AIBU to no longer know what a healthy diet looks like?

[iloveruby]

I'm just so confused about all the various diet / health information that I no longer know what is considered healthy, or how to plan my meals so that they are nutritious.

I suppose the background to this is that I'm about 4 stone overweight and have tried various diets to no success but in the process have become so confused about what I should or shouldn't be eating.

I no longer know what is the right choice. For example, the 5 a day message is simple but then fruit is considered too sugary and sugar is bad so does that then mean 5 a day is just veg?

Then there is the message to cut down on refined carbs and increase protein, but at the same time to consume less meat (one of my main protein sources).

Am I the only one who is confused and if not, what does a healthy diet actually look like?

to me it's real unprocessed food. so full fat Greek yoghurt over processed fat free shite or real butter over Marge.

lots of veg in a variety of colours, nuts, fruit esp berries. good fats like olive oil and avocado. lots of fish.

don't eat the rubbish ( easier said than done) so limit cake, biscuits and refined carbs.

good luck

YANBU at all. So much conflicting advice.

OP come on join team rh fitness on FB. I had 5 stone to lose and I'm
halfway there following their great advice. They cut through all if the mixed messages and diet myths and promote a healthy balanced approach to eating along with exercise (not necessarily gym etc., encourage walking/dancing). It's no nonsense, not really a diet. I felt like you after years of trying different diets but I finally feel like I understand nutrition

Aim to eat a rainbow. Half your plate should be veg.

Watching this thread. I am told that cutting down on carbs is good but also increase my fibre levels.
Sugar in fruit is almost as bad as cane sugar.
Cut down on dairy products but ensure you get enough calcium for healthy bones.
Cut down on meat and fill up with vegetables but then I'm told protein is good for muscle strength and fills you up.

I am as confused as you OP.

What does a typical day in food look like for you OP?

I personally don't let it confuse me because tbh there's so much pseudo-science and nutrition advice of varying accuracy I can't be bothered to wade through all the shit working out what's right and what isn't.

I stick to the mantra: everything in moderation. Seems to work well for me.

When trying to lose weight previously I worked out what my total energy expenditure is and ate at a deficit. Upped my physical activity and increased my intake of veg and lean meat.

It really need not be very confusing.

Actually it's very simple. Everything you said is fine. If you think cutting down on meat is good then perhaps just have meat at weekends and fish the rest of the time and eggs. It's high good fats I woudl up rather than protein. Just go for medium protein.
Eg I just had my lunch. That was a piece of salmon fried in lots of olive oil with a whole pepper cut up, a whole leek cut up and half a courgette. I also had some spinach on the side which I boiled. At the moment every day I got out once to pick blackberries on the hedge and just eat them picked from the hedge (this July has a bumper crop of blackberries the newspapers say; although I agree that most people con themselves that the masses of fruit they stuff down them and smoothes are good. On the whole have a lot more veg than fruit).

Also eat less., Try skipping breakfast entirely. Intermittent fasting lets your body rest.

Have a look at rebelfit on Facebook. Clear advice plus explanations of how things go wrong in nutrition.

YANBU I have no idea any more either. People at work do a variety of things eg JuicePlus, 5:2, low carb, weight watchers, slimming world etc but actually no-one really seems to lose any weight or if they do they don't manage to keep it off. I eat nuts as a snack instead of fruit but then don't know whether to eat full fat yoghurt as they have slightly less sugar or low fat yoghurt which have more sugar and what about stuff with artificial sweetners in? Are they better or worse than stuff with normal sugar in?

Help!!

I think it is more important to adopt eating habits for life and avoid processed foods rather than fad diets. I just try to eat real food.

Tupper, nuts have a lot of calories but are not bad for you. If you want to lose weight I would avoid all fruit and nuts if I were you. Artificial sweeters just prime your pump to want more sweet things so I would avoid those.

It is best to have no snacks at all and get hungry between meals.

Just a traditional whole food diet tends to be the most healthy rather than loads of cakes and buns.
www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb

For you, right now,a good diet is one that is lower calorie. It's not about health or nutrition. It's about calorie restriction. The healthy part can come later when you're a normal BMI.

I lost a lot of weight with slimming world , i then became pregnant and have unfortunately developed gestational diabetes , i had to see a dietician who explained that on the whole my diet was good with lots of lean meat , fruit and veg but my carb portions were far too big for example a portion is the size of your fist so half a jacket potato , a serving spoon of rice or pasta or three small new potatoes , 1-2 slices of wholemeal or seeded bread or 30g of cereal , ive had to give up carbs for breakfast as its harder for your body to process them in the morning and even tiny portions send my blood sugars haywire so i have a small pot of yogurt then a piece of fruit mid morning which i find suits me better

yanbu. It's very annoying all the conflicting advice.
I'm not confused but I am pretty good at deciding FECK 'EM and doing my own thing.

For you, right now,a good diet is one that is lower calorie. It's not about health or nutrition. It's about calorie restriction. The healthy part can come later when you're a normal BMI.

Please ignore this post. It's Bullshit with a capital B.

Groupie123 - yes, you are right. I think my focus on the healthy eating approach is because whenever I've tried to follow a 'plan' I have failed. Whereas hopefully eating well will become a habit which can be maintained.

I suppose being able to identify what is healthy eating will in itself help to shift weight. Additionally, if I eat to support my health I will feel better which will in turn help me remain motivated to loosing weight.

Xpost! ValdmirsPoutine - can you expand please?

I want to loose weight but my head is spinning about the best way to do this? Focus on cutting calories or eating for nutrition? Or are they not mutually exclusive!
This is why I'm confused!!

It's not hard. Newspapers have to sell copies.

Don't eat more calories than you can burn.

A chocolate cake is 500 calories. That's between a third and a quarter of most people's daily allowance. Therefore eating a lot of chocolate cake is a surefire way to take in loads of calories more than you could possibly burn. High-calorie, but easy to eat foods. Sweets, cakes, beer, takeaway. I was in Burger King the other day and many of the Whoppers were 1000 cals plus - almost all my daily allowance!

So. Don't eat extreme high-calorie foods in high quantities.

When you already don't eat these high-cal foods, that's when it becomes harder to lose weight because there are no obvious culprits.

At 4 stone overweight you can probably look at your diet and you know where you're overeating. Is it snacking, is it wine, is it large portions, is it takeaways. Identify it. Don't do it anymore.

"Eat less red meat" is good advice for people who eat it every single day. But who does that? That's already a bit unusual. "Eat less sugar" for people who consume absolutely gallons of it every day in Coke and sweets. But if you don't do that the advice is less useful. You don't have to listen to ALL the advice, it's not ALL meant for everyone. I eat red meat once a month at most, I don't stress over the 'eat less' advice just as I don't stress about drinking less when I only do that once a month.

Best way to start losing weight is pick that one thing you KNOW is making you gain it. The total lack of exercise? The bottle of wine a night? Bread with everything? The bags of Haribo you mainline in the car? I've known people for whom these were the key. Once they cut those out the first stone dropped off and it was like a lightbulb went off. Hey! Now that I'm not stuffing 1000 additional, uneeded cals in, I'm not gaining at quite the same rate!

Ignore groupie talking nonsense.

Also, eating whole fruit is not at all like eating cane sugar; the fibre changes the game completely. Juicing, though, removes all the fibre and leaves the sugars much more accessible. Commercial smoothies aren't great either, although if you're making smoothies yourself with veg and whole fruit, they are keeping all the fibre in.

I really recommend this book - it was completely revelatory for me.
www.amazon.co.uk/Diet-Myth-Real-Science-Behind/dp/1780229003/?tag=mumsnetforum-21

To lose weight, I think intermittent fasting (the 5:2 and 16:8) is the healthiest way to go. With what you eat the rest of the time, the general rule that I think is most sensible is to eat real, fresh food most of the time - cut the processed stuff, cut the refined stuff, and especially cut out processed sugars.

The reason I said it is bullshit because I can't get my head around how the poster can rightly suggest reducing calorie intake but then suggest you throw all 'health and nutrition' out the window. So then what are you supposed to do. The very essence of getting to a 'normal BMI' is to concentrate on health and nutrition. What does groupie think you should be doing if not focusing on actual health and nutrition?

But to your point - the two are not mutually exclusive i.e cutting calories to aid weightloss and ensuring that you eat nutritious food to maintain good health work hand in hand.

You can never eat enough vegetables. Don't eat fast food. Cut down on alcohol. Cut down your carb portions.

This works for me (when I actually follow my on advice!)

Healthy for me personally is,

I don't do "low fat" versions of anything. I have whole milk, full fat Greek yoghurt, proper butter, olive oil etc

I eat meat twice a week only and it's never processed (I.e sausauges, bacon, ham) I go for chicken or steak for example

With the 5 a day thing, I eat 2 pieces of fruit and the other 3 are veg. I always have 2 portions of fruit with lunch then make sure I have at least 3-4 different veg in or with my dinner depending on what it is.

If I want bread, I limit it to once a day ( if I have it at breakfast for example I don't have bread again for the rest of the day)

Pasta/rice no more than twice a week.

When not pregnant and I can drink, I only have a couple of glasses of wine on a Friday or Saturday.

Don't get me wrong I still have a bit of cake etc if I fancy it but I make my own so I know what's in it.

I also think it's important to learn what a portion of something actually looks like, so weighing your food for a while until you learn by eye can be good. I think serving too big a portions is a bad habit a lot of people are in.

The above works for me and I have always been a healthy weight.

It's not that hard.

Fruit is ok because it's got fibre and vitamins.
But it's about types of fruit and quantities.
Some fruits are higher in sugar and carbs. So 6-8 grapes are ok but half a bunch isn't.

You should aim to eat plenty of lean protein:

chicken breasts and legs
fish - grilled or even baked
lean meat - ie chops grilled.

Unlimited veg but not too many spuds.
Dairy- full fat plain Greek yoghurt is fine but not TOO much in one day.
Small amount of cheese- that's a matchbox size as a main meal (ie lunch) with an apple.

I am not on a diet as such but this is my food for today:

Brekkie- boiled egg with 1 slice seeded bread.
Lunch- small portion goats cheese, rocket salad and an apple
Dinner - pan fried sea bass (in butter and lemon with capers), carrots and broccoli
Greek yoghurt with blueberries.

Snacks if needed- oat cake with almond butter, 2-3 walnuts, 2cm cube cheese.

basically OP if you cut out all sugar incl biscuits, drinks, cakes, white pasta, white bread, crisps, sweets, white rice, crackers, bought sauces (full of sugar).

Read the labels of everything, avoid anything labelled 'low fat' because the taste is made up by adding sugar, cook from scratch and have smaller portions.