Because I don't know what the fuck to eat anymore!

[MissusWrex]

I'm almost ready to give up.

It's in the news today that a high carb low fat diet is bad for you and that a high fat low carb diet is the way to go with lots of protein.

Though not too much red meat according to the stories a few months ago.

I suppose you could have eggs? Are they bad or good I can't bloody keep up anymore!

I know I know. The advice I should listen to is to just have a healthy balanced diet but I've never had that. I had a terrible diet growing up and still have a very poor relationship with food.

So asking me to just follow a 'healthy balanced diet' is the equivalent of asking me to build a rocket to Mars using only the contents of my bin.

Ive tried to research what exactly constitutes a healthy diet but there is so much contradiction...

I've a few stone left to lose but have been following the low fat high carb route ( no low fat or sugar foods though, I cook from scratch as often as I can)

Will someone more knowledge my that me just tell me what's good and what isn't in a easy to understand format that won't change tomorrow.

Is that too much to ask?!

Diet fads come and go. The one piece of diet advice that every single diet/government recommendation does agree on however is to eat lots of vegetables and fruit. I basically try to stick to a daily ratio of 80% vegetables/fruit and 20% whatever else I want. For me that means lean turkey, chicken and fish like salmon and leans. lentils, quinoa, eggs and cheese etc... I will admit I basically don't eat pasta or red meat anymore. My stomach cannot process red meat easily because I ate it so rarely so I stopped all together. Pasta would fill me up but then I'd just feel sleepy and hungry within a few hours.

One thing that definitely affects me is eating later in the evening. I know theoretically it's not supposed to make any difference what time you eat but I feel bloated and full when I eat after 7pm-ish at the latest. I hate waking up in the morning still feeling full, I like to wake up with an appetite for breakfast. Of course everyone's digestive rate is different.

I'll tell you what the fuck to eat - low carb, high fat. Avoid processed carbs in particular and limit unprocessed carbs to moderate portions, fruit too. It's not that hard. The hard bit is getting your head around why they told you the opposite all these years .The answer IMHO is economics. Much cheaper and more profitable to grow a field of wheat than a herd of cows.

A vegan friend of mine recently got me to watch a few documentaries championing the whole food/plant based diet approach. While i was sceptical at first as to whether i could or even wanted to follow such a 'strict diet', i thought i'd give it a go.

For the past 3 months, i have eaten a whole food, mainly vegan diet. I don't eat any dairy products but i eat a piece of fish maybe once or twice a month and i still drink alcohol when i fancy. I

have lost 2.5 stone without counting a single calorie, my blood tests are perfect, my skin is clear for the first time in my adult life, i sleep better, have more energy and am never hungry.

It took some getting used to as i'm not much of a cook and my diet was really quite terrible before - lots of eating out/convenience foods etc. I understand this isn't for everyone, but i thought i'd throw it into the mix as it really has changed my life!

pigletjohn I read one of Dr Malhotras BMJ opinion pieces a while back and had a look at the evidence myself (I'm a scientist by trade). Just as with the report published today, he had cherry-picked from or misquoted almost every single reference.

I am now veeeeery sceptical of anything with his name attached to it.

It is very confusing being inundated with an article a day proclaiming it's the truth about weightloss when so few of them actually are.

If anyone wants to investigate, I'd suggest reading up on the hunger hormones, finding out exactly which foods the body converts to or treats as sugar, then try minimising or dropping those from your diet alongside all processed food.

Check out articles and blogs by doctors perplexed as to why a low fat diet was not working for their patients and read their conclusions. Here's three to start you off.
Dr. Aseem Malhotra doctoraseem.com/
Dr. John Briffa www.drbriffa.com/
Dr. William Davis www.wheatbellyblog.com/

Personally, I eat 'clean' low carb high fat, no processed food, only fresh veg with a very little fruit. I also believe lifestyle plays a part so do mindfulness, yoga and pilates with a bit of HIIT.

How is a Mediteranian diet healthy, all that pasta, pizzas, oil?
Also don't see why Japanese diet is good as it's very high in salt.

So many faddy diets out there.

The only advice that makes sense to me is:

" Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Orangeyellowhreen: A mediterranean diet does not equal what's on offer in Italian restaurants in the UK

The Mediterranean diet is what Greek/Italian/Spanish people eat in their homes. From what I remember lots of veg/salad/fresh tomatoes, not much processed food etc

"How is a Mediteranian diet healthy, all that pasta, pizzas, oil?"

I thought the idea was that Mediterranean people live longer, and many think it must be their diet - high in oily fish, fruit, veg. Low in processed stuff.

Mediterranean diet 'slows ageing' - and could even help you live longer

My DM is Italian but never made creamy dishes like carbonara while i was growing up.

I didnt see anything like that until i went to an Italian restaurant and when i mentioned it was the first id heard of it i got "I thought your mum was Italian"

Many years ago I lost 2 stone on a high fat low carb diet. It was v effective, lost ten pounds in two weeks! I also had more energy and was much less bloated. However it was hard to maintain long term. I think a low GI diet is probably the most healthy and sustainable diet to follow long term. With the occasional treat! 🍨🍰🍺

Well I can't eat fat since having my gallbladder out - it makes me feel quite poorly. I'm also allergic to cow milk protein.

A high carb diet works for me, I don't eat anything with more than 5% fat. I feel better than I have in a long time, I was very unwell before making this change.

Quite a few people on this thread have quoted Michael Pollan (eat food, not too much, mostly plants). If anyone's interested he has made a documentary (available on you tube or the US TV channel PBS) called 'In defence of food.' It's a really interesting watch and has made me think much more about what I eat. It's based on his book of the same name.

I haven't read the replies so sorry if I'm repeating. Get yourself the lean in 15 book and follow the body coach on fb.

I have just done a month of high protein/fat low carb dieting - lost a lot of weight but have gained my first bout of gout. Agony Now back to Mediterranean diet with smaller portions.

I'm a scientist by background, though not in diet, I still have a bit o a bee in my bonnet about this. The media likes to hugely oversimplify research into a complex field and loves a puff piece with zero science involved
on how wine/beer/chocolate is actually GOOD for you!! The reality is usually more like one ingredient of them does something good to rats or cells in a petri dish. They also like to publish articles by 'nutritionists' offering weight loss and health benefits with a few simple tricks (anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, be very wary of them, dietitians are the real deal).

It's no surprise that people are confused and turned off by the time any useful advice comes along, it's already been drowned by over-hyped findings or outright bollocks. So be wary, not all advice in the papers comes from anything approaching a good source and even if it does it's probably sensationalised.

Find a breakfast that you really like and that fills you up til lunch and suits your digestion and then stick with it. A healthy breakfast makes you feel like you are on the right track for the whole day. At the moment (post menopause), I am addicted to - and never waiver from - total full fat greek natural yoghurt, waitrose essential fruit and nut muesli, mixed with two types of fruit - whatever I can find.

I know I shoud RTFT, but I guess you can't go too far wrong with eat food, not too much, mostly plants...

Right I've been to Asda and now own full fat greek yoghurt instead of the fat free variety.

I must say though...it's making me nervous. All these years avoiding the 'bad' version and I'm half convinced that I'll pile weight on if I have a bit of the full fat instead!

Missus i have full fat greek yoghurt i use it as a topping to cover fresh blueberries when i fancy a dessert and ive lost weight. Dont be nervous

Blimey the food industry really have done a good job of brainwashing.

Can I just say....... full fat greek yoghurt with berries, honey and nuts is breakfast of the gods.

I'll try it for a few weeks.

If I can still fit in my jeans (maternity I had a section 5ish weeks ago) then I'll know for sure the bastards did a number on me

Ah now I see this thread! Couldn't find one so started one in diet!

One doctor has pretty much said the answer is complicated but there is truth to the avoiding low fat products and eating natural fats. That I kind of agree with. The right answer is something in the middle.

The nhs pushing low fat is just very outdated!

So many of the low fat products are just smaller portions that cost a lot more per gram. I'm really going to avoid those!

Save your money on the nutritionist. Most of them have no more expertise than you or I.

nutritionfacts.org/

I like this guy. He's a medic who wondered why medical schools weren't teaching nutrition and how to stay healthy, only how to treat people when they're already ill. He saw his own grandmother's heart disease reversed by good plant based non processed diet and made it his life's work to educate people about nutrition. He has a recent book called 'how not to die' (not 'how to not die'-everyone dies, clearly) where he looks at evidence based studies showing how the risk of the top ten diseases can be prevented, treated or cured by nutrition. He doesn't take money from the sales as he has a job in a university, but uses the money to expand his organisation.

The website has a lot of the info for free, often in video form and is constantly updated. There is also a free app called 'daily dozen' to remind you what to have.

Basically it's plenty fruit, veg, pulses, whole grains, spices, herbs.

Worth a look. I've definitely felt better since following the advice and reading the book.