To ask whether “just” eating healthily made you feel better?

[Rootsmaneouvring]

For context, I’m middle aged, slightly (bmi 26) overweight and constantly exhausted, which I think is at least partly lifestyle related - I work very long hours and have let nutrition and exercise completely slip the last few years. Although my working hours haven’t changed I have just switched to home working most of the time which gives me the ability to start to get my diet sorted - exercise will certainly be a goal too but realistically at the moment I’m going to have more ability to focus on eating well. I’m just wondering whether anyone in a similar situation has made a similar diet change and did it help with the tiredness/energy levels, and if so how long did it take to have an effect?

an example day’s meals last year would have been:
breakfast: croissant on the train
lunch: cheese baguette and crisps
Dinner: ready meal or a takeaway grabbed on way home
snacks: chocolate or similar

current example:
breakfast: home made granola with berries and a green smoothie
lunch: salad (lentils, broccoli, peppers, spinach and feta)
dinner: roast vegetable risotto
snacks: fruit or vegetable crudités

I gave myself a kick up the bum round about this time last year - I'm 56. We'd slipped over the previous few years into eating a lot of ready meals and probably not enough veg. And snacking loads.

Last year I made a real effort with more veg, home cooking, salads and also, I think most importantly, more protein.

I'm not talking stupid amounts of protein or supplements but eggs in the morning and making sure I got protein at lunch or dinner.

I think it's really helped. I've been exercising more, but cutting out the snacking has been the real thing. I've got more energy (not at the moment as I have flu) and feel better. And I've lost weight.

I also feel fuller. I'm not getting the same sugar highs and lows and not feeling quite so knackered at night.

I also took my blood pressure and got a shock - very high blood pressure hadn't been helping and had been making me tired.

Your new food looks fantastic. I'm sure you'll start to feel better soon. I think when you eat lots of processed carbs, UPF etc it takes a while for your body to withdraw from it.
Make sure you've plenty of protein. Of course you can still have things like cheese, croissants and baguettes but you'll probably only want a small amount once your body adjusts to more fibre etc.
Drink tons of water as well.

Thanks @BigDahliaFan , more energy is what I really need so that’s encouraging - I’ve forgotten what it’s like to not feel tired from the moment I get up in the mornings. What you say re protein is interesting - I think maybe I need to find ways to add more protein as being veggie I probably don’t get enough

Thanks @BobbyBiscuits i really hope I do start to feel the benefits soon 🙂. Protein definitely sounds like something I need to add more of, will try to think about easy ways to do that

Where's the protein in your example?

The people I know who are in great shape eat what seems to be 60% protein, 30% vegetables or fruit, 10% carbs as each meal.

Not really. Quitting alcohol made a gigantic difference though.

Your diet is low in digestible protein, look into protein complementary to increase the amount of available protein.

Basically, vegetable proteins fall into groups, and each group has a limited range of essential amino acids. The vegetable protein groups are beans, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Quinoa and soya are both complete proteins and you don't have to mix them with anything else.

You have to mix 2 or more groups to get all of the amino acids, so;
beans on toast - beans and a grain.
mujadra - rice and lentils.
bean salad with nuts, seeds and wholemeal bread.

I think eating healthily does in an 80/20 kind of way does help. I think my mood is better when eat well and I have less premenstrual symptoms.

Yes, definitely. But your breakfast is still quite carb heavy which will cause a blood sugar spike. Your dinner is too. This is my suggestion:

Breakfast: sugar free granola, berries, full fat greek yoghurt

Dinner: roast veg with chicken (or omelette if vegetarian)

No snacks, try to eat enough at meals. Add fresh fruit and/or a sweet treat after lunch or dinner if you find out difficult to get through the day without one. Dark chocolate covered almonds are great.

Your new meals are much nicer than the old ones.
Eating better food is the key to feeling good, for me.

Yes and no. I think improved food makes a huge difference - and certainly, sinc ewe've been doing 30 plants a week we have all felt an overall improvement in our health, energy, vitality etc.

BUT, if you've been living a relatively unhealthy lifestyle for a long time, I would consider getting your blood checked for all the things that so often can also impact you, or, at the very least, exploring a couple of bog standard over the counter things to try for a few weeks.

In particular, I'd look at Iron - many many women are low in iron, if not anaemic, and a good quality OTC daily supplement can be helpful. I'm never sure if it's placebo affect but both my sister and I (who, admittedly, do both have lowish iron levels at times) find that the moment we take one of those spatone sachets we start to feel less tired very quickly.

Vitamin D at this time of year is also a good call.

Magnesium, Omega 3 and folate are also good ones that are often lacking through diet alone with magnesium and folate particularly challenging for women.

Or a good multi vitamin could help too although I'm always dubious about the benefits of a multi vitamin to really make a difference to any actual deficiencies.

Edited to add - most of these, if we're a a bit low, lead to fatigue.

Are you vegetarian?

Have you had your bloods done, as quite often veggies who have a poor diet have several deficiencies.. that might be why you're so tired.

You have to really throw yourself into it to get a well balanced vegetarian/ vegan diet.

@Rootsmaneouvring Thank you. chicken is good if you eat meat. If not then plenty of beans, chickpeas etc. salmon, tuna? Eggs, tofu? Those are good.

The best thing I think is you'll get used to the taste of less processed foods. Cakes, chocolate, shop bought baguettes, will feel heavy and unfulfilling. So it will put you off them.

And always put loads of salad or veg on the plate. As you know. 😀

Yes protein was the game changer for me about two years ago, along with dropping processed food and boring things like going to bed earlier. Also stopped being veggie, started eating chicken and fish and (sorry to say) it really helped.

I was surprised at how soon these changes made a difference, especially given middle age and a slower metabolism! Maybe a few weeks.

You might want to get your iron levels, B12 and vitamin D checked.

Hi, thanks for further replies - I am veggie and have recently had blood tests done which showed borderline deficiencies in iron and vitamin d so have started supplements of both - everything else looked ok.

Do you drink alcohol? Cutting that out made the most difference in my health and how I felt. But it did have a knock-on effect on how I ate.

Two things looking at what you’ve written: (1) Take iron and high dose vitamin D replacement doses. It has to me much higher than you think and than what tablets come in from high street shops. Something like 20,000-50,000 IU per week. I was vitamin D deficient and I literally thought I was going to die, I felt so ill. I truly thought I must certainly have cancer. I actually DO have stage 3 cancer now and I still feel better than when I had a vitamin D deficiency! 😂

(2) Yes, absolutely add in more healthy fat and protein. I was a vegetarian for 20 years and am not one anymore because I found my body just couldn’t cope with all the white carbs. I felt much better eating a paleo style diet (even though I didn’t really like it). But I would focus on more protein and fat: avocado on toast for breakfast or Greek yoghurt, eggs in your salad, nuts for snacks along with fruit and veg, more tofu and tempeh.

OP I'm close to mid 50s & this time last year I was v close to burn out for a variety of external factors plus neglecting myself.

I was 3 stone over weight which was in itself a shock as I'd always been v slim up to late 40s.

I decided in Jan 24 to get a better handle on things. I actually had a super stressful year as it turns out but I stuck my promise to myself to eat better, stop the convenience & junk food & to cut out drinking as much as possible

Without factoring in anything extra in terms of exercise I lost 31lbs & managed to do this around various trips / holidays & events.

I have 1 stone to go to my ideal weight & i aim to be there by the start of the summer which is realistic for me.

I feel & look a million times better already.

I also upped my skincare etc & reorganised my wardrobe as I lost the weight & could fit back into lovely things.

I ate v sensibly with a focus on unprocessed where ever I could. Lots of home made soup for lunch & really increased fruit, veg, pulses & nuts.

Good luck OP you can do it!

Honestly, if that was me I would be hungry a couple of hours after your breakfast. If I have a fat and protein in the morning + fibre I am golden until lunch. Think scrambled egg on toast plus some fruit/or greens. Granola is sugary and I don't feel satisfied, I'd swap for porridge with peanut butter and some berries.
If you like yogurt fage 0% is a good way to get more protein

Your meals sound nice but not enough protein for me. (Your salad is missing tuna or chicken or egg).

Yes and it's instant, well after the first day. Feel clearer and less bloated, and then skin gets less hot, stomach not churning.

@jein a few weeks sounds really encouraging, I hope I find the same! I have considered reintroducing some fish or meat quite a bit lately but finding it quite difficult to get my head around it after 30+ years of not eating it.

i don’t drink much alcohol - maybe a glass or two of wine once or twice a week - as sadly since hitting my mid 40s any amount at all seems to massively impact my sleep; perhaps I need to cut it out completely

Am hearing the messages re protein and fat etc - maybe I need to switch to something like scrambled eggs and avocado on toast at breakfast? (Have been trying to cut bread out as it feels “bad” in my mind because I’ve been eating so much of it up to now!). And maybe some nuts with the salad at lunch? I will think again about starting to eat some fish to help with protein too.

To an extent..

Over Christmas I ate too much in general and drank too much which did leave me feeling a bit rubbish.

Before that I was eating better, drinking less so I felt better but it's the excess that makes me feel worse. My diet will never be perfect (if we go by the anti UPF people and the don't touch carbs people) I eat shop bought sourdough and sometimes I enjoy a few slices of white. I will never give up wine completely and I supplement my diet with protein powder and energy gels because it's the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to fuel my weight lifting and long distance running.

I think exercise makes a difference too, I walk a lot as well as running and weight lifting and I always feel better after a walk/run even if I didn't want to go.

Everyone will push protein - but most of us in the western world are lacking in fibre.
Healthy poos - healthy yous (sorry, that's awful, and the worst catchphrase in the world).

It's perfectly possible to eat a lot of protein while vegetarian but it just takes a bit of effort. Greek yoghurt, legumes and pulses, eggs, tofu, green vegetables etc will all help you get there.

In erms of bread - unless you're gluten free, good quality bread in relatively small volumes wont' do any harm. A good quality sourdough, rye bread, wholewheat etc - not UPF - and a single slice at a time alongside eggs or nuts or whatever, is a good choice.

There's nothing wrong with shop bought sourdough.

I am a fan of the idea of eating fewer UHP foods but it annoys me intensely how so many of the UHP food people you reference have caused such confusion and demonised perfectly healthy food.

From a preference point - I love the Jason's sourdough - the ciabattini or whate it's called makes an amazing slice of toast! and it's definitely not UHP!