Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder what 'normal' people eat...?

172 replies

HouseHell · 05/04/2015 20:32

Just that really.

I have problems with food...it's very much feast or famine and nothing much in between. So if you're 'normal', what does a days food look like?

Tia

OP posts:
BlessedAndGr8fulNoInLaws4Xmas · 07/04/2015 18:48

Muesli & yoghurt for breakfast

Piece of salmon with bean salad at lunch & cappuccino

Bar of dark choc

Melon

Tea I have not had yet ....

thebear1 · 07/04/2015 18:55

No breakfast today but normally ceral, lunch was Boots shapers sandwich and crisps. Tea was two quorn burgers and salad. Will have some chocolate later. Also had cups of tea and diet coke.

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 07/04/2015 18:58

No breakfast
Banana at 10am
Home made sandwich with pastrami, horseradish and masses of rocket (no butter) and large Satsuma

Spag bol for dinner with salad. Grapes for desert.

Sylviecat · 07/04/2015 19:01

Breakfast- bowl of cornflakes mixed with all bran and banana with full cream milk and a cuppa.
Lunch- egg mayo sandwich, satsuma and some date and walnut cake. More tea.
Dinner- Sausage casserole and mash. Sometimes yoghurt for pudding.
Always have chocolate in evenings. For snacks in the day I often have fruit/rice cake with peanut butter/biscuits etc.

Petradreaming · 07/04/2015 21:11

Porridge for breakfast. A cereal bar at around 11.00am. Sandwich or pasta for lunch a yoghurt mid afternoon. Usually a veggie curry or pasta for dinner. Way too much lager in the evenings. :-)

tassisssss · 07/04/2015 21:14

Today...woke at 9am (what a treat) and ate nothing until lunch of 2 filled pitta bread and fruit.

Then tea with tomato pasta (loads of whizzed up oven roast veg and cream in the sauce) with cheese on the top.

More chopped fruit.

Now having a large glass of wine.

I regularly don't eat until lunchtime. So that's maybe not 'normal'?!

FoxyVeganJane · 07/04/2015 21:18

For breakfast two cups of tea and jam on homemade bread. Lunch a homemade veggie burger, chips and salad and a cup of coffee. Supper a noodle, tofu, carrot, cucumber, nuts, soy sauce and peanut butter sir fry a huge plate as I'm starved, water and then probably a cup of tea with a chocolate truffle but haven't got that far yet.

I only eat when my stomach rumbles otherwise I leave it and I don't snack that much.

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 23/05/2015 06:38

I have resurrected this thread, because it accidentally came to my attention while reading another thread and then cross referencing this one, that one of the posters on here who has listed her daily food intake has listed what looks like very pretty low calorie 'typical' diet that would not be sustainable for most 'normal' people, and most 'normal' people (which is what the OP asked for) would really struggle to not be very hungry on that amount of food.

But the person who posted that food list failed to declare that she is in treatment for an eating disorder and has a very low BMI that is teetering on the dangerous.

I do not wish to draw attention to anyone specific or seem that I am picking on them, but I feel really strongly about this. I really do think it's important for others who are struggling with their weight or their body image or their dysfunctional relationship with food and feeling shit about it, to understand that not everyone listing their food intake on threads like this is actually 'normal' at all. If you struggle to regulate your food intake and lurch between eating too much or the wrong things (and that may not even be by eating excessively, but just that you consider yourself to have 'failed' that day) and then punishing yourself by eating virtually nothing for a few days to try and compensate, then the LAST thing you need is for people masquerading as 'normal' in order to tell you what a 'normal' person eats, when they know damn well they have an ED and choose not to disclose it on the thread.

The reason they manage to eat so few calories compared to you or me is not because they are strong and we are weak, it's because they have a MH issue around food.

You could end up feeling very depressed indeed if you think your only hope of being 'normal' is to follow the lead of someone who is a closet borderline anorexic.

MummyPig24 · 23/05/2015 07:17

A typical day goes like this:

Breakfast- fruit and yoghurt or toast and fruit.

Lunch- salad, pasta or a sandwich if I haven't had toast at breakfast. Fruit, yoghurt.

Dinner- usually something homemade like chicken curry and rice or steak and salad.

I'm overweight but have lost nearly 2 stone since changing my eating habits.

LondonLady29 · 23/05/2015 09:04

I'm trying to eat healthily at the moment and have cut out my usual snacks so now I eat:

Breakfast- porridge with berries and honey
Snack: Apple
Lunch: chicken salad wrap, dried mango
Snack: handful of unprocessed nuts
Dinner: fish or meat with grains and veg

Drinks: teas, water

mumto3alexa · 23/05/2015 09:11

You don't need to ban any foods or have fasting days ItsRainingInBaltimore. Just eat when you are hungry, and do a lot of exercise. Not necessarily structured exercise just lead an active lifestyle.

editthis · 23/05/2015 09:14

Well said, Baltimore. I tend not to post on threads like this as I, like the OP, veer between feast and famine days. If I were to post, it would be a regimented list of extremely healthy food, carefully ticking every food group and taking in a range of colourful fruit and vegetables i.e. a very "good" day; I would not list one of those days where all I ate was chocolate orange and pizza.

As common as that probably is, it is not normal; I envy those posters who cheerfully say something like, "I was too busy at work to eat lunch so had a Snickers on the way home." That, to me, is a person with a normal attitude to food...

hstar1995 · 23/05/2015 09:19

A usual day -

Breakfast - Peice of fruit or Smoothie

Lunch - Omlette/egg on toast/low fat Supernoodles/ soup and a roll/small portion pasta and passata with ham/ salad

Snack - Smoothie

Tea - Something homecooked usually - spaghetti Bolognese, pasta and meatballs, chillies, curries, fish and chips, chicken dinners, stir frys etc. Perhaps yogurt for dessert. Chocolate if a Saturday.

ahbollocks · 23/05/2015 09:23

You lot are all so healthy!
Breakfast - 2 slices white toast and tabkespoon butter
Lunch-cheese and crisps, banana and biscuit
Dinner- chicken caeser salad with a few fries
Bag maltesers

[Blush]

ChanandlerBongsNeighbour · 23/05/2015 09:26

Toast with butter and jam or cereal for breakfast (usually cereal if I've bought mini variety boxes for the kids as then I can have coco pops ??).

Sandwich and crisps for lunch.

Fruit mid afternoon snack.

Hot dinner, could be pasta and garlic bread, slow cooked stew, chicken and chips, or cold 'mezze' (cold salad/snack foods -sausage roll etc).

LOVE blueberry yoghurt on the huge tubs so usually a few spoons of that after dinner and some form of chocolate!

Drink tea and squash during the day and maybe share a can of pop with dh after dinner.

Kasey86 · 23/05/2015 09:30

Typical day for me is

Breakfast: low fat Greek yogurt with granola and berries
Snack: mango & pineapple cubes
Lunch: normally a huge salad and some kind of protein either chicken, turkey or egg. Fruit salad for after.
Snack: coffee & small dark choc bar
Dinner: anything tbh, I try to eat well during the day so come dinner time I eat pretty much what I want.
Also drink water & coffee.

DampAndRotten · 23/05/2015 09:36

Well said Baltimore.

And editthis - I'm with you on the envy of people with truly a "normal" attitude to food.

chillychicken · 23/05/2015 09:44

Yesterday:
B- 45g of Special K with red berries and skimmed milk (yes, I weigh my cereal)
L- tuna and sweetcorn sandwich
S- kinder bueno
D- red thai chicken curry, rice and thai spiced prawn crackers (Lloyd grossman jar - very nice!)
2 glasses of white wine, 2 gooey Maryland cookies.

Maliceaforethought · 23/05/2015 09:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OrangeVase · 23/05/2015 09:52

Yes, well said Baltimore.
My attitude to food was terrible throughout teens and twenties. Binge eating, fasting, crash dieting, obsession, sugar addiction,(ate a whole jar or honey with a spoon once).

Became "normal" through work on self, change in lifestyle, a relationship, kids etc.

Now I eat well mostly but accept that there are days when I eat what is available, (KitKat and crisps on the station one day last week as starving and no time for lunch or dinner). I can now accept that that happens and is just life. That to me is a huge achievement, (even thoguh I am still overweight and still don't eat as well as ideally I should)

LuisSuarezTeeth · 23/05/2015 10:17

Baltimore

You could end up feeling very depressed indeed if you think your only hope of being 'normal' is to follow the lead of someone who is a closet borderline anorexic.

You'd also be very depressed if you realised someone resurrected a thread simply to identify and out you (not hard to work out is it).

Pretty nasty thing to do IMO

LaChatte · 23/05/2015 10:34

Average working day (teacher)

Breakfast: toast with marmite and peanut butter, cup of tea (milk, no sugar).

Morning break: coffee (black, one sugar).

Lunch: salad starter, main (meat, veg, starch), cheese and bread, sweet, fruit.

Afternoon break: coffee (black, one sugar)

Evening meal: main (no meat), fruit.

fortyfide · 23/05/2015 11:55

Brekkie. Hard boiled egg and oats with cold milk on. Keeps me going.

ItsRainingInBaltimore · 23/05/2015 12:15

Luis this thread is 150 posts long and most people have only posted on it once as far as I can see. If have no idea how hard or otherwise it would be to out the person in question - as I said, I stumbled upon it by accident and for all I know we may not even be thinking of the same person.

If anyone wants to spend three hours working it out that's up to them. It happens on MN all the time, something someone says is called into question and people will search the backstory as they are perfectly entitled to do until the AV facility is removed.

My point still stands. It is disingenuous to respond to a thread started by someone who has a difficult relationship with food and is asking about the 'normal' eating habits of 'normal' people (ie. those who manage to control their weight and their appetite in a relaxed and emotionally healthy way, when you know that your own relationship with food is just as fucked up as theirs is. It's not honest and it's not fair.

DriveLikeJehu · 23/05/2015 12:28

First thing: Porridge with half water, half milk, honey. Coffee with milk & sugar.
Mid morning: Smoothie with banana, coconut milk, honey, almond butter
Early afternoon: Homemade energy bar, which is some combination of dried fruit, nut butter, nuts, seeds, oats, puffed rice
Mid afternoon: Smoothie with pear, spinach and almond milk
Late afternoon: Juice, usually one fruit and four veg
Dinner: Meat, veg, carbs in roughly equal (but huge) amounts
Later: Greek yoghurt with honey, nuts and seeds
Later still: Hot chocolate

At the weekends I'll have eggs and smoked mackerel instead of porridge, won't have the energy bar or one of the smoothies.

Caveats: This is accurately how I eat 80% of the time. But I also have a feast or famine attitude to food. My evening meal is vast and I compulsively eat until I feel sick and can't move for about 2 hours. At least once a week I binge on chocolate - 8 or 9 bars in an evening. Then I might either punish myself by not eating all the next day, or punish myself by chocolate bingeing again because I think I deserve to put on weight and be ill. I've recently been diagnosed with multiple digestive issues, so I am trying to eat healthier and to figure out what works for me. I do a hugely physical job, so calorie-wise I can get away with the main meal and chocolate bingeing.

NC for this