The New Year Diet

[Dom]

tl;dr Eat too many carbs, need substitute meal ideas.


Now that we've all stuffed ourselves with overcooked walrus meat and seen Captain Picard's rendition of Scrooge on the telly box at least twice, it's time to start our new years resolutions.

For me, mine include drinking less alcohol, actually finishing a project I start, and biggest of all - watching what I eat.

Now, I'm not a bloater in any sense of the word, but I do have what I'd consider some "excess love handles". There's a Godly Adonis man-figure inside me, but it's ever-so-slightly covered with a layer of meat and gravy. While I do actually go to the gym, and I don't have too many take-outs, I'm still struggling to get rid of the last of this unsightly bulge.

So, aside from drinking less and trying to come up with a more structured gym routine than 'doing whatever I feel like', I need to watch my calorie intake better. This involves reducing my carbs (or so I hear) so I need some advice on how to do that.

Zee Problem

Ever since I was little I've had cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and then a proper hot meal for dinner. The hot meal often included potato/pasta/rice-based foods, which as we all know, can make you a fat mamma. It wasn't a problem while I was young, but now that I'm old and sit at a desk all day instead of running around a playground, I clearly don't need the extra calories.

Zee Answers?

So what do you recommend I replace my carbs with?

I basically need to replace breakfast cereals (breakfast), bread (lunch), and pasta, potatoes, and rice (dinner), with things that have far less carbs in them. I know it might not be completely doable, but I'm gonna try dagnabbit!

So, does anyone have any ideas, or have any tips they've used themselves to trim up a bit?

Ready.... GO!

[Jem]

I've been having weird problems with some carbs lately (pregnancy food crap, bla) so where I'd normally have potato with my evening meal I've been having an extra (large) portion of veg instead. It's not very exciting or revolutionary though

[familychoice]

The diet that worked best for me was the one where I ate less.

You're welcome.

[robwhizz]

There probably isn't that much wrong with your diet. I don't personally agree with aggressivly cutting out carbs and nonsense diets. Your body NEEDS carbohydrates for energy. A healthy diet has a good balance of complex carbohydrates, protein and fat (you need fats too, and salt for that matter).

Do you snack between meals? If so cut it out or eat things more healthy as snacks.
What kind of cereal do you eat? To to eat Wholegrain cereals and don't put sugar on. Use skimmed or semi milk. A good breakfast will have complex carbos to see you through to lunch without needing to snack. Sugars will burn quickly and you'll run out of steam leading to increased eating.
Use brown bread or seeded breads for you sandwiches and put good fillings in like chicken, egg, tuna and peanut butter. Choose salad with good nutrients like spinach instead of lettuce, and peppers etc.
For hot meals look at using brown rice (yuk) and brown pasta. Swap rice for Couscous (yum). Try reducing the portion sizes. Reduce the amount of pasta and rice and increase the vegetables.
Do a calorie count of what you are eating. You don't need to be bottom about it, but get a rough idea to see if you need to reduce your portion sizes.
But out fizzy drinks. Be careful how much fruit juices you drink too.

Bottom line: Whatever your diet, if more calories go in than you expend, you'll put on weight. Diet alone just wont cut it. Get exercising!!

[Steve Lampkins]

The secret is to burn more calories than you consume.

No, honest.   EDIT: Beaten a dozen times over


I had a holiday in warmer climes just before Christmas, so wanted to be in a bit better shape for beach and pool-side lounging. Between September and December I lost about 13kg. That's a couple of stone I think. I didn't starve myself or kill myself in the gym.

The main thing I did was to move more. For the first 4-6 weeks, I was involved in a competition at work where you recorded your steps in teams. The goal was around 10k steps average a day (which worked out to be around 10km). I could get around 5k just from the walking to work and taking short walks through the day at work. It was around an hour of walking after work every day to get the other 5k. Or I could do the equivalent in cycling instead (30 min), for a change. Weekends were harder, but it was only 2-2.5 hours to walk 10km. (Hooray for podcasts.) The worst thing was to get the motivation to do this every day. If you skipped a day, it could drop your average a lot. I was in bed for three days with the flu, and it took me over a week of extra steps to get my average back up. Of course it helped that everyone in the competition could see your average. When the competition was over, I kept it up, recording my steps. Of course, I had some cheat days, but in general was keeping my average up.

I actually joined the gym across the road (it's nothing special or fancy) for the last month, just because the weather got so bad. I wasn't pumping iron or turning myself into a heap of quivering jelly, just 25 minutes of speed walking on the treadmill, then 25 minutes on an exercise bike. Nothing too strenuous. But at least 5 times a week.

I cut down on food portions a little, and alcohol, but I wasn't torturing myself. Luckily I don't really snack. I also don't eat breakfast. So I basically swapped out my lunch at work with a couple of rye sandwiches, with plenty of cheese and meatwurst. I had a regular large meal at home, nothing particularly healthy or thought-out. On weekends, I probably did eat more. A stricter food diet probably would have been a lot more effective, but I didn't want to go that far.

I'll probably start up again next week, but not as strict, as I don't really need to drop weight. Though I've not checked the damage done by a week at an all-inclusive resort (hello full English breakfast 7 days in a row) followed directly by Christmas.  

[Dom]

Mmmm full English breakfast....

So I think the general gist is to cut down on portions slightly; replace white bread for brown bread, white rice for brown rice etc; eat nutritionally more valuable vegetables like spinach; and go to the gym for more than an hour at a time, three times a week.

It's a start!

I've been having weird problems with some carbs lately (pregnancy food crap, bla) so where I'd normally have potato with my evening meal I've been having an extra (large) portion of veg instead. It's not very exciting or revolutionary though

Sounds good! I have replaced the odd potato portion with vegetables when I eat chicken... I don't know why I haven't carried that over to other meals though. Weird.

The diet that worked best for me was the one where I ate less.

You're welcome.

Hehe. I don't really need to eat less (I wouldn't say I ate a lot as it is) I just need to cut down the heavier-calorie foodstuffs, and replace them with dust, er.. I mean, vegetables, like Jem says. Well, maybe not only veggies, but other things too. I just don't know what.

There probably isn't that much wrong with your diet. I don't personally agree with aggressivly cutting out carbs and nonsense diets. Your body NEEDS carbohydrates for energy. A healthy diet has a good balance of complex carbohydrates, protein and fat (you need fats too, and salt for that matter).

...bottom...

Bottom line: Whatever your diet, if more calories go in than you expend, you'll put on weight. Diet alone just wont cut it. Get exercising!!

Heh, bottom.

I do eat white rice, white(?) pasta, and 50/50 white/brown bread, so I could replace those with brown instead. Never thought of that. I try not to snack between meals, although I do eat some fruit mid-morning if I'm hungry. The cereals I eat tend to be things like Fruit'n'Fibre, Raisin Wheats, Mini Weetabix, and occasionally I'll have one that isn't so good for you, like Honey Cherios (although they reckon they use whole grain). I don't put sugar on my cereal, and I don't have sugar in my tea. I do like a good glass of apple or orange juice though, and I do drink full fat milk as opposed to skimmed or semi.

I do need to figure out my exercise regime at the gym though. I don't exercise enough really, despite going two or three times a week.

Heh, semi.

[familychoice]

Diet alone just wont cut it. Get exercising!!

I disagree with that, I lost three stone in a a couple of months without doing any additional exercise whatsoever.

I don't really need to eat less (I wouldn't say I ate a lot as it is) I just need to cut down the heavier-calorie foodstuffs, and replace them with dust, er.. I mean, vegetables, like Jem says. Well, maybe not only veggies, but other things too. I just don't know what.

I used to have a bit of fruit for breakfast and maybe some muesli, and for lunch had a massive salad that had about 20 different things in it. Then for my evening meal had whatever we usually have. No nice pud, just a miserable low-fat yoghurt and absolutely no alcohol.

I wasn't really trying to lose weight, just wanted to eat more healthily but I lost a stone in the first week, the second a couple of weeks later and then the third a few weeks after that.

Have a look at how many calories you're consuming and cut them down, but make sure you're not leaving yourself feeling empty and hungry. I did that with massive salads that had less calories than a slice of bread, but felt stuffed afterwards so didn't need to snack.

I tried many times with exercising and dieting previously and they didn't really make much difference, but the calorie buster really worked. Of course it helped that my intake was HUGE and so it was easy to cut it right down.

Eat a bit of salad and sit around in your chair, it's easy fat boy.

[Dom]

Only if my chair is one of these.

But yeah, good advice. Cram in the salad more than I do, and Bob's your mother's brother.

And whoever said eat peanut butter in my sarnies, oh how I do! I buy it by the bucket. My sarnies today included one peanut butter, and one with ham, cheddar, and lettuce (on white bread though).

Question about nuts: I do love nuts, be they peanuts, cashews, pistachios, whatever, and as my bro actually works in a place that supplies nut-based products to all the major supermarkets, I get bag loads of them for free. But are the oils in them 'good' fats or bad fats? I heard that they weren't the bad trans-fats that give you a heart attack, but instead, they were the 'good' kind, if such a thing exists.

[familychoice]

And whoever said eat peanut butter in my sarnies, oh how I do! I buy it by the bucket. My sarnies today included one peanut butter, and one with ham, cheddar, and lettuce (on white bread though).

Peanut butter is not healthy, or good for your diet. It full of peanuts, oil, sugar and salt. No wonder you're getting bigger.

No, no, no, no. It is nice though.

I'd recommend reading food labels and checking how much sugar, fat, salt and calories it contains - that way you'll fill your hole with good quality stuff as well as reducing your belly.

Personally I've given all this diet nonsense up - I love my booze amd food too much, and yes, I do have peanut butter on toast for breakfast followed by a packet of crisps.

[robwhizz]

And whoever said eat peanut butter in my sarnies, oh how I do! I buy it by the bucket. My sarnies today included one peanut butter, and one with ham, cheddar, and lettuce (on white bread though).

Peanut butter is not healthy, or good for your diet. It full of peanuts, oil, sugar and salt. No wonder you're getting bigger.

No, no, no, no.

Peanut butter is jam packed with monounsaturated fats which are good for you. Nuts have also been shown to have many health benefits such as reducing the chance of heart disease.
As long as you are sensible with it, the calories are good for you.

Diet alone just wont cut it. Get exercising!!

I disagree with that, I lost three stone in a a couple of months without doing any additional exercise whatsoever.

I'm not saying you can't lose weight by changing diet, but it depends how active you are. If you sit on your bum all day and do nothing then eventually your fitness will decline to a level you will have to eat less than 2 calories a day to stay a decent weight - and even then you'll still feel like crap because of being so unhealthy.
Exercise is exercise. You don't have to go down the gym, you just need to be active.

[Dom]

I'd say a 20-minute walk to work and back again, plus an hour down the gym three times a week is a good start at being active, but I should really be trying to go to the gym every weekday.

I wouldn't say I was the least active person, but I should probably get a bit more exercise. And that thing about monounsaturates - that rings a bell. I've no idea what saturated fats or unsaturated fats are, but I definitely remember hearing that the fats and oils in nuts weren't that bad for you.

What about cheese? I tend to eat a fair amount (in sandwiches, on pasta dishes, etc) but that's usually pretty high-fat. I know the protein is good for you if you're trying to pump up a bit, but I'm not looking to gain muscle right now, just lose a wee bit of excess. Perhaps I should cut down on the cheese intake, or buy some low-fat cheeses instead.

[familychoice]

Peanut butter is jam packed with monounsaturated fats which are good for you. Nuts have also been shown to have many health benefits such as reducing the chance of heart disease.

It's also usually jam packed with polyunsaturated fat, which in large quantities is definitely not good for you.

I'm not saying you can't lose weight by changing diet, but it depends how active you are. If you sit on your bum all day and do nothing then eventually your fitness will decline to a level you will have to eat less than 2 calories a day to stay a decent weight - and even then you'll still feel like crap because of being so unhealthy. Exercise is exercise. You don't have to go down the gym, you just need to be active.

That was my point. Most people have to get themselves to work, sort out their lives at home, look after kids, dig the garden, clean the car, run around Tescos with a trolley. They get enough 'exercise' without having to 'get exercising' or going down some ruddy gym.

If you eat good food, don't over consume on calories and processed crap, are generally healthy and have an active life then you shouldn't have to worry about being overweight or spending your hard earned cash at some dopey gym.

[sarahA]

Dom, you've already admitted 3 high fat problems, full fat milk, cheese (I'm guessing full fat and probably cheddar, so about 30% fat) and lots of peanut butter.

Rob's right on everything he's put, and whilst nuts are good for you (they contain the good fats although there are better nuts than peanuts, have you tried almond butter instead? Tastes nicer too and made with less salt), fats are fats so whilst you need fat, and you want the good fats, you still need to eat those in moderation as per FC's wise words (trust me, he's a bean pole, then again Rob looked pretty slim on DOND that time). Otherwise you could deep fry everything in olive or rapeseed oil and be fine!

Although, FC, I'm not sure where you get sugar in peanut butter? It's literally just peanuts with about 1% salt and maybe a drop of palm oil. Almond oil is just almonds with 0.5% salt (as you can tell, I read all salt content now because of Thomas!). A small quantity would be fine, but I'd switch/try almond butter (you can get it in sainsburys for definite, not sure about elsewhere), and if you cook with oil at home then you need to keep a check on your fat intake.

Whilst you need fats, you want to reduce your daily overall intake. I think they recommend 80g for an average diet, so reduce it to about 50g. You need to address some aspects of your diet before exercise is going to help much otherwise you're just burning off what you're eating and nothing more. You don't have to stop eating cheese, just go for a lower fat one. You can get reduced fat cheddar, about 20%, or gouda/edam also 20% fat, or reduced fat mozzerella which is about 10% fat, or very low fat cheddars from about 5% (although these don't taste great raw, but okay cooked or in a sauce).

If you want suggestions for replacements
Breakfast - stick with cereals, they're usually good for you (depending on the type). Pretty much all cereals besides shredded wheat have added sugar so you should be able to eat them without which I think you do. Branflakes, fruit n fibre, a homemade museli etc. are all good for you and should keep you going until lunchtime.

Lunch - You can go for wholegrain bread, try and reduce or remove the cheese and perhaps try more salad. Easier in the summer when salad is in season and UK/local grown salad will taste a lot better than something flown in from abroad. Also consider using pitta breads, tortilla wraps or making up a pasta salad, or something like pasta and pesto with veg, then just reheat it at work if you can.

Dinner - Potatoes, depends how they're cooked. Go for new potatoes boiled if you can, or you can crush them with some herbs, garlic and a little bit of butter (I would recommend one with olive oil in such as the new lurpack olive oil, oh and go for the lighter option!). Try to avoid mashed potato or jackets, as both will raise your blood sugar levels as any complex carbs will have been broken down by the cooking and/or mashing process.

Pasta, rice, couscous is all fine, providing you don't eat them in large quantities. Sounds to me like you possibly don't eat enough anyway, or maybe just borderline, so what you're eating just needs a bit of reviewing and then I would agree with Rob that you will need to bring exercise into it. Walking, as Steve says, is easy and does wonders.

For snacks, fruit is fine but don't go overboard with fruit as it's still got a lot of fructose/sugars in it. You want to have 2-3 pieces of fruit a day max, so if you want to snack on anything more go for veg eg. carrot/cucumber/courgette sticks (yes you can eat courgette raw). When in season, strawberries are great, cheap from the shops and don't raise your blood sugar as much as other fruit does. Plus they're quite filling.

Also make sure you're drinking plenty of water. 2l a day if you can. If you don't already, then build it up slowly. Water in tea/coffee/juice should also count although I don't agree with the tea/coffee as they'll both make you need the loo quicker and draw the water out of you so try and cut those down and go for plain water. Also fruit juice, whilst nice, is very high in sugar/fructose so limit that to a glass a day or less if you can.

[familychoice]

FC... he's a bean pole

I've just printed that out and put it on my wall.

Although, FC, I'm not sure where you get sugar in peanut butter? It's literally just peanuts with about 1% salt and maybe a drop of palm oil.

A lot of the popular makes have sugar added, just looking at a couple of brands: http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=264769626 and http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254851277 as well as extra salt. The Tesco brand uses 'vegetable oil', and checking my jar downstairs nearly half of this is made up of polyunsaturated fat. The non-Tesco brands look a bit healthier but you can't really tell until you see the labels.

I'm not condoning the use of peanut butter, on the contrary I love it, but Dom seems to think that the more he eats of it the healthier he'll be. On the contrary, the calories won't do anything for his quest to lose weight and if he buys cheap stuff like me he'll be consuming loads of dodgy fat.

FC... he's a bean pole

I think this calls for some peanut butter on toast for breakfast...

[Dom]

Mmm peanut butter.

And thanks for the advice everyone! I'm going to have to print this all out and summarise it. Especially the bean pole bit...

:p

[Mr Anderson]

Just to shed a misconception - polyunsaturated oils are not unhealthy. So long as they're cis fatty acids (not trans) then they're as good as it gets for lipids. (The in large quantities clause applies to all nutrients.)

I'm on my phone ATM so not going in to detail, but if you're interested I can bore you all later.

[familychoice]

Just to shed a misconception - polyunsaturated oils are not unhealthy. So long as they're cis fatty acids (not trans) then they're as good as it gets for lipids. (The in large quantities clause applies to all nutrients.)

I'm on my phone ATM so not going in to detail, but if you're interested I can bore you all later.

i'd be interested to know, like most things food related there's a lot of conflicting information. Articles promoting peanut butter as a 'health food' and others saying the opposite: http://thediabetesclub.com/is-peanut-butter-healthy-not-really/

[sarahA]

FC... he's a bean pole

I've just printed that out and put it on my wall.

Well you are!

Although, FC, I'm not sure where you get sugar in peanut butter? It's literally just peanuts with about 1% salt and maybe a drop of palm oil.

A lot of the popular makes have sugar added, just looking at a couple of brands: http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=264769626 and http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254851277 as well as extra salt.

I don't eat the stuff so can only go by what the organic one from sainsburys has as bought that for junior, and also the one Mr A has (Whole earth crunchy one). The latter has 97% peanuts, 2% palm oil and 1% salt. Never realised they added sugar to some, but obviously not the ones we get! Although I know in the US (not sure about here) you can get it ready made with jam too. 

Dom seems to think that the more he eats of it the healthier he'll be. On the contrary, the calories won't do anything for his quest to lose weight and if he buys cheap stuff like me he'll be consuming loads of dodgy fat.

Indeed hence my point, all nuts are good for you in moderation. They're a better source of fat, and almonds, for example, have a good amount of fibre in too. Fruit is good for you, but too much is still too much. I think the only thing you can go overboard on is salad and veg (although even then, carrots and peas are sweet).

A low GI style diet, with a focus on cutting down on fat and calorie intake too is the best option

Beanpole

[familychoice]

Well you are!

I've probably put on about 2 stone since you last saw me (I blame xmas...) 

I don't eat the stuff so can only go by what the organic one from sainsburys has as bought that for junior, and also the one Mr A has (Whole earth crunchy one). The latter has 97% peanuts, 2% palm oil and 1% salt. Never realised they added sugar to some

Palm oil is high in saturated fats from what I've read, but in tiny quantities it's not really an issue so unless you're eating as much as Dom it's probably fine. When I was a bit more of a hippy I used to get this one: http://www.meridianfoods.co.uk/index.asp?Section=Products&details=177 which is basically just nuts.

I think I might stop getting the Tesco one though after participating in this thread, I'd forgotten about all this stuff....

Beanpole

 

[sarahA]

watching what I eat.

I watch everything I eat

[Mr Anderson]

i'd be interested to know, like most things food related there's a lot of conflicting information. Articles promoting peanut butter as a 'health food' and others saying the opposite: http://thediabetesclub.com/is-peanut-butter-healthy-not-really/

Part of the problem with conflicting information isn't so much that the info conflicts, more that it's not considered in context, and small snippets get extrapolated to become all encompassing facts. Neither is good.

(My point was that polyunsaturates are good, not about peanut butter, but I’ll address that to an extent later.)

This is going to be fairly long, but still very undetailed.

In the region of 20-30% of calories in an adult's diet should come from lipids (fats & oils - fats are solid at room temp, oils are liquid at room temp). Of those approx. a third should come from polyunsaturates, a third from monounsaturates, and a third from saturates.

Between 50-70% of calories should come from carbohydrates, and around 10-20% from protein (the values are dependent on levels and types of activity of different people).

Back to lipids:

Fatty acids (FAs) are chains of hydrogenated carbon atoms with an acid group at the tail end (-COOH).

Saturated fats are carbon chains with only single bonds between each carbon atom, and 2 hydrogen atoms per carbon (except for the two end ones) - eg. Butyric Acid (found in butter):

Code:

CH3-CH2-CH2-COOH

Monounsaturated FAs have a single double bond in the chain, eg. Oleic Acid (found in olive oil):

Code:

CH3-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH=CH-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-COOH

Polunsaturated FAs have 2 or more double bonds in the chain, eg. Linoleic Acid (found in sunflower oil):

Code:

CH3-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH=CH-CH2-CH=CH-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-COOH

Many of the health benefits of unsaturates over saturates is due to the double bond(s) and how they change the spatial structure of the chains.

Saturated FAs align rigidly alongside each other due to the property that the chain doesn't like to be in contact with water (except for the acid bearing carbon), and so the align tightly side by side to keep water out - and also form micelles (droplets) which are spheres of lipid with the acid region on the outside and the hydro-carbon chain hidden inside. Because there are no double bonds there's nothing to separate the neighbouring chains, and so they pack tightly. It's due to this that they're solid at higher temperatures than unsaturated FAs, and also why they cause so many cardiovascular problems - eg. stearic acid, found in meat, has a melting point of 70 degrees C, making it solid when in the body, and therefore able to clog things up quite easily.

Monounsaturated FAs align much less rigidly than saturates due to the way the double bond causes the chain to kink. This pushes neighbouring chains away from each other, increasing their liquidity at lower temperatures (sub-room temp).

Polyunsaturated FAs have more double bonds, and therefore more kinks in the tail (eg. arachidonic acid has 4, which causes it to curl up), increasing the liquidity further - with some being liquid below the freezing point of water (arachidonic acid is liquid at about -50 degrees C).

The kinking effect of polyunsaturates occurs when the side of the chain the double bonds are located on are the same (cis). When the double bonds occur on opposite/alternating sides (trans) the kinking is cancelled out and the FAs align more rigidly than they would do. Cis fatty acids occur naturally in nature whereas trans FAs don’t except in trace amounts. Instead trans FAs are produced when food makers hydrogenate unsaturated oils (also having the effect of making them more saturated too).
Essential Fatty Acids – these are FAs that we must get in our diet because our bodies need them but can’t make them, and include both omega-3 and omega-6 FAs (which are both found in many polyunsaturates).

To refer to the article linked (though I don’t want to do too much specifically on omega-6 as that wasn’t my point) – to say peanut butter is bad for us because it contains omega-6 FAs is a bit simplistic. In excess omega-6 FAs can be bad, but the same is true of all fatty acids. We need omega-6 oils (linoleic acid is essential in the diet for eg.), therefore peanut butter isn’t bad for us by containing them. It’s only bad if you eat too much, as with anything else.

Also, with respect to omega-6 FAs, many have massive health benefits and bad effects which makes describing them simply as either good or bad for us an oversimplification. AA for example is beneficial in the muscle repair process, production of prostaglandins essential for the inflammatory response(*), use in cell membranes within a variety of tissues including muscle and nerves, suspected improvements in infant intelligence (when supplemented), and cardiovascular benefits. AA isn’t an essential FA (but is needed) as we can make it from linoleic acid (LA), which is essential (however if we lack LA then we need AA in the diet). LA, like AA, has many health benefits also including cardiovascular – the American Heart Association (AHA) produced an advisory stating that they believed the beneficial cardiovascular effects of omega-6 FAs outweighed any reported bad effects. With regards to the negative effects stated in the diabetes article, most of those are more closely related to a consumption that greatly exceeds the rate of consumption of omega-3 FAs, which the AHA say should be countered by increasing omega-3 intake, not reducing omega-6 which they believe to be more beneficial by keeping high (in replacement of saturates) – with an intake of 5-10% of daily calorie intake.

(*) the inflammatory response involvement is what is generally cited as the major negative for omega-6 FAs, however it's an essential response that's needed for health. It only becomes bad if allowed to get out of control through disease - eg. arthritis etc., when inflammatory diseases are present then it's essential to manage the inflammatory response. But that doesn't make the response bad for everyone else.

With respect to any food containing an abundance of any nutrient, moderation is the key. As a source of essential omega-6 fatty acids, peanut butter is great, and by not having omega-3s it doesn't become bad. You just need to get your omega-3 FAs from another source to balance it. Also, it's worth bearing in mind that peanuts are very high in monounsaturates too.

I’m leaving it there because I’m getting waffley and I don’t want to drift too far from my initial point which I think I’ve covered.

[Whatever]

I'm also on a bit of a health kick, how long it will last I don't know but I can try!

I used to eat a bowl of Special K for breakfast but that isn't particularly good for you so that's now replaced with simple Porridge with a small sprinkle of sugar.

Dinner is normally a roll from the local sandwich shop, normally white and filled with either chicken, bacon, sweet corn and mayo; cheese and onion or ham and coleslaw. Today that was replaced with a salad bowl with some ham and a sprinkle of grated cheese and lots of salad.

Even meal is normally a selection of stuff from Morrisons etc, like ready made meals, with a side and a bag of veg. Nothing super healthy but also something decent and that's important for Kate breast feeding at the moment. Desert may be a Activia or low fat custard/rice pudding.

I'm sat here watching biggest loser with a tub of Celebrations in front of me which I've limited myself to about 3 or 4 a day until they're gone and that's it.


I used to go to British Military Fitness and that was the best way to lose the fat, and one of the reasons I feel so was because the exercising was varied unlike a gym, with sprinting, jogging, walking etc which helps the body burn fat faster.

My first job will be to book a place in the Portsmouth Half Marathon and prove I can do a decent time again, my first run for ages. Hopefully the weight loss will save my knees too and I'll finally be able to complete the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon, one of my main reasons for losing weight.

[Steve Lampkins]

Well you are!

I've probably put on about 2 stone since you last saw me (I blame xmas...) 

Maybe you lost the weight a bit too quickly. We'll see, how I go. a couple stone in 3 months seemed a half-decent rate. (Though my Wii Fit board wasn't that happy about how fast it was.) I didn't want or expect a miracle or crash diet. Partly because all that nutrition stuff (no offense, Mr. A ) and calorie counting bores me to tears. I just decided to cut down portions and see how it goes. As I said, I've never been a big snacker, and don't really have a sweet tooth, but have generally had large meals.

[Jem]

Thank God I'm pregnant. I can stuff my face and pretend it's baby weight.

[sarahA]

i'd be interested to know, like most things food related there's a lot of conflicting information. Articles promoting peanut butter as a 'health food' and others saying the opposite: http://thediabetesclub.com/is-peanut-butter-healthy-not-really/

... *a very long and detailed reply*

See this is why I don't ask him anything sciency!!

I'm also on a bit of a health kick, how long it will last I don't know but I can try!

Best advice I can give, get into the habit now so that once your little one starts eating you can just share your wholesome healthy meals (say NO to mush and baby food! check out baby led weaning - http://www.babyledweaning.co.uk). Plus it'll be the best option for your missus too especially when BFing

[Tony]

Put plenty salt and vinegar on your chips, I used to do that and I was thin - since I don't eat chips as much I've gone fat.

Simple answer is eat more chips but don't forget the salt and vinegar!

[familychoice]

I’m leaving it there because I’m getting waffley and I don’t want to drift too far from my initial point which I think I’ve covered.

I think we're all in agreement that Dom's initial concept that the more peanut better he eats the healthier and thinner he'll be isn't correct. As you say it's all about balance and sensible eating. And I can see that there definitely is a healthy element to peanut butter, but it has to be stored properly and eaten sensibly or the benefits turn to potential issues.

I'm still not convinced that it's a 'health food', and I still disagree with Robs comment about including it in a weight-loss diet, but as long as you avoid the cheaper brands with added salt and sugar then it's certainly a nice treat. My next jar will probably come from the Meridian link I posted and avoid added fats altogether.

Maybe you lost the weight a bit too quickly. We'll see, how I go. a couple stone in 3 months seemed a half-decent rate.

I was pretty shocked how quickly it went, I've dieted hundreds of times in the past and tried various fitness and exercise regimes with little effect in losing weight. This time I obsessively counted calories and the weight just fell off. No exercising apart from a bit of typing.

I did have a lot of treats in my original intake - cakes, puddings, beer, crisps...all the good stuff...and that was just breakfast. Just by cutting these out and having a salad for lunch I was knocking off over 2000 calories a day. I cut out a lot more in the first week but then eased off a bit for the rest of the month. The second stone was harder, and the third an absolute nightmare but I got there. Then by eating sensibly (not dieting) I kept most of it off.

I don't like being thin during winter though I like a bit of flab around me, so the cakes are wheeled back in during the autumn for my 'winter plumage'. I'll be back on the salads in a couple of months.

See this is why I don't ask him anything sciency!!

I knew he'd enjoy that, I even understood some of it.

[sarahA]

You could just make your own peanut butter? Get a bag of unsalted peanuts (shelled would be easier), put them in a blender than can crush ice, and blend. That's all there is to it and you know exactly what's gone into it! You could do the same with almonds too

[Dom]

ENOUGH WITH THE PEANUT BUTTER! 

I don't eat that much, I just buy it in elephant-sized buckets.

[Tony]

Don't put peanut butter on chips - it's horrible!