Cheers - glad it was taken in the way it was intended rather than a criticism. I'm constantly fighting the same battle so have at least got to understand my enemy, even if it can't always be defeated. I find I can stick to a good quality low-carb diet as long as life's otherwise OK... as soon as I'm stressed it all starts to fall apart.
If you can cut out the high-GI stuff / as much carbohydrate as possible that should reduce the hunger - protein is filling and over time your stomach shrinks so reduces your desire to eat as frequently / as much. Of course that helps with
proper hunger and not emotionally driven / reward-seeking eating. I've had times in the past when I've loaded up on crisps and chocolate to the point where my stomach physically hurts and I'm still pushing it down my face like a junkie.
It really is the carbs driving the uncontrollable cravings - for much of my life I've swung from one carb-heavy-hit to another; carb-dominated meals, toast, crisps and chocolate in between while nothing of any nutritional value / actual flavour touched the sides. Equally when I've put my mind to it (because that "jesus, you fat b*stard" switch has been flicked) I've done months of effectively zero carbs and numerous fasts; the longests being eight days.
Of course not all carbs are the enemy - despite what the keto hardcore will argue we need the energy to fuel cognition (some claim better mental clarity off carbs but I've never found this personally although I did bizarrely become hyper-productive at the end of the longest fast).
You'll also never build muscle if not running an energy surplus as I've definitely found despite trying; but of course that's less of a problem if you're chasing weight loss.
Anyway.. good luck with it all
Absolutely and great work!
I envy your ability to cook proper food for yourself - unfortunately I struggle with the necessary skill / planning / commitment to cook from scratch; the best it gets round here is stuff assembled from decent quality stuff in packets.
Thankfully I've been off the really dirty / corporate muck for decades and can't remember the last time I bought any high-street dirt.
I think a lot of it is driven by short term versus long term gratification and the fact that physiologically our reward system prioritises shorter-term requirements - i.e. energy. It's an easy mechanism for marketing to exploit, while society normalises it and it's often linked to povery too - driven by lack of access to / lack of money for anything better or insufficient education to critically evaluate what you're eating..
That's interesting - I didn't notice much difference in the chips, but as we waited for our chips my mate did comment that the slowly-rotating elephant's leg looked especially nauseating. I'd expect that the already sketchy meat products might have bourne the brunt of cost cutting...
Other than the ethical angle it doesn't bother me as I've never partaken in shavings from the flesh turret and as you say if it puts you off an existing habit it's probably not a bad thing
