Re: Dieting

I agree with most of what you say.
It's certainly the processing of foods that are at the root of most of the obesity epidemic however we have got to understand why people are in fact eating more and becoming more lethargic and that is partly to do with the type of foods we are eating.
If we take two identical mice and feed one on a coconut oil based diet and the other on a soy oil based diet, Exactly the same food availability and exercise equipment provided which mouse will do the most exercise and which mouse will grow fat and lazy?

The mouse fed the saturated oil coconut oil based chow will be both more active and eat less and remain slimmer The polyunsaturated omega 6 soy oil fed mouse will because the diet is more inflammatory acquire a gut microbiome based on pathogenic gut flora that extract more calories from the food and make that mouse lazy and lethargic. So although the mice have access to the same calorie intakes one will keep eating and lazing about while the other will eat less and do more. Swap the diets around and the lazy mouse becomes active and the active mouse becomes lazy.

Re: Dieting

Forget about mice Ted, factor in the decline in heavy manual work and sedentary lifestyle many people lead these days and the availability of cheap quickly prepared processed food. I think that is more to do with the food some people are eating .

Re: Dieting

Of course people who do heavy work eat more food. If you go for a long walk you will work up an appetite.
Exercise makes you hungry.

Now what makes you stop eating?

What signals to the brain are required to make you feel satiated?

What triggers the release of those satiety hormones that make you feel full and satisfied?

What actually triggers the release of the substances
cholecystokinin (CCK), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), peptide YY (PYY) that apply the brakes to our appetite.

Re: Dieting

All I can say to you Ted is that since I started the Atkins way of eating. I have had bacon and eggs with mushrooms for breakfast cooked in butter.

For lunch a very small portion of homemade chicken soup made with spinnach, broccoli, leeks, celery and chicken thighs with the skin and a choritzo sausage blended together after a couple of hours in the slow cooker.

For dinner we often eat just a few nuts or have zero carb sausages and eggs. Last night I had a slice of gammon and cheddar cheese.

Each day we have a portion of strawberrie, rasperries and blueberries.

My husband is a type 2 diabetic whose numbers including blood sugar and cholesterol have come down. He has lost 25lbs since January 1st 2012 and has so much energy it is unbelievable. We both used to fall asleep during the evening . Now we are gardening and doing DIY although both of us are disabled through Arthur Ritis.

The difference in both of us is just remarkable. I know fat stops your appetite and makes you feel content with much smaller amounts of food. We do however, drink about 3 litres of water each day.

I am pleased that someone else understands this conception doctors don't know everything and I am taking responsibility for my own health and the health of my husband.

Re: Dieting

Someone just sent me this and I had to share



Pass The Butter .. Please.
This is interesting . ... .
Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back.


It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow colouring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavourings....

DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?

Read on to the end...gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and
only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .

And now, for Margarine..

Very High in Trans fatty acids.

Triples risk of coronary heart disease .
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)

Increases the risk of cancers up to five times...

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC... and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT

These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)

* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic . Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Share This With Your Friends.....(If you want to butter them up')!

Chinese Proverb: When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.
Pass the BUTTER PLEASE

Re: Dieting

That sounds like a substantial soup
Any chance you take paying guests?
Sounds like the kind of establishment that I would enjoy staying at.

Do remember this is a LIFE STYLE and NOT A DIET.
Stop eating this way and your husbands numbers will go in the opposite direction.
It's also extremely important to understand that ALL DIABETICS become magnesium deficient (as well as generally vitamin d3 and omega 3 deficient) it follows that it's important to be sure to correct magnesium, vitamin d3 and omega 3 deficiency and that this is a long slow process. Magnesium is stored (Or should be) in your bones but because it is required to counterbalance the actions of calcium it gets dragged out of your bones. To replace that magnesium requires you to be in magnesium surplus, (taking in more than the official RDA for magnesium) all the time your body is repairing/replacing bone cells. It's a bit like painting the Forth Bridge only it just takes about 10yrs. While you can indeed improve omega 3 and vitamin D status is just 8~12 weeks that is just the circulating plasma levels, to get vitamin D and omega 3 back into every cell in your body is a 2~3 year program.
Don't spare the butter it's a good source of Medium Chain Triglycerides, they are used a bit like glucose, instantly available fuel. Coconut oil is another good source of MCT, and is an ideal alternative fuel source for diabetics or Alzheimer's patients who have damaged glucose metabolisms.
We grumble about hospitals who put food in front of dementia patients but don't ensure they actually consume that food but isn't it just a bad to provide glucose based food for dementia patients who have damaged ability to metabolise glucose?
The whole point of food is that we should be able to metabolise it.
If we know diabetics and dementia patients have damaged glucose metabolism isn't it sadistic to only supply foods for diabetics/dementia patients, we know their metabolism can't handle?

Re: Dieting

Instead of butter, use coconut oil - it's much healthier, and has a much higher smoke point.

If you must use butter, make sure it's organic and clarify it first (removes lactose) - but I'd use coconut oil tbh, with butter as a rare treat.

Re the Atkins diet, I would not recommend it - I would suggest a Palaeolithic diet instead (the Atkins diet is based on it, but also includes things that many don't agree with). The Palaeolithic diet is the species appropriate diet for humans.

Re: Dieting

Ted Hutchinson Thank you so much for that so interesting. I used to work with a brain injured patients and many of them just gained weight. None of the doctors could tell me why, now I think I understand. So much of what you are saying makes so much sense.

We have an on line health supplement business so we have just brought from our stores some A-Z multi vitamins, some Omega 3 , magnesium and Vit D.

I have never been so excited to see things written down that we have wondered about for years.

The metabolism is an important thing and yet doctors advise slimming pills, starvation diets using milk shakes and such which would be a train wreck to the metabolism.

You are welcome to eat with us any day hubs and I would love a conversation over dinner with you.


Azz Good to see you. the Palaeolithic diet seems to include some things that Atkins says NO to but says NO to things that Atkins agrees with.

Foods allowed
Lean meat, poultry, fish and seafood, eggs, low-starch fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Foods to eat in moderation
Cold-pressed oils, avocado, tea, coffee and alcoholic drinks, dried fruit.

Foods to eliminate
Cereal products, legumes, dairy products, processed or tinned foods, starchy vegetables (potatoes, cassava, yams), fatty meats, salted foods, fizzy drinks.
Breaking with routine
According to Dr Eaton's theory, you can allow yourself one, two or even three meals made up of “non-approved” foods each week, and these breaks make the new lifestyle easier to adopt

Atkins allowes peanuts but Dr Eaton says no as they are legumes as are cashews. Eaton allows fruit juice which is full of sugar so Atkins say NO.

This is turning out to be really interesting. Thank you both very much indeedy.

Re: Dieting

Hi CC

Avocados are very good for you - I would not restrict them (just be sensible about quantities - as with everything else)

I would not have tea, coffee and alcoholic drinks (unless it's herbal tea, such as peppermint tea - but none of that 'flavoured stuff').

As a general rule of thumb when weighing up whether I think a food is good or bad, I ask myself if we went back 100,000 years, would we be eating it?

That doesn't mean I only go by that rule, I'll have gluten free grains occasionally, legumes occasionally - mainly as a treat - but my staple is mainly palaeolithic

Re: Dieting

well this is all above my head Im afraid, I can only add that my dietician at our hospital told me I was better eating lurpak light spreadable than any of the so called substitutes so I do.