http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... ry-obesity

Good article. Personally speaking, I've never felt better since I got fat; spent 25 years as a lanky streak of piss!

It also reminded me of our old doctor who, if you went in with your arm hanging off, would have recommended yoghurt alongside whatever else he prescribed

I got fat by comfort eating. Though I have managed to lose more than 10 kg this year, simply by calorie restriction diet. On my fast days I only drink water and might have instant noodles as they are only 100 calories. It has been done without exercise and without resorting to diet foods. I still allow myself all the things that I like. I just eat less. This week I am starting high intensity training on my rowing machine. The whole diet food industry caters to those that feel they need additional help. As many dieters pile on the pounds afterwards they are great repeat customers for the diet industry.

I'd say it deceives and takes advantage of people.

Some foods posing as healthy or diet really get my goat.

That really applies to water drinks with vitamins and bucket loads of sugar. Though I find bottled water a rip off no matter what it is called. Whether it is deception or marketing spin the public need to be careful with what is in their food. With all the bad publicity over food safety that has happened over the years, I am really glad that I have managed to degunk my diet over the last few years.

I recently finally became utterly fed up of supermarkets. A genre of shop that claim to provide variety and value, I came to believe they actually provide neither. YMMV about this of course, this isn't a rant about Tesco or whatever.

what I decided to do instead is get a weekly vegetable box delivery and buy meat and bread from local shops. So I'm basically buying raw ingredients and cooking them rather than buying what you'd describe as 'semi prepared' stuff. The result is not only am I actually spending slightly less money (only in the region of 10-15 quid per month) but I'm actually losing weight. I've lost roughly half a kilo per week since I gave up supermarket shopping.

I haven't yet figured out entirely why this is. I suspect it's partly because I'm no longer subject to 'impulse purchasing' of food, so I'm eating a healthier diet overall. It's simply impossible for me to just have a biscuit with a cup of tea because the biscuits aren't there unless I make them. I suspect it's partly because some days I'm just too tired to cook from scratch, so I just have a snack instead of an evening meal. I suspect it is also partly because even 'semi-prepared' stuff - like say a sauce in a jar - has lots of things in there that aren't there if you make it yourself. If I make a tomato sauce for pasta all there is in there is tomato, garlic, onion, olive oil and a few herbs. That's all. If I buy a jar of tomato pasta sauce, even one that pushes itself as 'natural', it's probably still going to have chemical additives to stop it breaking down in the jar on the shelf, maybe some colouring to stop it fading or something like extra salt to stop it tasting too acidic after storage. I'm assuming some of those things, even in small amounts, may affect your metabolism in subtle ways.

I cannot cook so have to be able to do everything in my microwave. I have not used a cooker hob or conventional oven in more than 20 years because of fire risks. Though I spent a very long time eating curry from a jar of curry sauce and steaming the rice in a microwave. Until I was shown how simple it actually was to make a curry from tomatoes and curry paste. I also stopped buying biscuits with the idea of if I wanted one I had to make some. I still have not worked out how to make biscuits in a microwave. Same for scones and a few other things. My reasons were that it must be cheaper and since I had the time to try and work out these problems I should actually give it a bash.

My shopping bill has dropped quite a bit, but my food quality has risen immensely as there is little added salt or sugar in my diet now and fewer additives. I still shop at the big supermarkets but do a lot more at my local greengrocer and butcher than I used to.

Combi oven microwave thingy (so you can use the timer function on the oven)?

I've got a good recipe of chocolate cake in the microwave if you'd like it

I have two identical combi microwaves. Everyone asks why two? Mainly because with just one I will forget that one dish is in and fail to change the dishes over. By having two I set both of them off at the same time and then if I only hear one bell I will not have to wait long before the second is finished. By having identical combi's makes it easier to learn how to use. Every microwave works differently so this way I only need to learn one not two instructions manuals.

It is how I do my bread. The problem is that I cannot remember how to use most of the functions so what ever I do has to be within those limitations as well. One thing that I do is import a recipe and then create a duplicate in MacGourmet and then adjust it to make it doable, then save it to the iPad so can carry it to the kitchen.


Yes please.