WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

[PanBiker]

It's not complicated at all Plaques and you soon get used to logging what you eat. The application saves all your entries so stuff that you eat regularly you just pick from your food list, you can enter recipes as well. The allowances that you are given ensure that you don't eat over the odds. Of course Stanley's method will work just as well but it is no different to this, you eat a calorie deficiency it's not rocket science.

Tracking our exercise accurately is no more difficult than launching an app on our phones, the rest is automatic.

My son lost over 6st using this regime, Sally has lost 2st and I have lost 1.5st with an ideal of another 0.5st to go. There is no guesswork or ambiguous measures such as "small, medium, large". I would rather do it this way as you can see the whole picture.

[Stanley]

Ian, you may not think it's complicated but I agree with P. This doesn't mean that it is no good, simply that it isn't for everyone.... I shall stick to my hit and miss ways which work for me....
I saw the programme which blasted artificial sweeteners as well but it didn't bother me because in my regime they don't exist. That's simplicity.....

[PanBiker]

Indeed and my method seems to work for me.

Just for curiosity Stanley what does a small oven bottom equate to and what is very small? Please humour me and pop one on the scales.

[David Whipp]

Alison reports that her mates at work are using apps that tell you how many calories there are in the stuff you are eating; you just scan the barcode with your smartphone.

I pointed out that I don't have a smartphone... and most of the stuff I cook doesn't have a barcode...

[Big Kev]

Indeed and my method seems to work for me.

I use myfitnesspal to monitor my carbohydrate intake, my last hba1c was up so I had to do something about it. It has been very useful for checking carb content before eating. The benefits are already being seen with daily blood tests, blood glucose count being in single figures mmol/mg.

[PanBiker]

Nice one Kev, glad to hear it has been beneficial to you as well.

[Wendyf]

Pleased to hear that a low-carb diet is working for you as well Kev. Col has been quite shocked by the difference it makes to his blood sugars....makes you wonder why the NHS advice to diabetics is to base every meal on "starchy foods". I'm beginning to believe in a conspiracy theory!

[Stanley]

Can't do that Ian, I haven't got any! Think two thin slices of a small loaf.
I took notice of Wendy as well Kev and am pretty certain she is on the right track, I feel very thin this morning, the waistband of my trousers is flapping!

[Big Kev]

Pleased to hear that a low-carb diet is working for you as well Kev. Col has been quite shocked by the difference it makes to his blood sugars....makes you wonder why the NHS advice to diabetics is to base every meal on "starchy foods". I'm beginning to believe in a conspiracy theory!

I was suprised too, Wendy. I've been experimenting with different carbs as well, the Quaker "Oat so Simple" microwave porrige gives a much lower sugar rush than Weetabix despite both being recommended...

I had 50g of wholewheat spaghetti with bolognaise sauce for my tea last night, still in single figures after 2 hours so I must be doing something right. I've stopped drinking wine too, I still have the odd gin and slimline tonic but am restricting myself to 2 . Make sure Col doesn't restrict himself too much, a little of what you fancy does you good, as long as it's not sugar...

[Stanley]

I hope that's true Kev....



I've just made my dumplings with unleaded suet and popped them onto the oxtail, mutton and pea stew. They are cooking already on the stove in the front room.... All right, I know they have saturated fat in them and are carbohydrate but god knows I deserve a treat every now and again!

[Wendyf]

25gms of carbohydrate in one medium apple Stanley, of which 20gms is sugar, (the rest fibre) so your passion for apples may well be raising your blood sugar levels considerably. One apple a day keeps the doctor away!

[Marilyn]

Love dumplings!
They look firmer than mine. Mine sort of drop off the spoon in a rounded semi-formed splotch. They cook in the cast iron pot in about 40 mins, and should crowd out your view of the stew. ( did you grease the lid? They may stick otherwise...)
You've made a few! Expecting company?

[Tizer]

Wendy, it's not only the NHS who recommend that diabetics maintain a level of carbohydrates in their diet. Diabetes UK does so too and gives its reasons here: Diabetes UK The concern seems to be more about making sure people don't drop their carbohydrate intake too low.

Kev's comment about Weetabix versus porridge is interesting. The words `carbohydrates' and `carbs' are used in recommendations and advisories without much discussion about what they actually are. It's a very broad term and covers a wide range of chemical types, some we can digest and others we can't, some large molecules, some small. Most dietary fibre is carbohydrate, as are starch, inulin (found in bananas, onions, chicory, yams etc) and all sugars. Some starch is digestible and some isn't - the latter is know as `resistant starch'. If you take a cooked starchy food, cool it, then cook it again a portion of the starch is changed to resistant starch and acts like dietary fibre, so it doesn't contribute to calorie intake. So really the word `carbohydrate' used by itself in nutrition is rather too vague! Another confounding factor is that not all the calories in a given food are available. 50g of carbohydrate starch will contain about the same calories as 50g of carbohydrate dietary fibre but most of the dietary fibre calories will be undigested and unavailable to your body. I don't know how the calorie values on food product labels are arrived at, whether they take the above distinctions into account. There's a large element of `smoke and mirrors' in product labels. Sorry to have to make it all more complicated.

[PanBiker]

Love dumplings!
They look firmer than mine. Mine sort of drop off the spoon in a rounded semi-formed splotch. They cook in the cast iron pot in about 40 mins, and should crowd out your view of the stew. ( did you grease the lid? They may stick otherwise...)
You've made a few! Expecting company?

Mine tend to hang on the spoon as well Maz, I like them a bit random anyway, I get about 12 from 6oz of flour (2:1) 8 from 4oz. They work out at about 100 calories each. It doesn't make a lot of difference either if you use the vegetable or "light" suet offerings, both still fat one way or the other. Veggie is slightly better at 650cal per 100g as opposed to 820 for beef. Don't know how Stanley gets them so smooth, must be an engineers trick.

[Tripps]

Tizer - thanks for the link to Diabetes UK. I was starting to think that this site knew more than the entire combined medical profession. As usual it's all a lot more complicated than you think.

[Wendyf]

Ouch!

[Big Kev]

I hope that's true Kev...

Which bit?

[Stanley]

"a little of what you fancy does you good, as long as it's not sugar" Kev.
Wendy, I have no doubt you're right about apples and blood sugar but my blood sugar levels have never bothered me, only the doctors. If eating apples made me unwell I would cut back but until then I shall continue to enjoy them.
Tiz, another of the complications round 'recommended levels' is that everyone is different and has different diets. I have always argued that I am not 'average' because of the fact that I eat far more natural foods than the mythical average. So far, if how I feel and manage my weight is anything to go by, I'm not doing too badly off it.
I make my dumpling dough stiff, use more suet than most people and roll them into balls with my hand. They are still in one piece and when they are cold as hard as bullets!

[Marilyn]

My dumplings are "soft and fluffy" yet quite dense, and they soak up the stew on the bottom of them.
certainly not hard...

[Stanley]

Mine are soft when hot Maz but hard when cold.....

[Big Kev]

"a little of what you fancy does you good, as long as it's not sugar" Kev.

Sugar does me no good at all

[PanBiker]

I think Stanley's hit the nail on the head in that everyone is different. Wendy is shocked by my spoonful of sugar but I can't do without it. Like Stanley's apples and his pipe it does not seem to be doing me any harm but if it does I'll do something about it.

[Wendyf]

Not shocked Ian, I have a handful of sultanas in my porridge!

[Pluggy]

I've just added dumplings to my list of no-go foods. (Pies were already there). Diabetes medicine gives me indigestion and fatty stuff like pies and dumplings is indigestion city, its upside is that its a great weight loss aid. (See downside).

[PanBiker]

Not shocked Ian, I have a handful of sultanas in my porridge!

I do as well from time to time, I had Sally's hedgerow jelly yesterday and sometimes honey, the sugar hit is almost the same.