Another great article Lizzie! Something I’m noticing recently if I go for a takeaway coffee is the automatic offering by the person behind the counter of ‘any sugar or syrup?’ before completing my order. Aaargh! And I’m horrified by what I see going into some of the orders - the calories in some of those increasingly larger tumblers must be in the thousands! The FGs have really gotten on to something here, getting people to DRINK massive amounts of calories.
Thank you so much Margaret! Yes, the checkout calorie boosting is disgraceful. I had an accidental conversation with a chairman (as in, I didn’t know he was the chairman) of a serial offender, and he immediately said it was wrong – but he didn’t change anything, because of the need to make a profit and / or stay in business!
You know by now what I think of the food giants. Awful to think they make such profits peddling rubbish. My philosophy is that if something isn’t the best thing you ever ate, don’t eat it! Your mincemeat recipe sounds delicious but I have already made mine this year and baked my first dozen mince pie last week. Of course I had to have one. I don’t think there is anything wrong with a seasonal treat now and again. BTW, I’m now down just over 30kg. That is only 4kg down on last January but I am pleased to be consistent and now only 5kg to go to a weight I will be really happy with. Size 24 to size 16. Size is not everything though and my diet is now so much healthier.
Such a great post! 👏🏼 Since I cook a lot of vintage recipes I'm hyperaware of the vast difference in portion sizes and plate sizes from the 1940s and now. Just going to the movies is a shock seeing how big the drink cups are compared to what they were in the 40s. Eating more is embedded into our culture in so many subtle ways.
Thank you! Portions have got bigger – especially of UPFs – but the biggest issue is the calorie density of the bigger portions – you can pile your plate up with cabbage and lentils and lose weight. This is the first time that food companies have monetised our natural inclination to eat more and the fact that it’s really hard to stop eating until we’re full!
Not quite so much. We get offered crap like wafers and chocolate bars 'on offer' at the tills, and I've noticed energy drinks are becoming depressingly popular. But there's no such thing as ready meals here (yet). And those food delivery services don't exist outside of the very major cities.
Gosh, that's depressing (though I did giggle at the 'chocolate bar the size of a small lawn' - I know EXACTLY which shop that is, its name rhyming rather nicely with 'myth'). I've started my pre-Christmas 5:2, which I have found helps to mitigate what happens between when our friends arrive on the 23rd, and leave again on the 30th. At least they are like-minded and we will try and have at least two days off the sauce (and off the brandy butter), and some long walks, so hopefully we won't be twice our normal size when we come out the other end and resume normal life. I'm also factoring in plenty of salads and fresh fruit in lieu of heavy dinners and brekkies. TBH, the older I get, the more I can't bear that feeling of having eaten too much, and if I don't get my full quota of fresh fruit and veg, I start to fret. (The main thing that has to be mitigated is the mince pie intake - I don't particularly care for Christmas pud or Christmas cake, though I wouldn't climb over a slice of stollen to get to a lettuce leaf, I must admit). If you want a pastry recipe that rolls out really really thinly (and behaves even better when it's been in the freezer), the one for the lemon tart in Joanne Harris's French Kitchen is absolutely brilliant. I use it for absolutely everything from quiches to mince pies, and you can roll it so thinly that it doesn't need blind baking for most things, as long as you stand the tart tin on a heavy baking tray that has heated up with the oven. I don't put sugar in it - it really doesn't need it, even for sweet things, and then what's left can be used for sweet or savoury.
Sounds like you are in for a lovely Christmas Jayne!! Yes, I’m with you on including lots of veg and salad to mitigate the rest. Thank you for the pastry recipe tip – I also roll it out as thin as possible. If you haven’t already made your mincemeat, I (with accustomed modesty) really recommend my recipe – the reduced sugar and no fat actually improves it!
Another great article Lizzie! Something I’m noticing recently if I go for a takeaway coffee is the automatic offering by the person behind the counter of ‘any sugar or syrup?’ before completing my order. Aaargh! And I’m horrified by what I see going into some of the orders - the calories in some of those increasingly larger tumblers must be in the thousands! The FGs have really gotten on to something here, getting people to DRINK massive amounts of calories.
Thank you so much Margaret! Yes, the checkout calorie boosting is disgraceful. I had an accidental conversation with a chairman (as in, I didn’t know he was the chairman) of a serial offender, and he immediately said it was wrong – but he didn’t change anything, because of the need to make a profit and / or stay in business!
You know by now what I think of the food giants. Awful to think they make such profits peddling rubbish. My philosophy is that if something isn’t the best thing you ever ate, don’t eat it! Your mincemeat recipe sounds delicious but I have already made mine this year and baked my first dozen mince pie last week. Of course I had to have one. I don’t think there is anything wrong with a seasonal treat now and again. BTW, I’m now down just over 30kg. That is only 4kg down on last January but I am pleased to be consistent and now only 5kg to go to a weight I will be really happy with. Size 24 to size 16. Size is not everything though and my diet is now so much healthier.
Am very impressed with your organisation – and your weight loss!!
I think it’s so terrible that they are so cynical about people’s lives!
Such a great post! 👏🏼 Since I cook a lot of vintage recipes I'm hyperaware of the vast difference in portion sizes and plate sizes from the 1940s and now. Just going to the movies is a shock seeing how big the drink cups are compared to what they were in the 40s. Eating more is embedded into our culture in so many subtle ways.
Thank you! Portions have got bigger – especially of UPFs – but the biggest issue is the calorie density of the bigger portions – you can pile your plate up with cabbage and lentils and lose weight. This is the first time that food companies have monetised our natural inclination to eat more and the fact that it’s really hard to stop eating until we’re full!
This made me utterly grateful to live in the middle of nowhere! Great job 👍
Thanks Claire! Is UPF such a huge problem in Bulgaria?
Not quite so much. We get offered crap like wafers and chocolate bars 'on offer' at the tills, and I've noticed energy drinks are becoming depressingly popular. But there's no such thing as ready meals here (yet). And those food delivery services don't exist outside of the very major cities.
Gosh, that's depressing (though I did giggle at the 'chocolate bar the size of a small lawn' - I know EXACTLY which shop that is, its name rhyming rather nicely with 'myth'). I've started my pre-Christmas 5:2, which I have found helps to mitigate what happens between when our friends arrive on the 23rd, and leave again on the 30th. At least they are like-minded and we will try and have at least two days off the sauce (and off the brandy butter), and some long walks, so hopefully we won't be twice our normal size when we come out the other end and resume normal life. I'm also factoring in plenty of salads and fresh fruit in lieu of heavy dinners and brekkies. TBH, the older I get, the more I can't bear that feeling of having eaten too much, and if I don't get my full quota of fresh fruit and veg, I start to fret. (The main thing that has to be mitigated is the mince pie intake - I don't particularly care for Christmas pud or Christmas cake, though I wouldn't climb over a slice of stollen to get to a lettuce leaf, I must admit). If you want a pastry recipe that rolls out really really thinly (and behaves even better when it's been in the freezer), the one for the lemon tart in Joanne Harris's French Kitchen is absolutely brilliant. I use it for absolutely everything from quiches to mince pies, and you can roll it so thinly that it doesn't need blind baking for most things, as long as you stand the tart tin on a heavy baking tray that has heated up with the oven. I don't put sugar in it - it really doesn't need it, even for sweet things, and then what's left can be used for sweet or savoury.
Sounds like you are in for a lovely Christmas Jayne!! Yes, I’m with you on including lots of veg and salad to mitigate the rest. Thank you for the pastry recipe tip – I also roll it out as thin as possible. If you haven’t already made your mincemeat, I (with accustomed modesty) really recommend my recipe – the reduced sugar and no fat actually improves it!