To think there is a poor understanding of a healthy diet?

I think a healthy lifestyle is a very individual thing. I used to be the lower end of a healthy weight according to BMI, ate porridge made with water, fruits and nuts as snacks, rice and veg for lunch and home cooked dinners and worked out 5x a week. My biceps were like tennis balls on my arms and doctors constantly praised how "healthy" I was. But, I made myself temporarily infertile, with hypothalamic amenorrhea, from living this way.

I had to gain close to 3 stone, stop all exercise and become overweight according to BMI for a year before being able to conceive. Now, I'm the higher side of a "healthy BMI weight", eat all sorts of carbs and fats alongside protein, I don't look anywhere near as fit as I used to, but I have regular cycles and two children. I try to eat well (more veggie meals than meat, a sensible breakfast, etc) and I exercise so I can play with my kids without getting out of breath or not being able to lift them.

It can be difficult to find a healthy lifestyle that works for you and there is so much conflicting information out there, particularly around diet. I agree that a lot of people don't appreciate what a healthy lifestyle looks like, but I think a healthy lifestyle is so much more than just what you eat (and what you weigh), especially as there is so much enjoyment that can be had from and around food.

Diabetics are no longer told to avoid fruit. That advice is very out of date

Hmmm - my body hadn't had that memo. I'm prediabetic and fruit definitely spikes my blood sugar. And yes - spikes are not good

What qualifies you to provide this preachy lecture OP? Are you a registered dietitian?

Do what works for you. I rarely eat fruit and still consider myself healthy. I dont have a sweet tooth at all so things like fruit, chocolate, cake, doughnuts, icecream, sweet yogerts just don't appeal to me at all. I do eat a lot of veg, nuts and whole grains though.

@LivelyLemonQuoter my husband was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and was told to be very careful with fruit 🤷‍♀️

I’ve never tried it except when I’m making buttermilk for soda bread. So thanks I might give it a try

Sugar is a completely normal ingredient used to feed the yeast in bread. So is fat of some variety, but it's not essential. There's a huge variety of supermarket bread so you can't say it's all "bad".

Or @ramonaqueenbee
sorry to add Luna

You could take all those ingredients that’s Luna mentioned first time round
Fry the onions and some garlic
Steam the veg that Luna mentioned
Boil the lentils and blend with a tin of tomatoes and the sweet potato ( if you want)
Add spices or herbs of your choice

• I love cinnamon for a Sri Lanka flavour
• Thyme, oregano for an Italian feel
• Curry powder and Tumeric if you’re feeling a bit curryish
• etc

Put everything together add water ( from under the steamed veg ) to make it the consistency you fancy

Ps. If you are using the water from steaming the veg you can increase the iron content by using a Lucky Iron Fish ( they have reduced malnutrition in many countries ) OR just cook in cast iron pots

I stopped putting soya flour in my bread because it spoiled the texture. I do add wheat gluten, but so does Sainsbury's.

I meant vinegar would combat any excess sweetness, I'm not claiming any esoteric knowledge! Anyway, I don't mind sugar & vinegar in my bread. It tastes fine.

I just assumed she was someone who regularly had vegetarian days rather than being a vegetarian. As do I TBF.

No.
OP isn’t vegan or vegetarian if you RTT

All meats are linked to so much more than that.
The list is quite shocking

@picturethispatsy

Fish? Meat? Willing to knock a few years off my life for some salmon or chicken, although granted chicken is the only meat I eat. If for example a dietitian told me plants are better for me than meat.

I think different (but all credible) dieticians and other healthcare professionals like dentists would differ somewhat in their recommendations of what constitutes a good diet. Some would advocate for a vegetarian one (as you seem to be doing), some would place more emphasis on dairy than others perhaps and I’ve never met a dentist who hasn’t said to eat fruit by all means but also limit the portions.

Im not saying there’s an issue with the bread ( except for the palm oil ) but if you fancied you could add soya flour to your bread and the protein would increase.

As an aside
What did you mean by using the vinegar to offset the sugar. ??

@MementoMountain
I really didn’t know lentils had that effect

I eat them most days and have nothing. But then I could gorge on Jerusalem artichokes and nothing either……
So agree if lentils and veg are a problem people might need to introduce certain foods slowly and in smaller quantities. If they want to that is

Why is blood spiking unhealthy- (in a healthy person to make it easier?)

You don’t need meat and fish to be healthy. About 30% of the world don’t.

Nothing wrong with organic whole grain wheats for bread

Organic oats won’t be sprayed

Healthline states unless you eat masses of brown rice the levels of arsenic ( which are on the rise due to pollution etc ) won’t affect people

Tedious? Given that there is a huge obesity crisis, there is clearly a need for discussing what a healthy diet consists of.

“Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” is the foundation of a healthy diet.

If you also eat a moderate amount of protein, a bit of dairy and healthy fats (olive oil, nuts), plus some complex carbs (quinoa, root vegetables, pulses, wild rice), you'll be fine.

Aaahhh.
the dreaded palm oil though Garlic

I know it’s not a health issue, well not for this country anyway !

If you are near an Aldi or Lidl you might be surprised ( tbh I have no idea how much other shops are although many might price match )
If you live near the countryside there’s always free fruit in hedgerows ( I get a whole years worth of blackberries and raspberries free like this ) Plus I also get chestnuts free as well.

just an alternative thought given how much food is increasing in price

Absolutely my favourite bread !

Have you tried dry frying individual sized portions on a pan too …..even quicker!

I'm type 2 diabetic, when I was first diagnosed I bought a continuous blood glucose monitor.

It was interesting to see my blood glucose reacted to food and medication. Particularly when I ate a banana and saw the spike.

Our bodies are different and react to foods and medication differently so fruit may or may not spike blood glucose in an individual.

Fruit juice on the other hand should be limited.

People are disagreeing about fruits though because some can have a lot of sugar.
ie.If it’s very sweet like a ripe banana it has a lot of sugar

If you are unsure what a complex carb is and are interested ..just Google ‘what is a complex carb’
What does 120 g of protein look like well I wouldn’t know as an average woman needs 45g and an average man 55g a day but again just Google it.
[that 120g is person specific as it is based on body weight ]

Personally, I avoid UPFs, aim for 30 different plants per week, cook everything from scratch and eat very little meat. I have time, enjoy cooking and am interested in trying to eat healthily. I also happen to love plain yogurt, vegetables etc and dislike cream cakes for instance. But I acknowledge that everyone is different and that new recommendations come out all the time. We are constantly learning.

And this from Healthline.

It’s worth noting Healthline take the view it’s better than eating really unhealthy food.
Much like the advice to the UK that 5 portions of fruit and veg was enough when in fact research showed that it clearly wasn’t. We, here in the UK were told that because it was deemed better than nothing and the UK Govn didn’t want to ‘scare’ us from just trying to up our intake.

I wonder if more people eat more fruit and veg than they did before the 5 a day campaign began ?