Hi all – my what a lot of posts to catch up on this morning, you have all been very busy bees.

Joffy – yes I agree, the extra beans really do make the minestrone more filling. Yesterday’s FD was 3 pots of tea with milk, 1 banana and a large bowl of homemade minestrone without the pasta but with extra canelli beans. I felt really full after the soup.

Craftgirl – the binge disorder forum you were looking for is: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/binge-eating-disorder-group/
(If you ever can’t find a forum thread, I find the search function can help track it down.)
Like you I’ve have IBS since my 20s, so for about 30 years. For me the symptoms were abdominal pain and diarrhoea and it was quite persistent for a long time. Losing weight helped but didn’t eliminate it, but the change that made the most difference and virtually eliminated my symptoms was a dietary one. I added more legumes to my diet – I try to eat them at least 4 days per week – it doesn’t have to be a lot, some days it will just be a scoop of hommus. I aim for a much higher than average fibre level – 40-50g per day. To do this I eat 7-10 serves of veg+fruit each day and I have also replaced all refined grain products from my regular diet with high fibre choices. I have not eliminated sugars from my diet, but my intake is low and mainly from fresh fruit and other wholefoods rather than added. I have also noticed that the diarrhoea returns if I have a high fat meal – I suspect this is because I had my gall bladder removed in my 20s so my body has a harder time digesting fats – because of this I usually stick to a moderate fat level in my diet. It took about 3 weeks for me to notice significant changes and I rarely get any IBS symptoms now. Initally I did experience more gas but after 3 weeks that stopped and I get no gas reaction from eating legumes now (although I do still have issues with some cruciferous vegetables like cabbage). I should point out that this is my personal experience and unfortunately there is no guarantee that it will apply directly to others. But it is worth looking at your diet as a contributor to the problem and perhaps testing some changes.

Minka – to test a theory by keeping a diary to track symptoms, food etc it is important to have “before” data – preferably 3-4 weeks of tracking everything that you want to monitor without making any changes. Then make changes and continue tracking. If you are changing anything other than just the probiotics then I’d recommend making one change at a time so that you can align results to specific changes. This is a similar approach to an elimination diet that is sometimes used to test for allergies and intolerance. I notice in your post that you have already started adding probiotics so you may just be able to test the effect that different quantities have on your body.

As to your question about the gut biome, I actually think our bodies are complex and that there are probably several things at play that can effect how we react to, digest and burn or store the food we eat. I suspect that the way our gut, genes, metabolism, immune system, hormones… work together is probably slightly different for everyone. I think part of the problem with diet theory is that it has too often tired to find the “one” answer that will solve everyone’s weight issues. I don’t think there is a single answer, I think it’s a very individual thing and it can take time to figure out what is a help or a hindrance for you personally. For example my reaction to food both mentally and physically is affected by: my genes which seem to have given me an overly efficient use of calories; IBS which indicates issues in my small and large intestine and probably gut flora; a lack of gall bladder which affects fat digestion; RA which indicates I have a faulty immune system and am susceptible to inflammation; long standing emotional issues which lead to a binge eating disorder. This “package” of issues will individually and in combination affect the way my body reacts to food and it is unique to me. I can’t fix my issues with food by trying to solve one of these issues, I have to try to deal with the whole picture. I think this is why it can be so difficult to accurately find causal links between things because isolating a single influence is impossible.

As I mentioned above I changed my diet to eliminate most simple carbohydrates (except for fruit which I eat every day), and I concentrate on high fibre complex carbohydrates and I eat legumes regularly. A consequence of this is that my animal protein intake is fairly low because I get some of those needs met by legumes. While my goal was a reduction in IBS symptoms it is very likely that it changed my gut flora and it is possible that this affected the way my body digests and uses the food that I eat. It is this last consequence that it difficult to test.

*The monthly weigh-in*
As it’s the first of the month, it’s weigh-in day for me. I was actually a little worried this morning because I’ve eaten more chocolate than I’m happy about in the last 2 weeks and I took my measurements last week and they were higher. However this morning my measurement were back to their April level and I weighed the same as last month, so no loss and no gain. That I can live with. The thing that I find reassuring is that I have counted no kilojoules at all this month at all – this was the first month I’ve attempted this in many years. The only recording I’m doing is a very brief food diary which is part meal planner and part diary record. This means that long term I may be able to eat at a maintenance level without having to monitor kilojoules at all – it feels like a step in the right direction toward my goal of a “normal” relationship with food. So despite the lack of weight loss I feel remarkably happy about it.

Hello all Southern Hemispherites!

Cinque, I chuckled when I read that extra important detail about leptin supplementation that I’d forgotten. Of course I also didn’t remember why, so I looked that up. Apparently leptin is like insulin and we can develop a resistance to it, so supplementing with just contributed to leptin resistance unless it was supplemented to someone who wasn’t able to supply it themselves such as the small number of people born with that defect!

LJ, thanks for those extra guidelines on how to track my data. It is true that the only change I’m making is the addition of the inulin powder and I have a record of my binge patterns from before I started taking it, via my daily weighing and associated mood diary notes. I do wish I would have undergone a body scan prior to starting 5:2, then again 8 months in, just prior to starting this experiment with inulin. That would definitely give me a picture of how visceral fat is affected by 5:2 and inulin separately. Though not very scientific, I’ve decided to go ahead and get the scans even though it won’t be 100% clear if a drop in visceral fat down the track is solely from inulin for from practicing 5:2 or a combination of the two.

Hi all, another NFD for me, but no appetite has appeared yet, despite the cold day so lunch may be quite late today.

Cinque – sometimes our bodies behave in a way that no amount of data can explain and it just leaves me scratching my head trying to figure it out.

Welcome Karen. I look forward to hearing about your journey. A cheery hello to Minka, LJoyce, Cinque, Bay, Merry, Thin and everyone else.

Yesterday was a disaster. Had afternoon tea with some ladies I used to work with. Saw the cakes in the display case and thought they looked huge, but told myself half would be ok. Of course it never works that way and I ate the whole thing. A couple of hours later and I had nausea and vomiting and a killer headache. That’ll teach me to ignore my inner voices. After all these years I should know it doesn’t end well, but perhaps I just needed the reminder.

On a positive note I did my first session of HIT during lunch today. I’m sure the onlookers thought I was crazy, but afterwards I felt amazing and I was back at work within 20 minutes. It was a great break from work so I think I’ll do that on Mon, Wed and Fri from now on. Tue, Thurs and Sat I’ll focus on strength.

Thanks also for the book recommendations. I’m waiting for them to become available through the Council library and look forward to reading more about this area.

Hope everyone has a fabulous Wednesday, whether fasting or not. 🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁 (in honour of the lovely autumn leaves I’m starting to see)

Good evening everyone,

Hello Lady Salsa! I thought your name sounded familiar so I looked back and remembered I saw your post of nearly a year ago, that Merry answered! So wonderful to find out what a brilliant result you have had with 5:2, and that your hip replacement has gone well. And you have exciting activity ahead of you!
You are right to describe 5:2 as a gift. A gift that keeps giving! Welcome here!

Oh dear what a cake disaster Craft Girl. I’m glad you have recovered now, and your HIT lunch break sounds excellent!
There are beautiful Autumn leaves here too!

LJoyce, it is certainly true I do a lot of head scratching in my life! I hope you have had a good NFday!
I did. hooray.

I found a nice red winter dress at the Op Shop, and ‘The African news Cookbook’ which I am so enjoying. African recipes are my interest at the moment and I had just searched the library for an African recipe book and there were none. This one is from 1985, and it is very good. Well worth the $2!
And I have discovered you can eat sweet potato leaves! I have a plant in the garden and I am so keen to try them! They say they are like spinach, but no oxalic acid. (Choose the young ones though!) I’ll try some in with some braised cabbage I think.
If anyone has experience with them please share!

Minka, I hope you have had a good day. I’ve got my fingers crossed the inulin works brilliantly!

Good wishes to Thin and Merry, Joffy, Gday and all the lurkers, and especially you Intesha! Hi Yvonne, Tori, Redmoonstar, Jenwren, KiwisGoFaster, and everyone else! I hope things are going well.

Well hello everyone i have been reading every ones posts hoping to get back into it i completely fell of the wagon and gained 3 kilos lots of comfort eating so first FD for a while.

Hello everyone and welcome to the new and the returning posters.

Miss D and I had a lovely day out on Sunday. No water in our favourite creek which was surprising. Went to one of the gorges which has 300 steps down a steep slope to get to the bottom and I was really happy that I wasn’t too puffed climbing down and back up again. Was so busy being active that I didnt eat except for brekky and a small morning snack so ended up being an unplanned fast day.

Scales the following morning read at 67.5….wow. Back to 68.4 today but that is still my lowest to date…..yay !

Hi all, went for a lovely walk in the brief sunshine this morning – into town for a haircut and some other errands – very pleasant.

FD for me today – my usual piece of fruit and a legume & veg soup – sweet potato, cauli & red lentil today.

Joffy – glad you finally got that suit ordered and I’m really pleased you went with the pleats, I definitely think they were the nicer 80s style in mens trousers.
Glad you had a go at making your own FD soup. I always make my own soups but have found a few tricks to get great flavour into them. For minestrone I add either basil pesto or better still, sundried tomato pesto. I’ll add up to 1/4 cup per pot of soup and it does wonders for the flavour intensity of a minestrone. In fact if I have a bowl of soup that is a bit bland, stirring just one teaspoon of pesto though it can make all the difference – and it’s important to enjoy the little you get to eat on a FD.

Hi GDSA – Mung beans are great because they cook so much quicker than other beans and you can cook them without a soak if necessary. I often make dahl using mung beans and they are also a favourite bean to add to vegetable soups because of their small size.

For some recipie ideas, have a look at: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/
Also any recipie using brown or green lentils can usually be successfully made with mung beans.

I make a vegetarian burger recipie that I use either lentils or mung beans in:
LEGUME & NUT BURGER:
1 cup cooked sticky short grain rice (I sometimes use kasha or pearl barley instead)
1 1/2 cups cooked mung beans or brown lentils
2 grated carrots
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (any type: rye, wholemeal, spelt, gluten free…)
1/2 cup crunchy nut butter (I usually use a dark roasted almond or peanut butter – it needs to be firm not runny)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp basil
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tblsp dark thick soy sauce or kecap manis
1/2-1 tsp salt
butter or oil for pan frying

Mix everything together. Taste the mixture and adjust the salt (how much you need depends on how salty the soy and nut paste are.) With wet hands, shape into 16 rissoles.
Arrange them on a well oiled baking sheet and bake at 200C for 10-15 minutes until they dry out and start to darken. Allow to cool completely.
At this stage they can either be refrigerated or frozen.
Pan fry for 5-7 minutes on each side (I usually use half and half olive oil & butter.) Try to turn them once only or you risk them breaking up.
You can serve them with veg or salad like rissoles, but I usually make them into burgers with a bun, salad, cooked onions and sometimes a slice of cheese.

If I can’t find good nut butter I sometimes put roasted nuts into a small food processor with just enough drops of oil to make a firm paste. Although to get it crunchy I find I have to chop some nuts separately as the processor always makes a smooth paste.

I just had a thought – did you just give up bread? If you want to leave out the breadcrumbs you could try replacing it with a bit more more sticky rice and some almond or coconut flour although I’d add the flour last and slowly until the mixture comes together like a burger mix.

Hi had an easy FD yesterday. love soup so i will check out some of these recipes my neighbor gave me a stack of red chillies so i dehydrated them they seem to find there way into everything. I love anything made with legumes looks like a grocery day today.

Sailed through a FD yesterday and kept forgetting to eat. I was busy at the hairdresser for a couple of hours (smugly declined the delicious looking coffee that other customers were enjoying) and then decided to browse the nearby op shop. Cinque and others will be pleased to learn that I found a very unusual top with original tags for $4.25.

Welcome Lady Salsa, Karen. I’m also in Perth. NOR or SOR? How are you getting on Elasticity, our other Perth newbie? Welcome back Fishing Gran.

I didn’t know you could cook mung beans. I love them but have only ever eaten them raw. They and avocado give any salad a gourmet feel.

GDSA, congratulations on your new low! Do you think cutting out bread for the week had some effect on kick-starting your loss? I hope your new PB is giving you a sense of increased power & confidence to overcome the crappy year you’ve been having.

Joffy, your suit sounds outrageous. Shame we can’t see a photo of the final product but it will have to be left to our imagination.

LJ, I’m preparing for recording a typical NFD intake for your kind computation. As you know, I have paid no regard to anything consumed on a NFD before so what I’ve been doing this week is taking a usual ‘helping’ of nuts, say, and then noting the weight. I did the same with a typical ‘snack size’ piece of feta. For my coffee, I measured 100mls of milk, frothed it and took the usual amount I would use for a coffee, then subtracted the remainder. I also poured myself a typical size glass of wine one evening and then poured it out of the glass into a measuring cup and was pleased to confirm that it was only 100mls. I’m hoping these steps will help me to provide an accurate sample of a day’s intake rather than weighing the food first which would skew the results and make me look better. When I weighed my muesli, I found that I was taking a greedy 100gms when the packet says a serving size is 45gms! So already, I can see that the very act of recording will have a positive effect on reducing intake. It seems rude to ask you to compute the cals for items that are clearly stated on a packet but I will appreciate your help with the other ingredients. When I accumulate enough ‘sample’ items, I will record a full NFD’s intake including a typical evening meal recipe. Thank you again for helping me with this.

How would you have computed a NFD at the mercy of someone else’s cooking? For example, on Saturday I consumed one G&T, about 5 crisps (no idea what as I haven’t bought any for years) and then a curry which comprised a dessert spoonful of rice, two ‘helpings’ of chicken curry, two ‘helpings’ of egg and spinach curry (half a hard boiled egg in total), one ‘helping’ of dahl and a tsp each of a wide range of accompaniments including chopped banana, sultanas, red, yellow and green capsicum, coconut & chutney. For dessert I had a sizeable portion of home-made mango ice cream, lychees and apricots with cream. (I’m sort of disgusted as I write!) One coffee with milk. I also had a small glass of red wine which I now know would have been about 100mls. That day, I had two cups of coffee at home, no breakfast or dinner. I wonder how you would have tackled this in your recordings since you can’t measure a ‘helping’ and you can’t reasonably ask the host for the calorie count, not if you want to be invited back.

Although this is not common eating behaviour for me, I feel like I’ve exposed a real glutton in posting this. Fortunately, I am a comfortable 60.2kg today so feeling good. But are these FDs simply counter-acting a poor eating pattern? In pressing ‘submit’, I feel like I really am ‘submitting’!

That looks good Cinque another soup to try thanks. had a walk with the pups on the beach and spending time in the craft room making roses for my cards stops me thinking of food lol.

Hi all, I know I have only been back on this for a week but just wondering how long it takes to get back into it without binging on NFD?? I am going OK with FD ( today is one) and having around 600cals but then I seem to eat everything in sight next day and I know I’m eating to much. I don’t eat breakfast as once I start I seem to get hungry quickly and just eat! My second NFD day is better and I can usually stick to 1500 cals without being hungry, although when I have a day out of routine I find it more difficult to do this. Any hints really appreciated! Thanks Monica

Hello all. Thanks for the mung bean recipies i will pick one and have a go on the weekend.

LJoyce yes I did decide to give up bread, well cut down significantly is more like it. Ive had 2 slices of rye in the last week compared to having 2 slices each day before. So I don’t mind adding breadcrumbs to the recipie for a treat. Cutting down on bread also means cutting down on the butter than goes ontop too !

Thinatlast yes I think cutting down on bread has had an impact but I also havent felt hungry for lunch since I started back at work on Tuesday after 2 weeks holiday so have only eaten brekky and tea the last few days.

Have decided to totally give up alcohol too as the red wine is too tempting with the cool weather. I figure if I’m going to eat well, stick to my FD’s and exercise daily I might as well stop taking in the alcohol empty calories too.

*Sorry Redmoon, I just read that you don’t eat breakfast anyway. How about roughly planning what you’ll eat first the day after a fast to reduce snacking and feel satiated with something nutritious and worthwhile?

Finally home and $400 poorer from the medical appointments & scripts!!

On the bright side I had a stunning lunch at a cafe in Hahndorf between appointments. It was essentially an organic vegan reinterpretation of “burger & chips”.
The patty was the size of a cricket ball and made from quinoa & chickpeas and tasted like a really good felafel but with a much lighter juicier texture. It was topped with onion jam, micro salads & skordalia dressing. Instead of a bun, they served between 2 disks of roasted butternut – flavourwise this worked perfectly. The potatoes were unpeeled and cut into really chunky wedges then roasted in olive oil, garlic & rosemary and supposedly served with hommus. Although it didn’t taste like chickpeas to me – based on the flavours, texture and pale colour I think they made it from white beans and cashews (and lots of garlic) with a texture more like pesto than hommus. I ate every single bite on my plate and every one was delicious – my taste buds are still in seventh heaven. I can see I’m going to have to experiment with burger recipies again.
I probably don’t need to add that this was a NFD.

Thanks Thin, I don’t live alone ( it would be lots easier if I did) and I try not to have the lollies in the house but sometimes I just crave them so buy them and then eat!
The protein shakes are a left over from the previous diet I WAS doing and I don’t want to waste them. I would like to get to the point of eating food only when I feel hungry but being able to have treats without going overboard. I know that when I deprive myself I end up bingeing for weeks then gaining back all the lost weight and getting angry about it but then it takes me months to try again.I’m hoping that with this lifestyle I can eat treats occasionally which will stop me eating so much as I know I can have it and not be deprived.I’m not a meat eater, I do eat chicken breast, tuna and eggs. I’m making soup so I know how many calories are in it and will have a vegetable soup for FD’s and a different variety for NFD’s.I know I need to change my eating habits and am hoping this will also help with that as I get better with the lifestyle. Everyone on here is an inspiration as you have succeeded with this lifestyle and my aim is to be like you all.

I was driving yesterday to visit my sister who has had to have a couple of days in hospital. Thinking I would stop at an op shop on the way home I went Doh! I didn’t tell Thin how cool I thought your op shop find was! (I found nothing 🙁 )

I had an ordinary fast day yesterday. Ok but right at the highest limit of calories. I blame the cold weather. I prefer a ‘fastier’ day when I manage it!

Thinking about your love for lollies Redmoonstar, it made a difference for me to really own the pleasure in eating something, and to really enjoy each step: deciding when I will have the treat (eg next Friday), so that I will make the most of it, deciding exactly what the treat will be (which lollies, how many), really loving the anticipation and then being really mindful to suck every bit of the enjoyment out of the experience.
Often later I have to do a bit of analysis about how it made me feel and whether I would enjoy it more by doing something different… and then I start planning my next treat!
This has been the main thing that has helped me deal with that childhood feeling of being deprived by not being able to live my own wishes.

Joffy I love that chili zing! It is amazing how the amount you can tolerate creeps up! I guess you weren’t able to have a glass of milk alongside to put the fire out.

LJoyce what a gorgeous cafe meal! Glad you have all your scrips and things and hoping it is a fair while before the next outlay!

I’m off to have coffee with my friend and do my veggie shopping. Lovely.
I wonder if I will make my mung bean stew today. Hmm 2yo coming for an overnight visit at 4pm, so maybe not!

Cheers to any Friday Fasters!

GDSA – the stickiness of the shortgrain calrose rice is important to holding the burgers together, so you could use quinoa but it wouldn’t be sticky. You can get around this by increasing the amount of nut paste and also adding an egg if it’s not holding together properly. When I use pearl barley or kasha buckwheat instead of the rice I usually end up adding an egg. The other thing that can help bind a legume burger together is to mash a few of the cooked beans as they then become a sticky paste which helps bind the ingredients together. Leave most of them whole though as the texture of the cooked beans or lentils is one of the nice things about these burgers.
When you put them into the oven to dry them off keep an eye on them. For some reason every batch is a little different. I usually start checking after 5 minutes. Just remember you aren’t cooking them, just drying them out enough that they hold together. If I’m in a hurry and don’t want to deal with the drying out and cooling process before I can fry them, I add extra breadcrumbs and an egg and I roll the formed burger patties in either cornmeal or flour or dry breadcrumbs and then I can panfry immediately.
Depending on how large a burger you want to make you can also vary the size. I normally use fairly small bread rolls so I make smallish burger patties. If you want to use a traditional sized hamburger bun you may want to make just 8-10 patties from the mixture. A thicker burger pattie does hold together better.

Hello all you fabulous people. I love how I have to take 10 mins to read everyone’s posts when I miss a couple of days. It’s great to see how we all have similar challenges and the different ways of dealing with them. I really liked your ideas on mindfully planning and eating lollies, Cinque. I’m definitely going to start using that idea.

Redmoon I had similar urges to gorge when I first started this WOL but I’ve found that this week the tide has turned (4th week) and I’m able to keep my appetite in control. I’ve also had a few occasions when I really wanted to gorge on sweets and I’ve realised it was an emotional need rather than hunger. A quick walk (5 mins max) outside helped on those days. I’ve also got rid of my insomnia and am back to falling asleep quickly.

Thank you everyone for the recipe ideas. I have a feeling this WOL will also make me a better cook – because of all your yummy recipe ideas!! I think your Almond Butter idea is a must try, GDSA. Even I can try that, haha.

I also wanted to let you all know my OH has lost 4kgs in the past month so I’m very thankful for all your support. He’s very happy with the weight loss so far and says he’ll keep going, so I’m feeling excited for him and our family.

Just a quick question – do you (any of you) limit yourself to 50gms of protein on your FDs? I watched the Horizon show “Eat, Fast and Live Longer” the other night and realised both me and OH have been eating much more than that on FDs and NFDs. I had a poached egg and 50gms smoked salmon with a huge salad for my FD meal yesterday but think I would struggle with just the smoked salmon. 50gms is almost nothing 🙁

Happy Friday everyone and hope your weekends are stupendous 🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

Craftgirl – I aim roughly aim to be in the 45-80g of protein per day range, although I have less than that on a FD. Most days I’m closer to the bottom of that range. This goal is based roughly on the AUS & NZ Dietary Guidelines for those with chronic disease (it advises that protein should be 15-25% of calories – this means the grams vary depending on your TDEE). This is not something I monitor anymore, but I used to, so I know how much protein I tend to regularly add to my meals.
There is a big difference between grams of foods that are rich in protein and actual grams of protein. For example a large 60g egg contains 6 grams of protein and also 6 grams of fat. Most of the calories in an egg actually come from the fat, not the protein because a gram of fat has twice the calories of protein. From the smoked salmon you are getting more protein, 50g has 12g protein and 2g fat – and a whopping 633mg sodium. This means that on your FDs you are only having about 18g protein from the salmon & egg. You will get a little more protein from your other food choices as most foods contain at least trace amounts of protein (for example most fresh veg have anywhere from 1-12g protein per 100g, although most are in the 1-4g range).

Hi Thin,
Yes I have kefir grains which, following PVE’s advice I put in the feeezer this afternoon as we have enough kefir to last until we leave on 17th May. However, if you want some I will go and get some milk and rescue them and hibernate them in the fridge until we can meet, maybe next week. Then, if mine don’t rejuvenate when we return I know where I can get some replacements 🙂

Val

Thin,

We have done the overseas cycling thing so often that I can almost do my share of the prep in my sleep. Coffee and insurance are both appealing. DH is busy with final route planning and probably wont miss me for an hour or two.

Off to buy milk and give ‘Missy’ the kiss of life.

Val

Thanks PerthGirl, I named mine Charlie after CharliesMum, past poster who gave me my first grains. It threatened to take over the house, so prolific was it but, despite passing it on to various neighbours, we all managed to kill it in the end with dubious holiday hibernation plans.

I’m free any day next week except Tuesday. You say where/when’s convenient and then we can see if any other Perth losers wish to join us. I’ll check whether VegieDownUnder is coming up from the country.

Ladies,

the only day I’m not free is Thursday – which I recall in Thin’s fast day. My only criteria is meeting place is accessible with Transperth.

Well what do you know, another kefir source. I had to wait weeks for mine to migrate from Bridgetown 🙂