AIBU to think cake is a perfectly good lunch

[Ephiny]

I think this might be my first AIBU.

Basically I'm too lazy to make a packed lunch most days, and anyway most options aren't very appealing. The cafe at work has various sandwiches/wraps and salads, but they aren't great unless you get them on the first day (they sit for 2-3 days) and anyway I'm picky about my food - no meat/fish, no mayonnaise or dressings, no onion, various other things. I usually can't find anything I like and end up just getting a coffee and whatever cake I fancy.

I don't think this is too bad. The coffee is usually a latte, which means protein and calcium, and quite filling. If the cake is a flapjack or something, that's oats for fibre, if it's a muffin with fruit in that's 'healthy'...if it's a pastry, well, I don't know, there's sometimes apple or something in it :) AIBU to think this is actually a perfectly fine lunch, and not less proper or healthy than what other people have just because it's sweet?

But I am embarrassed to tell anyone in real life that this is how I eat, and if I have to I pretend the cake is for dessert not my actual lunch. AIBU?

[FestiveDigestive]

My DD would definitely agree with you. She is 20 months and whenever I ask would she would like for breakfast or lunch or dinner, she clearly says "more cake please" She doesn't have cake very often but she still asks every time.

If you are having a good breakfast and a nutritious evening meal than I can't imagine a bit of cake & coffee will do any harm for lunch. Probably I'm not the right person to ask though as I love cake & I also tell myself that flapjacks are 'healthy'.

[FredFredGeorge]

There's a depressing assertion that fruit + veg (which contain mostly vitamins that almost no-one is deficient in - and more is not better, you just need enough) are what makes a good diet.

Half a pint of milk contains something like 20% of the protein needs in 10% (if full fat, less if skimmed) of the calorie needs of an adult woman (depending on weight, activity etc. etc.) so I'd say it was a good source of protein. As well as a good source of a number of fat soluable vitamins and calcium (although again not many adults are deficient, although slightly more common is a deficiency of Vit A but then you'd need full fat milk to be getting it anyway.) And of course there's almost nothing but a few boney fish to beat a portion of milk for calcium. So yes the milk is a source of both protein and calcium.

[YouOldSlag]

Well I make a fat free reduced sugar fruit cake packed with sultanas and raisins and often have that for breakfast.
Erm... do you have any idea how much sugar is in dried fruit?

yes, but I still eat it. The reason I reduce the sugar I add to it is BECAUSE the dried fruit is plenty sweet enough. I'm not on a reduced sugar diet, it's a matter of taste. If I make a cake that involves either icing or dried fruit, I cut half the sugar out to avoid it tasting too sweet.

[YouOldSlag]

FredFredGeorge, I stand corrected. Very interesting post. I will be drinking more lattes and will stop feeling indulgent when I do!

[imnotmymum]

You are a grown up eat what you like.

[Hobbitation]

Flapjacks keep you going for ages, find them a really good breakfast from time to time. I don't eat them as a dessert. The worst breakfast is most cereals, really. Sugary (with added cane sugar) and not filling.

Erm... do you have any idea how much sugar is in dried fruit?

Yes - fruit sugar. Unless you are avoiding all sugars for medical reasons or eating enormous amount of dried fruit on a daily basis then it isn't a problem.

Also cake does not make you fat. Chocolate doesn't make you fat. An excess of calories makes you gain weight. Many cakes have fewer calories than a packet of sandwiches. While I wouldn't advise cake for lunch every day for other reasons, it wouldn't necessarily make you fat.

[Hobbitation]

Reminds me of a women in the office asking me "Aaargh, how can you eat that chocolate (a couple of Celebrations which had been offered around the office) and be so slim?"

Because in the general scheme of things it was part of a calorific intake of 2000 calories or less and I'd been to the gym and burned off 500.

[FredFredGeorge]

YouOldSlag Well there may be an argument for not getting your calories in liquid form, as it appears it may well be easier to over-eat in that situation. (which is the main problem in our diet over-consumption of calories, not micro-nutrient deficiencies although they can exist if you have a very poor diet)

Some of the signals don't work as efficiently - or maybe it's just the palatability of your latte is high so outweighs them, either way excess consumption does appear to be linked with high number of liquid calories.

[SCOTCHandWRY]

Yes, milk has protein and calcium, it also has lactose, which spikes blood sugar and naturally occurring grown hormones which are unhealthy.

Latte tastes fantastic because it is sugary (the lactose), and has a lot of calories, a medium latte from a coffee chain has enough calories in it to BE lunch but is usually eaten with lunch iykwim. Look up the calorie contents online (most coffee chains have their nutritional contents available online).

I have weaned myself on to Americano or filter coffee with cream (yes cream!) as a better alternative to drinking that amount of milk.

And cake and latte - no, not a good lunch if it's a regular thing rather than just a rare treat. If you are eating that every day, it suggests a high carbohydrate diet (unless you are eating very few carbs at your other 2 meals), it's not metabolically healthy in the long run, no matter what your scales say, it is not just about weight, it is about your long term health.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

Yes - fruit sugar. Unless you are avoiding all sugars for medical reasons or eating enormous amount of dried fruit on a daily basis then it isn't a problem
Sugar is sugar. Doesn't matter where it comes from.

[FeuDeSnowyRussie]

But sugar is not inherently bad for you SaggyOldClothCat Too much sugar is bad for you.

Scotch I really wish more coffee places served real cream (pouring not whipped) to have in filter/americano! I would definitely have that instead of latte if they did :)

[degutastic]

Well I've just eaten an entire 150g bag of "Sensations" crisps, so frankly I am not in any position to judge

But I don't think it's a healthy lunch. It's an acceptable lunch if it's what you want, and it could be part of a reasonably healthy diet, if you eat well at other meals and don't eat cake / sweet stuff regularly otherwise.

[SCOTCHandWRY]

SnowieRussie
Scotch I really wish more coffee places served real cream (pouring not whipped) to have in filter/americano! I would definitely have that instead of latte if they did

I have been known to take my own cream to the coffee shop!

[Hobbitation]

a medium latte from a coffee chain has enough calories in it to BE lunch

Tall skinny latte = 100 calories

Semi skimmed = 150 calories

Whole milk = 180 calories

I don't know what you're having for lunch but none of those have enough calories to be MY lunch.

[Mintyy]

I don't think its healthy to eat that much cake, no, and I am usually quite laissez-faire about food.

[Hobbitation]

Besides which if I didn't drink a couple of lattes a day, on most days I wouldn't have any other milk or dairy products.

[CinnabarRed]

My granny always said "a little of what you fancy does you good".

Everything in moderation, that's the key.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

I know that Feu, I was firstly taking issue with the comment about reduced sugar fruit cake stuffed with raisins and sultanas, and then with the view that fruit sugar is better than any other kind.

There is very little foods that can't be part of a healthy balanced diet. Everything in moderation.

[MrsHoarder]

Well I've just eaten a meal's worth of calories which is around 500 IMO in just biscuits (I know). I'd say as long as its not cream cakes its not too bad. Make sure you are high on the protein/vegetables at dinner time and don't have a sugary cereal for breakfast and it'll be fine overall.

In fact I'm quite jealous that this never occurred to me when I forgot my lunch in the past and had to look at the grim selection of savoury food in the work cafe.

[FeuDeSnowyRussie]

Oh I see Saggy, your posts just sounded anti-sugar full stop.

[YouOldSlag]

I know that Feu, I was firstly taking issue with the comment about reduced sugar fruit cake stuffed with raisins and sultanas, and then with the view that fruit sugar is better than any other kind.

I just like fruit cake and take the sugar out because the fruit is sweet enough! There is sugar in so many things, even a sugar free carb meal spikes your sugar levels.

I'm not remotely anti sugar and do nothing to moderate my intake, but I do use less sugar in a cake if there is icing or fruit involved as it is sweet enough. Just a taste thing. not a health thing. .

[YouOldSlag]

LOL at "stuffed with". Greedy old me!

[Hobbitation]

Fruit sugar is better, if you are eating it in fruit, as it is balanced by the other nutritional items in the fruit. It's meant to have natural sugars in it. It's when you are adding sugar to something or it contains added sugar that your have to be careful.

So adding fruit sugar to something doesn't make it better than adding cane sugar, but dried fruit in small amounts or fresh fruit or anything containing naturally occurring sugars which also have other nutritional value is better than eating sugar out of the packet.

[Mominatrix]

Your latte and flapjack lunch is not ideal, but needs to judged in light of your diet for the day. If you have a very sensible and balanced breakfast and dinner, no harm in that kind of lunch. Moderation and all that. Reminds me of the study which showed that those people who had a piece of cake for breakfast ended up losing more weight during the study period than those who had a more abstemious breakfast. Probably because having a bit of the not ideally healthy prevents us from trying to fill a craving void?

Many of the options available at sandwich places are not much better nutritionally speaking, but just have the thin veneer of being healthier.

To show solidarity, I'll share my lunch - a nice slice of chocolate cake and a large cup of milky tea . Am very content.

[StuntGirl]

Eat whatever you like but nutritionally speaking there are many more balanced options than cake and coffee. YANBU to eat cake but YABU to try and convince yourself you're covering all the nutritional bases