I’ll be thinking of you Bay when we eat our pancakes for breakfast in the morning.
Reward for our fast today! 😉 P
This topic contains 11,642 replies, has 174 voices, and was last updated by Pollypenny 2 months, 2 weeks ago.
Thanks everyone – here we go! Good, luck, everyone – and No beatings up if there are slips, ok?
And P, I had a pedometer for Christmas, but haven’t set it up yet. Perhaps alL the time I save not eating sweets will make space to do so. Just back from the gym – but I actually find my regular walking much more helpful – and less boring!
Hi P,
I am picking up a basic pedometer tomorrow. If I get on with it and use it I might upgrade to something more flash.
I suspect (know 🙁 ) that when I work at home and don’t go for a walk/ run I fall short of 10000 steps. It will be interesting to see how much I do though as it is quite a long way to the hens and polytunnel… And not forgetting carrying cups of tea down to OH in his shed 🙂
Hi Happy (and fellow MCs)
What we found, and friends too, is that as soon as you get a monitor, you have a little reminder that you should choose the more active route. It becomes a little competition with yourself to add in the extras (always walk that little extra to the stairs, always walk up escalators)
Office jobs really are a problem with movement. I’m sorry I didn’t have a monitor when I was teaching little kids. I was always on the move. I didn’t sit down all day. Mind you, I still put on weight, as I was eating too much/the wrong food. Imagine if I hadn’t been active!
I have slept a lot better the last two nights. I do wonder if it was a result of going for a long walk both evenings. P
Hi Lichtle and FFS
After our chat yesterday, I googled Lenten fasts and to my amazement 1:6 is the norm. People were to fast and to give up worldly things for six days a week. No one was supposed to fast on a Sunday which was given over to celebrating. How interestingly like the fast diet it is.
My goal is to achieve control over my sugar intake. So that says to me that birthdays and other major celebrations are exempt from this sugar free way of life. So long as I do not have any sugar on normal days, then I will be way better off than I am now.
Within the next 46 days, my aim is to have 40 sugar free days. This is doable, as Samm says. More importantly it is probably 30 more sugar free days than I would otherwise have. 😉
Bring it on 🙄
Cheers, Bay 🙂
Yes Bay. Just like the fast diet. You give up foods you know harm you, eating them occasionally as a treat. Just as they say on “Sesame Street”, ‘sometimes foods’. 🙂
These periods of fasting or withholding, have been included in all cultures throughout human history, I guess as a way of getting people to take time out to reflect on their daily practices.
The way I see it, fasting twice a week with 5:2 and retraining our eating practices is part of that, very human, way of building self awareness and strength of character.
Whatever makes you strong. I know you struggle with sugar. I’m sure you will be able to manage this and feel very proud at the end of it. Go for it. P 😉
Hi Bay – I think there’s real wisdom in saying not only ‘you need not fast constantly’, but ‘you MUST not’: it not only makes success more likely on the fasting days, it also guards against obsessional fasting – in our terms, I guess, eating disorders – and is another expression of the fasting-feasting rhythm . 5:2 based on sound, ancient principles – nothing new under the sun!
I have one last ginger pud and half a tub of decadent ice cream left in the house. It will be gone by tomorrow evening, and then I’m with you. The best hope is that by easter none of us will fancy sweet stuff; more realistically, I hope we’ll find that it’s perfectly possible to make it an enjoyable exception, rather than an irresistible rule.
AHHH wow you guys… all the best for the lenten fasting.. am half minded to join you.. had a weekend of excess..
Saturday was the annual RC Ball.. so lots of / too much Prosecco … and despite the excellent Chicken stuffed with Haggis and Sticky Toffee Pud I managed to guzzle a heep of crisps.. Anyway to cut a long story short here is a Fast friendly Breakfast treat…
Kedgeree without rice.. I was staying over at friends and said I’d bring Kedgeree for Sunday morning.. Friend says she’s not happy about re-heated rice so I say oh no problem I’ll make it without rice and we can add it in.. However as things transpired we didn’t add the rice.. as follows:
Poach the un-dyed smoked haddock in either water or milk with a bay leaf and lightly seasoned with curry powder / garam masala until flaky…
Meanwhile boil as many eggs as you are making the kedgeree for plus 1..
Shell the boiled eggs.. cut in half and separate out the white from the yolk.
Blend the whites until crumbly.. hey presto your rice substitute but obviously much much better for you.
saute shallots in butter.. add lemon juice and parsley. As a luxurious addition.. fry off smoked scallops with the shallots..
Blanche fresh / frozen peas.. combine the flaked haddock, crumbly egg whites, peas, shallots (and scallops), stir in cream / creme fraiche. season to taste.. add some cayenne if you like a little kick.. top with the halved egg yolks and nobs of butter and simply heat up in the oven for breakfast..
It was really yummy.. who needs rice 🙂
So back to lent.. was thinking what I might do is have pancakes on Wednesday with sauted apples .. as last treat / feast..
Then my lent could be no bread except on Sunday’s my sourdough Rye..
No added sugar.. but will eat fruit.. no chocolate.. (sob sob) probably not even on Sunday’s.. no alcohol.. realistically this mean none whatsovever as not about to start drinking on Sunday..
All the best for Lent folks.. whether fasting or not.. 🙂 And yes definately do not beat yourself up.. just let yourself be and get on with the fasting.. it is always worthwhile.. even if you break your fasting you can still make a difference to you and the rest of the world by continuing on the fasting journey.. keep in touch with the spiritual ethical side of the fasting as to me this is a great way of externalising the rigours of fasting and adding some motivation in.
Morning/evening zuzan. Great to hear from you again 🙂
I’ve never eaten haddock. Not a fish we favour in Aus. The recipe sounds interesting, just the name of the fish is unappealing. 🙁 I wonder if I could use an alternative? It is a flaky white fish, I’m guessing?
Re sugar, Mr P has always been a sweet tooth and a contributing factor in his developing diabetes (I believe). Part of my goal with our choice of foods when we started 5:2 was to reduce his sugar intake. I am staggered at the change. He would never have dreamt of eating plain yoghurt before. Now he eats it all the time. He still believes he “needs” dessert after a fish dish (usually fast day), but a few blueberries and a squidge of homemade yoghurt keeps him happy. So, you CAN change the habits of a lifetime by replacing them with another habit.
I always remember my grandpa eating gingernut biscuits. Apparently he gave up smoking during WW2 and replaced the cigarettes with gingernuts. This habit remained until he died at 84. A classic example of changing a habit, not through deprivation, but through substitution. 🙂 P
Hi Joanna
Have you checked the total amount you’re eating on fast days and non fast days? As we lose weight our TDEE goes down.
Have you experimented with cutting out certain types of food such as starches or sugars? I have found that I need to reduce my intake of sweet foods and starchy foods to keep weight off.
Cheers, Bay 🙂
Hi Happy, Purple, Lichtle and FFS
Had my last meal of sweet stuff today. Strawberries and cream, dark chocolate. 🙄
Tomorrow, we roll on with the Lenten sugar free challenge of 1:6.
Who knew, we have three brands of toothpaste in the house. And all of them have artificial sweeteners in them. 😮 How appalling is that.
Cheers, Bay 😉
Zuzan, your recipe sounds delicious even though I don’t normally eat/like fish. Any fish I eat has to be smoked to mask the real smell/taste of fish – oh if only I liked fish – such a healthy food. I can’t even bear to walk past a fish monger. It comes from not growing up near the sea but in a forest where the only fresh fish available was trout. :-(( I do like fish in tins though with oily tomato sauce or Rollmops in vinegar.
;-)) I hear you fish lovers shriek with horror.
Well, Bay, FFS Carol having read your concerns about not being obsessional about this lenten sugar fast or any fasting, you have me convinced (didn’t take too long). ;-)) 1:6 it is then.
For a fleeting and insane moment I considered cutting out carbs but realised that would be a total disaster – definitely not doable for me. I may try and have only one carb meal a day but that is the best I can do. Before 5:2, I used to have a fruit only breakfast mid morning and then a carb lunch and one protein supper. I liked it and it would have worked quite well if I hadn’t substituted most of my carb meal with sugar.
Well good luck to all of you giving up something for Lent.
Although I don’t have a massive sweet tooth, I should own up to having an unhealthy day so far today… I broke an 18 hour fast with pancakes for lunch… Banana, BlackBerry and maple syrup… And lemon and sugar also 🙂
Might have eaten too many..! Feel a bit sick now 🙁
Hi Joanna, TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure = basically the amount of calories you can eat taking your height, age and activity level into account. There is a calculator here on this site if you want to work it out.
It is difficult to give you advise on why you are gaining weight all of a sudden – maybe your activity level has changed or you are eating differently. At 1.73m you should have nice TDEE (unlike some of us shorties who only have a TDEE of around 1450 calories/day) making losing and maintaining easier for you.
Generally you don’t “have” to cut down on carbs but what Bay means (I think) is that some people seem to have trouble losing weight despite eating to their TDEE and found that cutting down on some food groups (mainly carbs) helps them. Too many refined carbs tend to spike our insulin and make people crave more sugar. But everybody is different and we eventually work out what works best for us.
Morning/evening MCs
F,L and B, on your first sugar free day, I thought you would appreciate that the Sydney Morning Herald this morning reports that CocaCola Amatil have suffered a significant loss in sales and are investigating new ways to retrieve their market!
Choice is a consumer organisation:
“Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey said consumers were becoming increasingly aware of the “notoriously high” sugar content in processed foods. ” You wouldn’t eat 16 teaspoons of sugar so the thought of drinking it in a 600ml bottle of Coca-Cola is a little unsettling,” he said.Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/message-about-sugarpacked-soft-drinks-gets-through-at-last-says-nutritionist-20150217-13he27.html#ixzz3S26PMOdR”
Mr P and I had a wonderful Shrove Tuesday evening at a French cafe…..a gallette and a pancake each, plus a glass of kir. No breakfast today. 🙂 Cheers Purple
Hi Joanna – welcome. Lichtie and Bay both give good advice – worth taking. Please don’t let this hiccup worry you too much – we’ve all had our ups and downs.
You’re right to think the point of 5:2 is that you can eat normally on non-fast days – that’s why it works for so many of us (including me) who wouldn’t manage constant dieting. But it’s easy to find that you can be very disciplined on fast days, and then want to ‘make up’ for it the next day, when not fasting, by overdoing it a bit. You might find it helpful to go back to the original book – I did, recently, and was amazed how much I’d forgotte. One of the things which came out of the early research was that while most people eat a little extra on non-fast days, most don’t actually exceed ‘normal’ by much. That’s where TDEE comes in: (as Bay and Lichtie have explained, it’s the number of calories, based on height/weight/activity/age formula, which would keep your weight stable if you consumed exactly that – and nothing else changed – every day. ) The catch is that because weight is part of the formula, TDEE reduces as we lose weight (think of it as doing less exercise because you’re lugging less poundage around with you!) and age, hormones etc – which change – are also part of the formula because they affect the rate at which we burn calories. Then there’s the painful truth about sugar and carbs and insulin levels, which Lichtie explained so clearly…
So the truth, put briefly, is : yes, you can eat normally on non-fast days – you can eat cake or chips or whatever you fancy, and you don’t need to be deprived – but theres a difference between eating normally and overcompensating. Knowing your TDEE and sticking to it (it will be higher than ‘dieting’ level, fear not!) and understanding the effects of different kinds of food, – and above all, what works for you – does work. There are so many different approaches on this forum – all tweaking it to our individual best fit, all having good days and bad days – but all getting there – and staying there! – in the end. Hope you start to feel better soon.
And talking of overcompensating: ladies, I shall not even record what I have eaten today, in preparation for tomorrow’s 1:6 starting. And do you know what? I’ve done it with a sort of grim determination to ‘treat’ myself – and hated it! And now I feel bloats and horrible and can’t wait for tomorrow! And I guess that’s the real success:: that our tastes change. The amount of sweet carbs I’ve eaten today would have been manageable, if not frequent, for me a few years ago – yuk!! (And they’re obviously making me ramble at length – sorry, will shut up now!)
Hi Joanna, I agree with what Lichtle is saying. Sometimes if we have an intolerance to a food we are eating we won’t lose weight until we cut that food out or reduce it significantly. For many of us that food is wheat which means most bread becomes a no no. With 5:2 you can eat normally on non FD but if you want to lose more weight you still have to eat within your TDEE.. If you don’t it’s likely that your 2 fast days won’t negate what you’re consuming on the other days and maybe that’s what’s happening with you. You sound pretty light to me for your height. How much more do you want to lose? Once you’ve got your goal weight then you can relax a bit more and work out a way of eating what you want but still maintaining your weight loss. 5:2 is only different to traditional diets in that you get health benefits from the fasting and it makes it easy to manage your calorie intake. You don’t have to count calories all the time, just fast 2 days a week. I started 5:2 nearly 12 months ago and have lost between 12 and 13kg depending on my weight for that day. I now maintain that weight by doing 6:1. My eating has changed greatly though and on my non FD most of the time I stick to my TDEE. Hope you can work out what’s happwning because it sounds like you’ve already had really great results.
“Healthy weight” is an interesting concept. For my height, I could be anywhere between 65 and 50kgs. Sitting at 56-57, where I have been maintaining, is squarely in the middle. Obviously the recommendations are a wide range to suit the various individual bodies, but I feel if you were a healthy weight in your 20s, it is probably within cooee of there. I weighed about 54kg as a young woman, so I’m happy with where I am now. Anything over 60kg would be too much for me.
Sugar free food for thought 🙂 P
Hi FFS
Me too. Felt so yucky after I tried to finish some sweets I had in the cupboard. 😮 I don’t know why I felt compelled to eat them, when they had been sitting there happily unloved since Christmas. The brain is a funny thing.
Have started my first sugar free day with poached eggs and black coffee.
Cheers, Bay 😉
Hi all
Sugar free is becoming mainstream. When Coca Cola Amatil announces it’s losing profit because of concerns by consumers re sugar. 16 teaspoons sugar per bottle. Then we know we are mainstream. Two items in February Australian Women’s Weekly, one re sugar and its adverse effects on humans, the other re British research that not all calories are created equal in their effect on the human body.
Woohoo! Not a nutter after all. 😉
Cheers, Bay 🙂
Hi FFS and Lichtle
On the website iquitsugar.com Sarah Wilson has posted helpful information for people who wish to quit sugar.
The website indicates that one glass of wine five times a week is the max the liver should be asked to cope with as it detoxes from sugar.
Lots of FAQs that help with various sugar queries.
Cheers, Bay
Interesting report in the UK from Action on Sugar. Apparently one fifth of cereals contain more sugar than 3 years ago, in some cases up to 18% more. And while breakfast cereal sales are falling, the market for ‘ on the go’ breakfast drinks and biscuits/ bars is rising, and these replacement products actually contain more sugar than the cereals they are replacing!
So some consumers are wise to the evils of sugar, but some are still having the wool (candyfloss?) pulled over their eyes by clever marketing from poorly regulated eye-on-the-profit big business…
(says the woman who bought a bag of sugar…Sorry yoghurt ginger…from a ‘health food store… 🙂 )
The sugar deprivation team got me thinking….(it IS 11.20pm and I will regret this tomorrow)…
thinking about my breakfast AND two meals out today, besides the 2 glasses of wine, that contain glucose and fructose (mostly fermented) and very little sucrose, the only sucrose present in my diet would have been contained in the Asian sauces on the various dishes and perhaps a small amount in the dough that made up the pork bun I ate at lunchtime.
Would you girls be eliminating all sauces from your food as well this month?
Purple 🙂
Why do I get the feeling you’re enjoying this, P??!!!
Answer: I don’t think so. I very very rarely eat ready-made sauces, which are the dangerous ones. I don’t add table sauces, though DH won’t be weaned from them, I’m sure. If I’m making from scratch I only include sugar if absolutely crucial to the recipe, and I will avoid those sort of recipes and stick to the non-sweet ones, or – better still – flavour with spices instead of sauce . I think that’s the sensible tightrope between failing the promise on one hand and spending all my time focussed on food (risking obsession!) on the other – similar to giving up added sugar but continuing to eat (fresh) fruit. But that’s just me – the others might decide differently for themselves.
Just had a brunch of small spoon of hummus with carrot sticks and raw cauliflower. Why would anyone want added sugar? (She asks on day 1!)
FFS – I am with you. As long as I don’t taste the sugar and it doesn’t feel like a treat, it doesn’t count. ;-))
I hardly ever eat bottled sauces, so the occasional teaspoon of mustard, mayo or tomato sauce is not worth restricting and I don’t think it will send me down a viscious sugar spiral.
I had a couple of apples at lunch time, one plain yoghurt and a mug of boullion at three and wonder if I can make today a fast day rather than tomorrow?
Sensible approach girls. And no, it was a genuine thought. When I eat out I usually request no dressing on salads, but Asian food needs sugar to counter the chilli (sweet/sour).
My food love is salt. I gave up cheese (except the occassional sprinkle of parmesan) in the year I lost weight. It totally kicked my habit. Cheese goes mouldy in our house these days. I’m sure you guys can kick the sugar too! 🙂 P
I ate so little yesterday that I thought yesterday might become a fast day by default, but had a small meal last night. Resisted the red wine. Fasting today. Snacked on raw carrot and hummus.
FFS. Agree re sauces. I don’t seek them out or add bottled sauce, but if a tiny dot appears on something, then I’m ok. 😉 Bay
from an email to me. Bay
Sugar: Can we add to our scientific knowledge as to why sugar is so damaging to us? I’m trying to understand how it works so as to avoid the complication in the first place.
Is it true that:
Fructose is processed only in the liver? The liver then turns it to fat. The liver tries to store that if not immediately required?
Glucose on the other hand is processed in lower intestine and creates a different energy source for the body cells?
From: http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-fructose-bad-for-you-201104262425
When fructose is joined to glucose, it makes sucrose. Sucrose is abundant in sugar cane, sugar beets, corn, and other plants. When extracted and refined, sucrose makes table sugar. In the 1800s and early 1900s, the average American took in about 15 grams of fructose (about half an ounce), mostly from eating fruits and vegetables. Today we average 55 grams per day (73 grams for adolescents). The increase in fructose intake is worrisome, says Lustig, because it suspiciously parallels increases in obesity, diabetes, and a new condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease that now affects up to one-third of Americans. (You can read more about nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in a Harvard Health Letter article.)
Virtually every cell in the body can use glucose for energy. In contrast, only liver cells break down fructose. What happens to fructose inside liver cells is complicated. One of the end products is triglyceride, a form of fat. Uric acid and free radicals are also formed.
None of this is good. Triglycerides can build up in liver cells and damage liver function. Triglycerides released into the bloodstream can contribute to the growth of fat-filled plaque inside artery walls. Free radicals (also called reactive oxygen species) can damage cell structures, enzymes, and even genes. Uric acid can turn off production of nitric oxide, a substance that helps protect artery walls from damage. Another effect of high fructose intake is insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.
From wiki
Fructose malabsorption, formerly named “dietary fructose intolerance” (DFI), is a digestive disorder[1] in which absorption of fructose is impaired by deficient fructose carriers in the small intestine’s enterocytes. This results in an increased concentration of fructose in the entire intestine.
Occurrence in patients identified to be suffering symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome is not higher than occurrence in the normal population. However, due to the similarity in symptoms, patients with fructose malabsorption often fit the profile of those with irritable bowel syndrome.[2] A small proportion of patients with both fructose malabsorption and lactose intolerance also suffer from celiac disease.
Fructose malabsorption is not to be confused with hereditary fructose intolerance, a potentially fatal condition in which the liver enzymes that break up fructose are deficient.
Also in the USA the most commonly used source of “additives” for processed foods is corn syrup and then “high fructose” corn syrup which is nearly all fructose used as the sweetener and is a base product in the majority of processed foods? this link seems to make a distinction ..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_syrup
Thanks Bay You did it. 😉
Interesting. Another reason why we should never overdo any food group. I have often thought Mr P developed diabetes after going on a fruit eating diet. The excess fructose and reaction of the liver would explain it.
I have long worried about the rise of Juice bars. Sad how companies promote foods as “healthy” and people then go over the top.
Fast for me today. All the best with yours Bay. P 🙂
FFS – I did make it a fast day after all. Just had a plate full of peas and a boiled egg tonight.
Bay, very interesting post about sugar. Last year I bought “Fat Chance” by Robert Lustig and I intend to read this to accompany my lent challenge. Maybe It helps like the Allen Carr “Stop smoking” book by reapeating over and over how bad the stuff is that my brain will become conditioned to never want to eat the white stuff ever again.
I wish.
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We pay tribute to our dear friend and colleague, Dr. Michael Mosley. Michael was an integral part of our lives, […]
Michael is touring Australia this September! Here's a link to dates and tickets. Hope to see you there.
Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
11:29 am
16 Feb 15