To think this isn’t the right foods to live on?

[KaleBeans]

DD is fairly young still (but old enough to choose what she’s eating since I’m not always seeing her all the time).

A typical day would be:

Breakfast: A banana, whole orange and mini cathedral city cheese.

Lunch: Jacket potato with butter and cheese. Or a tomato soup with slice of bread and butter. Or a ham sandwich with a pack of snapping Jacks and Kit Kat. On a Friday a portion of small chips.

Fruit: Whole pocket of pineapple fingers, sometimes x2. Watermelon. Half a cucumber. Celery stick with cream cheese. Smoothie.

Dinner: Often nothing. Sometimes pesto pasta with cheese.

Drinks at least 2 litres of ‘lemon infused’ water a day

This isn’t enough protein, is it?!

But the protein isn’t the issue. It’s a shortage of fresh fruit and veg that will (ultimately) make the difference between reasonably and very healthy.

I’m concerned about the veg but thought there was more than enough fruit there? It’s all she seems to eat when I see her

My vegan ex gave me food issues...keep a close eye

If she’s having jacket potato at lunch, for example, she really doesn’t need another hot meal in the evening.

Typical mumsnet competitive under eating.

There are about 161 calories in a medium baked potato. Depending on what you have with it you might up that to what, 400 calories maybe? That’s less than a traditional chicken Caesar salad, about the same as a tin of Heinz tomato soup with a bagel.

Most adults would need a decent evening meal after a lunch like that. Whether or not it’s hot is irrelevant - the temperature of food does not determine its calorific or nutritional value.

Fruit is higher is sugar than veg and doesn’t provide all of the same vitamins. She won’t get scurvy, but we need healthy fats, veg-derived iron, fibre, vitamin A etc. so it might be better to cut down on the pineapple.

But she is 22.

And also her fruit is mostly tropical and citrus. That’s high in sugar. She would be better eating berries, apples, plums etc.

And now I am one of ‘those’ people so will STFU. 😂

How is her weight? Her energy levels?

Does she seem ok in herself?

When did this change happen?

Instead of focusing on her diet , focus on the change and how is her husband driving it. If it's because she can't have meat based products in the fridge/cook them because of her husband's comments then it's not by choice and she needs help with that.

OP a lot of people on here are weird about food, you always get someone who lives off of one meal a day.

The biggest issue is whether this is a change to her eating habits, if she is a healthy weight, and if she has the energy to get through the day. The fact that you are now worried suggests something has changed, and she isn't neccessarily someone who has always had a small appetite. The comment about her husband is a bit worrying too, do you think he judges/comments on what she eats which makes it something she avoids for that reason?

you are right to be concerned op.
can you make her some meals since she is breastfeeding, she can just defrost small meals?

[quote Duemarch2021]@thenightsky

"Apart from banana, whole orange, Jacket potato, tomato (soup), a portion of small chips, pineapple fingers, sometimes x2, watermelon, half a cucumber, celery and a smoothie.

confused"

*None of those things are vegetables...

Also, chips and potatoes do not count as one of your five a day*[/quote]
Cucumber and celery aren't vegetables?

No vegetables that's best source of protein.

I'm so confused
I eat loads of salad, assumed I was having vegetables each time

And vegetables aren't really a source of protein are they?

I'd say when she has dinner her diet is fine. But what do I know, I assumed celery was a vegetable

22 - looks fine to me. Perhaps she could eat more protein, veg instead of fruit, and a light supper, but it’s not terrible concerning territory.

Unless she’s had issues in the past, like you suspect an eating disorder recurring, she’s losing lots of weight, or you really think her partner is controlling somehow (not just a vague sense), then I’d stay out of it.

Quite a few vegetables are high in protein: sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, spinach.

What's your typical diet OP? I'd say she's healthier than most

When I read your OP I thought you were talking about your toddler. Yes it's probably reasonable diet for a small child.
Not a 22 year old

I'm quite flummoxed at everyone saying this diet is ok, I'd be concerned about the lack of protein, but more concerned at the overall calories!

If she isn't eating dinner I don't think she's even hitting 1000 calories a day, which just isn't enough, and that's for someone who isn't BreastFeeding - which your daughter is.

OP, download my fitness pal and log her food in - this will give you a breakdown of the macros and the calories.

I found at that age it really didn't matter what I ate. I didn't think once about nutrition til I was a bit older. My mum certainly wouldn't be analysing my meals either. She will soon work out what's good/bad as she's a young adult. She won't die from that!

She is 22! Leave her to make her own decisions.

OP, I would worry about restricted calories and the possibility of an ED but I think this is a reasonable diet otherwise.

By way of comparison, my SIL literally won't eat anything other than carbs, cheese, and meat. She's in her 40s and still muddling along. Your daughter's diet is miles more nutritious than hers.

When I was 22, a typical meal would be to cook a bag of birds eye chicken dippers and eat them with ketchup.

I thought you were talking about a toddler when I opened this thread!

The diet doesn't look ideal, but then again, virtually nobody has a textbook diet. It sounds almost exactly like what I ate during my 20s. I had emetophobia and anxiety issues, and food was one of the ways to help control my feelings. It wasn't related to weight and I never had a diagnosable eating disorder. I just ate less when I was stressed and often from a list of "safe" comfort foods which includes a lot of the ones on the list (bananas, mandarins, cucumber, baked potatoes, pasta, cheese, chocolate).

It never got bad to the point of medication or intervention and my diet improved naturally in my 30s. I would leave her alone regarding the food, unless of course she starts showing significant additional signs of MH struggles like postnatal depression.

The problem isn't her eating but her dynamics at home...

She def needs dinner and veggies.
If she’s 22 she’s not growing so doesn’t need the calories of a teen, but as you say she’s breastfeeding so am surprised she’s not hungrier.