To think peoples attitude to food is bizarre

[lastqueenofscotland]

It just seems to be on one extreme or the other!
All this "clean eating" which I think limits huge amounts of food groups. No carb/no sugar/no fat fads. Using things that should supplement a healthy diet (shakes/smoothies etc) as meals. Phobias of wheat, people offering dietary advice with no qualifications to do so other than they have found a few of their OWN issues were sorted out by a change. Totally loss if understanding of what healthy is... Colleague today saying she was having a healthy lunch (handful if carrot sticks!). All this guilt around eating various things that are FINE.
It is doing my head in! (Can you tell everyone in my office is dieting?!)

I had a housemate years ago who spent ages lecturing us on the greatness of slim fast with meals of stuff like chick pea and lentil soup and how the rest of us were unhealthy. Used to figure out our calories and tell us they were over guidelines and offer yet more inane advice. Despite the physical evidence clearly proving only she needed nutritional advice. How we laughed.

shegotall
Fasting should not make you ratty.
She's doing it wrong if it is.
Get her to join one of the big 5:2 support groups - the one on MN is the very best
as then she'll work out how to achieve her goals without pissing the rest of you off.

LauraGrooves outdated and yet still being taught carbs in moderation are needed - whole grain brown rice, whole wheat pasta, bulgur wheat etc - all fine

it's nonsensical to exclude whole food groups out of your diet unless you are allergic

faddy diets may say otherwise - but they are just money spinners

Phobias of wheat? I have coeliacs disease which is an auto immune disease. If I eat gluten I am extremely ill. I have awful pains in my stomach and even the smallest amount makes me physically sick.
A lot of people like you make comments like that and tbh it's just a lack of education on your part.
If you don't like other people's allergies/preferences that probably says more about you. It's not like they're forcing nothing but carrot sticks down your throat.

Or maybe not Talky

Fasting works for some people but I would argue not for those who get angry when they are hungry.

And 5:2 might not be the best for those whose tdee is below around 1600 calories per day. Works fine for those who can slice off a huge proportion of their weekly calorie needs by going down to 500 or 600 twice per week.

Reubs we've gone to great pains to clearly state that we're not talking about people with diagnosed medical conditions.

The 5:2 hype has died down, as has dukan...both fads imo

And actually are talking about those who incessantly inflict their misguided dietary choices on others.

My colleague comes to MN to meet her 5:2 cheer leaders!

And she does it all 'correctly' drinking loads etc.

The fact is though, many people are frankly useless when they eat nothing (bar carrots. Why is it always carrots?) all day and try to do a very taxing job.

She tells us she 'loves' her fasting days and feels 'clear headed' .

All the better to tread her P45 properly.

Mm carrot sticks are lovely! Love em

I'm quite partial too. Dipped in humous or sour cream.

But it's clearly not enough for my colleague. Perhaps if she had something for breakfast. But, oh no.

Are they actually force feeding you though?

Food tends to elicit a 'gut reaction' though doesn't it
Guess that's why attitudes towards it are often not reasoned? ?

we are thinking with our GI tracts and not our heads :o

Suzanne Very true though.
2 million years of evolution, fighting to maximise food intake and store it, then only in the last few decades have we had to cope with over-abundance. Not surprising many folk struggle. We should be tolerant and non-judgy about weight & diets.

Some people get very emotional when dieting; others get emotional when they see others dieting and losing weight, or choosing a different method.
However, there really is no fits-everyone diet.

One woman at our gym doing WW was always ratty and then one day just passed out during spin. She changed to low carb and then happily lost weight. Doesn't mean WW won't work for many folk; she just needed a lot more protein and fat to function.

Diets fade out of the news, but that doesn't mean a lot of people no longer do them: low carb has trundled on since Atkins' first book decades ago; Dukan continues; some folk are now put onto 5:2 by their GP; WW and Slim-fast still make a profit.

Friends and colleagues who fast at Ramadan manage to function pefectly well, even though they can't drink water either. They are not a self-selecting group and say they do feel hungry, but just know they have to accept it.
My brilliant boxing trainer continues to hammer us during Ramadan, no problem.

I agree to some extent, I'm glad there's nobody at work obsessing about food or dieting. The only comments we have in the staff room about food are "oooh that smells nice, how did you make it" :o

I am trying to lose weight but I'm not even mentioning it at work.

You can actually reverse some pretty serious illnesses by going on a juiced diet

...tell me more please? :)

I think you should eat what you like and just watch the portion sizes.
Band wagon fads are for the gullible.

I'm on holiday somewhere in France that is very focused on food. The market is just incredible and everyone shops daily for extraordinary delicacies. But no-one is overweight.

Diets are not the answer. Really good, satisfying fresh produce and traditional recipes are.

Fad/crash diets are shite. You might well lose loads of weight but it'll all pile back on the minute you start eating 'normally' again. Waste of time.

I've lost 3 stones by eating less, limiting treats so they are actual treats rather than my normal daily diet, and doing exercise.

I once lost 20 lbs in 3 weeks. It made me ill.

I 'eat clean' probably 95% of the time. I love to cook from scratch, and feel better eating fresh. That really is the extent of it.

But going around the supermarket with my parents they were MORTIFIED that I didn't need to go down the crisp or biscuits isle. The idea that I don't have a crisp cupboard or a biscuit tin was shocking to them. They turned to ask my OH if he was alright, like he was suffering neglect.

I find it odd that having junk food in your house is 'normal' but only really eating junk food as a treat (at a party for example) is abnormal, weird, or some sort of eating disorder. It should be the other way around.

I didn't even mention that we don't have bread in

I try to eat healthily but sometimes eat junk eg takeaways. I believe in everything in moderation, so a few chips with a burger, salad and lots of veg with most meals, occasionally eat pudding, start every day with yoghurt and granola. I think if we all just ate smaller portions and pretty much followed portion sizes guidelines and ate fruit and veg more the nation would be healthier. But nothing wrong with occasional treats like bag of maltesers. And I have never eaten a chip butty! Never heard of them until I was an adult and never appealed

Now I do always have a large range of junk in, alongside proper food. Sweets, crisps, chocolate, cake etc. The difference is because it's always there and from dd being a toddler been on a help yourself whenever basis, rather than a treat, it doesn't end up being bothered with much. And when we do, more likely to eat a sweet, a biscuit, few bites of a choc bar etc because we fancy it, than eat it as a reward or because it's special. A punnet of strawberries bag of prawns, salmon dominos etc is lucky to make it past a few hours though, because they are treats due not being in constant supply. And even with greasy takeaway, dd wouldn't eat it often because she doesn't like the cba feeling it leaves, and nor do I. Meanwhile my cupboard has sweets from last Halloween, a tube of Pringles that must be soft by now, aldi groovy bars with the old disco packaging and God knows what else. I do throw half eaten and abandoned stuff though, not a complete scruff.

I lost quite a lot of weight doing intermittent fasting - it's now come back because I didn't restrain myself consistently, alas.

I'm doing a version of it now - every day I eat SLIGHTLY LESS than I would have done before, and I also avoid the cakes

I'm thinking of branding this revolutionary regime

Food:
Fresh vegetables
Junk food
Processed food
Healthy food
Chocolate
whole grains
Sugar sandwiches

Non-food:
Lino
Carpet
House bricks

Can we please stop all the 'it's not real/proper food' crap. Some might have a more desirable combination of nutrients than others, just find a combination that works for you and enjoy it.

I'll defend 'processed' foods, bread, cheese, ice cream, these don't grow on trees.

There is nothing healthy about obsessing over food.