I found the Tom Kerridge thing really annoying too. He said what worked for him, but got his victims doing something else! Fair enough to say not all diets will work for everyone and suggest alternatives, but why ONLY give alternatives and no info on the diet he followed and which he knows works??? It was a bit like going to the doctor with an infection and being told ‘antibiotics would clear that up no trouble, so here’s a plaster and a pint of lager’.

Did anyone see the thing about the two naturally slim people who didn’t exercise or diet? It was sort of interesting, but a bit misleading. They both did two hours really energetic exercise a week, which isn’t none! They also didn’t snack or drink alcohol very often, which would help keep the calories down.

Last night I blazed through half of a FutureLearn class on Tudor feasting and quickly became obsessed with adapting period recipes to the BSD. I had an idea that may be mad genius or just plain mad and I’d love to hear what y’all think of it.

The dish is Mortreus de Chare (http://www.godecookery.com/mtrans/mtrans17.htm ), a sort of savory pudding/polenta thing made of ground pork, stock, flat ale and thickened with bread crumbs. The bread crumbs I’ve got (stale lupin cornbread muffins have a perfect crumb for this sort of job, just like real corn muffins do), the pork will be sausage because I can’t bring myself to boil, chop and mash a roast, but what to do for the ale? First I considered a combination of lemon juice, Worcestershire, smoked salt and turmeric juice based in an attempt to capture the more bitter/citrussy notes of hops and roasted barley in the ale. No idea if it would work, though. It could just be weird and discordant, and it barely has any liquid at all so the chemistry of the cook could be off.

Then the lightning bolt hit. What if I made tea out of cacao nibs and used that to replace the ale? It’s naturally bitter, rich in flavor and comes out of the boil tasting vaguely reminscent of a flat stout. I’m also thinking of mole which uses chocolate’s richness to such fantastic effect. The only downside is I would not be able to eat those nibs once boiled and I can never get enough of those crunchy little nuggets of chocolatey goodness. Hmm… Maybe I could figure out a way to use them. Something to consider.

Yes, Theo, I haven’t had to share a bathroom in over 40 years, also! Some
things are just better left to the imagination 🙂 🙂 🙂

Oh Sarah, it’s so nice to meet you! Welcome to the forum. I know only
too well what living with CFS looks like. I was diagnosed with Lyme disease
about 18 years ago, which eventually resolved, but I was left with fibromyalgia
and CFS. I expected to have to live a greatly marginalized life because of it,
in a state of chronic pain and fatigue. I was diagnosed with Lyme at the age
of 50. In june 2016 I began the Fast 800 BSD. Over the next 10 months I
lost 140 lbs, and am today right in the center of a healthy BMI, with 12 lbs
of wriggle room below my target. As soon as I went into ketosis the fatigue
lifted, and I’m now at about 8 1/2 months in maintenance. My pain levels
have reduced significantly also, although I still take some medication. For
8 months I wasn’t able to do any exercise either, but started walking in
month 9 + 10. None of these changes would have been possible without
the BSD, and keeping carbs under 20 gm made it possible for me to lose
a steady stone a month. I sincerely hope that it is the answer for you too!
Best of luck, and always ask questions! There is always someone around
to help.

Allie

We will Theo it really doesn’t take up as much time as they allocate. Sunshine-girl where are you???

Oat fiber makes a good sub for cornstarch in dredges. It has the same very fluffy, finely powdered texture and is all insoluble fiber so zero net carbs. (This is not the same as oats blitzed up in a blender, btw. It’s its own thing.) I would ditch the panko all together. The dredge will be more than sufficient to put a nice crust on the tofu. You don’t even need to do any of the dredging/breading, in fact. Extra-firm tofu, pressed and marinated, slices up and sears in a pan beautifully. Crisp out the outside, soft on the inside, zero effort. I’d rub a spice mix — ginger, garlic, salt, pepper — into it and call it a day.

Corn can be replaced by baby corn which is far lower in sugar and carbs than mature kernels because you’re eating the whole fibrous cob. As a happy coincidence, they also fit the Asian food style better than kernel corn. Cool recipe, LTC. Definitely going to try it to keep me warm and toasty during the Big Chill.

Mmm, I have one like that as well. We have been in our house for 9.5yrs now and the refurb is nowhere near being finished! Hopefully you new courses will give you the focus needed to tolerate the invasion of your bathroom.

HaHa, Sunny – maybe that’s the secret to how we’ve stayed married for 48 years😝

Mind you, on a not so positive note, he has now decided to replace his shower tray, which will take him ages (he is not the speediest of workers, but he is a perfectionist) so I’ll let you know if we’re still married after sharing my bathroom with him for the next week or so😉

WooHoo, V – we’re going to be study buddies x 2😊 Let’s hope we can find enough time to take 2 courses concurrently, and make it to the end.

I just posted on the welcome thread and followed you all. 🙂

Have joined the 15th Jan course too Theo….we ar going to be so busy!

Theo … I’m following you!

Pastas made with pulses like lentils, chickenpeas, and beans are all high carb as well because pulses are high in carbohydrates. They’re even less BSD friendly when you check the ingredients because they often have some kind of flour/sugar added.

Grannyvee, do you know how your BGL reacts to more complex carbs like beans? Have you noticed any patterns in your testing based on what you’ve eaten? Sunshine-girl, for instance, recently discovered that oranges send her BG through the roof. Other people seem to be able to handle a small piece of sweet fruit without adverse reaction.

Wow Theo, a bathroom each, that must be wonderful! Good to see another new name popping up on this thread Nick C.

My positives for today are:

1) Have squared away the account reconciliations for the village hall this morning.
2) Had a lovely long video chat with one of our Turkish friends.
3) Finding getting back in to the swing of the BSD again quite easy and it’s making me more mindful of what I’m consuming and when.

Stay positive everyone and please keep telling us all about it.

Oops….and omit the coconut sugar….can replace with a bit of stevia or monk fruit extract etc.

Good looking vegetarian meal….must sub for ramen and breading on tofu but otherwise looks great. Perfect winter meal…..warm spices, steamy and creamy

Curry “Ramen” with Crispy Baked Tofu

★★★★

4 from 4 reviews

If you’re going to marinade the tofu (optional), you’ll want to add an extra hour to the prep time.

Author: Well Vegan
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 40 mins
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

Crispy Tofu

1 – 14-oz. package extra-firm tofu
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup coconut sugar…omit or use a few drops of stevia or monk fruit
1 small lime, juiced
½ Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
2 tbsp. vegetable or peanut oil
1 Tbsp. panko….use low carb alternative such as mixture of ground golden flax and cheap parm cheese (out of the can)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch…omit or sub low carb alternative such as ground chia which would absorb some of the dampness
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

Faux Ramen

2 package dried or equivalent fresh ramen noodles…..use shirataki faux noodles or spiralized daikon radish (which works VERY well)
1 baby bok choy, quarted lengthwise
1 generous handful broccoli, cut in small flourettes
1/2 cup frozen corn….omit or at least cut in half
2 tsp. curry paste (more or less to your liking)….sugar free
4 Tbsp. coconut cream (more or less to your liking of creaminess to heat ratio)
Soy sauce, to taste
Note: you chili heads out there may want to add some extra heat….dash of cayenne, slices of Thai chilis (yes Ensecca, I am thinking of you)

INSTRUCTIONS

Press the tofu with several layers of paper towel to remove as much water as possible. Cut the tofu into ½-inch slabs and press with paper towels again. Alternatively, you can dice the tofu into 1-inch cubes.
To prepare the marinade, first combine the soy sauce and coconut sugar in a small mixing bowl. Microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring in between, until the coconut sugar dissolves. This should take less than a minute. Add the lime juice and fresh ginger. Whisk to combine.
Transfer the tofu to a shallow baking dish and pour in the marinade. Move the pieces around so each is completely coated. Cover and place in the fridge for at least an hours, flipping the pieces over and recovering with the marinade half way through.
Preheat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove the tofu from the marinade and press with paper towels to remove excess marinade.
In a medium bowl add 2 tbsp. vegetable or peanut oil. Add tofu to the bowl and toss gently to coat.
Add panko, cornstarch and sesame seeds to tofu. Toss gently until coated and pour out onto your prepared baking sheet.
Bake tofu for 30-40 minutes, turning half way through.
Bring water to a boil over medium heat. Cook your noodles according to package directions. Two minutes before ramen is done, add bok choy , broccoli and corn to the water. Cook until vegetables are just done and broccoli and bok choy are bright green.
Remove noodles and vegetables from heat. Add curry paste, coconut cream and soy sauce to taste. Add baked tofu just before serving.

https://wellvegan.com/recipe/curry-ramen-with-crispy-baked-tofu

Love that there is so much positivity here and have enjoyed reading how everyone is getting on.

Bit miffed this morning, with a 0.4lb increase despite being under on both cals and carbs for the last two days – overall still a loss on start weight though, so not getting stresses. It’s just one of those day to day fluctuations I’m sure and at some point there will be better scales reading. Have found it quite easy to slip back into the 800/20 and 16:8 regimes and am managing to keep hydration up too.

Happy to be back on the BSD proper and it’s making me think more carefully about what I’m eating, which in turn means I’m choosing a wider variety of foods again. Haven’t decided on dinner this evening, but it will be either lamb chops or steak. Had some of the veg and stilton soup I made yesterday, for lunch again today.

Keep going and keep posting everyone.

Sarah, take a look at this one:

https://wellvegan.com/recipe/curry-ramen-with-crispy-baked-tofu

Could be made low carb by using shirataki noodles or spiralized daikon radish, and using alternative breading for the tofu (my fav is a combo of ground golden flax and cheap parm cheese out of a can (drier). Looks delish.

Will post on the Good Eats LC thread so others can find easily later.

Good luck.

Positives

1) kids came for dog walk and had the best time running up and down hills. Dog ecstatic. Windy day, we all got refreshed and invigorated.
2) eating more veg, drinking more water
3) got out in garden and have some exciting plans for it this year, plus enough money to achieve them!

Glad to hear you are getting back to your routine, Theodora, and that you got a good sleep.

Hi Sarah

I’m not an ME sufferer, but I can tell you that I have lost over 3 stone in less than 4 months, without doing ANY exercise, and whilst I acknowledge that exercise is important (and I’m going to start doing some work at the gym in a couple of weeks) it’s not necessary for weight loss (and in fact Professor Taylor of the Newcastle trial suggested it can be counter-productive when on a very low calorie diet (though he too acknowledged the other health benefits of exercise – but not directly for weight loss per se). Everyone has to do what’s right for them, so if exercise isn’t right for your ME, concentrate on the diet…you can still lose weight.

Best wishes
Liz

Hello All, trying my hardest to post every day.

What a great bunch we are – lots of positivity and I am going to adopt the word ‘zonkdom’ and try and use it every day. I do drink fizzy water occasionally but have never found it increases my appetite – probably because I mostly have it with a meal.

I am slowly getting over the shock of low carbing for three days – my body has been protesting and yesterday I had a thumping head and was really tired – today I feel much better but still not 100% so I look forward to an end of week boost. Been walking today at lunchtime, so it’s all going well. Just wish I hadn’t attacked the cheese last night after dinner!! Still – it’s gone now!

KOKO

TC xx

Hi all. Good to see so much enthusiasm out there! I’m now on day 3 and sticking at it. For this stage I am really concentrating on drinking enough water – which I always find a challenge. Thank you Laska for the Madhur Jaffrey recipe – it looks delicious! Tonight will be a chicken and chorizo stew, and I’ll use the oven to roast the mince for an aubergine-based lasagne tomorrow (at least I learned one thing from Tom Kerridge last night…). Wishing every one lots of success this week.

Liz – I love anything creative. I thought your miniatures were amazing! Well done on getting into the lower stone!

Allie – you know I would love to see your work! 🙂 Did my large email get through to you yesterday? Just checking!

I dabble a little in water colours but I’m self taught and have to keep on top of practice! I’ll never make a living out of it but it’s very therapeutic and de-stresses. Mum mum was quite artistic… she made celebration cakes all of her life. Weddings, christenings, birthdays etc.

Perhaps we should start a creative thread? 🙂

xx

Hello Chewsnoo
I use myfitnesspal. I am having to reset my carbs etc % everyday.I guess it’s because I’m not using premium. I am never sure about the amount of carbs in relation to fat and protein. I have seen written on Facebook that if one sticks to the 800 cals a day it will work. I have my carbs set at 50g protein 80g fat 31g. Not at all sure if this is correct.
I too get headaches. I think it could be caffeine related.
Thanks and well done Squidge good start. Long may it continue.

Sarah, not being a doctor I cannot give advice on your steroids, but can say that this diet will help immensely with the pre-diabetes and help you avoid further medication. From the experiences of others on this site, it may also help with your other medical issues. There was a thread about steroid use so put that in the Search.

Just wondering if there are any ME suffers doing the BSD and now they are faring. I am due to start on Monday and am a bit concerned about how it will affect my ME – I will probably have to forgo the exercises for the first couple of weeks.

Does anyone have any tips on managing the diet with the fatigue,

Toby101, I try to save around 50 to 100 cals for a snack in the evening. This also helps prevent the dawn phenomenon causing raised morning blood sugars. Yesterday I had an omelette for dinner and cut off a small wedge to eat later and to me it always tastes better cold, meant I didn’t have to use any additional calories as I had already calculated as my dinner.

End of second day, start of day 3 and another drop in weight. BG up a little but still within normal and, of course, that is my main aim to reduce, not after Christmas festivities but from eating some stupid bread when I was starving and couldn’t find anything else in the house (NY Day shops shut). It is going down alongside the weight.

Today I have had poached egg with grilled mushrooms, lunch of avocado and bacon lettuce cups and will be making harissa chicken with cauli rice for tonight.

I have got my mojo back so keep on keeping on…

I am looking forward to making these changes, however I am very wary of how it will affect my health. My pre-diabetes diagnosis is as a result of long term steroid use for a chronic autoimmune disease. I am determined not to take yet more meds as I am on a pretty horrendous number as it is. Thanks for the info, let’s do this!!

Is anyone else using UK my fitness pal? i think my carbs are lower than i thought as i think it combines carbs and fibre so I have it now showing my fibre and to get net carbs i just subtract them. I got this from reading up on myfitnesspal.com but not 100% if that’s right, any ideas?

What carb totals are other people aiming to stay under?

Great loss so far Squidge!

Laska, that is exactly what I find – it is my “relaxation mode” in the evening instead of wine. The addition of ice and lemon (or lime if I am feeling fly) is key to this.

Bravo Sarah, you have come to the right place and will soon have a reversal of your pre-diabetes diagnosis if you stick with this plan.

There is lots of info on this site without giving you every recipe available, just go to the search at the top of the page, type in your subject i.e. soups, and see what comes up. There is a website called http://www.thedietdoctor.com which has really good info about low carb foods, especially the veg to avoid which you might not be aware of and it also has lots of recipes.

Personally I love my salads and have one most lunchtimes but, yes soup is good. My favourite from the book is the Spanish chickpea and chorizo, almost substantial enough for the main evening meal or a lunch. There are lots of ways with stews and mince etc. One of my favourite recipes from the BDS recipe book (sarah scheniker and claire bailey and is highly recommended) is the Hungarian goulash or the cauli topped cottage pie, even a simple spag bolognaise without the pasta using spirallized courgette. There are so many to mention. There is a second search bar a little way down the right hand side called Search Recipes, which you could type in something like ‘soup’ or ‘red pepper soup’ and see what comes up.

As to what to stock up on there are lots of posts giving long explanations and shopping ideas. I will come back with specifics but searching will help you navigate the site a bit. Good luck – and dont forget to join in on any subjects that are of interest.

Also take all your measurements, weight yes but also bust, waist and hips so you have something other than weight to measure success, sometimes the scales dont move but inches do. Drink plenty of water and add a little salt to some meals to make up for the loss of electrolytes due to flushing the body and peeing lots more. So many things you will learn as you go. Keep asking questions and, as I say, keep on keeping on…

Allie – I would love to see some of your work! And I think you’re right – some people just have that design thing inside. My mother would recount how I would sit at about the age of 5 creating dolls clothes from paper hankies! I then “helped” Dad build some kitchen units for the new house when I was about 10 – and built a dolls high chair (very proud of my “halving joints”, Dad insisting I learnt some “proper” skills!) I earned money whilst a student by designing and making a range of stuffed toys (stylised animals – my sister still has one which sits in front of a full length mirror to stop a door banging into it and breaking the glass! We did have a metal spring door stop, but the cat learned that if we ignored him in the night, he could “twang” it and wake everyone up!). Much later (after a series of office based jobs in the City of London) I went to Italy and ran a jewellery shop with my ex-husband (he wasn’t “ex” at the time!) and designed and made jewellery. We also built model ships in the winter months, when the shop was closed. After I returned to the UK, I worked in an office again for a while, but when I had my daughter, and brought her up as a single mother, I started, almost by accident my miniatures business (Started by making a dolls house for her). Doubtless I shall still go on creating something even after I’ve retired!

Marie – I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t overly impressed with Tom Kerridge. Yes, I understand that different approaches work for different people….but HE lost weight doing Low Carb….so why switch to this? Why does he think that although he stuck to it, others wouldn’t?? Apart from a rather good looking lasagna (and I did like the idea of roasting the mince first!) everything else was a complete no-no, and likely in the long run to lead people going back to eating shop bought muffins, or KFC rather than the home made (but still carby) versions. This is no solution to long term change.

On a personal level, I am now doing around 1000 cals a day….and have lost a pound and a half, so dead on 10 st 13 now for the past two days! Quite happy with that. Wish the hair would stop falling out though!

Liz

So here goes, have read the book and have been suitably terrified by what is my regular diet and have set the date for the 8th Jan to begin my journey.

I am definitely a winter comfort eater and the thought of salads at this time of year is a big no for me. So does anyone have some tasty soup recipes for vegetarians, roasted butternut squash and red pepper is a firm favorite.

Is there anything I should stock up on for this first week?

Hi, When I told my doctor it is 800 calories and all the things I dont eat he thought I had gone crazy and wouldn’t recommend it to other patients as it is too restrictive and no-one would be able to stick with it. Well some of us can and do but all I was saying is that if you dont have any health problems but just want to lose some weight, this is a good plan in the short term. However, it is very restrictive and if you dont have serious health problems then having an occasional orange or a slice of toast is not going to harm you, it may help you to stick with the plan, as MM says of some example dieters, they have the occasional glass of wine or even a sneaky take away. As long as it is controlled. For me, one take away pizza would send my BG sky high so I wouldn’t risk it. Yes we all want to be healthy but unless we have a motivating factor and it doesn’t have to be diabetes (that was just my example) then this diet is hard.

So going back to the question from the OP, who has not put any medical problems on their profile, why not oranges if you want one now and then and add more green if you want, they are not going to push your calories up very much. Make the diet work for you and adjust it to your needs. That will make it easier to stick to in the longer term.

Ok my first post to this thread. Possibly my last as I tend to be a bit rubbish at combining food to make stuff, I just use it raw or fry it up.

Anywho, almond and seed crackers. I’ve put carb count next to each ingredient as it is really flexible so you can up or down each ingredient/substitute as you see fit. Also, was interested as have not done that yet (from MFP)

120g whole almonds (skin on) – 746cals 8.1g carbs
35g seeds (I use 10g mixed seeds (59 cals, 0.9g carbs) 25g chia seeds 125 cals 8.3g carbs)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (7 cals 1.3g carbs)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
Leaves from fresh rosemary
150g or so hard cheese (Parmesan/pecorino/ – 646 cals 6.1g carbs)
2 cloves garlic (assume 2tsp minced 10 cals, 2g carbs)
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil or rape seed or sunflower (I used olive oil once was ok too) 234 cals 0 carbs for coconut oil
1 tablespoon water to bind.

Ok so total is 1,828 cals and 27g carbs (I’ve used MFP to tell me that so haven’t double checked that it adds up to that above). But it makes a lot of biscuits. They last me about a week, if the kids don’t snaffle them, but I am in maintenance.

Blend/grind all ingredients except oil and water. (I have Thermomix – blitz on speed 10 til ground down)
Add oil and water and mix (Thermonix speed 4 or 5)
Empty out to parchment lined baking sheet, put another sheet of baking parchment on top and roll out thinly and evenly
Score with a knife marking put little squares
Put in oven 180degrees and bake 20/25 mins. May need longer depending on how moist mix is. If edges catch cover with parchment paper towards end.
Remove from oven and transfer on paper to cooling rack.

Hi MartyM, to be fair to Tom, he does advocate LOW carbs so makes normally high carb foods, like muffins, using much less of the bad stuff. He also did say that his diet was too strict for most people to stick with and wanted a diet that could fit into peoples lifestyles and not be too different from what they craved. If found the only food I wouldn’t eat was the muffins but I make the same lasagne (not with the roasting of the meat business) but I normally used roasted aubergine instead of pasta. Of course, I would never dream of making rice pudding, but if it is your thing then maybe understanding the science of switching bad for good in recipes might help a lot of people. There are a lot of people out there who have no idea, this is a start.

I haven’t been back here in ages, but had to come on this morning to see if anyone was talking about Kerridge’s show!

I checked Tom Kerridge’s twitter to see if anyone had taken him to task about his switcheroo on carbs. A fair few people have said it to him and his main response when he does respond is
“This is what the NHS recommends”

and he actually told someone
“All diets work as long as you stick to them”.

And he is challenging people to wait and see if his group gets results.
Of course they’ll get results. Sticking to a diet whilst under the pressure of being on telly is not representative of real life at all.

I was totally taken aback by the new show. People with problems comfort eating and he’s baking trays of muffins. Great if
you only eat one, but how bloody hungry is one 190cal muffin going to leave you and how long before you’ve eat the tray.

My guess is the Dopamine Diet book didn’t sell so well. So he’s backing what sells rather than what works.
The show itself is extremely misleading but could never be called dishonest because he does mention the fact he did it low carb.
I would think the majority of viewers miss that and presume the low cal diet is how he lost the weight.
I mean presuming that a guy who lost a ton of weight is showing the same diet he lost the weight on isn’t much of a presumption is it!

For the person above who liked the lasagne. It’s very similar to his recipe for moussaka in the Dopamine Diet book.
Almost identical except for the fact that the sauce in the moussaka is double cream and full fat cheese. Hurrah!

*Adding to my post, some shops sell lentil pasta which tastes like pasta 🙂 xx

My three positives……………

1) Just signed up for 2 Futurelearning courses, starting 8th and 15th Jan and am really looking forward to taxing my brain a little bit more than usual. They say learning new things helps to stave off dementia, so got to be a good thing!

2) Slept really well last night, for the first time in weeks.

3) Totally back on my normal BSD WOE after the Christmas and New Year excesses (although I didn’t partake in refined carbs) – I was sooo craving something fresh and light – so, what with the good night’s sleep, I am feeling refreshed and reinvigorated.

Can I add a 4th please?

4) Came home from walking the dogs this morning to find o/h re-grouting the tiles in his bathroom – something I had been asking him to do for months and had totally given up on ever being done! He is also replacing all the sealants etc, which means he’ll have to use my bathroom for a day or 2 while it all dries, but I can live with that! (As long as he’s not in there when I want to use it!😜)

Toby I find fizzy water with lots of ice and lemon means that i feel that i have a ‘drink’ ( and curbs any ‘wine’ cravings, a bit of a potential downfall for me ) .. I Haven’t found it to be a problem in the past when doing this WOE ..

I also gulp (lots) of real organic black coffee in the morning when fasting and mint or green tea later on .. My favourite tea at the moment is Pukka ‘Cleanse’ tea.. apart from the name .. its actually really nice!

Marie123 I am interested in the cyber security course, if you have a link, as I got my Amazon account hacked at Christmas and, although they didn’t get away with anything, it was an absolute pain to get anyone to help me. All okay now but I thought I was quite savvy and didn’t answer or click on links in the many email I received, they still got me.

Also the Science of Nutrition course has 2 run dates so 8th Jan but if you are busy I think 12th or 15th March.

Envious of all you in in the Australian Sunshine!! Wet grey and very windy here!

anyway i weighed this morning and down 1lb! Very happy with this.. I officially started at 12.10.5 on Tuesday . but on Sunday i was 1.5lbs higher than that (this was the ‘shock’ weight which made me realise just how much I have been fooling myself) . So I am now really happy ! .

I haven’t eaten yet today ( last meal was almost15 hours ago ) so feeling in the zone.. .. I have pork mince for later which i will stir fry with some cabbage, cucumber a little onion and red pepper and 5spice garlic soy and ginger.. (yum)
also have fast day hiccups! ..

I am not diabetic or even pre-diabetic according to blood sugars .. but I love my carbs and know this WOE does work for me ..
I agree that success does come from self belief ad its also easy to negatively ‘self believe’ that we are doing ok when we are in reality ignoring the problem .. ( this is what i definitely have been doing).

One great thing about the international community here i think will be that we are eating ‘winter food’ roasts casseroles curries etc in the UK and reading about t others eating ‘summer food’. We should get lots of good ideas of each other ! .

Any great Pan Asian inspired low carb ideas would be great for me!!.. I love that type of food and all types of fish especially .

I do have a great Madhur Jaffrey recipe i really love for Salmon in a Bengali Mustard sauce . (dont know if we can post links but its easily googled) . Its low carb and yum ( obvs no rice though! ) I would use green beans cauliflower or courgette instead

Thanks everyone for those warm welcomes and comments.

Took notes from above and did a lot more reading all last week, i can see now by understanding a little better that losing muscle shouldn’t be a concern.
Calories wise i probably a little over 800 for the first two days but HIIT training last night was one intense 45/50 mins, so i won’t beat myself up about it. Eating twice a day, late morning and evening which seems to work for me and haven’t felt the need to reach for any sweet or white carbs!

I’ll update my profile with my stats and first weigh in will be Saturday.
For now it’s all positive and moving in the right direction.

Thanks all.

1. 2 days in and feeling/adapting fine.
2. Made a batch of beef & offal meatballs, followed by a batch of skinny chilli. Both delicious!
3. Excited for what the weeks ahead hold for everyone on this journey.

Great idea, V, thank you for bumping. Hopefully everyone who is registering for a course (particularly the Science and Nutrition one starting on 8th Jan) will post on this thread, including their Futurelearn user name, so that we can all be study buddies. Like you, I have now introduced myself (Theo J) and am now “following” you. Perhaps we can all “follow” each other?

S-g, thank you so much for drawing our attention to Futurelearn. I have also registered to take the Nutrition and Wellbeing course, starting on 15th Jan, if anyone feels like joining me?

HI Toby
It was only found to be a slight elevation in a increase appetite, i wouldn’t drop fizzy water because of this. I personally find i don’t crave while drinking it but i normally start drinking this with my evening meal. Before that its herbals teas or water.

Predictive again! ‘ just leaves me speechless’.

Have revived S-g’s Future Learn thread.

Just thought I would revive this thread for the forthcoming courses.

LOL! It is difficult to work out JM! Just leave some M.D. speechless.

Would anybody like a separate ‘Futurelearn’ thread?

Also, what are people’s view of fizzy water? I drink litres of the stuff on this diet as it somehow helps kill cravings for food/alcohol/sweet drinks – but I now hear it actually increases your appetite. What do others find?