I love my GP – just back from seeing her. She agrees everything else apart from my (admittedly extremEly high – 9) cholesterol is in prime condition (blood pressure, weight, every other blood test etc). So we will do another test in a couple of weeks to see if it was a blip and whether the fibre will help, and to exclude thyroid issues. She did not even mention statins! Apparently her dad has read the Kendrick book too 😂

As an addendum, we looked at my cholesterol history and the lowest it’s ever been tested is 5.2, rising to 6.5 last time about 4 years ago. She said they wouldn’t worry until 7.5 at our practice. Also, that I probably have a family history, but I don’t have anyone to ask about that really.

Just saw your post, sunshine-girl – supports what I had decided, so thankyou. Am going to keep eating butter, cream and cheese in moderation (like now) and get fibre from dark green veg, other veg, avocado, chia, flax, linseed and the low carb nuts. Yummy!

Thankyou Verano as well, good to hear your experience, which seems to be more normal than mine.

I must stress my fast800 was extremely effective and not devoid of veg, but I think I ate WAY too much cheese and WAY too much processed meat because it was instant and felt like I wanted the fat. And because it was high calorie I don’t think I had much left over for enough veg etc. Partly that was circumstance and partly that was conscious decision to get the weight off really fast without worrying about anything else. Then I realised that my BMs were really not v healthy looking or happening that often and I had to sort that out, which I have done. And now I’m really enjoying all the Ultra healthy food and could not eat Parma ham if you paid me. So I wonder if my cholesterol is a response to that, as it is not the norm on this WoE as others experience shows. Let you know in two weeks.

I think this was the post I meant to post re high fibre low carb

https://www.verywell.com/high-fiber-low-carb-food-list-2242216

And this one talks about bile

https://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/cardiovascular/cholesterol/foods-that-lower-cholesterol2.htm

Hi, Jackie. That’s a marvelous link! I think any and all new to
this WOE would be well served to copy it and give it a home
on the front of the refrig. I’ve already bookmarked the second
link to read later in the day. Many thanks 🙂

Allie

Just watched Tom Kerridge and his latest brainwave is to substitute cornflour for oil in a salad dressing. This is the man who categorically stated that he lost his weight by dumping carbs. For the proles he gets paid to recommend obesity inducing favourite the low fat high carb method – breathtaking cynicism or what? He doesn’t even have the grace to recommend brown rather than white rice, and pasta is certainly central to his plan.

Y S Y L – I too am very disappointed that T K has ditched preaching low carb. He’s also recommending some terrible “foods” – and tonight’s horror for me was the squirty cream; seriously, who outside of The Royle Family ever got excited about that abomination!
This programme was a super opportunity to spread the low carb message. Give people the chance to try it rather than saying basically it’s too hard so here’s a low fat diet that, like all the other low fat diets, probably won’t work! I want to throw things at the TV whenever I watch this show.

Hi all – I haven’t watched TK – hypocrisy on that level makes me too angry.
Alliecat – I know you mentioned this a while ago but I am bringing back here in the light of the TK programme- Gary Taubes ‘Why we get fat and what to do about it’. What I think has truly shocked me is that for at least 200 years, obesity has been ‘treated’ very successfully using low-carb diets and eating the way our Palaeolithic ancestors would have done I.e mainly meat, fish and animal produce, fruits and veg in season and a very few natural carbs. The whole low-fat crap has only been for the last 50 years or so but look at the terrible damage it has done to human health worldwide. It makes me want to go shouting from the rooftops and it also makes me seriously want to take TK to task for promoting a diet which will not only fail but actually add to the ill-health of the people involved. 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡
SSB

When it comes to TK I have voted with my finger …. just switched off!

Maybe everyone knows about water apps but I only found out this morning! Waterlogged is an offshoot of myfitnesspal and let’s you log water or other fluid consumption and it has an alarm to remind you to keep drinking. Maybe useful for people like me who keep ‘forgetting’ to drink.

I was like a moth to a flame last night and watched TK. It was definitely my last though. I had thought it was 3 parts but last night they were half way through their ‘journeys’. (aside: It’s scary now watching Junior Masterchef or Bakeoff or the like. The kids are younger than reality TV so they talk to camera about their journeys etc in completely non ironic fluent reality TV speak)

The disclaimer at the start where he basically says “I did it this way but that’s too hard for everyone else” really gets my goat.
One of the hardest parts of either diet is thinking about it, planning meals, cooking from fresh ingredients.
You can’t say a certain diet is hard and then turn around and say if you feel like a rice pudding, just make these, they only take an hour. The chocolate mouses with awful squirty cream from last night require having ready made custard (half fat of course) and chocolate in the house. Perfect store cupboard ingredients for people trying to loose weight.

The worse raw ingredient I keep in the house at the moment is raisins. And I still have to do all I can to keep from devouring handfuls of them.

Now I’ve let off my final bit of steam regarding TK’s turnaround I probably won’t be on here much for a while. It’s been nice chatting to you all and good luck on your JOURNEYS. 🙂

Hi Martymonster, this is a great place to let off steam – but do come back and comment/vent/just say ‘hello’.
SSB

I decided not to watch Tom Kerridge after the first programme. However, he was on another programme (This Morning) when he was asked about his own weight loss and how he did it. He admitted to low carb, but said the BBC had asked him to do the series giving LOW FAT recipes for people. So he did it for the money and the book that goes with the TV series. That said, he isn’t responsible for the nations weight losses. There are so many “diet” books in the shops, it is up to the individual to see the light. We all did !

Nonna Mary
xxx

I wondered what people thought of the short article on the following TV program where Dr MM is one of the presenters where research showed that carbs eaten in an evening had less effect on BS levels than carbs eaten in a morning.

I wondered what the people on here who monitored their blood sugar levels have noticed. Does the same apply if you are having limited carbs?

I quite agree with you Mary. Weight loss responsibility is ours and no one else’s. Sure life throws shit at you sometimes but you have to suck it up and get on with it. No one force feeds anyone. As you say there are plenty of “diets” and successful diets. The problem starts when people reach their target and go back to how they were eating before and then wonder why the weight goes back on. Finding this way of eating is the key – not diet, “way of eating” and blips will happen, life will get in the way but keep on keeping on. We should be more evangelical to others and maybe WE can change the nation’s eating habits. One pound at a time!!

Sorry I’ll get off my soapbox now. And I stopped watching TK after the first one too. Good luck on the journey to everyone. Pat yourself on the back. You are doing it! X 😌

I think everyone should push the moderators for a like and love button! Luv ya Tilly.

Mary
xxx

Yes! Mary that sounds like a great idea. But maybe we could add a ‘disagree’ button also which could stop the odd bits of ‘nastiness’ that creep in here from time to time!

Yes we are responsible for ourselves, our lifestyles and our diets. As they say “you pays your money and you take your chance! “

I agree we are all responsible for ourselves. My issue with TK is that unless you pay close attention to his disclaimer about the way he lost weight, it would be easy to assume that the method that worked for his tremendous weight loss is what he is advocating and that is just not true.

I’m in agreement with Tillybud regarding how one needs to approach weight loss and maintenance. Too many people seem to think that the Fast800(or any other diet for that matter) is the magic bullet – the weight will be lost and then they can just go back to eating in the same way as they used to. For those of us here, making the BSD a way of life is essential if we are to maintain our new weight and our new bodies in their revised form. I guess any weight loss achieved using any other diet, also requires continued modified eating, if the weight is not to be regained.

Also agree with Victoria, I think it is very misleading that TK is promoting a diet that did not take him to his huge weight loss and I think it patronising that he says the way he did it is tough and implies us mire mortals could not stay the course. I can’t watch his programme, because A) I just can’t get past the hypocrisy and B) I’m so tired of the same old stuff being repackaged and resold, which we know is dooming people to ultimate failure.

I do not want a “like” or “Love” or “disagree” button. Although it can be hard to read sometimes, part of what is so great about the forums is the honest give and take of real human interaction.
I think it is part of being fully engaged in the diet — it is being fully “present” in our lives and our discussions.
I hate the “like” button — it fosters group-think.

I was thinking that CaliforniaGirl, though a lot less eloquently. Thankyou x

Like/love/disagree buttons can have unexpected consequences, too. I was on a forum many years ago where the feature was introduced and a few people immediately started using it negative ways. The more likes a post got, the more disagrees it got too. It was depressing as hell. Better to just duke it out and deal with issues that crop up using our words and accountable to our forum names. Secret ballots are great for elections. They’re dangerous in forums.

Yes I hadn’t really thought through the ‘button’ issue but maybe you are all right. Interaction, good or bad, is probably a more honest way to go.

Why does Tom Kerridge have a dessert with EVERY meal? Even if you’ve never heard of cutting carbs (which obviously he has) it seems mad to be encouraging overweight people to regularly eat dessert. It seems irresponsible.

He’s really patronising too. ‘If you pay attention and try really hard you might just manage this recipe, you thickos,’ he says, then just slices and stirs stuff.

I don’t like him all that much.

Because desserts are PROPER LUSH.

😀

Yet it’s quite easy to eat BSD food at his pub and if you mention low carb, the dishes are automatically transformed.

I’ve met him a couple of times and he comes across as quite a nice guy. He quite happily offered a free meal for four at the Hand and Flowers as a lot in a charity auction I was involved in a few years ago.

In terms of the site, there is some interesting research done by Harvard on behaviour on sites where there are varying levels of moderation. Like/dislike is regarded as one of the easiest ways of causing “disruptive” behaviour within a community. Just look at newspaper comments sections.

Apparently in non-moderated comments, the high risk is the self-appointed “orthodoxy police”, who attempt to enforce a single set of opinions across fora. We had a couple, I think, a while ago, (“MM says in the book that you must….”) but what always impresses me is the openness and willingness of people to discuss their experiences and ideas.

Interestingly – did anyone see the programme the other night on how they make Ribena? Apart from the large amount of blackcurrants involved, their site receives ten tankers of sugar a day – that’s 270 tons a day, when they’re in production!

Hi JulesMaigret,
I didn’t see it but it doesn’t surprise me – to think it used to be sold as a ‘healthy’ drink for children – because, of course, it’s low fat!
I am interested in your other point about self-appointed ‘police’ – I belong to a Facebook group which is about a particular Keto diet – I am often amazed at people who come on and claim that it must be done this way or that, even when that isn’t actually in the diet book, and also, more scarily, people who give medical advice quite forcefully when they cannot know the details of a contributor. Fortunately, as on here, the moderators are very good and will step in if they need to.
I do understand how evangelical we can be about this woe and it’s easy to get carried away but, as NonnaMary says, we have to take responsibility for ourselves and work out what’s right for us.
Sorry – soapbox moment over 😉
Keep smiling.
SSB

I seem to remember my mother giving me Ribena (and rose hip syrup) because of its vitamin content rather than the low fat aspect. I also remember the nurse at my school dishing out some noxious brown malt product, incredibly high carb, which is still available at Holland & Barrett. I also remember being berated for refusing to eat fatty meat.

I must say, if I’m going off the rails I would rather do it by eating a cake rather than a glass of ribena or a spoonful of malt extract.

…if I’m going off the rails, it’s going to be cake 🍰

Mmmm cake! I haven’t had any all year (I started the BSD on 1st Jan). Once I’m on maintenance I hope to be able to have the occasional slice without coming seriously unstuck. Luckily for me I’m not diabetic, so I might get away with it.

My regular exercise in resisting temptation is a visit to Fenwicks Food Hall. Their cakes are truly spectacular. I have ended up buying them for family birthdays, which happen for me five times a year. On other days I settle for a strong, strong cappuccino and a drool.

Trouble is, I love baking and I have a reputation for fab cakes. I made chocolate fudge-filled cupcakes for my new neighbours last week. Very difficult – knowing what I do now about the serious health implications of sugar, should I really make cakes for people?
SSB

My downfall is salty snacks but I love baking. I made a low carb baked cheesecake to take to a dinner on Wednesday. Even without sugar (I also left out sugar substitutes) it was heavenly to have the smell of baking in the kitchen again. For information, the cheesecake looked terrific but was pretty bland(and I fasted for 22 hours knowing I planned have a small slice – around 300 cals!) Next time I’ll try adding loads more citrus. Luckily I poached blueberries in lemon juice and Countreau to go with it and that saved the day a bit. Actually next time I’ll just eat the blueberries – they were delish.

Crank the vanilla way up too. A strong vanilla flavor can turn plain cream cheese into frosting all by itself. What kind of crust did you use? Toasted almond is the way to go. Add vanilla to that too and it’ll play together with the filling to create a much more luscious effect. If you can find vanilla powder (dehydrated vanilla pods and the seeds inside pulverized together), use that rather the extract. It’s much more strongly flavored and has no added sugar, glycerin or alcohol. Check the ingredients, though. There are brands that sweeten the powder too.

The crust was crust toasted almonds and hazelnuts and butter. Bit of lemon juice. Vanilla is a great idea!

Cointreau – crap typist sorry

All this talk of cake makes me queasy. I guess I am lucky because I dont like cake or most sweet things – give me a pork pie and brown sauce. I have 2 grandsons and they only visit twice a year so I have a couple of recipes for them. One is Chocolate Muffins made with oats, cocoa powder and apple sauce and I have a Chocolate Cheese Cake recipe made with egg whites, Stevia and cocoa powder (yet to try this one). I still wouldn’t eat them but it is nice to be able to treat others. Recipes on request.

I have pretty much weaned myself off sweet stuff – I don’t crave cakes and biscuits and I have never been a chocoholic but if I was ever going to ‘cheat’ it would be with a small amount of the real thing rather than a substitute. I made cauliflower bread – it was gross!
SSB

Interesting article on exactly how fat metabolizes and is expelled from body. Suprisingly, most of it as carbon dioxide.

http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/when-you-lose-weight-where-does-the-fat-go

Flick, I share you love of salty snacks and have satisfied that to some extent with nuts, but they are so high in calories that you have to be pretty stingy with them.

But have found a new love that is ringing all the bells with me and is so so good for you. Shelled pumpkin seeds.

I toast them in a small skillet with a 1/4 tsp oil until they brown and a few start popping. Salt them and eat them warm. They are terrific. Almost have a toasty popcorn like taste. They are also high in protein, but according to studies cited by Dr Jason Fung, unlike animal protien, the plant protein has a negligible effect on insulin. No increase.

I love them. To all: Give them a try if you can fine them.

Roasted Pumpkin or Squash Seed Kernels
154 calories
Serving size ¼ cup

Nutrition Facts
Calories 154
Total Carbs. 4g
Dietary Fiber 1.2g
Protein 9.7g
Calcium 12.7mg
Potassium 237.8mg

I LOVE pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas) Luvtcook! They are one of my standard go-to foods for topping yogurt, salads, curries and other stews, and snacking on — your idea to toast them sounds great — they have a lot of fiber, protein and wonderful flavor.
If you travel to Scandinavia they are on every breakfast table — yum — with unsweetened “red fruits” (lingonberries and more) just amazing!
Just one word of warning— don’t put them in yogurt overnight — I tried a pre-made/overnight yogurt parfait with pepitas and the pepitas turned soggy and disgusting. Yuk! That went into the trash!

Me too, I love toasted pepitas, sprinkled over salad gives a lovely crunch. Mind you, I’m getting so weird I ‘activated’ a batch yesterday prior to toasting. Oh and I don’t use oil, just dry toast them in a pan until popping.

When cooking roast butternut pumpkin (for my husband, I don’t like it) I roast the seeds also with a little oil and salt. Delicious, with shells still on! The kids love them too. I don’t know if unshelled would work for bigger pumpkins or if they weren’t fresh.

I dry-toast a mix of sunflower hearts, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts and sesame seeds then use them as a healthy alternative to croutons in salad
SSB

Flick, I use the oil mostly to help the salt stick, as I love my salt.

I have done pumpkin seeds with the shells on as well Natalie, and do like those as well, plus you get the extra fiber of the shell.

I hadn’t thought of the salt. That would make them an extra delicious snack.

A dehydrator or your oven at a very low temp (140-150F, say) makes the salt stick too. You don’t need oil. Just soak the seeds or nuts in salted water for a few hours, drain them, and while they’re still glistening toss them with salt and any other spices you like. Pop them in the dehydrator/oven and let them do their thing for a couple of hours. They’re done when they’re dry and crispy. You get a serious crust of spicing that way and zero extra calories from fat.

Hi Esnecca could I ask your advice please

I have a slow cooker oven in my range, that goes to 80 to 90f. Is that too low for dehydrating? Currently it’s only use is warming plates as I have plug in slow cooker I’ve used for years.

That is a really cool feature, Victoria. It is a little low for dehydrating most things. You could certainly dehydrate herbs at the 90F mark. It would take a while, but as long as you can let it dehydrate away for hours without it cramping your style in the kitchen, I say go for it. You could buy a ton of fresh parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, mint, etc. and dry them to crumbly crispness. The flavor is completely different home-dried than store-bought. They taste how they taste when they’re fresh. It’s worth a try for any herbs you use the most. It’s cost-effective and tasty.

If the slow cooker oven can do higher temps as well, then the world’s your oyster. I do herbs at 95F, berries at 135F, garlic and ginger at 125F, nuts and seeds at 145F, mushrooms at 100F (that could be higher, I just prefer them veeery slowly dried so they come out cracker crisp without browning). This Christmas I dehydrated green beans (also at 135F) that I’d seasoned with salt, garlic, parmesan and nutrutional yeast . They came out so crunchy and delicious it was almost like eating chips. The flavor was reminscent of Doritos.

I’ve always wondered what nutritional yeast tastes like…Does it have any particular flavor, or is it neutral?
How is it used, Essie? LTC?

Thanks