To think I eat healthily? My DH doesn't!

[Virtualcareerchanger]

I think I eat a well balanced healthy diet. Me and DH are trying to get fit and I said I don't need to change what I eat I just need to start exercising, however my DH disagrees and thinks we need to cut out carbs as carbs are sugar. He said he thinks we eat too much carbs and dairy. I thought I would bring this to the mumsnet aibu jury. Here is what I have eaten (and DH) over the last two days. Am I being unreasonable to think this is fine for someone trying to eat healthily?

Day 1
Breakfast: porridge oats made with semi skimmed milk a teaspoon of honey and 3 tablespoons of blueberries
Lunch: cheese salad sandwich on wholemeal bread with a scraping of vitalight spread, a raw carrot and an apple
Snack: a banana
Dinner: salmon, sweet potato and brocoli

Day 2
Breakfast: porridge oats with semi skimmed milk a teaspoon of honey and 3 tablespoons of raspberries
Lunch: tin of carrot and butterbean soup, a wholemeal roll with a scraping of vitalight spread, an orange
Snack: raisins and almonds
Dinner: homemade Thai chicken curry with rice

I lost over 2st and toned up wonderfully (comparatively speaking - am still chubby and a bit wobbly) just by doing a lot of walking. I don't watch what I eat at all, but burn off a lot o' calories. On the healthy-sounding foods above you should slim down in no time if you were able to rearrange your day to include some kind of physical activity - shopping or collecting the children on foot instead of by car/bus, for example. Gym/exercise classes are good too, but I think one needs more sustained activity to persuade the body to let go of its spare flab and keep it off. Plus gym/classes cost money whereas walking saves money. Money is good. can afford more chocolate

I use the vitalight spread because my children both have a milk allergy and I don't have enough space in the fridge for different spreads. We all only use a scraping of it is it really that bad?

What do they remove from semi skimmed milk?

When I attempted a low carb diet I had to give it up after about two months because I felt and looked like utter shit.

I did everything "right" - lots of chicken, turkey and fish, lots of vegetables, salad, eggs, etc but it just simply did not work for me.

I felt tired and lethargic all the time despite getting enough sleep, felt sick and kept getting dizzy spells and began getting dark circles under my eyes.

I remember one day being at work and I kept needing to sit down because I physically couldn't stay on my feet.

As soon as I started eating carbs again I started feeling almost immediately.

After my first experience of low carbing let's just say I have no desire to give it another go.

I had thought of changing to oat milk as my dc drink that, is it healthier than cows milk?

feeling better almost immediately.

I should point out though that I wasn't doing it to lose weight and have never been overweight. I just wanted to start eating a bit more healthy and kept hearing that low carbing was the way to go. So I'm not sure if that had anything to do with my bad experience.

Isn't oat milk full of sugar?

Err no. You dh had no real understanding of sports diets and sports science. Unless you are an athlete and training for a target or a competition event, carbs is very important for your body. It is fuel. Your diet is generally healthy and you don't need to go crazy. It is fine!! We are meant to eat small portions from each of the food groups. What you need to do is start toning up, increasinh muscle mass and definition. Until your dh has a 6 pack and is about to go on Men's Health Magazine as a front cover model, then keep the carbs - albeit healthy complex non-white carbs.

I'd switch to whole milk - low fat stuff is terrible for you. And if you really want to be picky, go for rye/spelt/sourdough over wholemeal. The rest looks perfectly healthy! Never having exercised is the real problem I'm afraid.

I think you would benefit of less carbs and more protein and fat. They saciate MUCH more than bread, rice and potatoes.

Having said that, your diet sounds ok to me. Not amazing, but ok.

The meals look healthy and nutritious so as long as you're not snacking on junk alongside that and portion sizes are sensible that's an excellent base for getting started with exercise. I'd probably switch to brown rice and personally porridge makes me really hungry but if it works for you then that's fine.

Some people get on better and lose loads of weight low carbing but that doesn't seem necessary in your case.

What exercise are you planning to do?

"semi skimmed milk ( most of the goodness has been taken out) "

semi-skimmed has more calcium than full doesn't it?

Your only a size 10 you don't need to diet just do some exercises to tone up the bits your not happy with!

" low fat stuff is terrible for you"

I thought that was only true if the fat was replaced with sugar or sweeteners. What's wrong with semi-skimmed milk???

Your diet sounds great. We are supposed to eat a diet high in complex carbohydrates and dairy is very good for you. Personally I prefer butter and whole milk, however semi-skimmed milk is not terrible for you, it is perfectly fine.

You absorb more nutrients from full fat milk (essentially because of the fat). I make porridge with half full fat milk and half water.

there is nothing wrong with your diet - as others have said, carbs are an essential part of a healthy diet so ignore that - but makes sure it's not the white shite variety

I am baffled by the milk argument though - seriously

I drink skimmed milk because I like it - it is also higher in calcium which is good - can some one PLEASE tell me what is wrong with it?

Changing the type of milk you drink is going to have no effect whatsoever!

Your diet sounds perfectly well balanced and healthy. Carbs are an important part of a balanced diet. You shouldn't cut them out, particularly if you're going to start exercising more. If you start excersing a lot if anything you need more carbs, but keep your diet as it is to start with.

Sounds like you want to increase your overall fitness and tone up certain areas, so you just need to find some exercises you enjoy and can do long term. What would motivate you best? Some people are motivated a social element (so classes or team sports might be good), some by competition (so something like tennis might work), some like a bit of a thrill (so mountain biking, climbing etc). Me personally I hate classes, but I like being outdoors and a bit (but not too much) of a thrill, so hiking and mountain biking work for me. When it's wet I like to go climbing at the bouldering centre - this is great for toning your arms and stomach. But everyone is different - the important thing is you find something you enjoy, otherwise you likely won't keep it up.

If you've never exercised then you really, really need to start! Not just to tone up, it's also vital for your heart and lungs and weight bearing exercise is crucial for maintaining bone density and preventing osteoporosis as you age (as a pp mentioned.)

Your diet is fine. I personally drink oat milk (free of sugar and sweeteners) because I worry about antibiotics in the food chain but that's a personal choice, having semi skimmed with your porridge won't kill you.

Stick with your diet and start exercising. Find something fun - even walking for 45 mins a day would be a good start. Try lots of things out and see what you enjoy.

Problem is that there is no calcium in fish, eggs and bread...calcium is important both as itself as a nuritent, but also its essential to absorb vitamin D (and you'll feel pretty unhealthy if you're vitamin D deficient).

sorry meant veg not bread.

Broccoli, kale, watercress and spinach all have calcium in I think.

Very low carb diets are difficult to maintain. They can offer fast weight loss if you go down the ketosis route, but it doesn't sound like you need to lose any weight.
Your diet sounds pretty healthy to me. I'm sure exercise will be of benefit - and if you doing a fair bit of cardio, good carbs will give you the energy you need.

I found the easiest way I could lose weight without killing myself with exercise was to avoid bread and pasta at breakfast and lunch times, I got down to a weight that I was really happy with but it took quite a while for a relatively small amount of weight and I was so fed up of protein and veg for lunch. I ended up putting everything back on so now I'm looking to find something more manageable long term. Your diet sounds great, it has to be something you will enjoy to make it a permanent lifestyle change, not just something you'll suffer through as then you're more likely to give up IMO.

If your objective is to get fit, then what you eat won't have a direct impact. If your aim is to train for an event or sport then it makes sense to fuel your workouts appropriately, but what's right for a marathon would be different to what's right for a weightlifter. If you're just looking to start doing some exercise, then enough food but not too much, including carbs and protein and fat, is the main thing.

If on the other hand it's about losing weight, it would be different. But fitness has no direct connection to weightloss - fit people tend to weigh less but it's not always the case.

Why is skimmed milk bad? It's just had the fat skimmed off.

I think people do get somewhat confused between low fat food that has been modified so that it still holds it's shape and the has had sugar/ sweeteners added to make it palatable (e.g. Muller Light) , and food that is either naturally low in fat, or has just been slightly altered, like skimmed milk.