I hope this is something that will be useful. I’ve found the change in eating styles a little hard to match with ingredients; when I find something that is a good fit I do a virtual fist pump – but thought who better to share it with? So here goes!
Iceland: fantastic burgers, no fillers. Wagyu, venison and lamb. Also the choice of wild caught fish and shellfish is amazing.
Lidl: small free range chicken which is perfect for Zuni chicken https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/zuni-roast-chicken-with-bread-salad-56389456 – obviously ignore the bread in the salad! This is absolutely the best chicken you will ever eat!
Sainsburys: miso soup and paste for a virtually instant meal.
Anyone else have a great find to share?

Aldi are good for nuts, chai seed, cacao nibs and milled linseed.

Thanks Squidge. Now we’ve got so many supermarkets it’s impossible to know what they all stock.
Maggie

Lidl are also very good for nuts. Just steer clear of the dried apricots – far too nice!

Hello all,
Maggie, What a clever idea. I absolutely love Waitrose Orkney dressed layered crab. It has a bit on layer of chopped egg with layers of brown and white crab meat. Absolutely divine. Only downfall it’s £3.99 but will fill you up for hours to come.
All the best
Skinny to be
xx

Thanks Caron and Skinny – absolutely steer clear of dried fruit- the sort of thing you just munch on without thinking about it!
Orkney crab sounds wonderful. Crab can be delicious or tasteless, so it’s good to know Waitrose dressed crab is the delicious sort 😊
Maggie

I buy all my nuts from Lidl, Californian almonds and walnuts and also Brazil nuts. I find them far superior to any others. I love Aldi’s milled linseed with sesame, blueberries and raspberries which I lightly sprinkle on yogurt with berries and walnuts for breakfast.
I like green tea but only with jasmine. I’ve tried several brands but I prefer Ahmand Tea Jasmine Romance which I have only found online so far. I’m sure it will be available in other places too.
I tried chia but it’s not for me. I would love some ideas of what to do with it to change the texture!

Thanks Verano, the votes are coming in for Lidl’s nuts! I find chia very like tapioca in texture. I imagine if you didn’t like tapioca as a child you’ll never get to like chia.
Maggie

V., have you tried grinding chia to a powder in a spice mill or coffee bean
grinder? I keep an extra coffee grinder around, and use it exclusively
for spices, cacao nibs, seeds, etc. A great tip for cleaning it is to put
some raw rice in it, grind it up, and then empty. The rice picks up any
of the oils left behind 🙂

No Maggie I hated tapioca and still do!
So Allie you grind them …… and then put them in the bin!!!

Ha, V., very funny!!! In this case, you want to use your stomach as “the
bin” 🙂 Just remember, 5.5g of fiber in 1 tbs. of chia! That’s 25% of our
daily requirement….

I don’t like chai when it’s gone slimey, but it’s fine added to something at the last minute and eaten straight away. I add it to my home made muesli and don’t notice it’s in there. (I have it for the omega 3 and fibre)

I’ll try Lidl for nuts – lately Aldi haven’t had brazils (except in mixes with fruit) and they’re a favourite.

Agree about dried fruit. It’s all too easy to eat far too much. If we want the sweetness, fresh fruit would be better, as it will have more vitamins and we’ll probably eat less. Six fresh apricots would seem like a lot to me, but I could easily munch that many dried ones and feel like I’d only had a small snack.

I am very new to this, I live in the UK. Can you explain what you mean alliecat – 5.5g of fibre in 1 TBs of chia?

Also do you know any shakes I can buy in the UK? Thanks

tbs is an abbreviation for tablespoon. If you add 1 tablespoon of chai seeds to your breakfast, you’ll be eating a quarter of the reccomended daily fibre intake (which is a good thing – most of us don’t eat nearly enough of it).

Oh wow! Thanks squidge

It’s weird stuff, but worth trying if you want to up your fibre intake.

I’d start with a smaller amount and build up gradually over a week or so – and do drink plenty of water.

Ok thanks for your advice

I haven’t even started the diet yet, I’ve recently read the book and want to start in a week.

How did you start the diet initially? Did you just read the book and then start or did you sign up online to the 12 week plan? I’m worried about the basics for example I have a full time job and have to leave for work early, I currently have cereal for breakfast and I’m worried I won’t have time to make and eat something like an omelette for breakfast every day – what do you have for breakfast? Thanks for your advice

Might be best to start a new discussion and leave this one for the shopping stuff?

If you go to the ‘starting the BSD’ part of the forum, you should see (near the top) a button to ‘start new discussion’. Introduce yourself there and I’ll come and find you – and I’m sure others will offer advice too.

sugar-lovell, 1 tbs. is approx. 15ml. (I’m American, and often forget you
are all on the metric system) It’s the fat and fiber that keeps us satiated
between meals, and chia seeds are a good source. Avocado and raspberries
are other good fiber sources. Spinach is particularly high in fiber too! When
I researched for recommended daily allowances for women, I discovered
that women under 55 should get 25g per day, and those of us over 55 were
to strive for 50g. Chia is also a fair source of omega 3 fatty acids, but
not even close to what can be found in wild fish, salmon in particular 🙂
Plant based sourced only contain ALA, but fish contains the powerhouse
EPA ad DHA, which is the type of omega 3 that really protects the heart.
Welcome to the forums! I wish you every success 🙂

Typo! I meant to say 20g over age 55! Sorry…

Thank you Alliecat, so you actually manage to have snacks too then? I’m going to try and follow the 800 calories for 8 weeks and I’m worried I can only have the three meals a day for my 800 calories – so I’m guessing the chia seeds must be low calorie? Do you just eat them as they are or do you put them in a food or drink? Thanks for your advice

Hi squidge, I started a new discussion in the ‘starting the bsd’ forum, thanks for the tip! Feel free to offer any tips either on that thread or here 🙂

Also, I downloaded the 2 day free trial from the site which is great but one of the meals is minced beef taco lettuce wraps, should I be buying full fat minced beef, 12%, 10% or 5% (low fat) beef as there is no guideline on this? Thanks

Ok Allie decision made …. chia will not become part of my life! I get lots of fibre from avocado, raspberries and spinach to name but a few. I eat lots of fish and also take a daily omega supplement with both EPA and DHA. I don’t really have any health issues so I guess my diet must be pretty good. Just not sure I can stomach chia !

Anyway, we had a very healthy lunch out with friends today, Mediterranean fish, maybe a few too many tomatoes but lots of olive oil, basil and chilli with perfectly cooked cod. This morning I went through Fatsecret at the beginning of my journey and I was shocked to see I never made 8 weeks at 800 calories, barely managed that two days in a row! So really is time to reassess.

Can anybody help with Total yogurt. I used to buy full fat but it seems to have disappeared from supermarket shelves and now there is 0% and 5%. The 5% has the same calories etc as the ‘full fat’ and I’m wondering if it is the same product. Anybody else had the same problem?

Hi Verano. I think it is the same product, they’ve just changed full fat label to 5% and if so, I guess it’s to encourage “the less enlightened” 😄 Out there to try it. It is definitely new packaging on the label and disappeared from my local supermarkets as the changeover happened as often happens when packaging changes occur.

Hi Verano,
I noticed that too with Total, so I switched. I tried many other brands of 10%. My favourites are the Tesco finest, and a real bargain from Morrison’s called Lancashire Farm. You get a whole kilo of it for £1.97, it tastes lovely, and the Brucie bonus is that it comes in a great little bucket which is really handy in the garden and in the shed!
P xx

If having a ‘live’ yoghurt is important to you do check the label as Greek style yoghurts (can only be called Greek yoghurt if made in Greece) often don’t have the live bacteria present.

Hi Verano, I invested in a yoghurt maker as I am eating a lot of natural yoghurt. It is so simple to make your own. I use an good quality starter yoghurt and UHT organic full fat milk as you don’t need to heat it. I find it is milder than a lot of shop bought ones and it is cheaper if you are eating a lot of it – plus has the live cultures in it. I love it with my berries and seeds in the morning.

Gillylou I just don’t eat enough yogurt to make it worthwhile to make my own. The Total yogurt is quite mild and very creamy. Tesco gave it on offer at the moment @ £1.95 so I bought two! I’m going to make labneh with one carton.

I adore olives my favourites are Fragata stuffed with anchovy in a tin, Sainsbury’s loose green chilli olives and also their pre-packed kalamata. I have a new one which I’m yet to try, green stuffed with jalapeños. So looking forward to trying those.

Hi Verano
That sounds great. What fat % minced beef do you use? We can get anything from 5% fat to 20% fat in all our local supermarket so I’m not sure what to use? Thank you

Sugar I usually use less than 10% but just out of preference. If you have enough calories then use a higher fat if you like it. After all it’s fat that keeps you fuller longer but the only caveat is that it’s saturated animal fat and that is no where near as good for you as the fat from oily fish like salmon, herrings(kippers) or mackerel etc. I guess it’s down to all things in moderation especially when it comes to red meat.

Hi V.! I have issues too, with red meat…Michael Pollan’s book, “The Omnivores Dilemna” was shocking. I
discovered the way cattle live in filthy pens, are injected with antibiotics, and are force fed grains to fatten
them for market. It does take some effort to source pasture raised and grass finished beef, but I just can’t
stomach the thought of commercially raised product. Humane considerations are only part of the equation.
The “good stuff” is quite expensive though! I’m all in as a pescatarian, but humor my husband by serving
steak once a month. Ground turkey is my stand in for minced beef.

Allie I read Fast Food Nation when it first came out and was absolutely horrified. Fortunately I’ve got access to pastured animals, though I rarely have meals where meat is the main event.
Maggie

Just in case you haven’t come across them, Bare Naked Noodles are carb free so a brilliant substitute in a lot of meals, especially miso soup and stir fries.
I’ve found them in Sainsbury’s.
Maggie

Maggie do the noodles smell of fish when you open the pack?I bought a pack of carb free noodles many moons ago and the smell put me off!

Verano, it’s a touch fishy but doesn’t taste fishy. The ingredients aren’t fish based as I know that matters to you.
Maggie

Thanks Maggie. Think I will continue without a ‘replacement’ for noodles other than courgetti! I love fish but the smell of slightly rotting fish from the noodles I bought just put me off. Actually last night I had bolognese with courgetti and I can’t imagine it with pasta now. When I have Thai I have bok choy instead of rice when out, and with asparagus and/or mangetout etc. at home. The only thing I really miss is sushi. I just can’t find a way around the rice. But you know I’d probably hate sushi now if I tried it, it probably tastes really stodgy!

It’s wonderful how our tastes alter. To be honest, it’s my daughter who eats the noodles, though I think I’d give them a go in miso with seafood. The subs can only improve as Big Food identifies the market 🙂 Never knowingly miss a moneymaking opportunity!
Maggie