To think there is a poor understanding of a healthy diet?

[LivelyLemonQuoter]

I think most people think they know what a healthy diet looks like, but in reality they do not. I see so many comments on MN that demonstrate this.

The most common one is that fruit should be limited because of its sugar content. This is very bad advice. Sugar in fruit has little impact on our blood sugar levels. And most people in the UK do not eat enough fruit.

The other is concern over eating any carbs. Wholemeal bread and pasta is fine, carbs in pastry and doughnuts is not great though.

And most people need to eat more nuts. Nuts are very good for you and should be part of your regular diet.

That’s just not true though. Lots of ancient civilisations lived just by eating what they could find, scientists can see from their bones that many suffered malnutrition and disease from not getting good enough nutrition. People died of scurvy in medieval times from a lack of vitamins. Henry VIII had gout from too much rich food. The Victorians were busy filling their bread full of sawdust and other crap to make a profit and giving babies alcohol to keep them quiet.

In theory, if we were just offered whole foods grown on the land, maybe it would be easy to know how to eat well. But that’s not the case, we live in a society where the supermarkets are full of processed products that say on the label they are perfectly nutritious and now we’re being told that these things cannot be trusted. If no one ever educated you at all on food, how would you know which ones were good for you, and which ones not? I know plenty of children that would live off of beige food only, if left to their own devices, so it’s not a sense that is naturally built into everyone. My cat would gorge on crisps and ice cream if I let her, so she hasn’t got a clue either.

It’s clear that with the rise in obesity, and obesity related illnesses, many people do not innately know what they need to be healthy.

You know nothing, obviously.

Cabbage in its various forms is a very nutritious vegetable, but I never see it mentioned in connection with ‘healthy diet’ talk.

Could that possibly because it’s neither expensive nor fashionable?

there was the cabbage soup diet

It showed early promise as a means of individual self-propelled jet travel 😉

White cabbage (raw) was a mainstay of my anorexia - all that cellulose expands in your tummy. I ate shedloads of celery, too: not as expansive, but very fibrous and hardly any calories. I still like both, cooked these days, with food rather than instead of it. I sleep alone, so only have to apologise to myself for the consequences!

Only if you’re following pseudoscience or crap influencers / tabloids

It’s normal for blood sugar to go up after eating sugar…

Yes but it’s not good for it to spike. Ideally you keep your blood sugar fairly stable throughout the day so you don’t experience the horrible crashes.

Protein and fat help to prevent excessive blood sugar spikes and crashes.

I thought this was relatively well understood now?!

Not really. The government advice used to be that low fat spreads were healthy. Clearly we know now that they’re not.

Until a few years ago the daily sugar allowance was up to 10% of your daily calorie intake (!!) and the fibre recommendation was just 18g.

They’ve since changed that (although they still say up to 30g of free sugar a day is fine 🤪)

Gov recommendations are the worst kind of evil, because they take donkeys years to reflect new research.

how long is long enough? would around 50 years do it? Personally I am not prepared to put up with the stomach pain and general incapacitating digestive upheaval to enable me to eat foods that I dislike anyway.

A healthy diet is not rocket science. It's been pretty much consistent for decades if not centuries. A bit of meat, a bit of fish, lots of vegetables, grains,pulses and other wholegrain carbs, fruits, a bit of dairy, a bit of fat (olive oil,butter) and a tiny amount of sugar (but think honey rather than sweets and biscuits).
It doesn't change every week,unless people don't use their common sense and read grabby headlines without thinking for themselves.

@GarlicSmile

an anti-sulphite wine spray

Just wondered what this was, and if it meant you could drink wine?

I use this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clean-Wine-Hangover-Clinically-Sulphite/dp/B08LZGV7WB?th=1

It does NOT work for everyone! It does for me <thanks Bacchus, Dionysus and any other wine gods within earshot>

I still get hangovers. They're marketing it wrong, imo.

Where can you buy chia seeds from and how do you eat them?

Every supermarket sells them. Sprinkle them on cereal/

So what kind of bread isn’t crap?

Pumpernickel.

I agree.

It's actually quite simple. The problem is that many people have become over reliant on UPF and convenience food. They get confused and don't know how to cook. And last time I checked the NHS website - admittedly a while back - it seemed as useful as a chocolate teapot. I think Harvard Medical, Mayo Clinic are better.

Good resources:

• books by Chris Van Tulleken, Michael Moseley, Mark Hyman
• YouTube/podcasts by Jason Jung, Becky Gillaspy
• Mediterranean cookery books, e.g. A Lebanese Feast, Claudia Roden
• if new to cooking/don't know where to start: some of Jamie's easy recipes (5 ingredients, 15 minute meals etc)

Just eat wholemeal bread, You do not have to overthink it.

Another issue with brown rice is it tastes like shredded cardboard

Also chia seed pudding is like eating frogspawn

I like brown rice. I just buy organic.

Never had that. I just sprinkle it on cereal or in curries.

It looks like it; whether it tastes like it or not, I wouldn't know! 🤣

Tapioca also looks like frogspawn.

Its just seeds. Not a big deal