it has been suggested I might consider a veggie diet for a bit to ssee if it sorts some health issues.  if it might make stuff better I’m up for giving it a go…

so has anyone else given up meat and processed stuff for a bit?  How long before you noticed any changes?  Did you feel better for it?

and any tips for what to eat, I have no clue.

I have already dropped caffeine down to 1 cup a day, cut fizzy drinks and currently yo yo ing with sugar (I’m good for several days, and then give in and eat an entire packet of jaffa cakes…)

so far I’ve seen a drop in resting hr of 10bpm and my blood pressure has come down from hoovering in and out of pre high area to ok.  unfortunately the 15kg weight gain hasn’t reduced but that is largely because I am too knackered to exercise much more than 30mins a day

so has anyone else given up meat and processed stuff for a bit?  How long before you noticed any changes?  Did you feel better for it?

Yes I totally gave up both for a good few months, now I just eat very little of either. I noticed I lost weight within a couple of months which wasn’t an aim at all (I was ~75kg, I’m now 69kg). Other than that I don’t think that I feel any different, maybe sleep a bit better but that’s hard to tell as I’m up a couple of times to go for a wee even on a good night

currently yo yo ing with sugar (I’m good for several days, and then give in and eat an entire packet of jaffa cakes…)

I went ~6 months eating nothing like that. Nothing processed, no cake, etc… It was hard. Pretty much everything that I ate was stuff that was homemade by me or girlfriend (my diet hasn’t been hugely easy for her either as we eat together quite often). I’m currently having similar issues to what you describe there though. Be fine for a week or two but then eat a big bag of twiglets and a box of biscuits. I’m pretty sure that there’s a happy medium to be found somewhere…

Before son #1 I was 72kg, after stabalised ok at 78kg, now 9months after son#2 I’m around the 85kg mark and need to get back to 78, 72 was a bit too froome like.

levels of exercise dropped drastically, eating of cram increased massively…

As for what to eat. I like various bean based burgers, veggie chilli (2 types of beans and chopped up chickpeas), stir fry is easy and sauces are easy to make too, tofu is a versatile ingredient that prepared properly is nice. The internet is pretty awash with recipes.

This has some good recipes.

Ive been laid up for six weeks with a broken leg, non weight bearing, which makes getting to the fridge difficult.

As a result ive been eating less crap (micro meals, takeaway, chocolate, crisps) and ive had porridge every single day. Also, more ordinary home cooked food, I feel better, less bloated, I can’t get on the scales to actually check my weight, but quite a few people have asked me if im losing weight, usually when that happens i check it and i have.

nothing ground breaking tbh, just a little bit less.

i have a friend who went full veggie a couple of years ago, despite being almost 60, she looks terrific, and says she hasn’t felt better in decades. (Her hubby, however, complains that he’d kill for a steak)

T minus bacon in eight posts…

OP, try it if you want.  It’s not a binary thing, you can cut down on meat rather than go totally veggie overnight if that’s what you want to do.  Thinking “ok, I’m now vegetarian, so this is what I can and cannot do” is a mistake (and very difficult to sustain).

Eat what you want to eat rather than trying to conform to a label.  Eat meat two days a week rather than seven, or cut out red meat but keep with white, whatever floats your boat.  And if for whatever reason it doesn’t work for you you can go back to being omnivorous again.

Also, keep up with the exercise, that will only ever get easier if you do.

(Her hubby, however, complains that he’d kill for a steak)

1) ah, irony.

2) what’s stopping him from having a steak if it’s her that’s gone veggie?

The easiest veggie, well vegan actually, meal I do is chilli. Just use tinned green lentils and chopped mushrooms instead of meat, some dried porcini and smoked paprika and otherwise make as usual.

Don’t laugh but my advice is to grab a used copy of Carol Vordermans 28 day Detox book off ebay or Amazon etc.  Why not do the 28 days as a challenge and/or as a food tourist?  See how you feel at the end.  When it’s over you’ll also be better equipped to plan your own way forward using ideas and skills you learned over the month.

Did this diet with other half about 10 yrs ago, dropped weight but also felt great in other ways, more energy, clearer head, just overall feeling younger, less fuzzy-headed and sluggish.

Oddly enough , I/we started it again just this week.  Over the yrs ‘veI slipped back into bad eating habits owing to outside stressors.  Now have 20 kilos to lose so am keen to get a good start at it, preferably with little to no thought involved.  With a book like this all that is required from me is discipline to read and follow instructions.  In order to follow the rules I have to ditch a few bad eating habits do a little ‘special food shopping’ beforehand.   Attraction for me is that it’s all there in black and white ( ok pink and green) and big clear instructions on colourful pages.

All the meals are already planned and detailed  in the book, so just follow the recipes and tips day to day.

Job done.

2) what’s stopping him from having a steak if it’s her that’s gone veggie?

Ha ha ha.

I’m guessing you’re either vegetarian or single. 😉

My (vegan) spouse of 16 yrs has purchased and cooked meat for me for 16 years.  The only people that claim this to be an anomaly seem to be

1.  Not married to veggies/vegans

2.  Unacquainted and/or

3.  Comic geniuses

YMMV 😉

My girlfriend is pescetarian but also lactose intolerant, so is kind of vegan but eats fish? She also eats black pudding when she her period.

So, you don’t have to stick with the traditional definitions of “vegetarian”.

I’ve got a book called Thug Kitchen. It’s actually all vegan recipes. They’re really good – not trying to make a dish and replace the meat in it, but something that works by itself? Opened up my eyes to a different way of cooking / eating.

Sometimes I make the vegan versions, sometimes I’ll use butter or milk instead of the soy stuff they recommend. Sometimes I’ll put prawns in.

Sometimes I make my own beefburgers.

I can’t say that going veggie is the answer.

You clearly have addiction issues. Meat isn’t bad for you, poor choice of food is bad for you. So why punish yourself twice ?

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Literally, not meat. HTH

Try some really good quality meat or poultry from a butchers.

Once you’ve eaten the real thing that goo in plastic trays they sell in supermarkets will no longer appeal, you’ll eat less but better quality.

Who suggested this?  Is there any direct link between meat and your symptoms? All meat? Why does this person think that suggesting to someone who is unsure what veggie food to eat it will be healthier?

its easy to go veggie, but it doesn’t follow that veggie is automatically healthy.

I’d agree somewhat with FunkyDunc. Personally, and unless you have ethical issues with eating meat, I’d look at a low (-20g/day) carb diet first and deal with your craving for carbs. Discipline with food is easier, or at least simpler, when you don’t have glucose slumps telling you that you’re ‘hungry’ again. Hunger is a totally different feeling when you get energy from fats.

My girlfriend is pescetarian but also lactose intolerant, so is kind of vegan but eats fish?

This is actually more less what I do too, although for different reasons (low salt and low saturated fat diet). I also stick to buying wholefoods as there’s plenty of premade vegan/vegetarian food that isn’t good for you, as poly says. It’s not a magic bullet, you do still need to think about what you’re eating – possibly more so if you were to go full vegan as there are some vitamins that you have to make an effort to find a source of.

There’s plenty of information available that eating meat, eggs and dairy, increases the rates of cancer, strokes and heart disease.

Anyway, just give it a try, you can always change back again, it’s not like you will be banned from the meat eating club.

Yep made the decision to do this at the beginning of the year. I’ve also given up milky coffees (of which I used to drink way too much) and processed sugar.

This ties is with a totally different approach to exercise this year. Last year was about preparing for, doing and then recovering from City to Summit. The vast majority of my routine was very long, low intensity and I ate a lot of crap as the only way i knew of getting enough calories in and responding to hunger. This year is about high intensity and far shorter sessions and I’ve found I don’t crave processed stuff at all.

With the vegetarian thing, I’ve fount I pretty much cook the same stuff but substitute things like sweet potato and butternut squash for meat. Consequently everything tastes more varied (as meat can be quite overpowering) and I am naturally eating more veg without having to try. I lost half about 4kg in 6 weeks which was weight I could afford to lose but I wasn’t exactly massive so it’s an ok result.

With processed stuff I just decided one day i wasn’t doing it anymore and it’s stuck for 6 weeks and counting. Every day used to be a roller coaster of sugar infused highs and then the inevitable crash. My energy levels are a lot more constant now. It took a week to wean off it but once you’ve got over that it gets easier

You can be an unhealthy vegetarian almost as easily as being an unhealthy meat eater.

With either diet you could live on heavily processed food, bad sugars etc,.

I have been vegetarian for over 30 years but I could live healthy on a meat diet.  No processed food or junk food  fresh fruit, vegetables and quality meat.

its easy to go veggie

Someone explain that to my brain.  I was raised on pork products and ate them for 40+ years and am so addicted that sometimes I still think that nothing tastes better than crispy fat, giblets, salt and ammonia.

You think that I jest? Driving past even the seediest St George-flag-draped diesel-soot-blackened Real Brit Breakfast roadside caravan is difficult.  Even if the jolly chef himself is spied pissing around the back of the van and wiping his paws on his XXXL camo-shorts before I pull over. My brain asks – do I go and seek veggie?  Or just go full-on dirty? Nah, you only live once.  It’s a British thng.  I was raised as Proper British.  Pork.  Fat.  Bread.  Spuds.  Milk.  Tea.  Biscuits.  No poncey snobby food for ponces.  As a kid I got bread dipped in the hot pan-fat from dad’s streaky bacon or belly pork.  It was drummed into me that it was the tastiest thing on earth.  I still half-believe it.   Leavng home at 20 I began experimenting. I thought foreign food was fatty pork with peas in golden msg curry sauce.  Delicious. Wholemeal bread was a punishment.  Doner kebab was release.

I cut meat and fish out of my diet at the end of December because I was eating the same meals all the time. Going veggie was a way of making me think about what I eat and to try some new meals. I’ve enjoyed it but I can’t say I feel any different at all for doing it. I ate plenty of vegetables anyway so it’s not been a massive shift in what goes in, just the way it is prepared. Sweet potato and carrot fritters for lunch today.

I went veggie at new year.  Really easy actually, I find things like a veggie curry has more textures and flavours in it than a chicken curry.

I do feel better, but I’m struggling a bit to get enough protein in on riding days.  Seem to ache just a little bit more the day after than before.

I’ve been off most processed meat for a while though, well over a year.  Things like bacon/sausage sandwiches and fry ups smell nice, but once you’ve eaten them you’re left with the aftertaste of fat and salt, and feeling full and lethargic.

Try concentrating on how you’ll feel after eating rubbish, rather than how much you want it.  I do need to take this advice myself though, as I’m still partial to sugary snacks a few times a week…

“Hello my name is Malvern Rider, and I’m a Porkoholic.”

^ 😭 ‘One is too many, a thousand is never enough…’

The Great Veg Debate

Yes, that above just highlights the problem.

If everyone could eat meat from free range animals that have been kept with decent standards it would not be so much of a problem.

Most meat that most people buy is, and will increasingly be, coming from intensive factory farming, not free range animals flouncing around in flowery meadows.

I’d take a tin of spam,  chop it into cubes and fry   in olive oil.

add some onions to the frying spam, and once the onions start to brown, add some tinned garden peas and tinned pineapple.

stir well to help evaporate any excess moisture.

when things start to get crispy, stir in a small tin of tomato purée.

serve with pitta bread.

this should

a) put you off spam/ pork/ processed meat for a while

b) turn you onto the rest of the (vegan) meal, sans spam.

urrrgh ive just had flashbacks the greatbeardedone to when a colleague served up to a bunch of field engineers a “spam curry” on his cooking night.

he then topped that with his frozen fish curry the following week.

anyone would think he wanted to get out of his cooking shift 😀

My wife is a kinda Vegan. She loves salad and tofu though sometimes she eats chicken and she had fish and chips at the weekend. 🙀

I’m guessing you’re either vegetarian or single. 😉

I’m vegetarian (I thought this was widely documented), my wife isn’t.  I do all the cooking at home and what I make is veggie as a) I have no idea how to prepare meat and b) it’d turn my stomach to do so.  She’ll happily get her meat fix from take-aways / eating out.

its easy to go veggie, but it doesn’t follow that veggie is automatically healthy.

Quite.  There’s little correlation between being vegetarian / carnivorous / omnivorous / etc and a healthy diet.  You can have a good diet or a crap one in any of those scenarios.

I’d take a tin of spam, chop it into cubes and fry in olive oil.

Olive oil is a poor choice for frying, it breaks down at high temperatures.

I went veggie a couple of years ago but couldn’t sustain it. I might try again this spring.

I am currently piling on the pounds, this never-ending winter doesn’t help. So hoping to cut out the booze, smoking, processed meat and lose the weight before its too late.