To wonder if eating healthily is worth it?

[Doesitmakeadifference]

I'm late 30s, throughout my life my diet hasn't been very good but it probably hasn't been horrendous either. I've never eaten enough veg.

Several years ago dh and I were in a rut and our diet became very bad, loads of takeaways, way too much junk processed food. Both put on weight.

So a few years ago we turned our whole lifestyle around and now eat well, we exercise every day. Every so often we go on a complete health kick and eat very clean. We go to bed early, rarely drink generally I'd say we have a very healthy lifestyle.

I do wonder though sometimes how much difference it honestly makes. To be honest nearly everyone I know eats what they want. Dh often tells me while he's eating his salad or healthy sandwich or homemade whatever all his workmates are eating Greggs, pizza, sausage rolls crisps chocolate bars.

Apart from being slimmer I can't honestly say I feel massively different to when I was eating junk food all the time. Can't say I've got glowing skin or that I'm full of energy.

The women I work with are all thinner than me, and for lunch every day they have share bags of crisps, white bread cheese sandwiches or jam sandwiches, and two or three bars of chocolate, with cans of pop.
Their skin is terrible, their teeth are too, and two of them have had heart attacks in their 40s. They all smoke and drink alcohol.

I don't drink or smoke, I'm vegetarian, cook from scratch and haven't got anything wrong with me other than I had my thyroid removed ten years ago. I'm fat yes but I've lost three stone since Xmas and I feel healthy and have loads of energy. It's definitely worth it.

I think we like to believe we are more control of our health than we actually are. Of course, extreme alcohol and nicotine abuse and eating shit food is not good for us but I think a lot of health problems are genetic or just luck of the draw.

My mother died young of a random illness. My slimmest, "healthiest" friend got diagnosed with breast cancer. My slim and active DH has high bp...like all his family

But yeah keep convincing yourself that your whole foods diet and trips to the artisan bakery are the be all and end all

In my experience, the benefits of a healthy lifestyle tend to be felt more in their absence than in their presence. For example, when I'm drinking plenty of water, I just feel... fine. I don't feel like a superhuman or anything, just, fine. Comfortable. OTOH, when I'm not hydrating myself enough, I feel headachy, stiff, sluggish and my digestion is poor. So I would notice the shitty effects of not hydrating well, but it's easy to overlook the good that it's doing when I am hydrated, because it's simply my body working how it should, nothing extra special.

However. The one thing I do notice is the effect of eating a wide variety, and plenty, of fruit and veg. I find this hard to do sometimes (my autism makes me funny about textures sometimes), but lately I've been eating a huge variety of fruit and veg (thanks to starting a meal subscription box, mainly), and oh my god. My mood is so boosted! I have a natural kind of zingy energy in me. It's really a lovely, noticeable difference, and I do attribute it to eating lots of fruit and veg, and a wide variety of food. I think it's linked to the gut microbiome.

I also think it's about finding the lifestyle and diet that works best for you. There's increasing scientific evidence that each individual person's body responds in a unique way to different foods and food groups. Obviously there's still the general rules, such as sugar being bad for teeth and vegetables being very nutritious, etc., but things like insulin spikes and storage of fat seems to vary between individual people, so different diets and lifestyles will work for different people.

Worrying number of people on this thread seem to think that the benefits of a healthy diet are 'good skin and slim'.

I think health is one of the most important things in life and the human body us amazing, so have always eaten well and exercised.

We have a huge obesity crises, both nationally and increasingly globally, with all the knock-on health effects of that and the pressure on the health service. It is squarely at the door of people's diets, well that and very sedentary lifestyles, so of course eating a healthy diet would make a huge difference at a population level.

Of course there are outliers, people who live to 100 on a bottle of whisky a day or drop dead at 35 despite being a super fit health fanatic, but eating well and moving enough will massively tip the odds in your favour.

It's also not just about how old you want to become - it's how you want to feel when you get there.

I bet those of you who eat well and exercise are a lot slimmer than your friends who don't.
However, dp is skinny fat. Eats loads of junk. Tbh it worries me. I like the odd galaxy but he eats quite a few today.
I once made him a low sugar flapjack...ge immediately fished out his massive galaxy bar afterwards.
Sadly i think it's the reason why he has aches and gut issues.

He*

My post never stated that “people should sit on their arses”, neither did it say that I teach my kids to do so. I have no idea why you’re inferring that I said that.

My post clearly stated that I maintained a healthy lifestyle! I do it to maintain my weight.

Do I believe my healthy lifestyle will lower my chances of illness? No, I don’t. I really do believe that longevity is luck of the draw. If I am lucky enough to live a good life upto the age of 100 then I’m lucky, I don’t personally believe it’s because of what I eat and because I exercise. I am allowed that opinion without you rudely and incorrectly inferring that I teach my children to “sit on their arses”.

Not that I need to explain myself to you but as you seem quite invested in what I teach my children……my child eats very healthy and is sporty. He doesn’t just “sit on his arse” all day.

I felt like that when I was younger too, but now at 43 I already feel the effects when I have a blow out (usually a couple of days or weeks of bad eating prompted by a family get together, a holiday, or an event like Christmas!) I enjoy myself but eating badly makes me so tired and brain foggy that I look forward to getting back to my normal reasonably healthy diet. I dread to think how eating badly all the time would affect one in their sixties and beyond.

One of my parents suffered a huge near fatal stroke aged 46, the other a heart attack at 48. Both my paternal grandparents died fairly young from cancer. There is a history of diabetes on my maternal side.
I live a fairly healthy life, and by that I mean I do eat crisps and chocolate etc but I do eat them in moderation and they’re not a part of my daily diet. Pre my parents being poorly and when I was younger ate atrociously, UPF every day for main meals, near enough no fruit or veg, grew up in a smokey house, did little to no exercise. It was a sharp learning curve but I’m so happy I made the changes.
Who knows, I might drop down dead in 10 years time from an undiagnosed underlying health condition. I can’t directly control my future but I can put myself in a better position than my parents and give myself a chance.

I think once in a while a treat or take-away is not a huge deal.

But it absolutely is worth eating healthily. Your body can actually use fruits and vegatables and wholegrains etc. There is literally nothing your body can do with a take-away loaded with fat and sugar other than just store it.

I like what a PP said that I think you notice more when you arent eating healthy as you dont feel as good. More likely to get sick or lack energy. The healthier you eat the more likely you are to have a nice amount of energy that you can maintain over a long period of time. So your motivated to exercise or socialize even concentration is improved with a healthy diet. As opposed sugar-spiked enegry then crashing after.

Plus I think the more junk food you eat the more you crave it. But this is just my view i suppose. I also really think that adults have an obligation to eat healthily so their kids can grow up knowing what nutritious food is vs what a treat is. If all kids ever know is junk food they face a much higher risk of developing the very same health issues in their teens/early adulthood that their parents will.

It also horrifies me the number of people who aren't even that old who have reduced flexibility, reduced strength and awful levels of fitness, as well as aches and pains and put it down to "getting older", when there are people the same age as them who are scaling mountains, running races etc.

I agree with this

since having a baby I’ve been one of those people - walked but no other exercise or strength training. Really felt so much older than my age

I think exercise is critical to feeling better too

Not that I need to explain myself to you but as you seem quite invested in what I teach my children……my child eats very healthy and is sporty. He doesn’t just “sit on his arse” all day

So relieved, it's so important to me, @101jobs

@JudgeAnderson my 84yr old neighbour is still trail running in the mountains, biking and bare-foot running in the woods near us. His diet is key (his words) and he hasnt ever smoked or been a drinker.

I mean, there no downside to eating healthy and exercising, as long as you find a balance. Its not a guarantee for health or the pass to living a long happy life. There are no guarantees. That is why its important to still live and enjoy your life because food is delicious, its social, it brings people together. You exercise because it makes your body feel amazing and strong, not as punishment for eating.

you do it because it’s the right thing to do. that’s all.

You do it because the research tells us that it will lead to better health outcomes in the long (and short) term. That’s as far as you need to think about it tbh. There are no guarantees in life and health outcomes are not ultimately in your control: all you can do is choose to to the balance in your favour.

i just spent a week with my BIL who eats the biggest load of crap, constantly. He’s very overweight, both his parents have type 2 diabetes and he’s been warned he’s pre diabetic. But it’s entirely possible that he will live into his 90s or whatever, and I’ll be dead in a few years, despite all the brocoli I eat. But I’d rather tip the balance in my favour.

@Naimee87 that is fantastic. He must have a great quality of life and that's really what it's all about.

I am fascinated by how much I see seemingly everyone else eat and stay a reasonable size compared to myself.

I am pretty regimented with my diet, I do like a glass of wine, but I NEVER eat cake, biscuits, chocolate, rarely eat fast food at all if ever - I keep to 1800 calories or less 6 days out of 7 and exercise most days. Yes it keeps my weight down but I am far from skinny and I see others just eating whatever they fancy and maintaining their weight and it just seems so unfair!

I guess it's the inside long term health benefits not just the outward ones that count.

I don't know if it does in your 30s, but I firmly believe it's been a game changer for me in my 50s. I've lost two stone, feel full of energy, have vastly improved skin and hair and much reduced minor ailments. In your 30s you probably don't have many problems with that stuff anyway so there's nothing to 'cure'.
I'm also of the opinion that the 50 years I spent eating a poor diet didn't cause irreversible damage, as as soon as I cleaned up my act I felt great. I think you probably feel as good as your diet at any given time. So if I was young again I might be tempted back on the junk food, giving it up only when age required it!

This. You are less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes or bowel cancer among other things.