I don't know what a healthy diet is anymore!

[LajesticVantrashell]

Go easy on me...

I feel like I've been on a diet since I was a teenager, and at the age of 40, I want to stop dieting.

For the past year, I've been doing a combination of VLCD, slimming world, binging. It's a viscous cycle. I'm currently about 21lb overweight but don't want to start yet another 'diet' and would rather sort out my approach to eating and lose it gradually.

So those of you who eat well, are a happy weight and don't constantly obsess about food, what do you eat in a day?

To lose 1-2 lbs a week this works

7 portions of carbs
5+ portions of fruit and veg
2 portions protein
3 portions dairy
2 portions spreads
1 portion treaTo
Portion size is key acelifestyle.org/files/4515/1394/4534/MWM_A4_Handout_Week2_online_V3.pdf

I eat anything I like and as much as I like but only eat 'proper food'
By which I mean fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, dairy, rice etc etc
The only processed food I eat is pasta, and I eat that sparingly
I eat very large volumes of food, so I'm always satisfied (just had a massive plate of chicken stir fry for my dinner)
It's easy going out for meals, as long as you dont go to a chain restaurant. The only real difficulty is lunch because its quite often difficult to buy somethings on the go
But I tend to have a large (massive) bowl of porridge for breakfast and if I don't have time to make my lunch to take to work with me it will usually hold me til i get home.
I dont weigh anything or calorie count anything. I feel that my tastebuds have changed and I will now go mad for a piece of fruit the same way I used to over a piece of cake and genuinely enjoy it as much

Portion size is key, if you can learn to recognise a sensible portion size that helps. There are guides online. I don't count calories but I do cook most stuff from scratch. I don't limit anything other than sugar (added sugar, I still eat lots of fruit). Usually I will have a bowl of porridge with some sultanas and full fat mik for breakfast, lunch is leftovers or a sandwich and dinner is homemade. Nothing fancy but lasagne, stew, chilli etc at this time of year. Always with at least 2 veg. Snacks are an apple, some natural yogurt and sometimes other fruit or veg. I change the time of snacks depending on the day.

I've been feeling like you, OP. I just bought a book called "How Not to Diet". It's a follow-up to a book called "How Not to Die"! They are about how to maximise your health and lose weight naturally through eating good stuff. Essentially eat as much veg, pulses and fruit as possible, drink plenty of water, stick to wholegrain carbs. Eat a moderate amount of lean protein. Try to fill up on these things so that you don't fall back on processed crap, refined carbs and animal fats.

But the idea is to focus on what you should eat, rather than what you shouldn't eat. I had a chocolate brownie this afternoon. But I have also eaten tons of veg, had an entirely vegetarian day (although I'm not veggie), drunk loads of water and been for a 50 min brisk walk.

Have you seen the EatWellGuide(formerly EatWellPlate)?Google it to see the proportions of food types you should aim for.

www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/the-eatwell-guide/

I eat very large volumes of food, so I'm always satisfied

I think this is key. Being constantly hungry and deprived makes it almost impossible to resist falling off the diet waggon. You've got a much better chance of making healthy choices if you're full and well-nourished. I read somewhere that if you eat crap and therefore fail to give your body the vitamins, minerals, fibre etc it needs, it will keep telling you to eat more, because however many tons of calories you've consumed, it doesn't register as sufficient nutrients because it's crappy nutrient-poor stuff.

I am currently working on losing weight and I find that making sure I eat lots of non starchy veg and don’t snack between meals helps. Where possible eat unprocessed and if sugar is your downfall only eat sweet stuff with a meal so your blood sugar doesn’t go crazy.

I eat lots of food, and do lots of exercise. If I get hungry, I eat. I'm slim-ish, BMI of 20.

On a normal day I'll eat:

Breakfast - plain greek yoghurt, fruit and All Bran. Coffee.

Lunch - veggie soup and a roll

Snack after my run - oaty Graze bar thing. Or a banana.

Dinner - Something like pasta and veggie sauce; or noodles and veg; or curry.

I usually have a couple of squares of Lindt chocolate in the evening. I don't drink alcohol. I do drink lots of water, and a fair amount of tea.

Well done for thinking you want a good healthy way of eating rather than always being on a ' diet'.
A typical healthy day of eating would be something like this.
Breakfast - Porridge with blueberries or half a banana.
Lunch - Wholemeal sandwich ,mainly salad, piece of fruit.
Supper- Homemade vegetable casserole, cous cous . Or homemade chilli & rice .
Snacks could be something like a Yoghurt , a handful of walnuts or Brazil's or a cracker with cheese , fruit . Lots of water , herbal tea . I don't eat meat , occasionally fish .

I'm all of those things. One thing I find is, no one has ever really commented on my weight and this makes a huge difference. Once recently my mum said a dress suited me as I was plump (she eats like a sparrow, and I'm not plump, just a pear shape) and I had to consciously rid myself of her comment. If this has happened to you i.e. negative comments, you need to really work on talking back to them.

Typically I'll have porridge and fruit, yoghurt, a few nuts, for breakfast, snack on crudites and dried fruit, lunch is usually a homemade gluten free wrap (easy, take to work) with a variation of black beans, avocado, cheese, prawns, egg, salad, occasionally I will have a slice of toast, and weekday dinners vary between stirfries, minced beef (chilli, cottage pie etc.), a piece of fish with rice/potato and veg, pasta, I like brunch on the weekend and anything goes for Saturday dinner, and Sunday a traybake roast. Treat wise, I have really had to wean myself off sugar- once you do that it is so much easier, I tend to have yoghurt and fruit, frozen grapes (lush), and, my favourite, occasionally cacao powder and milk (hot chocolate minus sugar-you can add a bit of honey if its not sweet enough). IMHO its all about planning - do a meal plan so there are less decisions to be made when hungry.

My key tip is have quick healthier options available so you can sort out something quickly.

e.g. I have a bag of frozen basa fillets from Tesco. Normally I would bake them but you can microwave one in 3 mins. I came in hungry, stuck one in the microwave made a salad with added avocado and olives. By the time the salad was done the fish had cooled a bit so I could flake it on top. You could add some bread or pulses or some mixed grains from a microwave pouch if you wanted more carbs. It probably didn’t take much longer than heating up a ready meal.

hazell and lazylinguist I agree. That has worked for me. I lost five stone in 8 months and have kept it off. Bmi 22. Healthy eating of real food and big portions. So lots of lean protein and veg. High protein yoghurt and berries or eggs for breakfast, stirfry, omelettes, casseroles. I’m near 10 portions of fruit and veg most days. I feel so much better for eating better and it keeps me wanting to eat this way. I’d read we all want same volume of food a day so if you can make a large part of that volume veg you are full without the calories. I don’t really crave stuff. I actually do SlimmingWorld which I know gets slated on here but the actual plan is healthy eating, no need to eat artificial sweetener products or bowls of pasta. 1/3 of every plate veg is key idea. I do 3 decent sized meals and minimal snacks. Honestly not hungry and not got urge to binge.

I also do slimming world- and it’s finally clicked, my carb portions were too much. Just because it’s “free” doesn’t mean you eat it whenever, I’ve noticed by reducing my carb portion and upping my protein portion I am loosing more weight but also have more energy

I’d recommend looking into Intuitive Eating. There’s a book that you can work through and certified counsellors. It’s a way of getting out of diet culture and learning to listen to your body again.

It’s not easy, as it’s a completely different mindset to popular culture and everyone around you, but it does change your life.

I learnt about it through seven-health, who I would also recommend.

I eat 7-10 servings of fruit and veg a day, then a minimum of two servings of protein and two servings of full fat dairy. Minimums of foods I need, and then portion size for everything else. No forbidden foods.

All your going to get here is more diet advise OP. Just stop caring.

Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full, be as active as you can.

You may not be slim, but you might be happy.

Healthy diet is having small portions of everything, and not being scared of things you actually like.

Healthy diet is not stuffing your face all day and night, but sticking to normal meals.

It's being actually hungry - as in a bit peckish - when it's lunch time, and stopping before you feel full!

Meal plan. Put some food you like, some food you need, stick to regular smaller portions. Over a week, it should be fine.

Don't have a "cheat day", no point sticking to 1000 calories a day if you eat 4000 on Saturday and Sunday, over a week you eat too much.

Did anyone see 'Trust me, I'm a doctor' latest? Was about gut bacteria and how foods that put weight on some people, dont on others so no one diet fits all. Sounded very convincing but then these things do.

Following. I feel like it used to be "base your meal around a carb its filling" and now all "carbs are bad turn to sugar."..

I was like you, OP...stuck in the restriction/binge cycle since I was a teenager. Gave up dieting 3 years ago, and it was hard, but it is the best thing I've ever done.
Some books that helped me through: The F*ck it Diet, by Caroline Dooner, Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison, and Just Eat It by Laura Thomas. The Anti-Diet, in particular, is great on the roots of diet culture and lots of great scientific studies on why dieting fails.
Good luck, OP!

Carbs are not bad, at all. Some carbs are eg processed ones, carbs loaded with sugar. Porridge and rice and potatoes and wholemeal bread are carbs. There is nothing wrong with those. Protein is good although too much can lead to constipation-we tend to eat too much of it in the west.

I base my meals around fruit and veg, porridge, yogurt, fish, a few bits, and carbs most meals. Healthy fats eg in oily fish or olive oil. Eggs and a tiny bit of cheese (30g) sometimes.

Breakfast - slice of whole meal toast with honey or marmite, half a banana, tea
Lunch - soup and couple of wheat cakes, or boiled egg and two ryvitas, berries and fat free Greek yogurt
Dinner - stir fry with rice or pasta with home made sauce or fish cake and veg

Go to the gym 3-4 times a week.

I’m 1.5st overweight. Have underactive thyroid.

I think everyone is different and has different dietary requirements, but this is what works for me:
Eating as much real, unprocessed food as possible. Typical dinner is salmon, brown rice and broccoli.
Trying not to eat sugar, for some reason I’m v sensitive to it, it makes my skin bad and I gain weight quickly from it.
Trying to keep a healthy gut with probiotics.
Drinking lots of water.
Most importantly, staying active. I run 20mins every other day, and walk/yoga/dance workout in the days in between. I also don’t drive so do a lot of walking in general. I am active in my hobbies and day to day life and this has been the biggest way for me to lose weight honestly.
For some reason drinking alcohol, eating lots of cheese/dairy doesn’t seem to affect me, but as I say I think everyone is different.
Also I think sleep affects me a lot, it’s so much easier to be active and choose healthier foods when I’ve had enough (easier said than done).
The best advice I had was to find an activity you enjoy, and that excercise can be for short bursts.
Try looking up fitness blender on YouTube and their website, they have loads of healthy recipes and workout videos, and kelly advocates eating lots if it’s real food! And she looks amazing.

shooketh Yes that’s what works for me. I’m not carb free And still have healthy extra B (usually oats) but found eating mainly protein and veg really works for me.