Breaking an addiction
Discussion
... with bread.
My name is V8mate and I'm addicted to bread.
Not just any old bread - I'm very much the connoisseur - but it's no good for me. I think part of the craving is founded in a mild intolerance to wheat; certainly, the cheaper and more processed the flour, the more of a coma it throws me into after eating it. And rye breads don't have any adverse affect.
I started a health kick earlier this year too. After 30 years of not doing a stitch of exercise, I'm now in the gym three lunchtimes a week following a heavy cardio and weights regime.
Aside from wheat reaction, I recognise that it's a fairly hefty chunk of calories too. I reckon my four slices with fillings (I make my own sandwiches) run to c.600 calories a day. It'd be good to chop... a third off that?
So what to have for lunch?
It can't take hours of prep - either the night before or before consumption. We have a fridge at work, but no microwave.
Recommendations from both the calorie and post-workout perspective welcome
My name is V8mate and I'm addicted to bread.
Not just any old bread - I'm very much the connoisseur - but it's no good for me. I think part of the craving is founded in a mild intolerance to wheat; certainly, the cheaper and more processed the flour, the more of a coma it throws me into after eating it. And rye breads don't have any adverse affect.
I started a health kick earlier this year too. After 30 years of not doing a stitch of exercise, I'm now in the gym three lunchtimes a week following a heavy cardio and weights regime.
Aside from wheat reaction, I recognise that it's a fairly hefty chunk of calories too. I reckon my four slices with fillings (I make my own sandwiches) run to c.600 calories a day. It'd be good to chop... a third off that?
So what to have for lunch?
It can't take hours of prep - either the night before or before consumption. We have a fridge at work, but no microwave.
Recommendations from both the calorie and post-workout perspective welcome
Similar to yourself I'm trying to cut back on carbs and bready lunches. I've got into salads and found them to be more satisfying than I thought. Along the lines of:
1) Lettuce, toms, cucumber, peppers, raddish, celery etc. Any meats (left over sunday roast), pickles and capers a must. Dressing of yoghurt and mustard.
Can also add fish and scramble an egg in the microwave for some extra protein.
2) Tin of mixed beans, any salad, smoked mackerel is good or tuna, dressed with harissa paste mixed with yoghurt. Pickles again.
3) Soups. Mix a batch of veg soup on Sunday, lasts a few days. Pea and ham is also really quick and tasty.
They are all a bit of a faff to put together, but it does make lunches a bit more interesting.
1) Lettuce, toms, cucumber, peppers, raddish, celery etc. Any meats (left over sunday roast), pickles and capers a must. Dressing of yoghurt and mustard.
Can also add fish and scramble an egg in the microwave for some extra protein.
2) Tin of mixed beans, any salad, smoked mackerel is good or tuna, dressed with harissa paste mixed with yoghurt. Pickles again.
3) Soups. Mix a batch of veg soup on Sunday, lasts a few days. Pea and ham is also really quick and tasty.
They are all a bit of a faff to put together, but it does make lunches a bit more interesting.
Normally, the cheaper and more processed the flour, the closer the glycaemic index gets to that of sugar. Thus the comas. The rye breads should be quite low GI.
To eat, lunch is the hardest part, especially without a microwave. Sounds like salads for you, not because lettuce is particularly tasty and good for you (it isn't) but because you can use it as a base for things that are, like eggs mayonnaise. Anything you would have put between slices of bread can go on a small pile of lettuce. Add sugar snap peas, peas, or asparagus blanched and chilled. If you are really binning carbs you can slather it in mayo; without any sugar you won't overeat.
To eat, lunch is the hardest part, especially without a microwave. Sounds like salads for you, not because lettuce is particularly tasty and good for you (it isn't) but because you can use it as a base for things that are, like eggs mayonnaise. Anything you would have put between slices of bread can go on a small pile of lettuce. Add sugar snap peas, peas, or asparagus blanched and chilled. If you are really binning carbs you can slather it in mayo; without any sugar you won't overeat.
Hmm... I used to be a heavy bread user. Many slices a day. Then I learned about nutrition and discovered that all bread is dirt. So I just stopped overnight.
As for replacing bread in your meals. That's easy. You know all that filler you get in a sandwich? You know, the nutritious bit. Well empty it out onto a plate and eat that with a fork. If it isn't enough, empty 2 sandwiches onto the plate. Feed the unwanted bread to a homo-fatcuuntis. They can be found everywhere. It'll lap it up and say thankyou.
As for replacing bread in your meals. That's easy. You know all that filler you get in a sandwich? You know, the nutritious bit. Well empty it out onto a plate and eat that with a fork. If it isn't enough, empty 2 sandwiches onto the plate. Feed the unwanted bread to a homo-fatcuuntis. They can be found everywhere. It'll lap it up and say thankyou.
mattikake said:
Hmm... I used to be a heavy bread user. Many slices a day. Then I learned about nutrition and discovered that all bread is dirt. So I just stopped overnight.
As for replacing bread in your meals. That's easy. You know all that filler you get in a sandwich? You know, the nutritious bit. Well empty it out onto a plate and eat that with a fork. If it isn't enough, empty 2 sandwiches onto the plate. Feed the unwanted bread to a homo-fatcuuntis. They can be found everywhere. It'll lap it up and say thankyou.
As for replacing bread in your meals. That's easy. You know all that filler you get in a sandwich? You know, the nutritious bit. Well empty it out onto a plate and eat that with a fork. If it isn't enough, empty 2 sandwiches onto the plate. Feed the unwanted bread to a homo-fatcuuntis. They can be found everywhere. It'll lap it up and say thankyou.
Thanks. You've put a late, and thoroughly inebriated, smile on my face.
The thing is, on gym days, my sarnies are peanut butter and cheese; stuff like that. Makes for a rather dirty looking plate.
Hoofy said:
I tend to swim against the tide (which helps with burning calories) so: if you're doing intense exercise, eat as you are. You only need to create a calorie deficit. You're welcome to believe otherwise and suffer the anguish of other options.
I know that you're right. The thing is, I started the diet side by simply banning chocolate, biscuits, sweets and cakes.The weight fell off. But I'm no martyr, so I am naughty here and there, especially in the evenings. So I'm keen to try and manage the functional meals as much as possible. I don't want to be a slave to diet; I really love my new found exercise regime, but I want to live a normal life, so managing lunch at work is no hardship. And I genuinely believe, that bread isn't actually doing me any good. No matter how much I love it.
V8mate said:
Hoofy said:
I tend to swim against the tide (which helps with burning calories) so: if you're doing intense exercise, eat as you are. You only need to create a calorie deficit. You're welcome to believe otherwise and suffer the anguish of other options.
I know that you're right. The thing is, I started the diet side by simply banning chocolate, biscuits, sweets and cakes.The weight fell off. But I'm no martyr, so I am naughty here and there, especially in the evenings. So I'm keen to try and manage the functional meals as much as possible. I don't want to be a slave to diet; I really love my new found exercise regime, but I want to live a normal life, so managing lunch at work is no hardship. And I genuinely believe, that bread isn't actually doing me any good. No matter how much I love it.
I genuinely didn't do a stitch of exercise between the ages of 16 and 46. In May of this year, at 19 stone, a colleague tempted me into a gym.
It's f
king awesome. I seem to have the perfect body type to put on visible muscle. I've gone from 120kg to 108kg but plateaued (because of the return to naughty nibbles, I'm sure)I'd be happy at 100kg (16stone). Muscle continues to build but there's still a little bit of belly left to shift.
Yep - here you go, a recommendation from a fellow 'bread / carb freak' trying to find an alternative that was kinda similar, cut down on all those carbs, but also still gave me a little bit of a 'processed wheat' kick but without all the calories.
I give you - flour tortillas!
Instead of making sandwiches, make the same but use a tortilla and make a 'wrap' instead.
Similarly fulfilling, but with far fewer carbs and calories.
Give them a go.
You're welcome
I give you - flour tortillas!
Instead of making sandwiches, make the same but use a tortilla and make a 'wrap' instead.
Similarly fulfilling, but with far fewer carbs and calories.
Give them a go.
You're welcome
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Yep - here you go, a recommendation from a fellow 'bread / carb freak' trying to find an alternative that was kinda similar, cut down on all those carbs, but also still gave me a little bit of a 'processed wheat' kick but without all the calories.
I give you - flour tortillas!
Instead of making sandwiches, make the same but use a tortilla and make a 'wrap' instead.
Similarly fulfilling, but with far fewer carbs and calories.
Give them a go.
You're welcome
Thanks - I'll check 'em out I give you - flour tortillas!
Instead of making sandwiches, make the same but use a tortilla and make a 'wrap' instead.
Similarly fulfilling, but with far fewer carbs and calories.
Give them a go.
You're welcome
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Yep - here you go, a recommendation from a fellow 'bread / carb freak' trying to find an alternative that was kinda similar, cut down on all those carbs, but also still gave me a little bit of a 'processed wheat' kick but without all the calories.
I give you - flour tortillas!
Instead of making sandwiches, make the same but use a tortilla and make a 'wrap' instead.
Similarly fulfilling, but with far fewer carbs and calories.
It's not the carbs or calories, it's the quality of them that matters. High quality is bad for a digestive system that is designed for low quality.I give you - flour tortillas!
Instead of making sandwiches, make the same but use a tortilla and make a 'wrap' instead.
Similarly fulfilling, but with far fewer carbs and calories.
Flour is still 'processed wheat' or refined carbs as we say in the industry. Just as bad for you as any other bread. Gluten is also part of the problem. Flour is both a refined carb and gluten.
Depends on the tortilla though. There's probably a low quality gluten free version somewhere.
There really isn't a trick or cheat to be fair. Rye bread is probably the best for minimal processing and minimal gluten. But it's still ultimately a refined carb from a crop that is basically engineered to be a cheap energy source to stop us from starving but has little other nutritional value (aside from some vitamins and minerals that are often sprayed artificially onto the grains as they are destroyed in the refining process).
So if you aren't literally starving, do you need to eat the stuff? No.
Depending on your chosen filling, just make your sandwich out of fewer slices...
I love corned beef sandwiches (food of the gods, I tell you) so when I was being healthier I would use the same amount of corned beef, just folded into one slice instead of between two!
Instant 50% reduction in bread, still feed your craving, all sorted!!!
However, it does adversly affect your meat to bread ratio...
I love corned beef sandwiches (food of the gods, I tell you) so when I was being healthier I would use the same amount of corned beef, just folded into one slice instead of between two!
Instant 50% reduction in bread, still feed your craving, all sorted!!!
However, it does adversly affect your meat to bread ratio...
I tend to eat the first one in this article
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2281988/...
It's shoite
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2281988/...
It's shoite
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