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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder how the hell she stays so slim??

708 replies

SequinsAndSparkles · 15/03/2011 13:41

My BIL is engaged to a spanish woman, and we spent the weekend at MIL's, all of us together.

She is very slim, I'd guess a size 6/8. Her skin is glowing and she is stunning, yet her diet perplexes me?

On the first morning, we were all having breakfast, MIL made a fry up for everyone, but I am on a diet so I had special K and some toast. SIL prepared her own breakfast (they are currently staying at MILs while they have some work done on their house), and she had some kind of cheese, can't remember what she said it was, about 10 olives and a slice of ham! Yet she said that my breakfast of Special K and toast was stodgy and apparently English women have 'very strange ideas about nutrition'.

For lunch, she had a chicken salad, but it involved lots of extra virgin olive oil, all over the peppers and a big dollop of salsa. And then for dinner she had chicken smeared in pesto, with green beans in salt, more salsa and a slice of cheese.

How is she so slim??

I didn't have a particuarly healthy weekend in the end, we ended up having a takeaway on the Saturday evening, and SIL wouldn't eat any of it, she wasn't rude, she politely declined but I just find it hypocrytical that she eats all this fatty stuff and made the comment about England having strange ideas about nutrition when I was eating Special K and toast!!

OP posts:
RamblingRosa · 17/03/2011 10:29

PS. Lucky I really like tortilla :)

plopplopquack · 17/03/2011 10:46

Hi OP I haven't read all this thread because that would take hours. Just wanted to say that if you want to loose weight eating fruit for breakfast (include a banana) is a good way to go about it. Ditch the takeaways completely, have salad for lunch (no bread) and a healthy dinner (not too much bread, pasta, creamy sauces) lots of veg to bulk it out. So you could have a bit of pasta but with lots of veg. Works for me.

sunshinestate · 17/03/2011 10:51

Aurynne you are right about the British diet (although a bit harsh!). Years ago after my millionth failed diet I decided to learn about good nutrition. It was the best thing I have ever done. I lost weight and doubled my energy levels. We could all do well by eliminating processed crap and diet food from our cupbosrds. I would thoroughly recommend anyone thinking of going on a diet to stop and learn about good nutrition - and good quality enjoyable tasty food.

Original poster
SequinsAndSparkles · 17/03/2011 10:53

So what did you eat to lose weight sunshinestate? Please share! Smile

OP posts:
plopplopquack · 17/03/2011 11:05

I do agree with a lot you say aureyne but not all.

I don't remember one single British person or household that peeled and fried their own fries, for example. Not one. Very, very few that bought real bread, and not sliced sandwich bread. Very few that used the kitchen hobs for anything more than frying an egg. Very few (if any) that did not have fizzy drinks in their fridge available 24/7.

Er, who the hell were you mixing with? I do all of these things and most of the people I know do as well. I love food and good healthy food and love cooking and I guess I mix with a lot of people who feel the same and how hardly ever buy processed foods. I think there are types of people that just eat processed foods and these seem to be the ones you mixed with.

Did want some advice though. I have a healthy diet but am always looking to improve. I was wondering what you would suggest for breakfast for a person that eats no red or white meat but only fish? I can never get breakfast quite right. Fruit is good but toast is too stodgy, not sure I can stomach yoghurt that early. Ta

amalur · 17/03/2011 11:10

Aurynne I also think you are a bit rude and that you need to go back to Spain more often. As a spaniard (basque, actually) in London, I found your extrapolation of what you experienced to a whole country a bit arrogant.

And the Spain you describe is a little bit the stuff of legend. All the people I know there and they all live in small villages go to the big supermarket (Eroski). Yes there are specialised shops and markets and all that but to say that everyone in Spain shops like that is not quite the truth (I go back every four months so I am up to date with habits). And of course there are people there who are fat, or with eating disorders, like everywhere. I know some of each, and also people who eat what they want and are a healthy weight. Most of my friends there( I would say 5 out of 6) worry about their weight and follow a diet at certain points. We all come from a small town.

I have no trouble finding veg in the UK, in every supermarket it is the first thing you find when you walk though the door.

Although I do agree that more education is needed in the UK and less pandering to the advertising mafia. I agree with the whole eating when you need it, stop when you had enough, eat food close to its natural state, don't rely on fat free etc. Having said all that, I am always trying to lose that 1 stone that I don't need. I like chocolate too much.

If the UK has perhaps more of a problem with this than other countries in Europe it may be because it is wealthier and has been for longer and there is more disposable income to spend on things that are superflous to needs (more susceptible to advertising). Spain and other southern countries had other things to worry about rather than how to spend surplus money only a generation ago. Things may look different in a generation's time. This is only some half-baked theory of mine, btw.

plopplopquack · 17/03/2011 11:12

Oh dear Aurynne, sounds like you've been found out Smile

EmmaBemma · 17/03/2011 11:21

Far be it from me to defend British supermarkets, but I've never had a problem getting hold of a wide variety (too wide really - out of season corn on the cob from Senegal, asparagus from Peru, green beans from Kenya) of fresh fruit and vegetables in them.

FourFortyFour · 17/03/2011 11:25

I make my own chips and bread.

I don't have fizzy drinks in the house.

My children drink milk and water only.

My children are fed very well and have a really good variety of foods.

There, you know of at least one person.

diddl · 17/03/2011 11:41

Those who make their own chips-do you have a deep fat fryer or somesuch?

plopplopquack · 17/03/2011 11:43

No I do mine in the oven with a tiny bit of olive oil so they are more like roast potatoes but in the shape of chips.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 17/03/2011 11:43

I use a saucepan for chips.

Onetoomanycornettos · 17/03/2011 11:51

To everyone saying, but there are vegetables and meat here in the supermarkets, yes, but they are of quite low quality and the meat very stuffed with preservatives/water which all runs out when you try to fry it. I don't Aurynne is unfair; my husband (from Eastern Europe) considered going back home because of the food here, despite his country being poor, it is abundant in delicious fresh not covered in pesticide properly ripened food (e.g. big juicy tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, the type you have to pay extra for here). Like Aurynne, though, he thinks many many other things are wonderful about the UK (not least me) but I don't think it's wildly controversial to suggest the food, and people's diets, are not all that.

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 17/03/2011 11:52

yep just a pan with oil in it, its really easy.

petisa · 17/03/2011 12:01

aurynne

Why are Spanish children among the most obese in Eurpe then, certainly more obese than British children then, if the Spanish diet is so great?

Children in Seville are the most obese in Europe here

Spanish children are the most obese in Europe, accordng to a Malaga study here

And another one citing a European study here

And don't try and tell me it's just people in the south of Spain!! Grin

What about all the bolleria (pastries) with pork fat in them?? And fried pork and cheese sandwiches? And don't slag off British sliced bread, it's very healthy, not like Spanish bimbo type bread with about 6 e-numbers in it!

I lived in the south of Spain for 4 years and the kids in the parks were always eating enormous bags of crisps and sweets and many were overweight. And many Spanish mothers marvelled at my dd1 eating fruit!

plopplopquack · 17/03/2011 12:03

petisa wow really?!

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 17/03/2011 12:06

burst that bubble, huh? Grin

petisa · 17/03/2011 12:12

Yes I lived in Seville and according to the first study there one third of children between the ages of 6 and 12 are overweight or obese and I can certainly believe it from living there. The kids were always stuffing themselves with enormous bags of wotsit type "crisps" and bags of jelly sweets. And people would say stuff like "my daughter doesn't eat fruit, how do you get yours to do that?" and do Shock faces just because my dd1 would be eating nectarine or something. Whole. Not in a jar. Hmm

Aurynne says how healthy their bread is but it's white stodgy stuff baked from frozen at the bakery, and you can't get proper wholemeal. And people eat far far too much of it with lots of ham and fried pork and oil...

I do agree with her that there is lots of lovely unprocessed stuff like fresh seafood and lovely tasty fruit and veg, but people don't always eat enough of it there. Many Spanish people shun their lovely food and are going mad for McDonalds, especially young people.

There is a VERY serious obesity problem among the young in Spain.

Sorry to stamp on your rose tinted specs aurynne Grin

RamblingRosa · 17/03/2011 12:12

Wow! I would never have guessed that Spanish kids are the most obese in Europe. I would have put money on British kids topping that list every time.

petisa · 17/03/2011 12:15

OP now you've got plenty to say to your future SIL abou Spanish eating habits, no? Grin I'm sure she's very nice, but Spanish people are known for being a tad, em, opinionated, so you give as good as you get! Grin

petisa · 17/03/2011 12:16

Yes Rosa, and Italian children are apparently the most obese. And Greek children are up there too. Mind you if I were Italian or Greek I'd be obese too! Grin

noddyholder · 17/03/2011 12:23

Where are those stats from though? I thought the uk was fattest although not sure if that's children.

noddyholder · 17/03/2011 12:27

According to the WHO we are only behind the US new Zealand and Mexico

HipHopopotomus · 17/03/2011 12:28

More than likely the increase in obesity in Spanish/Italian and other Mediterranean kids is directly linked to a move away from traditional/local ways of eating, and a move towards what is often called a "Western Diet" - ie involving lots of refined carbs, and high fat snacking etc.

Same thing is happening in Asian countries in areas where families eat a more "western" than "eastern" diet.

noddyholder · 17/03/2011 12:32

I used to work in a restaurant in London where all the chefs were Thai. When new guys/girls came from thialand to work they were really slim and gorgeous but some of the ones who indulged in a lot of 'our' food ESP dairy put weight on really fast and looked so unhealthy compared to when they arrived!