What do you eat instead of wheat-based foods if you're trying to cut down?

[spanglechick]

Carbs aren't bad.

They're the most available food for burning calories, and so if you're very active you'll burn them off no probs. however, most people's portions of starchy carbs are more than they burn off, so the carbs are laud down as excess weight, like with any other food.

The reason dieters often avoid carbs is to do with the relationship carbs have with triggering our appetites. Carbs do make us feel full, but many find that cutting carbs means they go longer without feeling hungry (although this effect can take a few days to kick in).

Some diets (such as Atkins) limit carbs so far that you go into a state called ketosis, where you don't experience hunger really at all. Moreover, in absence of carbs, your body has to burn stored fat for energy sooner.

Low carb diets are pretty wide-ranging in their impact on what you eat (fruit becomes an issue), but a very large number of dieters are enthusiastic converts because of the appetite suppressant effect.

Wheat gets a bad press because it's very "fast" in terms of how quickly it becomes available/causes appetite to return, especially in non-wholemeal forms. Oats are a bit better.

If you want heavy bulk, you can, to an extent, go for chickpeas or pulses... But you can't eat unlimited amounts of them.

 

[kabbes]

i can't afford to buy supermarket lunches. or rather, i'm not spending that kind of money on them.

The 5:2 is very cheap. Twice a week, you eat almost nothing. Can't get cheaper than that. The other days, you eat as normal... But normal gradually seems to shrink. So that's cheaper than it used to be too.

 

[Orang Utan]

whe

wheat/gluten
but your not allergic just cutting it out so not the same

are they the same thing?

 

[Orang Utan]

The 5:2 is very cheap. Twice a week, you eat almost nothing. Can't get cheaper than that. The other days, you eat as normal... But normal gradually seems to shrink. So that's cheaper than it used to be too.

5:2? Starve for two days, eat normally for five? That's normal if you live for the weekend. I did that for years in my 20s. Was skinny as fuck!

 

[ddraig]

wheat contains gluten afaik

 

[lazythursday]

Not eaten wheat for a couple of years now. Substituting bread is really really hard. I often make big bowls of rice or quinoa salad at start of week. You can make things like socca (sort of chickpea flour pancake) quickly and easily. Also I have a quick flatbread recipe I can knock up in 10 mins using gluten free flour. Jacket potatoes also a good standby, make them and then quickly warm up.

But really if you're trying to lose weight probably best to not try to substitute at all, switch to just protein and salad/veg.

 

[Orang Utan]

i need to learn to love salad.

 

[kabbes]

5:2? Starve for two days, eat normally for five? That's normal if you live for the weekend. I did that for years in my 20s. Was skinny as fuck!

Yes, 600 kcal on the 2 days, normal on the others.

Believe me, I thought it sounded ridiculous. I watched others do it for years before I gave it a go. My wife did it for 18 months and went from 11:2 to 8:12 whilst I scoffed at the idea that I would be able to also do it, what with commuting into London five days a week and working long hours.

But because she was doing it, I ended up eating like her in the evenings and that alone saw me (a) get used to not having carbs with my evening meal (previously I always ate tonnes of potatoes, pasta, bread, whatever) , and (b) drop from 13;10 to 12:10. So then I thought I would try it properly this year and actually it turns out that it's fine. You reset your expectations and your hunger modifies accordingly.

Once you're at your target weight, you change to 6:1.

Anyway, first time I've mentioned it on this board despite it becoming a way of life. I'm not here to convert anybody. But I thought you might like to hear another experience/approach. You can do with that what you will. No doubt it works if you want to lose weight though, as well as reducing cholesterol, blood pressure etc.

 

[lizzieloo]

I had to lose weight for an operation, a nurse at the hospital suggested a low GI diet, I've never dieted before and have never been a faddy eater but this "diet" was great and worked, I lost 2 stone.

I have a book somewhere, I've just been trying to find it online to recommend it to you but I can't remember exactly what it was called, I had others but some were shite, there are loads of low GI books.

Low GI is like low carb. (might even be the same thing)

I'll have a look on me book shelves to see if I can find it.....

 

[Orang Utan]

Yes, 600 kcal on the 2 days, normal on the others.

Believe me, I thought it sounded ridiculous. I watched others do it for years before I gave it a go. My wife did it for 18 months and went from 11:2 to 8:12 whilst I scoffed at the idea that I would be able to also do it, what with commuting into London five days a week and working long hours.

But because she was doing it, I ended up eating like her in the evenings and that alone saw me (a) get used to not having carbs with my evening meal (previously I always ate tonnes of potatoes, pasta, bread, whatever) , and (b) drop from 13;10 to 12:10. So then I thought I would try it properly this year and actually it turns out that it's fine. You reset your expectations and your hunger modifies accordingly.

Once you're at your target weight, you change to 6:1.

Anyway, first time I've mentioned it on this board despite it becoming a way of life. I'm not here to convert anybody. But I thought you might like to hear another experience/approach. You can do with that what you will. No doubt it works if you want to lose weight though, as well as reducing cholesterol, blood pressure etc.

what's the idea of not eating on two of the days. wouldn't it be best just to cut down, rather than deny yourself?

 

[gentlegreen]

i need to learn to love salad.

Ease yourself into it - bag of salad, can of chickpeas, French dressing.

Salad for lunch though ..

My cycle ride home is only 5 1/2 miles / 30 mins and I felt it when I started cutting down on lunch ...

I think OU's commute is longer ?

 

[lizzieloo]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Easy-GI-Diet-Glycaemic-Weight/dp/0600617696

It's this one, it really explained everything, made perfect sense.

 

[Orang Utan]

Ease yourself into it - bag of salad, can of chickpeas, French dressing.

Salad for lunch though ..

My cycle ride home is only 5 1/2 miles / 30 mins and I felt it when I started cutting down on lunch ...

I think OU's commute is longer ?

mine's only about 5 miles now, but it's the holidays, so i'm cycling more

 

[Orang Utan]

Ease yourself into it - bag of salad, can of chickpeas, French dressing.

there's no joy in that food. that's the problem with worthy foods. healthy but oh so dull.

 

[gentlegreen]

I crave salad this time of year - I could eat it three times a day - the chickpeas and dressing are actually cheating ...
I try to eat a whole bag of salad every day.

 

[lizzieloo]

Rice noodles are good, there's a recipe in that book for teriyaki salmon with rice noodles, it's delicious, there's a very nice fish pie recipe too, my MIL makes it all the time even for guests

 

[kabbes]

what's the idea of not eating on two of the days. wouldn't it be best just to cut down, rather than deny yourself?

It's a psychological thing, as much as anything else.

Firstly, we're really bad at cutting down, we're much better at cutting out. The rule is 600 kcal, I know what that means in terms of what I can eat, the rule is absolute and there we go.

Secondly and more importantly, we're really, really bad at denying ourselves. You describe the 2 days as denying, but you've forgotten the 5 days you can eat what you want. The alternative is 100% denial, all the time. People who do that have a tendancy to eventually lapse big time. Because it's really, really hard!

When I don't eat for a day, I always know that tomorrow I can eat what I want. That's huge. You can do anything for a single day. You're never that far away from being able to eat what you want. At 8pm I'm thinking, "tomorrow I'm going to eat loads!" and it makes me feel better. By the time I get to tomorrow, though, I'm no longer hungry and I actually don't eat loads. But I could if I wanted, and that knowledge makes all the difference.

In short, the whole thing works with your psychology rather than against it.

This psychological advantage has lots of other effects. Eating so little teaches you that it's OK to not eat. I used to panic if it looked like I was going to miss a meal. Now it doesn't bother me. I used to think you had to have carbs with a meal. Now I often don't.

And you can sustain it. When I'm down to target, I'll switch to 6:1 forever. It won't bother me to not eat much once a week. If I returned to 7:0 though, I'd probably gradually slide back to my old habits.

There is a physiological advantage too -- your hormones will act to try to maintain your weight so if you just cut out a bit, your body will respond by reducing its temperature, fidgeting less and so on. That's why it's so hard to lose weight. But if you cut out virtually everything, your body can't reduce its run rate that much. So you still lose weight. It seems to be more effective than spreading the same reduction in calories over the whole week.

It also seems to be healthy. It started as a health thing because regular fasting reduces your cholesterol, blood pressure and so on. It just also happens to be effective at reducing your weight.

That's just a quick highlights package. There's a lot more info out there. And you can do it without anybody making a buck off you too, because it's actually cheaper than normal.

 

[kabbes]

there's no joy in that food. that's the problem with worthy foods. healthy but oh so dull.

... and that's why the 5:2 works so well. You can still eat what you want most of the time. You don't have that constant pressure of denying yourself.

 

[Orang Utan]

That all makes sense, kabbes - i must have had it drummed into me not to skip meals, yet I rarely eat breakfast, and have often forgot about lunch, not feeling hungry until the evening. skipping an evening meal is still unconscionable for me, even when drinking (in fact I would always make extra special effort to eat before drinking).

 

[Spymaster]

I just got a salad from the market for lunch. It was made of lettuce, tomato, roast pepper, roast courgette, cous cous, lentils, brocolli, green beans, kidney beans, grated carrot, dolmades and houmous. No wheat.

Couscous is made from wheat.

 

[kabbes]

That all makes sense, kabbes - i must have had it drummed into me not to skip meals, yet I rarely eat breakfast, and have often forgot about lunch, not feeling hungry until the evening. skipping an evening meal is still unconscionable for me, even when drinking (in fact I would always make extra special effort to eat before drinking).

Yeah, that was totally my mindset. It was like something dreadful was going to happen if I missed an evening meal. But guess what? It doesn't!

Now on a Sunday I'll often have a cooked breakfast at about 9:30, a roast at about 2:30 and then just not have any dinner. Maybe a snack at 8 or so, but certainly nothing meal-worthy. That's plenty for one day and I'll definitely not be hungry! But previously, I'd have been planning a proper evening meal regardless because, well, that's what you do.

 

[Crispy]

Couscous is made from wheat.

Picky picky picky It was only a tablespoon tbf and the salad would not be harmed by its loss.

 

[kabbes]

Couscous is made from wheat.

Different kind of wheat though, as my limited understanding has it.

 

[Orang Utan]

Yeah, that was totally my mindset. It was like something dreadful was going to happen if I missed an evening meal. But guess what? It doesn't!

Now on a Sunday I'll often have a cooked breakfast at about 9:30, a roast at about 2:30 and then just not have any dinner. Maybe a snack at 8 or so, but certainly nothing meal-worthy. That's plenty for one day and I'll definitely not be hungry! But previously, I'd have been planning a proper evening meal regardless because, well, that's what you do.

So has your appetite definitely diminished? How long did it take? I've eaten double helpings of food forever. I see what people have for lunch at work sometimes and think how the fuck do they manage!

 

[Santino]

How much cous would a couscous cook if a couscous could cook cous?

 

[Spymaster]

having to be wheat/gluten free is a proper mare

A friend of ours is coeliac and the list of what she can't eat is as long as your arm.

She pretty much has to plan her life around it. It's virtually impossible for her to eat out, has to consider it when planning holidays, going to the pub, xmas with friends, etc etc.

 

[Spymaster]

Different kind of wheat though, as my limited understanding has it.

Non wheat, wheat?

 

[kabbes]

So has your appetite definitely diminished? How long did it take? I've eaten double helpings of food forever. I see what people have for lunch at work sometimes and think how the fuck do they manage!

Yeah, it really has. It does take ages though, I won't lie to you. The first month was hell twice a week. And it's still not easy on fast days. But you learn that the difficult bits don't last long and then you can eat again. I don't eat lunch on fast days and it's weird -- I get hungry at about 11am but then I stop being hungry at about 2pm regardless of the fact I haven't eaten! Turns out that hunger is memory-based (seriously -- look it up).

About 2 months in was when I realised that I had stopped eating anywhere near as much on non-fast days, just as a side effect. About 3 months in I realised that I'd stopped always eating everything on my plate on non-fast days. My appetite is definitely way down.

When I go on holiday, I don't fast. But you don't get the psychological kicking of failing your diet like you do with other diets, because it's just part of life rather than layered on. I even perversely look forward to returning to fasting. But again no lies -- the first few weeks back after holiday are hard all over again.

If you can get through that first month, you're golden. But a lot of people don't get through the first month. And don't expect quick results. I've lost an average of about 0.7lb per week. But it is consistent, it's sustainable and it does add up. All of a sudden it gets noticeable.

I'm reluctant to recommend something that requires such a life change but it's honestly changed my mindset and worked wonders for me.

 

[kabbes]

Non wheat, wheat?

That's the limit of my limited understanding I'm afraid.

 

[gentlegreen]

Darn, I want a chickpea salad now, but I have half a tub of low fat hummus from yesterday... I suppose that would keep until tomorrow .... now there's a test of willpower ..