Focusing on 'nutrition' and food facts can send you bonkers?

[AppleWhiskers]

I love reading about food and fitness stuff and used to really try to find the healthiest stuff, which seems to change every 5 mins!

I noticed after a while that no one seems to really know, and the field of food science is still evolving. But I wondered how we got on before all of this information became available to us!!???

I was reading about world cuisine, looking at traditional meals across the nations and noticed a LOT of fatty meats, red meats, processed meats, butter, cheese, tons of refined carbs and such. People the world over seem to have enjoyed food, when they can get it, for much of history, without dying out!
I realise that nowadays we have too much access to overly processed foods, but of all of the above are bad for us (our arteries and blood sugar) you'd wonder how we got this far.

My guess is that it wasn't the type of food we ate, it was how much of it, and now we are victims of our own excess/success?

What I failed to say is that no one was probably prevaricating over macros and sat fats or how much protein was in their beans in the far past.

We didn’t eat like we do now. We ate locally sourced, in season, whole foods. It’s only since the advent of UPFs and world wide food supply’s that we’ve needed to concern ourselves with food on such a microscopic level

Interesting, and yet the NHS warns us away from many of the original foods used in the Med!

The further a food is from its natural form the worse it is for you is my rule - so butter - fine. Low fat marg with cholesterol busting molecules -absolutely not eating that

Olive oil, goat milk cheese, fish, veg, nothing much in a true med diet that’s going to cause you too many issuez

Issue is food “science” is driven by the food industry and money.

there’s no money in “eat a balanced diet” so they keep coming up with more new “science” to sell books, products, meals etc.

i ignore it all now. It feeds into eating issues and has led to me being overweight from constantly trying the latest fad. I’ve gone back to 3 meals and a snack, portion control and fibre.

Same here. 3 meals, decent fruit and veg intake, water, movement, if I want some chocolate I have it. If I start over complicating things it all becomes painful.

I stick with whole foods and avoid processed foods I grow some of my own - not everything because some stuff you can’t avoid without turning into a hemp weaving mutter but just where I can

If I could find local cheese that doesn’t taste like evil I would go for that in a heartbeat

As a 50-ish woman I have the luxury of trying to increase my chances of being healthy and independent into my 80s - that wasn't a consideration in the far past.

Lack of good nutrition has contributed to an awful lot of illness and death in the past, though. Not just a lack of food overall - a lack of the right macro and micro nutrients. As humans we have evolved to survive on a terrible diet but there are long term consequences!

I was intrigued by the amount of lamb, cheese and white bread in the med, also high carb in many other countries we often associate with good health, such as areas of Scandinavia and Japan.

I do believe all natural foods are ok in moderation. But there was a time that I was fearful of saturated fats due to family history of cardiovascular disease. I am careful but not worked up about it nowadays.

I do crumble and have the odd maccy d but on the whole I try to be good more than I’m not and I hope that’s enough, but life is a game of chance and it could go either way and I could be growing and eating kale for no good reason

Yes I do agree with PP who said fad diets can lead to increased weight issues.

I blame the weather

Lamb fine cheese fine bread up for debate homemade absolutely fine warburtons not so much by my thinking

For me it’s the processing - if I made bread at home it would last 1 day maybe two at a push. Warburtons lasts over a week WTF is in it bread should not last that long

M&S recently brought out a packet of bread rolls with only 4 ingredients. Proved it wasn't hard to do!
Perhaps Warburton's ought to get with the times.

Really bread should only have four ingredients tbf interesting that M&S have gone with that

Yeah, bcs before portions were much smaller!
Not like now where unless people eat 500g meat, 500g carbs and half a bread they moan about not being full from a single meal.

You can 100% stay slim if you eat red meat and carbs in small amounts.
Also,coock books had a lot of dessretrecipes that youwere suposed to eat only on special occasions like once a month or less...

Definitely. I think we wonder about the 'French paradox' but for many they are simply choosing smaller amounts or not overdoing it. We do seem to be a culture of excess in some ways. I don't think there is anything wrong with a small piece of seeded toast with cream cheese and jam....just don't eat the entire loaf.

I think we restrict a good deal here and in the US. Makes us crave more?

Also previous generations were working that fuel off almost immediately. Maybe not so much about what you eat, but whether you use all it for energy.

edit - typos.

People used to die younger on average. A lot of this was due to starvation or malnutrition. We have an abundance of food now and no one should starve in the UK. There is some food that is not good for us in large quantities. Usually factory produced with high salt, sugar or fat or with things that let them claim that it is low in these things.
Michael Pollan said "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." And "Food does not come through a car window.". Good advice.

I wonder why fast food is always unhealthy?
Why some companies don't capitalise on selling wholesome foods on the go.

historically portions were much much bigger because there was much more manual labor which i knew from documentaries google suggest 6000 calories per day in the 1800's (mostly from animal fat and bread/cheese).
even early on there was a known relationship between what was eaten and health again by 1800 they had figured out a lack of vitamin c led to scurvy and rickets in 1850's.
people died younger.
non bookish historical data; my grandmother born in 1898 had a solid knowledge on what was needed to keep a family healthy throughout the year (rising early to begin cooking for the day). canning fruits and veggies (preventing food spoilage) my mother describes well rounded meals ham/mashed potatoes/wax beans fresh bread and butter. by the 1960's my mother was very conscious of healthier food choices (wheat bran, cod liver oil etc.)

@AppleWhiskers because fresh foods are difficult to be shelf stable. potatoes go purple, apples turn brown etc.
even fresh fruit smoothies start to go off within hours.
food poisoning huge risk.
salt is a preservative in many breads (as it was historically for fish) but large amounts of salt are equally unhealthy. butter goes rancid so other oils used in breads.

So I guess we were not designed to buy food on the go!

I saw some historical evidence that the ancient Romans sold fast food, possibly not as we know it, but archeological evidence showed it was a thing.

I presume they were immediate meals, likely cooked and consumed quickly, perhaps for workers in certain sites.

Food in general has lost a lot of quality and taste, even in the best supermarkets. Tomatoes, chicken, fish, even coated frozen goods and sausages are less juicy and fresh tasting compare to 10 yrs ago.

It's depressing.

It's all horse shit to make authors and "influencers" rich. Fact. End of.

3 meals per day. Avoid grazing and snacking. Eat vegetables or salad with meals. Fruit or nuts if you do want a snack (unsalted, goes without saying)

Avoid large greedy portions sizes. Drink water not fizzy pop. UPF won't kill you, nor will McDonald's - everything in moderation. A fast food simple order once per week or less isn't going to make you fat or give you a heart attack.

That's all there is to it. We overcomplicate absolutely everything now and it actually puts people off trying, because it's a minefield. The bottom line is - all this fancy pants shit Is a money spinner.

Same with all these ridiculous exercise regimes that need to be "tailored to the individual" with some bloody expensive PT at a bloody expensive gym.

Need to lose weight ? You eat less and you move more (doesn't matter how ) it's not rocket science. We just delude ourselves that it's impossible because we can't do all these bespoke plans because of money/time. Yours sincerely, from someone who is greedy and loves food , hence I'm 1.5 stone overweight. But if I upped the moving and cut out the indulgent snacks and massive portions, I'd lose weight.