Do you eat for health as well as pleasure?

[Thevegetarianchef]

I was talking with dh about this week's food shop.
He bought me some low calorie snacks that I have that are half the calories of kettle crisps I love.I tend to mix and match snacks.
He couldn't believe I would eat something less enjoyable and I said many things I eat are due to health tbh.
For context he is overweight anyway.
Got me thinking do the majority of people eat for health ie brown breads high fibre cereal fruit veggies or just because it's delicious which I understand as a chef.
I've always had what's cheapest, healthiest or quickest to get ready.

I make conscious choices about my nutrition every day, because I've lost 3 stone and need to make mindful food choices so I don't pile back on all the weight I've worked hard to lose. My weight loss made me very conscious about what I was putting in my body and how I could eat high volume for lower calorie, getting enough protein etc. I do now eat everything in moderation. Friday night hell yeah I'm having my favourite crisps. Tuesday lunchtime then no I'm not having crisps because food like that is a treat and I can't just eat what I want all the time. Life is short so balance is key.

That's good advice and how I started too. I used to have a latte and two chocolate biscuits for breakfast which I find genuinely shocking looking back. I swapped it for plain kefir yoghurt with berries, chia seeds and a few nuts and changed nothing else.

I figured that even if the rest of the day went to pot I'd at least had a nutritious breakfast that was good for me. What actually happened is I started craving it more and more, feeling better and fuller throughout the morning and I made other changes from there.

I eat what makes me feel good. Most of the time this is healthy food, for obvious reasons. I never had an issue when I was younger but I hit 30 and my body had a problem with being fuelled purely by UPFs.

I love ‘treats’ - chocolate, crisps etc- but honestly if I overdo it my system doesn’t like it. Ultimately I’d rather feel good so naturally veer towards high fibre, plant based (never been a meaty person). The older I get the more inclined I am to eat healthily. If I don’t I feel crap. But flavour and freshness is also paramount t

I think I will start making overnight oats every evening for the morning and I have a bag of frozen cherries in the freezer I can throw in too. Thank you for the kindness and helpful advice

Having been obese many times and having spent most of my life yo-yo dieting I now eat for health. 5 years at a healthy weight and I've learned what I need to do. I'd say 80% of what I eat I focus on complete nutrition. I eat fresh foods, cook from scratch, trying to cover all my necessary makros. Fibre, protein essential nutrients are all covered but I do not deprive myself if want a treat. I usually eat a small piece of cake or a few biscuits daily as a treat. I do buy healthier snacks too these days as I've genuinely learned to enjoy them over the crap I used to binge on. In the end it's all about balance though.

This just shows how healthy eating is different for everyone as if I ate cake everyday I’d be overweight and not feel healthy at all, I allow myself a treat a month.

A bit of both. I enjoy my food and wouldn’t eat things I didn’t just because they’re good for me. I do think about it a bit though and try to eat a balance over a week. I’ll try things because they’re good for me but I’ll only continue to eat them if I enjoy them (eg I have tried mackerel and cottage cheese because I know they’re good for me but I don’t eat them because they made me want to vomit).

Equally I love wine but I don’t drink it every day because I know it’s not good for my body. I wouldn’t buy a lower calorie version of a snack though, I’d rather have kettle chips less often than eat low calorie crisps. I grew up eating a very unprocessed diet and still eat a relatively unprocessed diet now but it’s not perfect.

I used to eat whatever I wanted, but then developed a couple of severe food intolerances and allergies (now have to carry epi-pens), and was also diagnosed as pre-diabetic, all within the space of a few months. It's been a rude awakening and forced me to really change my eating habits. I've gone from being obese to a healthy weight, over the course of 7 months, with an almost 4 stone weight loss. So I suppose it's been a blessing as I may well now have reversed the prediabetes; will probably live longer, and also I'm no longer living half my life in the bathroom and feeling like I'm about to vomit and pass out (gluten), or risking further anaphylactic reactions from other food I'm now allergic to.

All that said, one evening this week I will be thoroughly enjoying a rare treat - a big bowl of ice cream! Then straight back on my very, very low carb and very, very low sugar diet.

It's made me more adventurous with cooking, and I've developed a new way of not just eating which is (believe it or not!) enjoyable, but also embraced cooking from scratch a lot more.

If I hadn't been forced with a stark choice ahead of me healthwise, I'd still be eating like the pig I was before; that's the brutal truth.

No problem at, it worked ok for me.

I find it a little depressing that food is seen as either pleasurable or healthy for so many posters.

It can be both. It doesn't have to be "worthy" or taste like processed cardboard to be good for you. Vegetables and salads can be pimped up (as Jamie Oliver would say) to make them more delicious.

I love salad, but would find a plate of just lettuce tomatoes and cucumber without any dressing very boring. I would make an interesting Asian slaw with a delicious dressing, for instance or a Greek salad with an extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice dressing, or even a traditional salad with extra virgin olive oil and an unctuous balsamic vinegar.

I am not holier than thou about food, and enjoy "naughty" treats in moderation, but if I ate nothing but stodge for a few days I would crave a salad.

Like most people, I eat the healthy stuff that I enjoy. And I eat some of the less healthy stuff that I enjoy.

I'm not going to sit and eat and drink stuff I absolutely hate just because its healthy, but nor am I going to stuff my face with snickers just because they taste nice.

Balance.

Well yes all the food I eat is for my health because if I didn't eat anything I'd die. And I have been hospitalized for anorexia before. So yeah I eat what I like and try to eat calorie dense foods as I can't eat very large portions. I'd never eat anything I didn't like the taste of.

I eat the vegetables I like, salad, cook chicken, fish with potatoes/chips etc, and prefer home made cakes and biscuits and bread but do still eat shop bought ones.

I do think I need more protein and I am quite lazy sometimes and reach for sugary carby things.

I also take quite a few vitamins/minerals.

Yes and No. in your example I always find it a bit mad when people have lower calorie, less flavourful things because of ‘health’
theres usually loads of added shit in there to get the calories down but still make a halfway decent product and I think psychologically it’s not good for you to pick them up every time and know you’re having that because you can’t have the ‘good’ one (or as many people see it - don’t ‘deserve’ the good one)
I would rather just have less of the thing I want, eat smaller portions or have it less often I think.

however I do have snacks for health, for example if I’m hungry between meals I’ll eat some Greek yogurt because I need more protein, or I’ll eat some fruit because I recognise that’s better than eating cake.

that said I also eat unhealthy stuff regularly too!