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.

Do what works for you. I rarely eat fruit and still consider myself healthy. I dont have a sweet tooth at all so things like fruit, chocolate, cake, doughnuts, icecream, sweet yogerts just don't appeal to me at all. I do eat a lot of veg, nuts and whole grains though.

What qualifies you to provide this preachy lecture OP? Are you a registered dietitian?

Diabetics are no longer told to avoid fruit. That advice is very out of date

Hmmm - my body hadn't had that memo. I'm prediabetic and fruit definitely spikes my blood sugar. And yes - spikes are not good

I think a healthy lifestyle is a very individual thing. I used to be the lower end of a healthy weight according to BMI, ate porridge made with water, fruits and nuts as snacks, rice and veg for lunch and home cooked dinners and worked out 5x a week. My biceps were like tennis balls on my arms and doctors constantly praised how "healthy" I was. But, I made myself temporarily infertile, with hypothalamic amenorrhea, from living this way.

I had to gain close to 3 stone, stop all exercise and become overweight according to BMI for a year before being able to conceive. Now, I'm the higher side of a "healthy BMI weight", eat all sorts of carbs and fats alongside protein, I don't look anywhere near as fit as I used to, but I have regular cycles and two children. I try to eat well (more veggie meals than meat, a sensible breakfast, etc) and I exercise so I can play with my kids without getting out of breath or not being able to lift them.

It can be difficult to find a healthy lifestyle that works for you and there is so much conflicting information out there, particularly around diet. I agree that a lot of people don't appreciate what a healthy lifestyle looks like, but I think a healthy lifestyle is so much more than just what you eat (and what you weigh), especially as there is so much enjoyment that can be had from and around food.

My parents and many of their relatives and friends continue to live into their 80s with reasonably good health, mobility and quality of life given their ages. Most just eat simply. Egg or toast for breakfast. Soup for lunch. Evening meal is small portion of meat or fish with vegetables like carrots, peas, brussels sprouts and potatoes. None have ever exercised excessively with weights and special powders but they have always walked in the fresh air and kept mobile. Unless directed by a doctor, they don't tend to follow a high protein diet or drink copious amounts of water like younger generations. I tend to use this as inspiration when making my own choices.

That's fine then. How many people do you know eats a hand of bananas a day every day. Most people who eat bananas eat one in a day. Same with mango and pineapple - you'd have a portion, you wouldn't eat a whole pineapple! The OP is suggesting a controlled portion, not eat as much as you like - 3 portion sizes of fruit, eat fruit in moderation, I don't see anywhere that the OP is saying eat limitless fruit.

Health is so complicated, its a constant management of risks and environment.

When we say "healthy diet", I think we mean "balanced for optimum health depending on the environment you are in" diet. It could be effected by location, working times. family etc.

Calories also have issues like satiety associated with them. I have noticed that the more shit I eat, the hungrier I am for example.

The best people to speak to are dieticians, if you are trying to eat better they are able to assess actually how good your diet is and predict health outcomes. Its worth the cost and you only really need a couple of sessions.

I was underweight (46-48kg) my whole life until during COVID I went on anti-anxiety tablets and I gained 7kg in 3 months because my appetite wasn't being affected by the anxiety anymore. That put me into a health BMI but I couldn't stop the weight from put on, because of my terrible diet and awful understanding of food. I am now at a stable weight, but I really did not have the skills to cook a healthy diet before.

I know whats healthy. My problem is:

• we are two working parents, we are very time poor
• i enjoy food and eating. I have a degree of sugar addiction and find it impossible to completely avoid cakes/biscuits
• lifestyles - sandwiches for lunch are quick & easy, most people work somewhere with no means of heating up something for lunch or don't have time to prepare something in the morning to put in a food jar.
• cost! Nuts are terrifically expensive.

A day for me is not dissimilar to the menu you posted - but my curry would have had some chicken & lentils added, with ground almond & coconut milk. It is probably higher calorie but tastes good.

My problem is I'd have caved and eaten some biscuits as well, or something like a vanilla flavoured skyr for dessert

Eating like that every day would make me very sad lol It just dont sound appetizing to me

I agree with some of the critiques of OP’s advice, but tbf I dont think the fact that you’re allergic/intolerant to certain foods means that they aren’t healthy. It should go without saying that when someone says “X is good for you” they don’t mean literally everyone in the world should eat it and they’ll all be fine, so I don’t think OP (or anyone) should have to caveat every comment about food with a disclaimer of “obviously not if you’re allergic.”
Nuts are good for you. But they’ll also kill my DH. That doesn’t mean that generally speaking, nuts aren’t good for you.

In France they say only 2 of your 7 a day should be fruit due to the sugar content. Similar in Japan where they say 2-4 of fruit, 7-13 of veg. The UK and France have not updated the advice as they know most people don't even get their 5 a day so upping it to what it should be is pointless and may put people off bothering.

Are you eating your 17 a day op? We should be eating very few grains.

Come on the UK, as a nation, not only quite often eat crisps every single day but also mainly think it is OK to give their kids crisps every single day as part of a packed lunch. Some even believe there are additive free, baked, good for you, fake crisps which I'm sure are just as processed as normal crisps.

Who are they to comment on healthy eating?

Sorry OP but this is just nonsense. Of course people did not revolve to need a potion of flax or chia seeds a day!

I can’t help thinking you did this thread as a bit of a joke after that post!

Is it too early for a Snickers? Nuts are good right?

Oats aren’t “bad” please don’t stop eating them because somebody had a small blood sugar spike!

Also, remember that blood glucose monitors are being pushed and advertised by big companies; it’s in their interests if you are confused about food because then you buy one!

If you read any of the guidelines, or this thread itself, which is very contradictory, you'd be very confused. As are most!

Noknit
My family don't really eat crisps at all....

It be difficult though. Op os not taking account of the fact that many unhealthy foods are terrifically palatable. We've evolved over thousands of years in much more resource constrained environments, and our bodies crave and enjoy high calorie food, whether its fat, starchy carbs or sugar. In the past, eating those things in the good seasons would have given us the energy to hunt and walk miles gathering food, & the body stores to survive a lean period or late spring.

its very hard for us to overcome, especially when many of us were raised on sugar laden processed palatable food & its what our brains and bodies expect.

Most of us just don't have the willpower.

we cant all afford sourdough bread though, it is extortionate

In the UK HbA1C is measured in mmol/mol not as a % so 29 would be normal patient.info/diabetes/diabetes-mellitus-leaflet/tests-for-blood-sugar-glucose-and-hba1c

There are way too many opinions on what is good and bad, people should just do their best with the money/time/resources and personal likes and dislikes.

You would have to prize my daily seeded sourdough slice out of my cold dead hands and porridge is great for me before a long exercise session. To my sourdough I add eggs, avocado, prosciutto ham, spinach and asparagus. To my porridge I add berries, honey, flaxseed and chia seeds.

I eat a lot of chicken, rarely fresh salmon because of the cost and I'm not hugely keen on plain non salted nuts so they don't really feature.

But I also have weeks where I eat too much for cheese, chocolate, bread and drink too much wine and not enough fruit or vegetables.

I'm just muddling my way through, trying my best with what I have.

I’ve noticed no difference in the bread when I made with sugar compared to without so I don’t ever add it now. It isn’t needed in a world where a lot of people generally eat too much sugar anyway. I also did not say all supermarket bread was bad. But a lot is full of unnecessary ingredients that aren’t good for us.

Dead easy, quick and cheap to make soda bread though.

There are no essential carbs. No one needs to eat carbs.

Really? I think it would be very difficult to completely avoid them.

I've found fruit causes massive spikes, unless blueberries which bring your sugars down first before raising them. On the whole berries are the safest option in very small quantities.