The Full Diet
Dr Saira Hameed
Published Michael Joseph 2022
ISBN 978-0-241-55241-2

This Programme is not about calories.

1. It advises dramatic cutting back on foods which raise blood sugar too much or too quickly.
   
   1. For instance:
   2. ■ cereal & toast for breakfast
   3. ■ a sandwich & juice for lunch
   4. ■ pasta for supper
   5. turns into about 40 teaspoons of sugar
   6. ■ a 150g serving of potatoes yields nine teaspoons of blood sugar
   7. Your body needs only about one teaspoon.
2. It advises eating only whole foods - i.e. no 'ultra-processed foods' (UPFs) or foods with mysterious additives.
3. And it shows how to become conscious of 'hunger' and 'full' hormones.

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Synopsis:

1. Keep insulin levels low by eating real, unprocessed foods
2. Be conscious of hunger (Ghrelin) and full (Peptide-1 & Peptide YY_3-36) hormone messages from your gut
3. Have an 'eating window'
4. Feed gut bacteria with high-fibre, fermented and rainbow-coloured foods
5. Move around a lot
6. Sleep well
7. Avoid ultra-processed and sugary foods that feed your weight-gain genes
8. Know your ingredients. No chemicals, no tricks - just food
9. Use the lessons of history - eat what grandma and great grandma ate
10. Use the language of success
11. Set goals
12. Use the benefits of staying at a certain weight
13. Cut out 'dopamine rush' (high-sugar) foods
14. Note the secrets of 'naturally lean' people

So ...

• Eat a protein breakfast - when you're hungry (maybe not even until midday)
• Eat colourful, whole foods - meat, fish, poultry and foods which are fibre-rich like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds & lentils
• Avoid foods which are highly processed and/or have a lot of carbohydrate or sugar in them
• Listen to your gut saying 'full' or 'hungry'
• Keep moving
• Later, re-introduce very small amounts of carbs carefully and infrequently

Body Types:

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Foods:

Recommended	Discouraged
FRUIT & VEG
■ All vegetables (except potatoes, parsnips, sweet potatoes)	■ Bread of any kind
■ Veg: beans beetroot (6.7g) broccoli cabbage (3.2g) carrots (4.7g) cauliflower (1.9g) mushrooms onions (4.2g) peas spinach shallots sprouts (2.2g) sweet corn	■ Pasta
■ Salad veg: celery cucumber green leaves lettuce radishes	■ Rice
■ Fruit veg: avocados aubergines courgettes peppers fresh tomatoes	■ Couscous
■ Low and medium sugar fruit: apples (10g) blueberries (15g / low GI) blackberries (7g/cup) grapefruit (9g) kiwi (6g) lemons (2g) melon, canteloupe (13g/s) melon, honeydew (11g/s) melon, water (10g/s) peaches (13g) pears (10g) plums (10g / low GI) raspberries (5g/cup) rhubarb (1g/cup) strawberries (7g/cup)	■ Breakfast cereals: oats porridge muesli granola ■ Noodles ■ High-sugar fruits: bananas (12g) mangoes (14g) grapes (16g) limes (10g) - cause sunburn oranges (bad for teeth) cranberries cherries coconut pineapple
EGGS
DAIRY
■ Whole milk (100ml/day)	■ Cereal bars
■ Natural or Greek yoghurt (200g/day)	■ Crackers
■ Kefir	■ Potatoes, chips & crisps
■ Cheese: cheddar, feta, halloumi, mozzarella, Parmesan, cream cheese (100g/day)	■ Baked goods: biscuits, brownies, cakes, croissants, flapjacks, muffins & pastries
■ Cream: single or double, clotted (2 tblspns/day)	■ Pizza
■ Crème fraîche (2 tlbspn/day)	■ Pastry (sweet or savoury)
■ Butter	■ Sweets & chocolates
■ Non-dairy milk alternatives	■ Ice cream, sorbets & ice lollies
MEAT
■ Beef, chicken, lamb, pork, turkey	■ Jam, marmalade, sugar-based spreads
■ Bacon	■ Sugar, honey & syrups
■ Sausages: pork, beef, chicken, lamb (>90% meat)	■ Artificial sweeteners
■ Sliced ham or turkey (no added honey, etc)
■ Antipasto prosciutto, salami	■ Dried fruit
■ Pâté (no additives)	■ Fruit juice
FISH
■ Fish and shellfish, fresh or frozen (no breading, batter, etc)	■ Smoothies
GENERAL
■ Dips: hummus, tzatziki, guacamole	■ Fizzy drinks
■ Mayonnaise (full-fat)	■ Ketchup, barbecue sauce, etc
■ Mustard	■ Shop-bought salad dressings
■ Vinega	■ Shop-bought sauces & stir-in cooking sauces
■ Olives	■ Ready meals
■ Tofu	■ Squash drinks
■ Cooking fats: olive oil, lard, coconut oil, ghee
■ Herbs and spices (fresh & dried)
■ Unsalted nuts: almonds, brazils, macadamias, pecans, pistachios, walnuts (handful/day)
■ Nut butter: peanut, almond (2 tspns/day)
■ Seeds: flax, hemp, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower
■ Legumes: lentils, beans (not baked), chickpeas (once per day)
■ Long-life tomatoes: passata, purée, tinned, sun-dried
■ Dark chocolate (85-90% cocoa)
■ Water, still or sparkling
■ Herbal or fruit tea (camomile/mint)
■ Coffee (not latte, no sugar)
■ Tea including green (no sugar)
FATS & OILS
■ Butter	■ Artificial trans fats
■ Olive oil	■ Highly processed vegetable (seed) oils such as corn oil, sunflower oil & palm oil
■ Ghee	■ Vegetable shortening
■ Lard or dripping	■ Margarine, low-fat spreads
■ Coconut oil	■ Ultra-processed fried foods
■ Nuts, nut butters & seeds	■ Shop-bought ultra-processed foods like crisps, biscuits, pastries & cakes
■ Full-fat diary such as milk, yoghurt & cheese	■ Low-fat cooking sprays
■ Fats found in natural, one-ingredient foods such as avocados, oily fish & meat.	■ Any product labeled 'low-fat', 'diet' or 'light/lite'.

Ingredients:

Natural	Rubbish
Simple whole foods Meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, fruit, eggs, cheese.	A Chocolate-chip Cookie Wheat flour, suga, soya bean and palm oil (antioxidant (E319)), glucose fructose syrup, dextrose, glucose syrup, chocolate chips (7.2%)(sugar, chocolate powder, dextrose, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, milk, vanilla extract), what flour, salt, milk gelatine (from beef), modified food starch, natural and artificial flavourings, egg whites, xanthan gum, raising agents (E500, E541), natural colour (E150a), thickener (E481), stabilizer (E472e), artificial colours (E129, E110, E102, E132) Incomprehensible - therefore not food
Look out for Ultra-processed Foods containing: Acidity Regulator, Anti-foaming Agents, Artificial Sweeteners (e.g. Sucralose, Aspartame, Acesulfame-K), Colours, Emulsifiers (e.g. Soya Lecithin, mono and diglycerides of fatty acids), Firming Agents, Humectants, Hydrogenated Oils, Hydrolyzed Protein, Maltodextrin, Modified Starches, Preservatives, Soy Protein Isolate, Sugar and Sugar by another name (e.g. Dextrose, Fruit Juice Concentrate, High-fructose Corn Syrup - also called Glucose-fructose Syrup and Invert Sugar), Whey Protein ■ Can you pronounce this ingredient? ■ Do you understand this ingredient? ■ Would a home cook use this ingredient?

Body signals & controls:

■ Insulin, the 'fat controller', sweeps sugar into the liver, the muscles and adipose tissue

■ Ghrelin tells your brain you're hungry

■ Peptide-1 & Peptide YY3-36 tell your brain you're full - after about 20 mins (these hormones don't know how to respond to UPFs)

■ Leptin tells your brain that you have enough body fat (adipose tissue). If you send too much Leptin you're brain tunes out and you have Leptin Resistance. Too much Insulin also blocks this signal.

■ Glucagon tells your body to release some energy just before you wake up

■ BDNF gene activates neuroplasticity

■ SIRT dials down inflammation

■ mTOR allows your body to repair

Odd facts:

■ More than 100 trillion bacteria live in your gut

■ There are more bacteria cells in your body than human cells

■ There are more bacteria genes in your body than human genes

■ High-fibre foods keep the after-meal rise in blood-sugar level low

■ Fermented foods are good for your gut. e.g. natural yoghurt, sauerkraut, apple cider vinegar, miso, kimchi & kefir

■ There are roughly 300 calories-worth of energy stored in your muscles and about 1000 calories in your liver. This equates to several hours of exercise so 'burning off' calories doesn't really work

■ But exercise does reduce insulin resistance

■ Exercise improves heart, lungs and muscles. It is good for mental health too

■ Employ NEAT - non-exercise activity thermogenesis

■ Eating low-fibre, low-protein, high-sugar ultra-processed diet reduces the variety of bacteria in your gut

■ Reduce blue light and don't use a screen before sleep

■ Shop foods are mostly industrially-processed bread, colourful sweetened yogurts, reconstituted meat products, ready meals, breakfast cereals, stir-in sauces, soft drinks, confectionery, biscuits and puddings.  They look as if they offer choice but, in reality, they're just combinations of the same few ingredients: sugar, salt, poor-quality fats, artificial sweeteners, preservatives and other additives

Carbohydrates:

The GI (Glycemic Index) of a food is a ranking, from 0 to 100, of how quickly it raises blood sugar levels after being eaten. Low GI is <55, medium GI is 56-69, high GI is >70.
However, this shows how quickly carbs are converted. There is another measure, GL (Glycemic Load), which takes into account how much carbohydrate there is in a typical portion.
GL = (GI x gms of carbohydrate) / 100
For instance, watermelon has a high GI of 76 but has only 11g of carbohydrate in it so it has a GL of 8. A doughnut also has a GI of 76 but has 23g of carbohydrate so it has a GL of 17. Low GL is <10, medium GL is 11-19, high GL is >20.
Examples	GI (%age)	L-GL (⋜10)	M-GL (11‑19)	H-GL (⋝20)
Mushrooms	45	0	-	-
Broccoli	45	0	-	-
Tomato juice	38	1	-	-
Avocado	45	1	-	-
Runner beans	45	1	-	-
Cauliflower	45	1	-	-
Green salad	45	1	-	-
Courgette	45	1	-	-
Asparagus	45	1	-	-
Spinach	45	1	-	-
Grapefruit	25	2	-	-
Strawberries	40	2	-	-
Raspberries	45	2	-	-
Brussels sprouts	45	2	-	-
Carrots	47	2	-	-
Cherries	22	3	-	-
Plums	39	3	-	-
Peaches	42	3	-	-
Mixed veg.	45	3	-	-
Peppers	45	3	-	-
Blackberries	25	4	-	-
Pears	38	4	-	-
Apples	38	4	-	-
Satsumas	42	4	-	-
Oranges	42	4	-	-
Apricots	57	4	-	-
Betroot	64	4	-	-
Melon	72	4	-	-
Broad beans	79	4	-	-
Peas (frozen)	48	5	-	-
Orange juice	52	5	-	-
Black currants	70	5	-	-
Processed peas (canned)	39	7	-	-
Grapes	46	7	-	-
Porridge	51	7	-	-
Pineapple	59	7	-	-
Fruit sorbet	34	8	-	-
Macaroni	45	8	-	-
Trifle	45	9	-	-
Chocolate mousse	45	9	-	-
Sweetcorn	55	9	-	-
Spaghetti	44	10	-	-
Banana	52	10	-	-
Custard tart	34	-	11	-
Ice cream	61	-	11	-
Cheesecake	63	-	16	-
Sponge cake (cream & jam)	45	-	-	20
Whole nut chocolate	43	-	-	21
Organic 70% chocolate	43	-	-	22
Crumble	63	-	-	23
Carrot cake	63	-	-	23
Doughnut	76	-	-	23
Chocolate éclair	63	-	-	24
Fruit & nut	45	-	-	25
Sponge cake	42	-	-	27
Mince pies	45	-	-	27
Granary bread	62	-	-	29
Twix	44	-	-	30
Quality Street	45	-	-	30
Crumpets	69	-	-	31
Danish pastries	63	-	-	32
After 8	45	-	-	33
Christmas pudding	63	-	-	35
White bread	72	-	-	35
Alpen	55	-	-	36
Bounty	63	-	-	37
Ryevita	64	-	-	37
Jam doughnut	76	-	-	37
Hobnobs	59	-	-	38
Bourbon biscuits	45	-	-	39
Maltesers	63	-	-	39
Sultanas	58	-	-	40
Digestives	59	-	-	40
Short bread	63	-	-	40
Kit Kat	63	-	-	40
Chocolate fingers	63	-	-	40
Rich tea biscuits	55	-	-	41
Dates	61	-	-	41
Choc-chip cookies	63	-	-	41
Chocolate digestives	63	-	-	42
Fruit cake	63	-	-	42
Hot crossed buns	72	-	-	42
Raisins	64	-	-	44
Jaffa cake	63	-	-	48
Scone	92	-	-	49
Gingernut	63	-	-	50
Shreddies	70	-	-	54
Shredded wheat	75	-	-	54
Special K	69	-	-	56
Fudge	70	-	-	56
Weetabix	75	-	-	57
Marshmallows	70	-	-	58
Wine gums	78	-	-	60
Sugar puffs	70	-	-	65
Crunchy nut	72	-	-	66
Fruit pastilles	78	-	-	66
Peppermint creams	68	-	-	67
Rice Krispies	81	-	-	75
Cornflakes	93	-	-	83

Carbs vs Fibre

Food	Volume	Carbs (gm)	Fibre (gm)	Fibre/carbs Ratio
Spinach (cooked)	1 cup	2	8	4
Avocado	150 gm	3	10	3.3
Brussels sprouts	1 cup	8	3	2.6
Unsweetened coconut	15 gm	2	4	2
Wheat bran (unprocessed)	½ cup	6	12	2
Romaine lettuce	1 cup	½	1	2
Broccoli (raw)	1 cup	4	2	2
Cabbage (raw)	1 cup	3	5	1.6
Broccoli (cooked)	½ cup	2	3	1½
Asparagus	1 cup	2	3	1½
Blackberries	1 cup	6	8	1.3
Red raspberries	1 cup	8	9	1.1
Celery	1 cup	1½	1½	1
Radishes	1 cup	2	2	1
Eggplant (cooked)	1 cup	3	3	1
Chia seeds	2 tbsp	12	10	4⁄5
Cauliflower (raw)	1 cup	3½	2	0.6
Cabbage (cooked)	½ cup	3	2	0.6
Snow peas (edible pod)	1 cup	3	2	0.6
Cauliflower (cooked)	½ cup	1	2	½
Mushrooms	1 cup	4	2	½
Strawberries	½ cup	4	2	½
Bell peppers	1 cup	6	3	½
Courgettes	1 cup	5	2	2⁄5

Health Measures

Blood pressure: (mm of Hg)
• Normal is 90/60 - 120/80
  Keep it below 135/85
  I currently average 121.8 / 79.3
Heart Rate/Pulse: (beats/minute)
• Normal is 60 - 100
  I currently average 52.2 - borderline low
Blood sugar: (millimols/litre)
  (Hba1C test takes average over 3 months)
• Before meals: 4-7 mmol/L
  2 hrs after meals: 8-9 mmol/L
  Bedtime: 6-10 mmol/L
Cholesterol: (millimols/litre)
• Normal is <5.
  LDL cholesterol should be <3
  HDL cholesterol should be >1.4.
  Total/LDL level should be <6.
  I currently average 3
BMI: (kg/m x m)
• Normal is 18.5-24.9.
  25-29.9 is over-weight.
  Over 30 is obese.
  I am currently 25.7
Waist/height Ratio: (number)
• Normal is 0.4-0.49
  I am currently 0.52 - need waist of 85 cms (33½")