If I swap a sandwich for weetabix minis for lunch, would that be healthier

[LovelyYellowLabrador]

? What do you think ?

You have a lot to learn about food and nutrition. While the a day guideline for fruit and veg is arbitrary, it's an excellent place for you to start. Get used to eating a pound of fruit and veg per day, mostly fresh or frozen. Experiment to see what you enjoy.

Without that basic habit, any attempts at low carb, intermittent fasting etc will more likely fail because when you are restricting your food intake, the quality and nutrient density of what you eat matters so much more than ever.

5 a day

I’m
Going to stop the weetabix lunch following all your advice

Dr Rangan Chatterjee
I will
Look him up

why not pop into a bakery and ask about their breads
www.nutritionadvance.com/types-of-whole-grains/#:~:text=%20Types%20of%20Whole%20Grains%20%201%20Amaranth.,increasingly%20popular%20over%20the%20past%20decade.%20More%20
spelt makes a very nice bread. rye is fairly common and pumpernickel isn't hard to recognize.
get to know your wheat and processing.

From what I’ve read so far, five a day isn’t great advice as it’s too much sugary fruit
Suppose I could just try n have 4 veg 1 fruit

@LovelyYellowLabrador

From what I’ve read so far, five a day isn’t great advice as it’s too much sugary fruit Suppose I could just try n have 4 veg 1 fruit

That's what I do. I have a banana with my breakfast but otherwise very little fruit. It doesn't agree with me, on the whole.

Yea what I’ve read says try and have seasonal fruit as years and years ago we didn’t have access to fruit all year round and that we generally est too much fruit
But veg is fine
Esp non starchy

Tuna salad for lunch, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled egg, squeeze of lemon and olive oil

Or i have dinner leftovers. Sandwich I’d put lettuce, slice of cheese and ham. Piece of fruit.

Or sometimes if I eat a late breakfast I have Greek yoghurt, handful of berries and nuts, drizzle of spicy honey.

Some people cannot manage carbs well. Consider trying low carb: something like chicken and coleslaw for lunch in a tupperware box instead of any wheat-based foods.

The other way to be healthy is low fat. The recipe for disaster is the American diet: high carbs (or sugars - same thing) and high fat.

Veg, more veg and a bit of fruit
There's a long thread on here where we try and aim for 10 a day. I find if I aim for that, I usually hit 5-8
Plus you can eat loads of veg for few calories! Like mushrooms, salad leaves, raspberries, peppers... all adds flavour and bulk to meals

I'm fat but my usual day is

Porridge with sultanas, banana and a teaspoon peanut butter

Sandwich with meat, loads of salad, chutney/mayo and pickles. Handful tortilla chips. Protein yoghurt or an apple. Sometimes have an omelette instead

Tea is anything really but with lots of veg. Cottage pie and veg, nasi goreng (fried rice/veg/egg dish), chicken salad, soup etc

Usually snack on Brazil nuts, dried apricots, raspberries, Greek yoghurt, piece of cheese

thebloodsugardiet.com/

Have a look at the Dr. Michael Mosley 8 week blood sugar diet, it's a low Carb Mediterranean diet. Originally used by people who were pre diabetic and overweight. It has meal plans and recipes to make following and shopping for the diet easier.

Omelette and salad is probably a good lunch.

Chop your salad up every few days if you don't have a lot of time. Omelettes take a couple of minutes to make.

Soup is also a good choice. You can make a pot of soup with veg, beans, bits of meat if you're not vegetarian and it does lunches for a few days. Maybe have with a small wholemeal roll, or a pitta.

Or something like dhal.

Or just make extra dinner and eat the leftovers.

I almost never eat sandwiches by choice and unless they are wholegrain bread with lots of salad, are rarely healthy or satisfying.

I’ve only skim read but weetabix minis are less healthy than normal weetabix. I’m sure they have added sugar. Shredded wheat or plain oats are best.

Sounds like you really do need to consider a low carb plan, if diabetes is an issue.

In which case, I'd seriously recommend you have a good read of The Diet Doctor

Lots of good, easy-to-read information and practical advice on how to low carb successfully.

@NinjaQueen

You won't be full very long off 40g is cereal, the sandwich is probably more balanced, switch to whole meal bread and add some salad to the ham and maybe have some fruit with it.

I have 40g of Sainsbury's Wholegrain Wheaties at about 9.30am and I'm fine till lunch at 1pm ish. If I switched my meals round I'd still feel full for the same amount of time so it is possible to be full on 40g cereal.

That said, 2 meals of cereal isn't a healthy balanced diet and it's better for the OP to find the healthiest version of bread that's still tasty enough to her. Such as Warburton's.

@LovelyYellowLabrador

Well thanks for trying to help me I have never really been educated around food so I’m trying to start educating myself 🙈not going too well so far really is it 🙊🤣

Well I’m glad I asked as I’ll stop the weetabix for lunch
I guess I thought it was good for the fibre and with it being a complex carb

I’ve been having a lot of jackets well at least once a week
But when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes we were told not to eat them as there’s nowhere for the starch to escape

Diabetes is on both sides of my family and my siblings all have diabetes
But I don’t yet
But been told i might well when I’m older due to genetic make up and family
So my gp tests me yearly also why I’m keen to maintain a healthy weight

You might want to try Noom. It helps you make healthier (green) choices. I was concerned about my diabetes risk but now I've found a sustainable way of eating which I can live with happily and reduces my risk of diabetes.

I was thinking about trying noon as I am an emotional eater
Does it help with that ?