My diet is appalling, anyone else?

[Careworker685]

I am 32, through calorie counting, portion control and exercise I am able to remain slim and a good weight, but I know what what I'm eating is terrible and I'm setting myself up for problems in later life.
I have a serious sugar addiction which I need to kick. I don't eat proper meals, I'd love to eat 3 proper meals a day which fill me up, but I just graze all day. I'm ashamed of how I eat and need to change tomorrow.
I buy those 5-pack large cookies from supermarkets and eat 2 a day, usually when I get up. I have porridge for breakfast (with added sugary products)
I drink some water, not enough.
I'm addicted to diet fizzy drinks, I've stopped with diet coke/pepsi due to the concern around aspartame but I am addicted to lucozade zero pink lemonade and drink one most days.
Love Fanta zero, tango, appetizer etc. Also love milkshakes.
Lunch wise I can make it healthy, but I usually go for white bread and something with cheese. I don't like salads on their own as I find them boring (ridiculous I know).
I love burgers, chips, pizza, toasties, kebabs, anything like that. Love sausage and bacon sandwiches, pancakes and so on.
I can cook, I cook twice a week I'd say, I'm not somebody who cooks from scratch daily.
Love bags of sweets, cakes, chocolate bars.
My only good point is that I don't drink any alcohol whatsoever, and have never smoked. I lead a healthy lifestyle apart from the diet.
I need to change tomorrow because I'm damaging my insides.
I don't eat proper meals, I use up most of my calories on biscuits and cakes so for tea tonight I've only had a frozen ice pop.
I eat around 2000 calories a day, more of I do a lot of exercise.
I need the willpower to stop this. I actually managed to cut sugar for 3 weeks last year, I saw a lot of benefits but couldn't maintain.
I know this is pathetic for a woman in her 30s. Appreciate any advice or anyone else who's having the same problem.

You could be my twin, tomorrow is my day one!

I am the same, I am slim but unhealthy, I eat crisps and chocolate instead of meals.

The only things I find that help are fasting overnight so I try to stop eating at 6ish and then go through to lunchtime (no breakfast) and eating lots of high protein foods. I still eat the chocolate though.

Ditch the fizzy drinks, they are so bad for your insides (and I used to live Diet Coke myself until a year ago!).
it’s not hard to go healthy - oats are good but you need protein with them so nuts/seeds/yoghurt. You could do a smoothie w a hand blender and put in spinach too
lunch - swap sandwich to proper wholemeal with the least additives you can find - cheese is fine but have veggies too. Fruit, plain crisps.
dinner - fish, chicken, wholemeal pasta, more veg, baked potato, chilli w loads of veg, stir fry etc.

Personally I think the key is making small gradual changes that you can sustain over time. Eg I used to have 3 sugars in my tea, over the course of a few month I cut down to no sugar, just by gradually having less and getting used it less.

Pick a couple of food/food habits and start trying to gradually break them. Extreme change is usually very hard to maintain.

I can relate to the sugar addiction. I've given it up a few times and as soon as I do I start to feel so much better, but for various reasons I've never sustained it for more than 6-12 months and seem to have psychological barriers to getting started...

I'm eating really healthily at the moment and the thing that kick started it was listening to this podcast series about ultra processed foods with Drs Chris and Xand.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0017tcx?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

They are very open and honest and go into the psychological aspects a lot.

I'm the same with the sugar and the fizzy drinks. Can't seem to not have some form of chocolate and diet coke to start the day. I'm not too bad at resisting fast food, but sugary stuff is a massive vice for me and I feel like life would be pretty miserable without it. But sure I'll get diabetes and/or my teeth will crumble before too long. No solutions, just my sympathies and solidarity.

Separate issues

The quality of your diet
Your eating pattern

There is nothing inherently wrong to graze all day rather than eat 3 meals a day - sone people are healthier grazing

Just graze a carrot / toast and butter not a chocolate / cookie , batch cook something you can reheat easily if you don't want to cook every day

the fact that you exercise well and don’t smoke or drink alcohol is a brilliant base. You’re early 30’s as well. A few weeks of eating healthily would sort out any vitamin deficiencies and any damage to your “insides” is totally reversible at this point. The only thing I’d ask is, how are your teeth? Do you see a dentist? Other than that, reassure yourself that you can do this!

Yes agree that grazing is fine. I rarely eat the set three meals a day, feels really old fashioned actually. I just eat when I'm hungry really and stop when I'm full but definitely make the wrong choices pretty frequently

Thanks everyone. Luckily my teeth are fine, but I had to have one from the back extracted which isn't a good sign. I've got a healthy lunch for today and no more sugary foods in the house so that's a start. You've all been very supportive!

I’ve found my people : it’s horrific what crap I put away in a day.
mom gonna try too :)

I'm in the process of changing my diet. I've always eaten healthy meals but I have a big issue with chocolate.

Instead of cutting it out completely I'm working on pushing back the time when I'm allowed to eat my first piece of chocolate, as if I start I just want to binge. I'm also sticking to a consistent breakfast of grain toast and morning tea of a banana which seems to help with consistent blood sugar levels. I'm only a couple of weeks into this but feeling like I'm making progress.

such good timing! i was just asked about my diet by my dentist yesterday and she was horrified (nothing has changed in years but she's still shocked).

I eat a 2800 cal average (i track my calories) a day but i do light weight training x 4/5 times per week and cycle about 2.5 hours a week as i get a lot from it mentally and like to tire myself out. Im 5 ft 9 and weigh 9st 9lbs.

Im exactly like you - sugar all day every day, breakfast, mid morning and after dinner. i constantly have food in my mouth.

Yesterday for example, I ate 3 maoam chew bars with breakfast, a whole bag of 16 swizzles drumsticks lollies over the day, 4 packets of wotsits, 6 lotus biscoffi and a snack pack of 3 slices of go ahead.

amongst other items, i also ate a lot of natural yogurt, cheddar cheese, an egg, a vegan protein shake and i made a 3 bean stew last night and had a huge bowl of that. I only had 3 portions of fruit/veg.

I've learned to not beat myself up about it so much. Im trying to eat more protein and keep a bowl of washed apples in the fridge to go for every day but the rest of the family gobbles my stash up so must increase ready to eat fruit.

Dont give up though Careworker685, try to monitor every day and check yourself! I have some better days than other when i'm really busy and my mind is on other things and have days where i am "better".

It's not as simple as dont have it in the house!!!

i have a co-op 3 minutes on foot round one corner and a small shop a 10 min walk - i'd go out especially to buy it.

It's finally hitting me that i need to be careful as type 2 diabetes runs in the ladies in my family who have never been far into the "overweight" BMI and to watch my teeth (been very lucky so far). my mum is 5 ft 5 and around 11 stone but very inactive.

Watching this and good luck!

Some great resources here especially the Tim Spector and van Tulleken stuff. This is a good article too: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/ditched-ultra-processed-foods-more-energy-afternoon-slumps-2440717

Sugar and UPFs are 100% addictive. They’re designed to be. This isn’t a failure or weakness on your part, it’s your body responding as it’s meant to towards these engineered foods. I like to think about it as refusing to be manipulated by ultra-rich food companies! Eat real food, plenty of it, it tastes better and helps your mood and health a lot.

Don't beat yourself up. You are tired, doing an essential and difficult job, its not surprising you'd hunger for sugar. I think conveninent solutions are going to be your friend given your work. Do you like popcorn, carrot/veg sticks, falafels or chick pea/lentil snacks?

I think you need to get into the habit of cooking every day from scratch, or at-least most days. They don’t have to be fancy meals, just basic ones. You can make your own home made burgers, healthy kebabs and take away style meals all at home.
Pinch of nom and Slimming eats are good for recipes. Gousto and Hello fresh boxes are also really handy if you can afford it.

This is me too. I don't smoke or drink, I exercise pretty frequently, and I'm thin, but my diet is very bad. It always strikes me afresh when I spend a day with friends and they actually just eat 3 meals rather than the 3 meals plus some Haribo and 7 Oreos and 3 packs of Wotsits and a few cans of Coke Zero and then a tube of Smarties.

"If you stop bringing rubbish food into the house then you won’t be tempted."

Ha ha ha. I don't buy junk food when I go food shopping, but there's nothing stopping me going to buy some Oreos on my way home from the pub or to eat when I'm out and about.
I never have biscuits for visitors because I can't control myself if I just have them in!

I don't think OP is going to make home made burgers every day. I think cooking from scratch every day isn't very realistic for someone who's not used to it, might live alone, might not even be home every evening. Batch cooking would make more sense and OP already cooks twice a week, which is more than I do!

"Don’t you feel sluggish? I ate crap at the weekend and craved fruit and veg!"

I had a thread similar to OP's a few years ago. I was torn to shreds on it!
A few people asked what you've asked and said they'd feel sluggish having after eating some bread rolls. I actually think those people may be slightly gluten intolerant or something. I've certainly never craved fruit and veg!

I think you've made a good start already - you have acknowledged that your diet is crap and bad for your health, you know that it is due to laziness and lack of willpower, and you've got some good ideas about how to change things.
The van Tulleken podcasts are really good about the mental side of things.

But really, not going into a shop and buying the stuff in the first place should be a fairly easy change - there are many moments in that journey where you can decide to stop. Don't go in the shop. Don't go down the snack aisle. Don't take the product off the shelf.

Batch cooking is just as good. Slow cookers are also great.

What helped me?

Prepare meals when your energy levels are higher if you can. And make sure you have easy healthy things in the fridge to reach for when you’re tired.

For me energy levels peak first thing in the morning. So I prep dinner first thing to reheat or cook off later on. Also cook any veg that needs using up, and I always keep a cooked grain in my fridge such as couscous so I can put together a colourful Buddha bowl quickly when I’m tired.

Take a good quality vitamin and mineral supplement. Deficiencies can make cravings worse.

Learn to build a proper salad that looks and tastes good.

I fasted for 48 hours once, drinking only water and keeping busy - and this helped reset my system to some extent. Worth a try.

Op. I would go to the doctor and get your visceral fat checked also. You might get a shock. I was shocked by my bmi when I went to the doctor.
You sound like you're ready to make a change now.. I would clear the cupboards of all junk and meal plan then do an online shop of everything you need and nothing more. Take it week by week.

Mine is appalling too. I am so ashamed. I just eat crap, sugary stuff mainly, and not proper meals. Because I live alone and have no one else to cook for, I will literally eat mr Kipling for dinner.

Miraculously I am not fat (I have no idea how) but my teeth are fucked and I often feel quite tired.

I wish I could change but lack any kind of motivation.