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 all true, @TempestTost, and it's all part of the reason some kind of basic, common-sense food education would be desirable. For instance, lots of young women buy burgers, cooked or frozen, because they believe it takes special knowledge to make them. Mate, you just squash a handful of mince and then fry it!

I'm a good but very, very lazy cook (I have a health-related excuse) on a restricted budget. There's no way I'd make that soup described upthread but it doesn't take much time or money to throw some frozen veg/tinned tomatoes in with whatever I'm making. Slow cookers are the lazy cheapskate's saviour. Most exotic dishes are just stews or fry-ups with different seasonings, there's no real need for sauces in jars or overpriced meal kits.

Sure, properly prepared international or designer dishes are better - and there's a world of enjoyable, healthy 'real' food in between that and factory-made fillers. It's possible to make a wide variety of well-balanced dinners that take less than 40 minutes to make and don't cost much. I know, I've been doing it for years; I just wish everybody knew their own personal version of the same. They can't if no-one tells them, though.

I agree but
Re your last paragraph .
Do people constantly need to be spoon fed though. My cooking sounds a lot like yours. Lots of stews with veg and different beans etc
I didn’t need to be told how to cook these though. I looked it up for myself or just experimented with flavours.
My sons came back from Morocco and loved their tagine dishes so I looked up the basic spices and added those to make a whole new type of stew for us.

I don’t think we can keep blaming others for our own failings. If people don’t cook it’s probably because they just aren’t that interested.

^^

The excerpt quoted from Diabetes UK earlier was somewhat selective by the OP.

Diabetes UK also say ”Some people eat fruit infrequently, but have larger portions when they do eat them, which can mean the carbohydrate portion in one sitting is quite high. It is easy to consume a lot of dried fruit, grapes and tropical fruits in one go, for example, and this can have a bigger impact on blood glucose levels.”

They also warn that you need to spread out fruit intake over the day, and to be wary of smoothies or dried fruit.

A lot of their information about cutting out sugar is suggesting people cut out refined sugar sources first. My DM was recently diagnosed as diabetic and I can tell you now, she was advised to be careful with her fruit intake (she likes satsumas, grapes, and pineapple - all very sweet!)

@BIWI has been a fantastic font of knowledge on the dieting board and absolutely knows her stuff. And also, she doesn’t lecture people….

I switched to low carb/keto and the difference in my body is remarkable. Not just the weight loss - I’m no longer bloated and my ankles/legs have stopped swelling up and retaining water. It happened literally overnight, before I lost any weight.

I have discovered my body is so much happier with fewer carbs and little/no sugar.

The diet you suggest OP would have be puffing up instantly and feeling sluggish, bloated etc.

I appreciate you’re passionate about the subject OP but nutrition is nuanced and there are various ways to eat healthily. What is healthy for me might not be right for someone else, and that’s ok.

I’m sure we all know brown rice is healthier. Just because other countries eat a lot of white rice means very little as they add plenty of veg and fish ( for example ) to their generally healthier anyway diets.

An issue with brown rice if an awful lot is eaten is the arsenic in it which is on the rise due to many polluting factors. Health line note we would have to eat a lot of it though.

And this from Healthline.

It’s worth noting Healthline take the view it’s better than eating really unhealthy food.
Much like the advice to the UK that 5 portions of fruit and veg was enough when in fact research showed that it clearly wasn’t. We, here in the UK were told that because it was deemed better than nothing and the UK Govn didn’t want to ‘scare’ us from just trying to up our intake.

I wonder if more people eat more fruit and veg than they did before the 5 a day campaign began ?

Personally, I avoid UPFs, aim for 30 different plants per week, cook everything from scratch and eat very little meat. I have time, enjoy cooking and am interested in trying to eat healthily. I also happen to love plain yogurt, vegetables etc and dislike cream cakes for instance. But I acknowledge that everyone is different and that new recommendations come out all the time. We are constantly learning.

People are disagreeing about fruits though because some can have a lot of sugar.
ie.If it’s very sweet like a ripe banana it has a lot of sugar

If you are unsure what a complex carb is and are interested ..just Google ‘what is a complex carb’
What does 120 g of protein look like well I wouldn’t know as an average woman needs 45g and an average man 55g a day but again just Google it.
[that 120g is person specific as it is based on body weight ]

I'm type 2 diabetic, when I was first diagnosed I bought a continuous blood glucose monitor.

It was interesting to see my blood glucose reacted to food and medication. Particularly when I ate a banana and saw the spike.

Our bodies are different and react to foods and medication differently so fruit may or may not spike blood glucose in an individual.

Fruit juice on the other hand should be limited.

Absolutely my favourite bread !

Have you tried dry frying individual sized portions on a pan too …..even quicker!

If you are near an Aldi or Lidl you might be surprised ( tbh I have no idea how much other shops are although many might price match )
If you live near the countryside there’s always free fruit in hedgerows ( I get a whole years worth of blackberries and raspberries free like this ) Plus I also get chestnuts free as well.

just an alternative thought given how much food is increasing in price

Aaahhh.
the dreaded palm oil though Garlic

I know it’s not a health issue, well not for this country anyway !

Tedious? Given that there is a huge obesity crisis, there is clearly a need for discussing what a healthy diet consists of.

“Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” is the foundation of a healthy diet.

If you also eat a moderate amount of protein, a bit of dairy and healthy fats (olive oil, nuts), plus some complex carbs (quinoa, root vegetables, pulses, wild rice), you'll be fine.

You don’t need meat and fish to be healthy. About 30% of the world don’t.

Nothing wrong with organic whole grain wheats for bread

Organic oats won’t be sprayed

Healthline states unless you eat masses of brown rice the levels of arsenic ( which are on the rise due to pollution etc ) won’t affect people

Why is blood spiking unhealthy- (in a healthy person to make it easier?)

@MementoMountain
I really didn’t know lentils had that effect

I eat them most days and have nothing. But then I could gorge on Jerusalem artichokes and nothing either……
So agree if lentils and veg are a problem people might need to introduce certain foods slowly and in smaller quantities. If they want to that is

Im not saying there’s an issue with the bread ( except for the palm oil ) but if you fancied you could add soya flour to your bread and the protein would increase.

As an aside
What did you mean by using the vinegar to offset the sugar. ??

Fish? Meat? Willing to knock a few years off my life for some salmon or chicken, although granted chicken is the only meat I eat. If for example a dietitian told me plants are better for me than meat.

I think different (but all credible) dieticians and other healthcare professionals like dentists would differ somewhat in their recommendations of what constitutes a good diet. Some would advocate for a vegetarian one (as you seem to be doing), some would place more emphasis on dairy than others perhaps and I’ve never met a dentist who hasn’t said to eat fruit by all means but also limit the portions.

All meats are linked to so much more than that.
The list is quite shocking

@picturethispatsy

No.
OP isn’t vegan or vegetarian if you RTT

I just assumed she was someone who regularly had vegetarian days rather than being a vegetarian. As do I TBF.

I stopped putting soya flour in my bread because it spoiled the texture. I do add wheat gluten, but so does Sainsbury's.

I meant vinegar would combat any excess sweetness, I'm not claiming any esoteric knowledge! Anyway, I don't mind sugar & vinegar in my bread. It tastes fine.

Or @ramonaqueenbee
sorry to add Luna

You could take all those ingredients that’s Luna mentioned first time round
Fry the onions and some garlic
Steam the veg that Luna mentioned
Boil the lentils and blend with a tin of tomatoes and the sweet potato ( if you want)
Add spices or herbs of your choice

• I love cinnamon for a Sri Lanka flavour
• Thyme, oregano for an Italian feel
• Curry powder and Tumeric if you’re feeling a bit curryish
• etc

Put everything together add water ( from under the steamed veg ) to make it the consistency you fancy

Ps. If you are using the water from steaming the veg you can increase the iron content by using a Lucky Iron Fish ( they have reduced malnutrition in many countries ) OR just cook in cast iron pots

Sugar is a completely normal ingredient used to feed the yeast in bread. So is fat of some variety, but it's not essential. There's a huge variety of supermarket bread so you can't say it's all "bad".

I’ve never tried it except when I’m making buttermilk for soda bread. So thanks I might give it a try

@LivelyLemonQuoter my husband was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and was told to be very careful with fruit 🤷‍♀️