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.

Having done a lot of research into diet I'd agree with this but add 3 portions of probiotic foods which can also be these as well. Such as aged cheese, real sourdough bread, plain natural yoghurt or kefir, or fermented vegetables, pastes and drinks such as sauerkraut, miso, kimchi or kombucha

Those meals would make my blood sugars go sky high.

Yes when I see people throw away fruits and vegetable when they look completely ok, not wilted, not squished, because they're out of Best Before date. I was shocked.

You’re part of the problem!

Of course sugars in fruit affect your blood sugar levels. They aren’t full of some magic sugar that behaves unlike any other. You don’t know what you are talking about!

They may not be the same as sugar added to processed food, and sugars in some fruits will impact you differently than sugars in others, but that’s not what you said.

You might help educate yourself by studying something called the “glycemic index” which is the scientific way of measuring how different foods impact your blood sugar.

You will see fruits listed on it, which is exactly making the point fruits do impact your blood sugar levels. It will also tell you that ripe bananas will affect your blood sugar as much as ice cream.

And that’s before I get to your comments on nuts. The problem with nuts is that gramme for gramme they are extremely calorific. So eating those it’s very easy to eat too many calories. Which is exactly why you’ll see people doing a lot of exercise (eg hikers, bikers, etc) eat them for a calorie boost.

Fruit sugar does impact blood sugar, and wholemeal bread/pasta is still a simple starch. Less fruit (eat seasonally) and more veg. Nuts are great, as whole nuts, so you have to chew them, not so much as nut butters, or coated with salted caramel. You are right, most people have no idea what a healthy diet is, including you, by the sound of it.

Two of your links are to the same research.

There is some protein in nuts and pulses but they aren’t ’complete proteins’ and don’t contain the full range of amino acids. So vegans need to be careful about combining foods in order to get a balanced diet. And to eat enough to get enough protein.

The amount of protein weight for weight is a lot less so you need to eat a lot more pulses than animal protein to get enough.
For example most animal proteins range from 21-27g of protein per 100g whereas most pulses range from 5-10g per 100g.

Glad to read this is healthy, it's pretty much my diet. Sometimes greek yoghurt with berries, seeds & flaxseed in place of porridge. But lots of home made soups and veggie stews/curries with beans and lentils. Nuts and fruits for snacks also. I'm not massive meat eater but include eggs and fish along with that from time to time. And the odd ice cream or piece of chocolate for balance of course!

Protein in OPs one day meal seems fine

just looking at
oats, milk, lentils, chickpeas and nuts for example in normal quantities based on recipes for one person
Gives protein of 75g ……. 👍
So plenty of room for manoeuvre if OP eats less than 1/2 cup of nuts for example.

If OP adds yeast flakes to the chickpeas ( 1/2 tsp ) then the b12 is all good too.

I don't think OP has said she is vegan. Nobody needs to eat meat at all to be healthy and certainly not every day.

Exactly 👏👏

I don’t think we need as much protein as people think. Don’t really bother looking at how much protein I eat and I know I don’t really eat that much but only times I have had anaemia was when I was a meat eater

In fact I have never been as ill as I was when I was a meat eater

The Mediterranean Diet Was Just Named Healthiest Diet

Truth is most of us eat what we can afford to, or not in a lot of cases. I'd LOVE to be able to buy cook and eat more fresh veg, lovely fruit ( cant even remember the last time I ate an apple let alone a strawberry) and wholesome organic meat and fish but finances dictate otherwise , And please do NOT suggest its bad budgeting or inability to cook. We should all eat as healthily as we can, knowing we actually need a little of the fats etc and be sensible.Knowing what is actually in our food goes a long way towards helping that.

Utterly ridiculous post, you fail to understand that we’re all different and what works for you is nigh on poison to someone else. If I ate the food in your so-called healthy diet, I would be in agony. I would be bloated, inflamed, stomach pains with excess gas, migraine, diarrhea & constipation, my skin would breakout too. The flaxseed is really not good for some women because it can mimic oestrogen. What you’ve said about fruit not causing blood sugar spikes is simply not true for me and many others are the same. You need to educate yourself more before thinking you know it all about nutrition.

Chick peas are 19g/100 and I think one of the easiest to eat ( who doesn't love hummous?) 100g of hummous really isn't that much. We also eat a fair bit of tofu which I realise isn't listed in PP ideal daily diet but has 50g/100g again 100g not a crazy portion. I am not vegetarian but DH and Dd are so most of our protien at home comes from these sources. We all take an iron amd B12 supplement daily ( although we do eat marmite)

Sorry meant to link

I try to do all the recommended things for us as a family: eg five a day, enough calcium, the Daily Dozen as recommended by Dr Greger, portions of oily fish per week as recommended by the NHS, a range of different plants each week, the right amount of water, etc… The problem is that can quite easily become like a mental checklist and a little obsessive and unhealthy in that sense too.

There’s a clear link between sarcopenia and protein intake as you age because older adults are less efficient at protein synthesis from dietary protein.

If you’re 25 then you probably doesn’t need a lot of protein but unless you want to lose more muscle and bone density than you need to, 50 year old you will likely need more protein than 0.8kg/day, more along the lines of 1-1.6g/day.

Truth is most of us eat what we can afford to, or not in a lot of cases lovely fruit ( cant even remember the last time I ate an apple let alone a strawberry)

I get strawberries are expensive, but apples are 11.1p each in the multi pack at Lidl, and these are the bigger ones, I think the smaller ones are less. Plus markets have cheaper fruit and veg, especially if you go later in the day. Last week they were clearing everything, 6 items for a £1.
Tinned or frozen fruit is also an option.

I know what it is like to not have a pot to piss in so I'm not being glib.

It is excessive, that's eating pulses for every meal.

Trouble is it costs me 5.75 to get to the nearest supermarket, no buses after 6pm anyway so if the mark downs are after that time there'd be no way home,and my entire food budget is currently at 13 weekly give or take so would be a pointless trip using half of that budget. I simply cannot take the risk of spending in the hopes of a bargain, everything has to be exact if we want to eat something every day! An apple is a luxury item these days!

You only have to look at the healthiest and most long lived groups and most if not all are Vegan

This isn't true. Cultures like japan tend to live long and they eat things like fish & chicken, fermented foods, rice, soy beans and a lot of vegetables.

Plus markets have cheaper fruit and veg, especially if you go later in the day. Last week they were clearing everything, 6 items for a £1.

The only things that ever get reduced like this at my local supermarket are bruised/spoiled to some degree. They manage stock levels MUCH more carefully now to reduce waste, often if I go in the evening a lot of the veg trays are almost empty.

Also sometimes the cheaper fruit has travelled a long way to get here (bad for the environment!). You can't win.

but apples are 11.1p each in the multi pack at Lidl

Its an 8 mile journey for me to get to an Aldi or a Lidl. Its 20 minutes by car but more like 45 on a bus. The buses are not frequent - only about 1 an hour. If you live outside of a city you typically have a lot less choice to shop around for lower prices - there's often only one large supermarket close by and its usually a tesco or sainsburys in my experience. All the towns near me have a waitrose (very expensive!) plus either a sainsburys or a tesco. No aldi, no lidl, no asda, no morrisons.