To be annoyed by NHS healthy choices quiz

There absolutely is if you’re trying to lose weight!

There is nothing wrong with a 500 calorie breakfast, so long as it's filling and nutritious.

It's not much of an exaggeration to say my mum used to do puzzles all day long - cryptic crosswords, including the complicated ones where you fill in the black squares yourself, Sudoku when that was popular, logic puzzles - she was an avid puzzler. It's impossible to say whether this preserved her mental capacity longer than she'd have had it without, but the end result is that sadly she doesn't even know who my sister and I are now. She has 'combined dementia'.

Physically, she was always healthy. She's never weighed more than about 7 stone (she's skeletal now as she doesn't eat properly anymore) - didn't smoke, once-a-year-at-Christmas type drinker, used to go to the gym and cycle regularly.

Similar story for my dad, although he was never a puzzler - he was an intelligent man, very interested in current affairs and finance, keen gardener with an allotment, ate the stuff he grew, lots of veg; held a senior Civil Service job; healthy lifestyle, healthy weight, cycled and walked a lot - even with half his mind gone he's still out in the garden most days doing bits and pieces in all weathers.

It all seems to count for nothing when dementia takes a hold.

The current trend is against UPF

In fairness, no one could be anything but against UPF - unless they try to make a quick buck out of it.

Sugar, fibers, carbs are food. UPF is literally chemical rubbish - just read the labels.

The current trend is against UPF
Before that, sugar was the enemy. In my lifetime, fibre has been good and bad. As has carbs.
Latching on to the current fad does not make anyone an expert, despite some of the very confident and authoritive posts on here. It means you have embraced the latest trend, read up on it and it works for you.
I would imagine that at least some of the people the NHS app is trying to reach will not be inclined to research extensively, so 'choose low fat' is an easy instruction to understand. Telling them to go for full fat because UPF is just confusing what needs to be a simple message.

Thermodynamics still applies, of course, but it doesn’t mean all calories behave the same in the body. Different foods have different effect on metabolism, insulin response and how easily fat is burned.

Take 100 calories of broccoli and 100 calories of pasta. In terms of thermodynamics they’re the same, but your body treats them very differently.
Broccoli takes more effort to digest, hardly raises blood sugar, and those calories are mostly used up straight away rather than being pushed into fat storage.
Pasta (high in carbs) is digested quickly, spikes blood sugar and insulin, and is much more likely to end up stored as fat (de novo lipogenesis - the process where the body turns surplus sugar or carbs into fat) especially if you’re already eating plenty of carbs. Also many overweight middle-aged people have some level of insulin resistance and won't be able to burn fat as long as they are having frequent insulin spikes.

I didn't say it wasn't.

Thermodynamics begs to differ.

It’s not Greek yoghurt that’s causing people to gain weight. The real problem is excessive intake of free sugars and carbohydrates, usually through constant snacking. These cause insulin to spike and that makes it much harder for the body to burn fat. So not all calories are equal when it comes to metabolism and energy burning.

Sure, but it is possible to get assistance with sleep either free for some people, or paid for.

The advice specifies LOW SUGAR as well as LOW FAT.

All carbohydrates are treated as sugar by the body. That’s what carbohydrate is… sugar molecules. It’s broken down into glucose which is then used to make adenosine triphosphate (energy). Humans need sugar, it’s the fuel we need for our brains to work optimally. People just eat too much of it.

One third of the diet is not too much CHO if you are eating a suitable amount for your energy balance to be neutral. Yes, if you’re eating double the calories you should then 1/3rd of that is excessive CHO. And yes refined cereals are worse because they don’t contain the fibre and vitamins and protein of whole grain… but Eatwell says to choose whole grain and high fibre options so the point is moot.

Eatwell also specifies that the low fat dairy options should also be low sugar. So if someone eats one that’s low fat, high sugar then that’s contrary to the advice.

Yeah they removed the chocolate etc last year I think.

personally I think there is too much carbs for many people - it can be hard to differentiate between the carbs that offer better nutritional value and those which the body treats like sugar.

Same with fruit. A lot of today’s fruit is genetically modified to contain much more sugar (carbohydrate) than previously - a large pink lady apple can have as much as 18g of sugar, about 4 teaspoons. Not all fruit is good for health. Especially very overweight people who may need an ultra low carb diet.

And low fat alternatives often contain more sugar.

So I still think the Eatwell Plate is not suitable for a large proportion of the population.

Low fat usually equals higher sugar and salt.

It's terrible advice, but it goes with that infuriating fashion of removing anything with real sugar too, and have chemically laden toxic food/ drink instead.

Gives me the rage, and looking at number (and the many many studies), the "no real sugar" fashion is helping no one.

Probably not ketosis as I think you need to eat like literally zero carbohydrates but at the end of the day, it’s working for you which is the main thing!

Thanks - oh well, hopefully I'll be able to eat a bit more soon.

IMO if you were to do a poll at the supermarket, only people with weight problems will be buying low fat.

Full fat milk and yoghurt here.

Weight loss of any kind increases cortisol as the body perceives it as stress. So it’s probably that.

Ah right, thanks, I wonder what it is that's making me feel tense. Low blood sugar maybe...

If you’re eating more than 50g of CHO (carbohydrate - the macro not the food group) a day then you will not be entering ketosis.

It hasn’t said to do that… lots of reduced fat cheese is just made with some of the fat skimmed out and some extra casein (that’s cheese proteins) added in. It’s still just milk if you buy the correct ones. Don’t be so dramatic.

If you don't know what a 'bad food environment' is then please visit a Food Warehouse.

One opened in my town recently and I visited. There were aisles and aisles of stuff that I would never eat because it is just a box of chemicals and not food.

I had to buy sanitary towels to avoid a parking fine...

I'm eating a small bowl of shreddies about every week. It's intermittent ketosis maybe as I do eat some bread, potatoes etc. I'm not totally clued up on it so just wikipedia'd it: "occurs during states of increased fatty acid oxidation such as fasting, carbohydrate restriction, or prolonged exercise". I definitely feel less anxious after breakfast ("breaking my fast")!

The Eatwell guide has removed processed food and chocolate from the plate all together and says ‘eat as little as possible’, it recommends whole grain, high fibre starchy carbs as just over 1/3rd of the diet to be completed with 1/3rd vegetables and fruit and the rest lean meats, fish, eggs, legumes, low fat and low sugar dairy and a small amount of oils/fats.

I can’t see anything wrong with that advice for a healthy population.