needed, use small amounts of pure honey or a plant based sweetener like Truvia.

You shouldn't feel hungry. If a snack is needed go for fruit - dried is good on the go (go steady as they're packed with natural sugar though).
A whole pound of strawberries is only 150 calories!

If you're still hungry you're probably dehydrated - have a drink of water, herbal tea or filter coffee.

Lose the café coffees. A Costa Cappuccino is over 150 calories!

Watch cooking oils. Don't use sprays (UPs), use small amounts of olive, sesame or avocado oil. They're high in unsaturated fats.

Bake, or grill, don't fry.

No protein powder, bars or shakes.

Nothing labelled as 'low fat' or 'diet'.

No bread sticks, crackers or cereal bars (including things like Ryvita).

No packaged breakfast cereals (except plain oats).

Kefir once a day (okay as it's medicinal for good gut health).

A high strength vitamin D supplement (I use the mouth sprays)

A natural iron supplement, like Spatone Water or Floradix.

Magnesium glycinate (essential for healthy muscles, nerves, bones and blood sugar levels).

Get outside in the sunshine and fresh air as much as possible.

It does take a little while to figure out e.g. tinned tuna okay, baked beans not okay. Plain natural Geek yogurt okay, flavoured fruit yogurt not okay. Plain salted butter okay, spreads and margarine not okay. Well worth the extra faff imo.

@Chazbots As I said, no calorie counting, just stick to the above "rules". The reason it works according to Google is because 'whole foods are often lower in calories and higher in fiber and water content. Additionally, clean eating reduces consumption of added sugars and unhealthy fats.'

Yes to the probiotics @Fattybottom (Kefir and Sauerkraut). Try it, honestly works - had so much energy after the first week which has been sadly missed in recent years.

I'm trying to reduce the carb intake and particularly avoid starchy, refined carbs @Atarin Brown rice is a whole grain has a lower glycemic index. I have experience of needing to take blood sugar readings 4 X a day due to GDM.

I agree with you about choosing organic meat where possible @DancefloorAcrobatics but a lot of people can't afford to do that long term.

As posted upthread, I did manage to lose 1 1/2 stone in 3 months following this lifestyle change (diet not correct word here). The weight loss stopped due to personal circumstances & Covid, causing a change in eating habits. I wasn't excessively overweight to begin with.

Will endeavour to eat more potatoes! 😆

This video from Chris van Tulleken explains things further. I'm going down the total abstinence route, which is what he's chosen to do:

@Woraloralaughs that's why we reduced our meat intake to 1-2 days a week.

If you look at the cost of supermarket meat, chicken breast, for example at £6-7 / kg and then consider that 1/4 is fortified with water ... my £12-14/ kg chicken isn't that much more expensive. Especially as I use less for one meal as no water and have fewer meals that contain chicken breast.

I have been trying this, I find that if I cut the UPF I feel so much better. Sleep better etc. I do feel more satiated by food, however I still crave junk food sometimes because that’s nothing to do with hunger. I think it takes much longer for the dopamine cycle to adjust. I don’t feel as hungry on a clean diet but I don’t just want to eat because I’m hungry. I have found it more difficult to get into a deficit on a non UPF diet because a lot of foods are quite calorie dense (nuts, nut butter, meats, olive oil etc). I’m still going to stick with it because I feel so much better overall and a lot of my inflammation is gone.

we have a ‘what we ate today- whole foods’ thread running which has some really good ideas on and some people who are doing it a lot more successfully than me.

Thanks @thenewaveragebear1983 I'll check that out.

On day two of cutting out the nasties.
Will post progress if anyone might be interested. Here's everything I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:
27g porridge oats, 180ml whole milk, frozen mixed berries, drizzle of honey & grated creamed coconut

Mug of breakfast tea with semi skimmed milk

Lunch:
1 large hard boiled egg
1 medium banana
Red & green grapes
Small piece of cheddar cheese
Sliced cucumber
Cherry tomatoes
2 spring onions

200ml apple juice
Twinings detox tea

Tea/dinner:
Fried chicken breast - salt, pepper, smoked paprika, dried mixed herbs
Corn on cob (2 halves)
Broccoli
New potatoes (boiled) with butter
Strawberries

Glass of whole milk
Decaf tea with semi skimmed milk

Snack:
Stewed rhubarb (1 tsp sugar)
100g greek yogurt, ground cinnamon & honey

• 4 glasses of water

Any nice feedback welcome :)