If this works, it’s for you Judith, if it doesn’t, I’m a fool (Y)

It didn’t, that’s supposed to be the emojie for thumbs up 🙁

Hi Yael,
Milk contains its own sugar – lactose – which has so far been considered an acceptable sugar for human bodies to metabolise.

Ww was sold to Heinz in 1978, hence the large range of food products with the ww name on them. But Heinz of course is not that interested in weight loss just selling their brand and they have been incredibly successful. I bet they have a whole pile of scientists locked away doing tests now though!

Thanks for trying Bill, I seem to be causing a lot of headaches for people on this forum with my lack of tech skills! I have just posted a courgette bhaji recipe ( and pic of todays lunch lol!!). If your Mrs likes spicy food she might go for this veggie meal! 🙂
I wish there was a place to give the average cost of a meal when you upload recipes. 2 aldi courgettes worked out at 60p, I get kg bags of gram flour from the corner shop 69p a kg so only 6p worth of flour in the recipe. I listed powdered spices as that is easier for people who are not spice heads like me but I generally use fresh ginger root and individual spices and a few seeds.

That sounds gorgeous. I have to give it a trial.
Thank you

Yes, looks yummy and hubby will like them too. Have managed to order the flour from Holland and Barratt who deliver here.

Glad you are going to get the flour as it is useful for the flatbreads – great with veg curry. I often do double batch of the bhajis. So i can freeze them in pairs. I sometimes have them as picnic food on a walk.. Hope you and hubby like them 🙂

Hadn’t thought about flat bread. Made the coconut flour ones today, a bit dry but that may be my fault! Went well with a bowl of home made carrot and coriander soup.

Hi aly, I love the coconut flour ones and the chickpea flour ones. The chickpea ones are great with spicy food – or wraps etc. I have a load in the freezer now, I add different spices to each batch. I’m thinking of adding lemon zest and sweet spices to my next batch. 🙂

Thanks for kind words, I hope you do like them 🙂

Hi Yael, the sugars naturally present in milk would account for Michael’s statement. Most calorie counters state there is between 4.7 & 5.26g sugar in 100ml of milk. A teaspoon of sugar is 4g so you can see how it would soon add up in a latte. I count my milk in my daily allowance of carbs ( use an app called Australian easy diet diary, brilliant tool) and allow myself a latte or chai now and again. I’m also of Italian descent. There is a cafe near me that does proper chai in a French press, not the powdered junk that most places use. You must live in one of the cooler regions if your figs are only just ripening. My mum lives on the coast and hers have been ripe for a while. Both of us have managed to resist them so far. I must look them up to see if I can squeeze one in to my allowance now and then. I just love them and used to eat 4or 5 at a time. Fruit is my big weakness and even harder to give up than biscuits lol.
Hashimoto way to go! A cured chocoholic 🙂

Hi Aly
Maybe your Bramley was just a bad un and another would thrive?? So many apple trees in Normandy!
Just a thought.
Penny

Aly- ☺️

Hi Aly
It must be the case too that WW relied on most people having to come back repeatedly to keep their profits up. I’m not saying they knew it was all hokum…
Penny

Hi Hashimoto
Re Greek yogurt
I think it’s strained or like you do with crab apple jelly. I make soya yogurt and just put it in a normal sieve if I want some of the water to come out. That’s not much trouble. It makes it thicker.
Penny

Hi Penny, I actually meant strain not filter – a senior moment I’m afraid!!! 😉 I sometimes make it with soya too 🙂

Hi Aly, Penny could be right there, I have lots of fruit trees but did get a pear tree from a reputable nursery a few years ago that totally failed to thrive, I nursed and coddled it but it was never right and I dug it up 6 years later. The nursery wouldn’t refund my money as they said they only supply healthy plants even though you could see it didn’t look right as soon as it arrived and I pointed out that I had bought and planted every other fruit tree in the garden and they were all healthy. Bad un’s do occur sometimes especially through mail order. Is there a grower in France? Perhaps Holland might be a good bet if you don’t want to try an English nursery again. 🙂

No Bramley trees here, loads of apple trees as the farmers make calvados and cider. Will just have to manage with what I have. I have access to the remains of the original orchard.

Well that’s the end of a weird week 5
After a meal out in which I avoided carbs my blood sugar levels went wild with readings of 9, 8 point something and high sevens. Got it down to under seven but last night I had a few nuts instead of the usual yoghurt and this morning 8.2
I don’t understand what happened but I’m telling myself I’m not eating anything wrong so the extra sugar levels are down to stored sugar being released and that can only be good.
I,m going to get some ketastix next week just to check that things are happening as they should.
So week 5 weigh day and I’ve lost another pound and a half and had to tighten he belt another notch to it’s last hole !! I started this new lifestyle on hole 1 🙂
Looking forward to seeing the results of my blood test this week although I know it will cover only 4 weeks o the plan, it will show if I”m heading in the right direction.
So week 5, 19 pounds lost daytime sugar readings n the high 4s to low 5s. Fasting readings have had a holiday but are expected back next week.
Best of luck to everybody having a weigh in today
Onwards and upwards

Hi Bill. You’re doing great.

You’ll soon be making a new hole in that belt – or pensioning it off!

Can’t tighten the drawstring on my trousers any more, so on to the charity shop pile they go. 😱

Great results Bill! 🙂

Hi there, I was looking at making the rhubarb compote which is basically 500g of rhubarb and plain yoghurt, but as rhubarb is so expensive i thought i’d change the rhubarb to strawberries, but 500g of strawberries seems a lot. Would it still be the same calories?
I mainly want to make it for work so i don’t slip up as do 12 hour days.

I just googled it actually if anyone wants to know.
Amount Per 500 grams
Calories 165
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 1.5 g 2%
Saturated fat 0 g 0%
Polyunsaturated fat 1 g
Monounsaturated fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 5 mg 0%
Potassium 765 mg 21%
Total Carbohydrate 40 g 13%
Dietary fiber 10 g 40%
Sugar 24.5 g
Protein 3.5 g 7%
Vitamin A 1% Vitamin C 490%
Calcium 8% Iron 11%
Vitamin D 0% Vitamin B-6 0%
Vitamin B-12 0% Magnesium 16%
*Per cent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

24.5g of sugar omg, I don’t think I should swap the rhubarb for strawberries after all.

Nutrition Facts
Rhubarb
Amount Per 500 grams
Calories 105
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 1 g 1%
Saturated fat 0.5 g 2%
Polyunsaturated fat 0.5 g
Monounsaturated fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 20 mg 0%
Potassium 1,440 mg 41%
Total Carbohydrate 22.5 g 7%
Dietary fiber 9 g 36%
Sugar 5.5 g
Protein 4.5 g 9%
Vitamin A 10% Vitamin C 66%
Calcium 43% Iron 5%
Vitamin D 0% Vitamin B-6 0%
Vitamin B-12 0% Magnesium 15%

Sugar 5.5g

Does anyone else take food to work and if so, what is easy?

>Does anyone else take food to work and if so, what is easy?

I mainly take houmous and salad (cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper and celery – I used to take carrots but they seem to be high in sugar – how sad). Tesco sell 4x40g packs of houmous which stops me from cheating.

I did make the beetroot falafels to take to work but they were hard work. Waitrose sell a similar beetroot falafel (I haven’t compared all the numbers but they seem okay) which I have had with an individual pot of Greek style yoghurt. (Interestingly I found the Waitrose falafels on myFitnessPal when I went to enter the BSD ones!)

I am finding lunch a bit tricky as I can’t heat things up at work. I have also had a rye bread cheese sandwich.

Sometimes I have an apple or skip lunch altogether (but have porridge for breakfast) and then have a courgette muffin when I get home.

Don’t know if you have a garden, but growing your own gives you pounds of the good old rbubarb. I have three varieties to extend the season and bake it in oven with some vanilla, freeze it so i can have a year round supply. I LOVE the stuff! Do you have friends who grow it – should be ready in april. Try 100g of strawberries 🙂

Fofi the courgette bhajis are just as nice cold . I take them cold on picnics.:)

You can substitute any of the dips from the book for houmous to ring the changes. I usually take a salad in a sealable box, with some form of protein: chopped up chicken, tuna, feta/goat’s cheese or some falafels. Don’t forget you fork.!!

Yeh, I’ve always done that sort of thing, Malkay – boiled eggs in a salad with a bit of grated cheddar is another option. If you make a batch of the gluten free flat breads you could freeze a stack and them have one at lunch time with filling of your choice. Or a flat bread, piece of cheese and an apple. No sweat if your freezer is full. Or you could have an individual carton of greek yoghurt and take an apple or pear with you. There’s a lot to get your head round when you start this new way of eating 🙂

The 2 best things I have done for myself is buy a blood glucose meter, which I didnt know anything about, and joining these forums. I am starting to try out a lot of the recipes and find them very tasty. I have never tried so many different foods and the only thing I have not been keen on is the hummus. The help and support from everyone has been invaluable especially when it was a bit tough going.
I am thrilled to tell you that for the last 5 days my morning fasting levels have been down to 4.8 ish and I think that is due to having 20g of cheese and little yoghurt before bed. That is the lowest I have ever had so this eating plan definitely works for me so would encourage everybody to keep going. I have been doing 5.2 low carb meditteranean diet so my weight loss is nowhere near as impressive as most. This is well into my third week and I have only lost 4.5 pounds but just need another 4 or 5 pounds to get me to a BMI of 24.9. Its far more important to me to get blood sugars stabilised and I know I will have to keep a check all my life. I am hoping that even if the numb toes and tingling in my body doesn’ t get any better it wont get any worse.
I have been eatjng quite a few strawberries thinking they were ok but was quite shocked when I read LOUKC’s post and realised how much sugar is in them.
I am going to Hong Kong in 4 weeks and am wondering how easy it will be to eat low carbs with all the rice dishes. Does anyone have an suggestions please? I dont want to spoil 8 weeks of good eating in one week.
I have been eating yeo natural yoghurt which is not as fatty as fulk fat greek yoghurt but is that what I shoild be eating.
I have managed to do an average of 8,000 steps a day which is fab for me and I think that has helped my blood sugars. Going for a walk now and will get some chickpea flour, which I am told is the same as gram flour, to make those lovely flatbreads that Bill1954 was talking about.

Hi Shadow
You are doing brilliantly well. About the strawberries – if I read the post correctly, the 25ish grams of sugar is for 500g of strawberries. That’s a lot of strawberries! You probably wouldn’t eat that many in a day. I don’t measure the sugar in mine but I know that 100g is a nice portion size and is around 50 calories.

Yes your right it is for 500g which is also the rhubarb compote ingredient which as rhubarb is very expensive I wondered if changing to strawberries but as you read it is not a good idea.

Your 100g of strawberries.

Nutrition Facts
Strawberries
Amount Per 100 grams
Calories 33
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.3 g 0%
Saturated fat 0 g 0%
Polyunsaturated fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 1 mg 0%
Potassium 153 mg 4%
Total Carbohydrate 8 g 2%
Dietary fiber 2 g 8%
Sugar 4.9 g
Protein 0.7 g 1%
Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 97%
Calcium 1% Iron 2%
Vitamin D 0% Vitamin B-6 0%
Vitamin B-12 0% Magnesium 3%

I love google 🙂

I have just made the cottage pie with cauliflower mash from the recipes and it was lovely, even have some leftover for tomorrow.

I found it incredibly hard shopping today being a chocoholic. I think I may change to online shopping, less time to drool over all the easter eggs.

I had a veggie version of the shepherds pie with cauli mash. It was yummy! Will definetly use that again.

Hi Aly that cauli mash is delicious 🙂

Hi Aly, great to hear you’re not only cooking but enjoying food again. You must be feeling better. Good news 🙂

Thanks Cherianne
Sad fact is in this house I do all the cooking. What I am finding now though is I do not want or need large portions. I have always been more of a grazer but I rarely finish a meal now. It is like grazing on three meals a day!
I now have some Greek yogurt and had to go with frozen raspberries but that will be lunch today. I have been enjoying an apple and a piece of cheese. Hubby tucks into his chunk of baguette but I do not want any.
Today my head feels like the infection has cleared. I think the cough will hang around a while and it will take a few more days for me to feel like re starting life.
I have lost another pound this morning so that is 9lbs off so far. A couple more and I will try on my size 12 jeans.

That sounds very familiar. My husband has a few basic things he can cook and he is willing to take a turn but I do the bulk of cooking and meal planning. He has to go out and have the exact ingredients for what he wants to make but I tend to look at what I’ve got or what’s growing and take it from there.
I used to be a grazer too, cruise past the fruit bowl and grab something, making kids lunches eat some cheese, nuts, crackers, knobby end of the bread, more fruit or whatever. Now I’m eating more fat and less carbs it’s cured me of that. I’m much more mindful of waiting till meal time. That’s a massive change for me in a few weeks.
I’m so glad you’re on the mend, still sticking with the plan and losing weight. 🙂 you’ll be back living the life you dreamed of very soon!
Can you get olive leaf extract in France? That helps clear up coughs and also works as a bit of a preventative in the lead up to winter.

The blood sugar saga continues.
Yesterday I had 3 slices of roast lamb with cabbage, brussels sprouts, green beans, and 4 oz of boiled swede.
I had a late tea at 9pm consisting of half a pizza ! Used a gram flourflatbread for the base with a little tomato puree, onions, mushrooms, and ham topping. To give the fat a boost I sliced half a small mozzarella cheese to finish, incorporated some dried oregano into the base – delicious.
Nothing too high carb there but a fasting reading today of 8.3
I really need to get on top of this in the coming week

Hi Bill, do you think it could have been the swede? I have just googled the nutritional value of swede – 73% carbs!!!!
I love swede, mashed swede with butter and pepper is one of my most favourite veg, but if it was the swede to blame I will be having a teaspoonful of the stuff in future 🙁

Hi Bill1954
I saw the programme talking about different people’s blood sugar reacting differently to exactly the same foods. I suspect maybe swede is not liking you – it has a relatively high GI of 72. Might that be it? I thought the general advice was to stay low GI.
I am sure you’ll crack whatever is causing it though, as you’ve been so phenomenally successful so far!
Julia

Just realised Hashimoto was on the case quicker – should have refreshed my screen before hitting the submit button!

No probs Julia, thanks for the advice, and you too Judith.
Thing is, before lastweek I had been having swede every Sunday with no ill effects, the sugar thing has been ongoing since Tuesday.
I will switch out the swede for celariac this week and see how it goes and keep a very close eye on the sugar readings.
Still under the impression that if I’m not putting it in, then what’s coming out must be stored sugar but why it should happen 5 weeks in is a mystery to me.
Not to worry, I’m sure it will sort itself out.

Bill you are doing so so well you are an inspiration but it is frustrating how something works one week and not another. Does the stored sugar eventually go away after a prolonged low carb diet do you think? I certainly hope so because i probably have a lot stored. Ah … so you and I and captainlynne all from north east, certainly lovely beaches to get the 10,000 steps in. I still havent managed to get chickpea flour, do you have any suggestions where i might get it from please. I went to sainsburys and they had besan flour which i am not sure is the same, desperate to make flatbreads but can get coconut flour at £4 per packet in asda. Had avocado for first time today and quite enjoyed it. Cant believe i am not missing bread and rice.

I have chick pea flour on order from Holland and Barratt. If you have a shop near you pay a visit. Otherwise order online.

Hi Bill,

I wouldnt beat yourself up too much! There are probably lots of reasons for the different results. Firstly on my chart Swede is listed as High 70 – 80 but so is Celeriac. However with further research it seems that while their GI is quite high, their glucid level (sugar) is low and should not significanly affect blood sugar levels. So there are probably other reasons such as having such a late meal and perhaps not doing much exercise after so I wouldnt give up on your swede-eating just yet!

Shadow2 Besan is the same thing.
I got mine at the Medina store at the top of Westgate hill in Newcastle beside the bowling alley
hashimoto is a North eastener too. we’re getting quite a little clan going 🙂

Well the frustration continues
Yesterday for lunch I had a 2 egg omelette with a litttle ham and cheese and a small red pepper chopped and stirred in
Dinner was a home made chicken stew, 6 chicken thighs, 2 leeks, 2 onions, a medium carrot, celery spinach and a few sugarsnap peas and half a small swede went into the pressure cooker along with a couple of chicken stock cubes.
This made 6 portions, 4 of which are now in the freezer, 1 for todays lunch and I had a portion for dinner.
I know there are some carbs in the swede and carrot but this is divided by 6 so shouldn’t be a problem.
2 tbsp of greek yoghurt with a few berries at 10pm
Sugar readings pre bedtime were 5.9
Fasting reading this morning 9.9 !!!! 4 points rise is ridiculous
Ketostix test shows that I have ketosis happening so I still can’t get my head around what is causing these high dawn readings, especially when they were showing a downward trend up until 10 days ago.
If this is stored sugar being released, I must have a liver like a farm silo.
I’m sticking with it though as I feel so good otherwise and the weight loss has still been happening.

Hi bill, I’ve just googled leeks and apparently a single serving of leeks contains 13g of carbs. Perhaps the combo of carrot, swede and leeks caused a problem for you? I would never have suspected that about leeks, I do know my friend on dialysis can have onion and garlic but not leeks, but for her it is about sodium and potassium levels. That was enough to tell me the makeup of leeks is very different to onions and they do taste very sweet. I hope for you that it is something as simple as that so you can quickly get your sugars back in line. I know captainlynne. Has said she and her diabetic son have different responses to oats. All the best, Bill 🙂

Hi Judith
and yet I read a post on here yesterday about some Swedish doctor who recommended leeks as they feed the natural good bacteria in the gut.
Information overload. I think after my weigh in on Saturday, I’m going to evaluate what is going on, check my diary, and go back to the meals I was eating before the sugar problems although I don’t think anything has changed that much. Like I say post meal readings are ok, it’s just these fasting readings that are the problem.
Not to worry, I’ll get to the bottom of it.
Diabetes – the disease that just keeps on taking !

(info@eatweeds.co.uk)

Hi Bill, the best foods for feeding the natural good bacteria ( apart from normal healthy food) are fermented foods. If you know a spot where wild garlic grows I received this information from Robin Harford ( a renowned forager) about fermented wild garlic – all you need is a kg of garlic to 2 tspns of sea salt and a rolling pin tho bash the leaves.
The easiest source is make your own yoghurt – just find a plain probiotic yoghurt with a long shelf date and off you go, unending cheap yoghurt for life which is full of probiotics. There are some really cheap yoghurt makers on the market, although you don’t need a machine it does make the system fool proof.
I know you won’t give in, Bill, and it’s good we keep food diaries to analyse what works well for us!
Diabetes – the disease that just keeps on taking ! that provoked a grim smile. I wish I could kick the disease to hell

Lactic acid fermenting of wild vegetables allows you to keep your greens ‘fresh’ for many months. However they are so scrummy that I suspect they won’t last even a few weeks! Nature’s natural probiotics, lactic acid fermented foods have been used by indigenous peoples for millennia. It’s the way we preserved food before the arrival of the refrigerator!

Ingredients
•1tbsp sea salt
•1kg plant matter

Method

Step 1: Chop up the cleaned Ramsons, then start massaging the sea salt into the greens. It might take as long as 10 minutes for the salt to start breaking down the plant fibres, thereby releasing liquid. Pound and bash with a rolling pin to release more liquid, then put a plate over the plant matter, and weigh it down with a jar of water.

Step 2: Place in a bowl and weigh down the plant matter so that it is totally submerged under the liquid.

Step 3: Put the plant matter into a large jar and press down so it is under the liquid. Next fill a zip lock bag with water and place in the jar to weigh down and keep the plant matter under the liquid. Leave for 2-3 weeks before trying.

Makes: 1 kg of lacto-fermented ramsons/wild garlic

Sorry Bill that did not seem to work so I have copied and pasted – sadly it hasn’t copied the photos 🙁
