To find all these different eating regimes utterly confusing?

[ProperLavs]

So here I am again wondering whether I should do more than the usual healthy, balanced diet thing. Just hit 50 and could do with being more careful diet-wise.
I go online and and am driven to open a pot noodle.
Don't eat grain it causes inflammation and health issues, eat lots of meat and veg only, no dairy, paleo all the way.
Don't eat meat or dairy, go vegan, eat lots of grains.
Only eat alkaline foods ( whatever they are)
Have almost no carbs ( that's no grain again then, this time with potatoes thrown in)
Basically cut out nearly all food.
They only thing any of them agree on is that veg is good. Which is handy since I like lots of veg.
So how can grains be bad for you and good for you?
Is it all bollocks?

[RedForFilth]

Everything in moderation and strive for a balanced diet I believe to be your best bet. Working in care I honestly believe your future health to be mostly luck of the draw anyway tbh.

[RedForFilth]

And don't forget many creators of diets are making money off it. So it pays for them to day something different to previous diets.

[DailyMailReadersAreThick]

They're fad diets, usually with no scientific evidence behind them, and unsustainable in the long term.

Your best bet is to look at what has the weight of science behind it, and not just one or two suspect studies.

[DailyMailReadersAreThick]

Sorry, to specify - veganism isn't a fad diet when done for ethical reasons.

[Piratesandpants]

If your diet is 2/3 fruit and veg (heavy in the veg) then it’s very likely to be healthy.
It’s a rough but easy to follow rule of thumb.

[ProperLavs]

Thank you. I think you are all right.
I can't see how eating an egg or some cheese is unethical but I do understand not wanting to eat meat or fish.
I do wonder though whether anyone has truly had a real and amazing transformation from cutting out specific food groups.
I think I eat too much cheese, but it might be interesting to cut it out and see what happens.
Last Easter I gave up wheat for lent, just because. it certainly made it much harder to graze on random cakes in the staffroom and reach for a biscuit, but I can't say I felt any better for it.

[ProperLavs]

by transformation I mean not specifically allergy related like gluten/dairy intolerance. You know just felt a bit better over all.

[DailyMailReadersAreThick]

I can't see how eating an egg or some cheese is unethical but I do understand not wanting to eat meat or fish.

Look up how egg-laying hens and dairy cows are kept. They often have miserable lives and are put through it much longer than animals slaughtered for meat.

[ProperLavs]

I do remember watching a programme on tv where a study had been done on aging and food. It seemed that eating less made people live longer and be healthier. Not starving yourself but having many fewer calories than was deemed the western norm.

[ProperLavs]

I completely agree re the dreadful conditions some animals are kept in. However what about people who keep their own chickens? My friends' chickens are treated like royalty and their eggs are fab. Is that unethical?

[Bubblebubblepop]

"We" don't really know much about food and its affect on health so it means mixed messages easily go unchallenged. But no one really knows the answer

[Bubblebubblepop]

Most people don't eat eggs from garden reared chickens though

[DailyMailReadersAreThick]

ProperLavs Do you get your eggs from these royal hens, and your milk from a mate who keeps a couple of cows that sleep in their own beds and eat hay made of gold? Or do you buy eggs and milk from a supermarket?

[AlternativeTentacle]

I think I eat too much cheese, but it might be interesting to cut it out and see what happens.

Misery. That is what happens.

I am vegetarian for 33 years and had to give up cheese for 10 years due to vicious dairy allergy and am still on a catch up to eat all the cheese I missed out on.

If I had to do it again though, I would heartily recommend Nutritional yeast as an alternative.

[ProperLavs]

I do eat eggs from the chickens at school when I can and pay extra in the supermarket for happy hens' eggs. I have to hope the packaging is not lying.
Milk is from the supermarket.

[FuckedUpPanda]

Watch something like vegucated on netflix, for me as a happy omnivore when I realised that male chicks are ground up alive shortly after birth there was no chance at all I wanted to be part of the egg industry at all, I don't care about it only taking a few seconds to die, creating life for 50% of it to be pulverized is unethical.

[StigmaStyle]

:o it's so true. I seem to get regular "nutrition" junk mail with endless headlines like "Why you should NEVER eat a banana" "Sweetcorn: what they don't want you to know!" and "How SALMON will kill you" etc etc etc to the point that pretty much every food I've ever heard of has been included. It's ridiculous. The number of faddy eaters I know who decide some food is the cause of all their woes and stop eating it, then 2 weeks later it's something else.

So basically yes it is mostly bollocks except where there is an allergy or a condition such as coeliac where you are medically advised to avoid/eat something in particular. Otherwise eat a wide variety of food, everything in moderation, more plants than anything else, and as much of it as fresh/unprocessed as possible, is I believe what most actual scientific nutrition experts say.

[drspouse]

I eat free range eggs and drink free range milk (local dairy/milkman). I assume their packaging is telling the truth.

[thedevilinablackdress]

IMO it's mostly bollocks, yes. "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" (Michael Pollan) and by 'food' he means as unprocessed as possible.
As to the vegan thing, most chickens and cows live miserable lives even if 'free range' they're not skipping about in the fields.
I'm trying to cut down dairy bit by bit or be as ethical as possible. Harder when you're out and about with cakes, mayonnaise and things but it can be done.

[BahHumbygge]

“Michael Pollan, in his New York Times article “Unhappy Meals,” exhorts us to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” That’s seven words; I’ll reduce it to three: eat real food. The “not too much” will take care of itself. And the “mostly plants” isn’t a worry if you eat the plants as they came out of the ground, or the animals who ate the food that came out of the ground—because they ate plants.”
― Robert H. Lustig, Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease

[PaperdollCartoon]

Also came here to say 'eat food, mostly plants, not too much'! It's great advice.

I eat mostly vegan for ethical reasons, I do get frustrated at vegans who say ALL animal products are ALWAYS bad for you. They're not. But a diet of mostly meat and eggs is not a healthy one. A raw vegan diet is also usually stupid. There's great things in beans and lentils.

A largely whole foods, plant based diet is healthiest. But some good quality meat, fish and dairy is fine. It's about balance. Heavily processed food should be eaten in moderation, but again a bit won't kill you. The ethical arguments for veganism are FAR more compelling than the health ones anyway.

[PaperdollCartoon]

DrSpouse even with free range eggs, the male chicks are killed at birth (usually suffocated or gassed in the UK) the hens are still bred to lay waaaay more than they naturally should, which is a toll on their bodies, and the hens are still killed when they stop being so productive, usually around 18-24 months (a chickens natural lifespan is 12-15 years)

[ProperLavs]

Thanks for the link to Pollen. I have ordered his diet myth book from Amazon.