Difficult to obtain ingredients for the Diet in Rural France

This topic contains 4 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by bigbooty 8 years, 8 months ago.

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Ian and Ann Woodward

2:48 pm
29 Mar 16
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Having been told to lose weight by my Doctor as I have Type 2 diabetes I purchased Dr. Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer’s book the Fast Diet, as my wife is also joining me on the diet, as well as the 8 week blood sugar diet by Dr. Michael Mosley.

Having read through the various menus and the ingredients required we have hit a bit of a snag. We live in Rural France and many of the items required are only available in the shops when they are actually ‘In Season’, unlike in the UK, and some we have just never found here.

Do you have, or can one be obtained from somewhere, an alternative list of ingredients that will have the same effect, that we can get in rural France?

The main items concerned are as follows with some dodgy French translations:

1. Cottage Cheese. Fromage cottage.
2. Fresh Figs. Figues fraîches.
3. Blueberries. Blueberries.
4. Fresh Strawberries. Fraises fraîches.
5. Watermelon. Watermelon.
6. Raspberries. Framboises.
7. Pomegranates. Grenades.
8. Goji Berries. Les baies de Goji.
9. Almond Butter. Beurre d’amande.
10. Halloumi. Halloumi.
11. Kippers. (hareng fume) Hareng fumée

Someone did find cottage cheese made by Danone under the Jockey label, it is in packs of 2x200gram tubs, in a green and white sleeve and it is called Cottage Cheese, and Fromage Frais Salé. Recette anglais, but unfortunately it is not available in our local shops.

A speedy answer would be nice as we are coming to the end of all of the “forbidden fruits” hiding out in the cupboards and fridge etc. that we need to give up, or restrict the intake of. Once this food is gone we will be having a serious attempt at following the diet plans.

Hillsy1592

6:28 pm
29 Mar 16
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What about finding out the calorie counts of foods you have readily on hand, and devising your own fast day menus from those? My understanding is that it doesn’t matter WHAT you eat, as long as you are eating 500/600 on fast days and keeping to your TDEE on non-fast days.

I haven’t used any of their recipes (I’m not in the UK either, so I suppose it would be challenging for me too to find all the ingredients–but the real reason is that I don’t want to do special shopping and cooking for fast days!), but have been tracking my calories by using online calculators that give me calorie values (for instance, http://www.caloriecount.com). For non-fast days, I haven’t been counting calories, but try to be reasonable.

Most people find that combining protein with vegetables is the best way to get through the fast days. It’s not hard to find out the calorie counts for unadorned eggs/meat/fish and vegetables online, so as long as you’re able to measure portions reasonably accurately, you might be able to make it work that way.

Cinque

7:50 pm
29 Mar 16
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Hi Ian and Ann,
Those menus and ingredients are not required. They are simply suggestions.
You can eat whatever you want on 5:2!
If the recipes in the book aren’t easy, check out the recipe threads on this site, or simply follow healthy eating guidelines, and make sure you keep your calorie count under 500 or 600 calories on fasting days!

Pot-bellied Heron

10:36 pm
29 Mar 16
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There is no ‘effect’ that these foods will give you that any other foods won’t. Ditch the book and do 5:2 any way you see fit.
The only thing in that list that I eat is halloumi but I’d hardly describe it as a diet food!

bigbooty

12:36 am
30 Mar 16
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Have to agree there is nothing magical about those ingredients. You live in France, and I LOVE cheese. Don’t be scared of eating cheese, stay away from the simple carbs. Maybe try and substitute, ricotta for cottage. Tuna for kippers, any goat cheese for haloumi. Personally Id try and go for any berry type fruits as they contain less sugar. Watermelon and pomegranates are particularly high in sugar content. If you avoid sugars and simple carbs like bread, rice, pasta on your fast days it will make life very easy. A bowl of high fat low sugar yogurt with some berries and raw almonds tastes as good as it gets and will satiate you for most of the day. Just jump in and do it.