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

Op have you asked why your dh thinks you eat to much dairy and how he envisages changing this?

Nothing wrong with reducing dairy or swapping for alternatives if you wish.

Nothing to stop you having more vegetables and fruit either, once you are full with them there is little room for other food groups

I'm a nutritionist and in my opinion your breakfast is lacking in protein and fats but too high in carbohydrates. Try eggs with avocado or smoked salmon and tomatoes or spinach.

Generally we tend to eat too many carbs and I don't know what portion sizes you are having so can't comment on it. One clear indication of your body struggling with the level of carbs in your diet would be weight gain around the middle (love handles). The only way of knowing whether cutting out the carbs is right for you is to try it. There would be no harm in trying it for a period of ten days and monitoring how you feel. If you don't want to follow a low carb diet you could just carry on cooking the same foods as now but your husband avoids the rice/bread etc.

Oh, but please increase the fats in your diet. A drizzle of olive oil would be preferable to spreads (for the kids too) and full fat everything. It's so important for hormone balance and energy. Fat does not make you fat. Our fat storing hormone is insulin, and insulin is released when you eat carbohydrates.

All good except the vitalight! Swap for butter, it's far healthier. Or better still, coconut oil. Semi skimmed milk just has some of the fat skimmed off, the fat contains a lot of nutrients but as your diet is good there's no problem with drinking semi if you prefer it. Don't cut carbs out, I once did that before I had a better understanding of nutrition and I was left with a hugely low mood and a lack of energy. The carbs you're eating are fine. The ones to avoid would be things like white bread, white pasta (use whole wheat) , white rice (use brown) and lots of white potatoes (swap some for sweet potatoes, as you are doing). If you don't suffer a bad reaction to wheat then it isnt bad for you. People have been told its bad but its not! Its high in fibre and that's definitely good!

You could use a nut butter or natural peanut butter (made with just peanuts and a little salt, and no partially hydrogenated oils) instead of the vitalight.

Your diet is fine. Complex carbohydrates such as grains and bananas are slow release. Its simple sugars you can cut down on, thats white refined sugar. They are empty calories with no nutritional benefit.
I'd swap the spread for home made spreadable, melt butter and cold pressed extra virgin oil 50/50 and put it in the fridge.

You're getting a lot of conflicting advice on here OP. Are there any qualified dieticians out there that can clarify things???

I love how people are stating all sorts of bollocks as fact .

Your diet is fine. I personally might add a few more vegetables, and I would skip the vitalight to use olive oil or butter, just because it tastes better, AND butter is not bad for you (new studies have proven that old advice was based on nothing at all!). Whole foods (i.e. unprocessed foods) have been proven over and over to be the best for you. And carbs are not evil, or bad for you, or causing you to gain weight; the main problem with any diet is lack of diversity and lack of moderation. If you want to lose weight, eat less. And exercise will help with muscle tone, among other things.

What sandy rose says is interesting about the breakfast not having enough protein or fats

I often have Japanese students staying and they like to eat last night's dinner for breakfast. This morning my student had homemade chickpea, cauliflower, spinach and sweet potato curry ( made with coconut milk) for breakfasts - her choice.

Other mornings she is happy to eat homemade Tuscan bean soup, it seems odd to us, but the reality it is probably far better

I'm a huge fan of having your dinner for breakfast! Toast/ cereal/ porridge etc seems to be the go-to breakfast for most in the UK, with porridge being seen as the healthier option. That's all just clever marketing unfortunately and for some reason is parroted by the media over and over again. Egg, yoghurt, cheese, fish, nuts, seeds, any high fat/high protein combo is much more beneficial for many reasons. Yes, the body prefers carbohydrates as fuel but we really only need quite little of it, any excess energy from carbohydrates is stored as fat, usually around vital organs and on the waist. This fat (brown fat) is highly metabolic and drives inflammation which becomes harmful over a period of time.

Cereal though is big money making business, porridge is Hugh money making business whereas leftovers for breakfast is not good for business as less food is purchased - so it makes sense for marketing to use the broken record techniques as eventually the public will believe it

Kyph09, Sandyrose10 is a nutritionist.

Sandyrose, brown fat is indeed metabolically active but it's not the sort of fat you're talking about. It's involved in heat regulation, esp in newborns, tends to be found in v specific places like along the spine, and the amount of it we have tends to decline with age. I'm not aware if it driving inflammation - do you have any sources for this?

You eat healthily girl! You have made me feel rather unhealthy!!

God what a load of bollocks is on this thread!

How about switching his interest to clean eating? You'd eat less sugars, but not cut carbs completely and it would satisfy his need to do something different. So no processed food. It's quite interesting, if you are into food.

The porridge I had for breakfast yesterday, made with 30 G oats, 200ml low sugar soya milk and with a small chopped banana on top had 15g of protein.

And I don't think anyone is making big money out of the 70p bag of oats I used.

A nutritionist is not a dietician. Anyone can call themselves one.

Hi OP,

Just wanted to add my perspective as someone who exercises most days (I'm an OK runner and average triathlete - def not professional though!). I understand what your DP is saying in relation to your diet.
I try to eat 'clean' so generally eat very few carbs, and instead bulk up with loads of lean protein, chicken, eggs, fish, and lots of veg.
I have the same breakfast as you, but without the honey and with almond or skimmed milk. Sweet potato is tasty but very high in sugar. I'd also personally avoid tinned soups and bread - I have coeliac disease but don't eat gluten-free bread as the nutritional value is just not there. If I'm hungry for carbs I'd go for brown rice or quinoa. Once you cut out bread, you don't need those spreads.
I don't think your diet is unhealthy at all, but just wanted to add that I understand your DPs comments and would agree with them. However, ultimately the point is to find a way of eating for you and your family which is sustainable and doesn't make you feel deprived - otherwise you're likely to go off the rails with boredom/frustration!
I personally don't find a clean diet boring or frustrating. It's just a matter of allowing your palette time to adjust. if you look at anabelle Freer's books, that's a good example of a lifestyle which embraces fats and lean foods whilst minimising carbs and sugar. There are loads of them though, it's just a matter of finding out what works for you.
Agree with comments re exercise, important thing is to find something you enjoy, but bear in mind exercise will increase your appetite so you'll need to factor that in!
My fitness pal is a good app which helps give a sense of calorific intake - not that you'd want to live your life logging every food, but a useful starting point to help consider portion control and so on.

Xx

FindoGask - Sorry that meant to say visceral fat, not brown fat. Visceral fat can be considered a metabolic organ in itself. Visceral fat has been linked to metabolic disturbances and increased risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In women, it is also associated with breast cancer and the need for gallbladder surgery. This fat accumulation is primarily driven by insulin and the stress hormones, i.e. diet and lifestyle.

Do I need to cite my sources?

Sounds really healthy and size 10 is great. If you like swimming I've always found it the greatest thing for preventing flabby upper arms. Good luck

That is true, pickachew,however not anyone can register as one with the relevant professional bodies. 4 years at university and 7 years clinical experience enough to call myself qualified?

You've got a sensible diet, so as long as you don't binge eat doughnuts and have a bottle of wine each evening to reward yourself for healthy eating during the day, and exercise a few times each week, you're fine. No need for fads.... Yes, some nutritionists may say you could tweak this or that for an even healthier lifestyle, but it's not essential.

Most people's problems (and at size 10 it doesn't sound like you have one!) don't stem from their planned diet, but the extent and frequency that they deviate from it. The most important thing is to sustainably eat reasonably healthily... So treats now and again, even frequently if not in great quantity, are fine, it's the three weeks of Atkins followed by three week's worth of pizza (when you break one day and then give up the diet in despair) that's the problem for many if not most on diets.

I think it will take the NHS at least 20 years to recover from telling everyone to eat loads of carbs and not much fat which is one of the worst things it has done to our health.

I agree with Banana however that most of the problems people have are deviations and of course over eating. I was saying to my vegan son yesterday he and I are on the same side. If I eat keto or paleo and he eats vegan all can be healthy and good for him for eating well. It is the people stuffing down the donuts whilst "on a diet" who are the ones with the problem.

Also not eating is actually pretty good for you. even something simple like not eating between last meal at night and lunch time the next day (and I don't mean drink 500 calorie starbucks drinks either for breakfast). i suspect if all adults drank only water and also only ate a lunch and dinner and no snacks the 60% of us who are over weight would find we lost quite a bit.