My parents were both born in the 1930s, so lived through the sugar famine and subsequent feast.

As children we didn’t have a lot of shop bought sweets, but we did have puddings and cakes. Sugar was added to tea to make it palatable to children… We had orange juice AND sugar on pancakes… A cube of sugar as a reward for taking medicine…etc. But not excessive.

And unsurprisingly carbohydrates were often the largest proportion of the meal.

I used to have much more of a sweet tooth than I do now, but I guess the fact I can easily pass on a cake suggests it was just a mindless habit for me. In the days when I could eat more food, I’d rather a starter and a main than a main and a dessert. Having said that, if I do get started on sugary stuff I will want more! Nuts and cheese help curb the urge 🙂

Hi Lichtle

I think I will respectfully disagree. My money is on centuries of humans only being able to have sweet stuff when it’s in season. If you look at people who have access to berries once a year, they eat as many of them as they can while they can. We get huge amounts of vitamins and antioxidants from berries.

I think the body doesn’t distinguish between the sweet stuff coming from fruit and sweet stuff coming from all kinds of sugars. Unless we train ourselves. 😉

My five cents worth!
Cheers, Bay 🙂

Congrats, Bay: good decision – for all of us!

Fascinating discussion: I’m sure some of it goes back to hunter/gathering and the need to gorge on calories when they’re available, plus upbringing, etc etc. I’m also very taken by the specialised nature of each of our ‘sweet teeth’: I’m completely with you on the fresh fruit, Lichtie, but your bread and jam leaves me cold – bread is for cheese! And texture is important to me: meringues, cream cakes, sponges, you can keep – if I eat cake I want a sticky flapjack or a wedge of heavy fruit cake. With sweets, it’s chewy that does it for me, and extremely dark chocolate – there’s no resisting toffee, or a really good dark chocolate caramel! – but milk chocolate, creams and truffley things are just not nice!

Origins of these tastes (like others!) obviously multi causal, and buried in time, but it’s good that we know our own! Off now for yoghurt and fruit! Have a good day, all

Thanks Bay and FFS. Looking forward to a good fast today and strangely this morning even looking forward to our challenge in two weeks’ time. I am fired up now.

Go Happy!!!!!!. You had OH and I laughing while more deaths were occuring on Midsomer Murders! HE (the sweet tooth) was horrified by the carob covered brazil nuts. I couldn’t get over the excess of yoghurt covered ginger (I hate ginger, he adores it!) Seriously, you can eat what you like/need at 58 kg!!! 😉 P

Yeah, but the yoghurt isn’t really, is it, Happy? I’ve been done the same way at H and B: yogurt-covered ginger/raisins – healthy snack, or so I thought. The first mouthful tells you the ‘yoghurt’ tastes more like white chocolate – which I loathe – but it’s oddly addictive. And before you know it the bag is empty. Give yourself a free pass for that one, if only for nobly finishing it! And P is right: you can afford the occasional blowout; it’s just that it would be nice to use it on something you genuinely love!

FFS, when I realised how unhealthy the ‘yoghurt’ ‘ginger’ was, I had the thought (as I do increasingly with age!) that I ought to complain… But perhaps I am at fault, and H%B aren’t in fact a “health food store’ but a ‘health, food store’…

Morning P!

I might go and have a conversation with the poor unsuspecting shop assistant, next time I’m in town and grumpy!

I’ve just posted a Dad update on jojo’s thread (to add him to the fatberg). He’s now lost 29lbs on the 5:2 cheesecake and wine diet. Waist down from too tight 40in to comfortable 36 (at 5ft11.5!). He realises he could lose more quickly if he cut out the wine! But acknowledges that wouldn’t be a sustainable life style change… 🙂

Haha Purple

Closer than you think. Sugared up on the weekend. 😯 Am fasting today.
just had a handful of dry roasted almonds at 3 pm. Fasted on water only from 8 pm last night. So 21 hours this time. 😉

Cheers, Bay

Hi Purple

Sorry about the sore foot. 😯 Take care of yourself. Maybe your body needs to have something nice like chili salmon and a pile of greens to help the foot repair itself. This becomes a rest and repair day for you. 😉 You have no problem losing weight when you need to, and maybe over the next few days you could pamper yourself with nutrient rich foods.

Thinking of you. Cheers, Bay 🙂

Hi P,

And how is the bee…?! Seriously, sorry to hear about the sting, nasty. I hope it doesn’t keep you awake. Are you taking antihistamines?

Your meal sounds great. OH is away tonight, so it would be a great opportunity for me to fast today… But am only 59.3 this morning (and that’s my inflated weekend water weight). So thinking of a longish fast but then just some nice tasty vegetarian fayre (the sort OH doesn’t like 🙂 )

Bay, good work on the fasting. I think a lot of the reason I cave in at 19 or so hours is due to the lack of distraction slumped over a comput er all day!

And on that note…

Well done, Purple, Great meal. 😉 off to sleep now.

Happy, I get out of the house as soon as I’m tempted. Shame that you’re tied to the computer. 🙄

Cheers, Bay

Good luck ffs. There is no way my OH would totally give up biscuits. All I manage is to reduce the intake.
Off to bed. The foot WILL be better tomorrow 😉 P

I guess it explains why we goal reachers are still here Barata. Telling someone you are going to fast ties you in to following through don’t you think? I’d hate to let my maintenance mates down 😉

Gee. 8% is pretty pathetic, isn’t it? I’ve lost 29kgs and weigh 57. Done in 12 months, that’s a lot more than 16%. !!!! P

And wonderful losses, P. You must be thrilled. I know I am, would love to stand on the railway station and spread the good word. Have even thought of having posters or leaflets printed, you know, “If you want to lose weight, no cost, google ‘5 2′”. I love having NO double chin, and visible neck bones.

It’s knowing the solution, and so wanting them to get all the benefits we are enjoying.

Yes. Exactly. I introduce it in conversation eg ‘I’m not sure what size I am as I’ve lost a lot of weight lately’. Usually starts a conversation that involves 5:2, mentioning Mr Purple has reversed his diabetes with it and they are hooked 😉 P

Congratulations to every one of us – and every one of us is definitely ALL WOMAN (except our very welcome men friends and DHs, who are obviously ALL MAN) – each of us regardless of colour, politics, faith, sexual preferences, family, sugar struggles or savoury addictions – and the rest! It’s lovely that we’re geographically so widespread, but wouldn’t a celebration party – with group photo, and notes on the back of past and present weights – be a wonderful advertisement – (and huge fun)?!

I also came to the forum after I had lost my weight as I knew that I would find it harder to maintain than to lose. 😯 I think the drama goes out of it and then MrWill Power has to stretch his muscle. 😉

Fasted until 4 pm today, then had vegetable soup. Finished up with salmon and broccolini, and tomato. Felt like an enormous feast. 😆

Cheers, Bay

I didn’t even twig that there was a forum until I’d lost the weight! But then my reasoning was like all of yours – keeping it off will be harder (we’ve all read the stats) and I’ll need some support.

Lichtie – that was the idea of the Lent challenge: once I’ve committed publicly I won’t lose face by letting myself off. Perhaps next year I should consider working on pride?!

I’ve found the answer to the ‘lost weight, can’t cope with the cold’ thing. Bought myself the most amazingly snug duffel coat, in the sale, from the original makers of such things. It will ‘see me out’ , in DH’s phrase: only problems now will be a) building up enough muscle to carry its weight and b) resisting the temptation to wear it everywhere and anywhere, however formal or otherwise. (Michael Foot’s Remembrance Sunday, anyone?). Feel I now need some red wellies, and a hat big enough to hide a stash of marmalade sandwiches (oops, sorry, no – forgot I was on fast diet forum for a moment. ).

Fasting today, so rambling! Have just broken fast with carrot and coriander soup, and looking forward to baked smoked haddock with spinach and a poached egg tonight. Perhaps we should publish a book of our fantasies?!

Hi Barata – took me a while, too! D is ‘Dear’ ( sometimes said through gritted teeth…) – as in ‘Dear Husband’, DD (dear daughter) DS, DMiL etc etc. You’ve enlightened me, too – I’ve been wondering about OH. Had decided on ‘Old Husband’ (sorry, P!) – never thought about ‘Other Half’! [ I guess I don’t naturally use ‘Other Half’ a lot – I grew up in an atmosphere where it implied that once you were safely partnered-up you were less than a whole person on your own – which I’m absolutely sure is not true in P’s case! – so I avoid it if poss. And the other side of that is the acknowledgement that marifal status is no-one else’s business, so you can’t win, really! ]. Anyone think of a better alternative to either??

You and me both hungry, Barata, despite the very lovely fish and spinach – but nearly bedtime! I have to be on an early train to London tomorrow morning – so I’m making sure I set the alarm early enough to give me time for breakfast!

I like ‘Mr P’ – and I do agree about the increasing feeling of team identity as time goes on. These days we even have complementary disabilities – each can do stuff the other can’t – and joke that between us we make a whole human being, and when one of us (sadly but inevitably) eventually goes, the other will be royally stuffed – benefit / pain of a long relationship, I guess. I do understand ‘OH’, when it’s reality – as it clearly is with you and Mr P – just still can’t quite stomach the language and attitudes of my unreconstructed and restrictive upbringing – too many memories! Thankfully, we’ve.been able to be part of freeing each other – but terminology was still much easier before retirement, when he simply introduced himself as ‘the Vicar’s wife’ – one of the first here, which made for much amusement (some of the time!)

Enough of serious: apologies for heavy stuff. Sorry about the coat, P – but isn’t it a wonderful feeling, buying something labelled ‘S’, when it used to be ‘XL’?! Would it work with several large sweaters underneath, or do you never get cold enough to need them? Hope you can send it back if necessary.

Clearly above your station, Grumpy’s wife! 😉

Just returned from a wonderful week in Tasmania. Beautiful weather! Went down to see the wooden boat festival with DH, my 92 year old Dad and some friends. Had cake, cheese, wine and plenty of other ‘bad’ things every day. By the time I got on the plane last night I felt like a big fat slug! I couldn’t wait to get home to start fasting. The first holiday I’ve had since starting 5:2 where I didn’t do a version of 5:2. Well got on the scales this morning and still 400g below upper limit of wriggle weight. Yay! But this feeds into the comments being made re environment vs genetic regarding food choices. I have noticed I still have this attitude to food where if I can’t have what I want when I want it I feel deprived. And there is no logical reason for that. Food is just food, I have attached all the emotion to it and I wish I knew how to remove it!

Congrats to all three, P, Mr P and Carol – well done. You obviously ate well, Carol – but managed to control the ‘want it NOW’! I’m sure those deeply rooted emotional connections with food go back an awful long way and take real courage and commitment to address. P, isn’t it odd, the way the difficulty or otherwise of any given fast day is so hard to predict? I, too, usually find the second fast of the week much harder.
I changed my second FD today (did it yesterday instead) as I had to go to London, and like to nibble while on the train. I walked across London and back – just over 6 miles (9km) – and came home to a pilates class tonight. The ‘fitness pal’ app calculated 526 Cals worth of exercise. Naughtily, I thought next time I might do it on a fast day – the way it calculates, I could end up with a minus quantity consumed, and I suspect the app might explode! The child in me – not far below the surface – would just like to see what would happen!