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

Calcium in fish if you eat pilchards & eat the little bones - crunchy!

There's nothing wrong with skimmed milk. Whole milk has more vitamins in because some are fat soluble so if you take out the fat then you take out the vitamins. Calcium is not in the fat so there's slightly more in skimmed. I would use which ever version you prefer though as those vits are likely to be found in other parts of your diet. But don't be afraid of fat in milk, there's not much in it even in the full fat and it is good for you.

Whole milk = 3.5% fat
Semi skimmed = 1.5-1.8%
Skimmed = 0.3%

Paperdoll There is a lot of scientific evidence to show that WHOLEWHEAT is not healthy. The tests are in another book called 'Grain Brain" . The results are kept quiet because no one esp. the big manufacturers wants the population to know. Obesity , brain fog ,exhaustion, depression, bad tempers are some of the symptoms from eating the 'healthy'' wholewheat, as I said we are brain washed.

Get down to the gym and make sure you do lots of muscle toning (weights) alongside your cardio excercise. You will tone up in no time.

Those percentages are the same for yogurt too as full fat yogurt is made from whole milk, compared to low fat which is made from semi or skimmed.

I always get full fat greek yogurt - that bit of extra fat keeps you satiated and full for longer and is more nutritious, and I avoid low fat yogurt, and definitely avoid sugar laden low fat products.

kiki Thanks for clarifying. I drink a mixture- prefer semi-skim in tea and full fat in coffee but tbh if the nearest coffee machine at work has skimmed in it, I'll just drink that rather than go to the other.

IIRC full fat milk is much better for you because SS has more lactose (milk sugar) in it proportionally compared to,FF, SS has more calcium, but it needs the fat in order for your body to be able to use it.
I'd also switch to real butter as well, which is better for you.

I personally like low carbing because it's easy to stick to and is sustainable, I also have less brain fog, and no cravings for bread/cakes/chocolate etc.

Your diet is fine. I will say though that if you're intending to throw yourself in to exercise (and why not!) you are likely to need to eat more, especially carbs, as they are essential for energy. In the medium term you'll be able to tweak your diet but your body is likely to be shocked at the new demands you're putting on it so you need to be well fed :)

Karoleann - I'm just being picky but is it not the other way round? The Vitamin D is needed for the body to absorb calcium?

I think your DH has confused the concept of healthy diet and fad diets. Your diet is fine. Like pps say, increasing your protein intake might help but you're hardly having loads of processed food!

I've low carbed in the past. It was fine - until I stopped! Basically I'd been eating loads of processed carbs - lots of bread, sweets, cakes! I was a carb addict. I literally craved them. Doing low carb stopped the cravings but when I had carbs again I was back to where I started and gained all I lost very quickly. Now I'm doing SW which is all about a balanced diet, similar to what you eat now! I would look at doing some toning exercise but otherwise carry on.

SS has more lactose (milk sugar) in it proportionally compared to,FF

Well that's just maths. If you take the fat out of one and then divide calories from lactose by total calories in each case.......However, it doesn't mean that total lactose is any greater glass for glass.

ppeatfruit

There is a lot of scientific evidence to show that WHOLEWHEAT is not healthy

There is actually not a lot of evidence for this. You have to be careful about taking one person's word as gospel, even if that person is a qualified doctor. Most of the medical community disagree with him.

There's a comprehensive article about it here: nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/06/problem-with-the-grain-brain-doctor.html

Remember that it's possible to be brainwashed by individuals as well as corporations and "society at large". Especially when that individual makes a LOT of money from writing and speaking about controversial topics.

My diet is pretty much like yours except I alternate the porridge with eggs on toast. I also use almond milk some days instead of cows milk.

I am an 8-10 but being older ( almost twice your age) my metabolism is slower so I do eat fewer carbs.

The only way I'd change what you eat is to have a few less carbs, so I'd not have 2 slices of bread for lunch, I'd have the filling as a salad, and no bread with soup. I'd fill up with a small cube of cheese or a small amount of plain full fat Greek yoghurt.

My own 'rule' which works for me, at my age, is carbs once a day (breakfast, lunch or dinner) but not all three. I don't count sweet potatoes as carbs (or root veggies) though theoretically they are.

The arguments about fat in milk: the latest advice is not to avoid full fat products but to eat in moderation. People who eschew full fat cheese, milk, yoghurt etc tend to fill up on carbs and sugar. Some research shows that it's sugar and refined carbs that cause arterial inflammation and CVD, not animal fats.

Gosh, you sound fine. Just find some exercise you enjoy and do it!

I guess you can arrange a compromise with your DH where you eat the same but with some carbs on the side for you? He can have extra green veg or something.

I would lose weight on that diet and I don't need to, it looks miserably healthy to me. You are a size 10 so surely not overweight?
Too many faddy ideas around to confuse people.
Nothing wrong with getting fit but I think you already have a very healthy diet. I wonder whether your DH gets his nutritional expertise from reddit body building websites.

The thing is, you get into diminishing returns. The OP's diet, as stated, is probably already better than the diets of 97% of the population (especially judging by the "what did you eat today " MN threads amongst a demographic which would be expected to be better than average). You can get into the whole paleo/clean eating/carbz are the devil thing but a lot of this research is pretty thin and unlikely to deliver any major health benefits.

If what the OP is eating at the moment is sustainable, affordable and enjoyable, stick with it!

don't all cells run on glucose? (vague memories of biology classes) therefore the body would need to get the glucose from somewhere, releasing it slowly from complex carbohydrates is better than from simple carbohydrates

Carbs are in more products than people think and you do need to eat some. A body needs at least 90 grams of carbs a day. Carbs are fuel for your muscles. Your heart is a muscle. If you would cut ALL carbs you would deprive your heart of fuel.

Carbs are in all plant material. An apple has about 12 carbs. Lettuce has avery low carb count but it isn't zero.

Cutting carbs helps some people lose weight because it helps them eat less or less calories.

Slow releasing carbs are generally more healthy than quick releasing carbs. Think oats vs. Sugar. Fast releasing carbs tend to be (not always) manmade processed food empty of nutrients. Try to eat slow releasing carbs (google is your friend here).

You are doing fine, good luck with your goals!

I don't think you eat many vegetables. So I would increase your intake of those.

As for types of diet, I think the confusion between experts is because different diets suit different people. Low carb high fat regime suits me. My body needs lots of red meat, I imagine for the carnitine and prawns, I imagine for the omega 3.

You do eat a lot of carbs and my body hates carbs so i don't eat that much of them. Carbs give me brain fog. Low carb high fat helps to clear some of this. I also don't eat dairy or gluten for health reasons. (Except for the odd mini magnum - oops).

As for your partner saying you should eat how he does, that may be fine for him and not necessarily fine for you. It is also far easier for a man to reglement what he eats in this way because he doesn't have hormonal fluctuations like women.

cells run on glucose but then use fat- which is why you lose weight from a low carb intake. Fat is more filling- in the diet- which is why it's better and easier to eat more fat (but be sensible) and fewer carbs. ie a 2cms piece of cheese should keep hunger away better than a slice of bread even if it is wholemeal.

Carbs in the form of bread, pasta, rice etc are not essential. I eat a low carb high fat diet (20-40g a day normally) and ran a marathon recently. Obviously there are carbs in veg and veg contain other vitamins etc that are important to the diet, but what most people think of as carbs (normally the starchy ones) are unnecessary. And I haven't died in the last 18 months so I guess it's ok not to eat them

Having said that, LCHF is not for everyone, especially as we live in a sugar-carb-filled world! And your diet is, as other posters have said, much healthier than most people's! I wouldn't say it's necessary to cut all the carbs, especially if you don't actually need to lose weight. Exercise is the way to go!

But your DH is right - (starchy) carbs are sugar as far as your body is concerned.

Chinny- muscles need protein to grow and function. never ever heard that the heart needs carbs, not in the way you describe it- we need carbs yes, but not everyone needs the same amount.

chinnygirl - "A body needs at least 90 grams of carbs a day." I respectfully disagree, as I am still alive and in disgustingly good health!

I don't agree that the body needs 90 carbs a day. Not in the sense of cereal carbs. I eat maybe 25-30gms ( oats) and I too am alive and kicking :)

I do eat apples, veg and so on as well in a day- carrots have carbs as do sweet potatoes and other rooty type veg and bananas (so I'm not counting those.)