Being overweight increases incidence of cancer

And not a 'nasty' in sight.

would you consider this to be a 'processed' meal, and to be avoided at all costs?

Other supermarkets are available

Nice one jingl only trouble is, if you just pop a ready meal in the oven/microwave you still feel hungry and deprived afterwards inasmuch as the packet to mouth to stomach (to hips?) experience is too short.

Whereas if you've caught the fish yourself, grown, then dug up the potatoes, made your own crunchy topping (called being burnt in my house) then it's all so much more satisfying.

Isn't it?

Thanks janeainsworth. It's very focussed on being sedentary, rather than on taking exercise isn't it.
jingle if you hang around in an area where a lot of people are on very low incomes you will see more overweight young women.
.

Well, perhaps that's the answer then. Give them a better standard of living so they won't turn to junk food for comfort. Just how to do that quickly is beyond me.

I'm the sort of person who regards cookery as a chore not a hobby, so I eat a mixture of processed an non-processed foods. From the messages in the media I had assumed that my diet must be atrocious, so when I found myself waiting to see if I had bowel cancer two years ago it made me a bit more curious than most to find out.

Instead of pouncing on all the foodstuffs that get demonised and chucking them out, I decided to construct a spreadsheet to find out what my diet really contains, and the results were a revelation. Far from being unhealthy, I found that my diet meets all the nutrition recommendations by a country mile.

The point is that a healthy diet is about what you eat, not who cooks it. If you watch Secret Eaters you find that there are two types: one is the stereotypical couch potato who sits in front of the TV scoffing chocolate and cakes all evening, but the others are the foodies who are convinced their diet must be healthy just because they're gourmets cooking everything from scratch. One such woman was putting 2000kcals of cheese into one sauce!

When you watch the way the celeb chefs shovel salt, fat and sugar into their recipes, I think a lot of them are anything but healthy.

construct a spread sheet to find out exactly what you are eating?

Wow crun that sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon

I am a stone heavier than I want to be, put on during the last 6 months. It makes me slower and more likely to get out of breath and I will lose it because I will feel better rather than for any other reason. The doc thinks I am not fat but I think that is because so many are obese.

For me it is simple, if you eat more than you burn off you are eating too much. No, not compared to anyone else, just on a personal level. The reason I have put on the weight is that I have eaten a 'normal' diet rather than my usual one. I have no thyroid gland and therefore need to average about 800 calories a day and get lots of exercise or I put on weight.

Someone said what they had eaten earlier in the thread and I wonder how big the portions were. Fruit n Fibre has loads of calories in even the smallest portion! Sorry but it is true.

Yes. And I think a lot of these ridiculous cooking programmes have a lot to answer for. Especially the 'bake-off' ones. Oh but wait! They are aimed at the middle classes who can't possibly be greedy pigs. Far too well educated.

yes fruit and fibre full of added sugar.
I agree jings the uk population needs to cook more cupcakes - not!

"Wow crun that sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon"

It was, but it took a bit more than an afternoon. I enjoy playing with Excel any way, and it's really interesting to see what's what. Maintaining it takes about 1% of the total time spent shopping, cooking, eating and washing up, which must be negligible compared to the time some people spend fretting over one fad diet after another. It's also negligible compared to the time I would have spent learning new recipes to cook from scratch if I had just jumped to conclusions instead of establishing the facts first. The moral of the tale is find out exactly what the problem is before you start trying to fix it.

My doctor(French) is obsessed with me not eating "Lardons, fromage and charcuterie" which the French themselves stuff down like there's no tomorrow. I'm a good stone overweight but that's not why she nags me It's when my BP is slightly high. It's high because I sit in her flippin' waiting room for at least half an hour even with an appointment (an empty waiting room I might add) getting up tight because I know I'm going to get the third degree about my salt intake And you know what? She never, ever asks me how much I drink.... which I find is a stock question with UK GPs. Mind you, thank God she doesn't or I'd be in for an even bigger b....cking!

Our French doctor never asks about alcohol either. Our retired doctor used to discuss the best wine bargains in the local supermarket though.
Our doctor is about how successful our low carb diet is though, but has recognised how well it has worked for both of us.

crun, I often think that I could learn a lot from you!

Can you give examples of the healthy processed food?
My diet probably isnt too bad, but I dont like cooking much, and prefer culinary short cuts.

absent, there's no justice is there!
My GP's either asking me what I want her to do or trying to make me take statins 'just in case'
I have low BP (100/50), low cholesterol and am not over weight BMI 22.

this makes interesting reading About Robert Lustig's demonisation of sugar. But it's very long, so perhaps just read the conclusion.

Sigh.
I struggle with my weight and have done for years. Partly due to depression and anxiety, partly the medication I'm taking for it, partly comfort-eating. We cook from scratch almost all the time, and have as balanced and healthy a diet as we can, with plenty of vegetables - unless we're eating out, when I am tempted by National Trust cake or scones but I do have a tendency to eat several biscuits or chocolates rather than just one, or snarf a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk at one sitting. The twin demons of fat and sugar!

I am struggling with the 5/2 diet but at least it's preventing me from getting out of control again and I have very gradually lost around 5 kg (not much, I know, given my dreadful BMI, but it's better than nothing).I have a few more stones to lose, to my deep shame (and sorry, I still get confused still with metric and imperial weight!)
I'm really trying to keep more active and if we aren't out somewhere, I do lots of gardening. I am worried about my weight and my health, but I'm not sure how I can make more lasting changes that stick - I do find it very difficult to stick to exercise routines.
My BP is OK but my cholesterol isn't - 7.5 around 18 months ago and I'm due to have it tested again to see if it's improved. Very high, I know
I intend to continue with the diet for as long as it takes even if I 'cheat' sometimes. Homemade veggie and lentil soup for us tonight, followed by grapefruit

From the review that you quote jingl
"Although Dr. Lustig makes a case in the introduction of the book that he is free of any biases or conflicts of interest, this is not entirely true. This book itself represents a potential conflict of interest. If Dr. Lustig is accepting any form of payment for sales of this book, it is in itself a conflict of interest and could introduce a potential for author bias that is either purposeful or unintentional. Even if all proceeds are being donated to charity, a bias could be induced since the charity of his choice would stand to gain from the book’s sales. Furthermore, the potential notoriety that could be gained from publishing the book could result in subsequent financial gain for the author through speaking engagements, future book deals, etc."

So anyone who writes a book is biased simply because they receive income from the sales of the book?


I see the review you quote jingl comes from the website sweetenerstudies .com which appears to be the website of the Corn Refiners Association.
From the website:

The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) is the national trade association representing the corn refining (wet milling) industry of the United States. CRA and its predecessors have served this segment of American agribusiness since 1913. Corn refiners manufacture sweeteners, ethanol, starch, bioproducts, corn oil and feed products from corn components such as starch, oil, protein and fiber. You can find out more about the CRA on its website, Corn.org.

Well who would have thought it!
The very people who make High-fructose corn syrup, which Robert Lustig exposed as a predominant cause of obesity.

No bias there then!

Oh right. I did wonder who the "sweeteners" people were. However! I still agree with the final conclusion, i.e. that it is overall calorie intake that determines weight gain/loss, regardless of whether those calories come from fat, sugar, complex carbs, or whatever. So long as you are getting all the necessary nutrients, of course.

Sugar is bad for the teeth, I'll give you that much. But I think a little here and there makes us feel good.

I found this article interesting.
healthinsightuk.org/2015/03/16/cuddly-dietitians-in-cosy-embrace-of-industry-fat-cats/

OK jane. I'm probably trying to make myself feel better about the fact that I found two of these in the fridge left over from the weekend, and we have just had one each. And soooo delicious they were too!

Mamie... a previous French doctor, treating OH for gout suggested he should drink better quality wine. Cheap wine, he said, was not good for gout. Afterwards OH said he was tempted to ask which which he recommended..... Chateau Margaux, Mouton Cadet, or a well- oaked Rioja.

Apologies for going off -thread