To be annoyed by NHS healthy choices quiz

[Notmycircusnotmyotter]

This seems to be on radio / tv adverts on repeat, featuring a seriously irritating hamster.

what's really annoyed me is the crap advice that you should choosing low fat versions of food (specifically yoghurt) rather than whole foods and full fat versions. AIBU to think this is outdated bad advice?

Weight loss of any kind increases cortisol as the body perceives it as stress. So it’s probably that.

IMO if you were to do a poll at the supermarket, only people with weight problems will be buying low fat.

Full fat milk and yoghurt here.

Thanks - oh well, hopefully I'll be able to eat a bit more soon.

Probably not ketosis as I think you need to eat like literally zero carbohydrates but at the end of the day, it’s working for you which is the main thing!

It's terrible advice, but it goes with that infuriating fashion of removing anything with real sugar too, and have chemically laden toxic food/ drink instead.

Gives me the rage, and looking at number (and the many many studies), the "no real sugar" fashion is helping no one.

Low fat usually equals higher sugar and salt.

Yeah they removed the chocolate etc last year I think.

personally I think there is too much carbs for many people - it can be hard to differentiate between the carbs that offer better nutritional value and those which the body treats like sugar.

Same with fruit. A lot of today’s fruit is genetically modified to contain much more sugar (carbohydrate) than previously - a large pink lady apple can have as much as 18g of sugar, about 4 teaspoons. Not all fruit is good for health. Especially very overweight people who may need an ultra low carb diet.

And low fat alternatives often contain more sugar.

So I still think the Eatwell Plate is not suitable for a large proportion of the population.

All carbohydrates are treated as sugar by the body. That’s what carbohydrate is… sugar molecules. It’s broken down into glucose which is then used to make adenosine triphosphate (energy). Humans need sugar, it’s the fuel we need for our brains to work optimally. People just eat too much of it.

One third of the diet is not too much CHO if you are eating a suitable amount for your energy balance to be neutral. Yes, if you’re eating double the calories you should then 1/3rd of that is excessive CHO. And yes refined cereals are worse because they don’t contain the fibre and vitamins and protein of whole grain… but Eatwell says to choose whole grain and high fibre options so the point is moot.

Eatwell also specifies that the low fat dairy options should also be low sugar. So if someone eats one that’s low fat, high sugar then that’s contrary to the advice.

The advice specifies LOW SUGAR as well as LOW FAT.

Sure, but it is possible to get assistance with sleep either free for some people, or paid for.

It’s not Greek yoghurt that’s causing people to gain weight. The real problem is excessive intake of free sugars and carbohydrates, usually through constant snacking. These cause insulin to spike and that makes it much harder for the body to burn fat. So not all calories are equal when it comes to metabolism and energy burning.

Thermodynamics begs to differ.

I didn't say it wasn't.

Thermodynamics still applies, of course, but it doesn’t mean all calories behave the same in the body. Different foods have different effect on metabolism, insulin response and how easily fat is burned.

Take 100 calories of broccoli and 100 calories of pasta. In terms of thermodynamics they’re the same, but your body treats them very differently.
Broccoli takes more effort to digest, hardly raises blood sugar, and those calories are mostly used up straight away rather than being pushed into fat storage.
Pasta (high in carbs) is digested quickly, spikes blood sugar and insulin, and is much more likely to end up stored as fat (de novo lipogenesis - the process where the body turns surplus sugar or carbs into fat) especially if you’re already eating plenty of carbs. Also many overweight middle-aged people have some level of insulin resistance and won't be able to burn fat as long as they are having frequent insulin spikes.

The current trend is against UPF
Before that, sugar was the enemy. In my lifetime, fibre has been good and bad. As has carbs.
Latching on to the current fad does not make anyone an expert, despite some of the very confident and authoritive posts on here. It means you have embraced the latest trend, read up on it and it works for you.
I would imagine that at least some of the people the NHS app is trying to reach will not be inclined to research extensively, so 'choose low fat' is an easy instruction to understand. Telling them to go for full fat because UPF is just confusing what needs to be a simple message.

The current trend is against UPF

In fairness, no one could be anything but against UPF - unless they try to make a quick buck out of it.

Sugar, fibers, carbs are food. UPF is literally chemical rubbish - just read the labels.

It's not much of an exaggeration to say my mum used to do puzzles all day long - cryptic crosswords, including the complicated ones where you fill in the black squares yourself, Sudoku when that was popular, logic puzzles - she was an avid puzzler. It's impossible to say whether this preserved her mental capacity longer than she'd have had it without, but the end result is that sadly she doesn't even know who my sister and I are now. She has 'combined dementia'.

Physically, she was always healthy. She's never weighed more than about 7 stone (she's skeletal now as she doesn't eat properly anymore) - didn't smoke, once-a-year-at-Christmas type drinker, used to go to the gym and cycle regularly.

Similar story for my dad, although he was never a puzzler - he was an intelligent man, very interested in current affairs and finance, keen gardener with an allotment, ate the stuff he grew, lots of veg; held a senior Civil Service job; healthy lifestyle, healthy weight, cycled and walked a lot - even with half his mind gone he's still out in the garden most days doing bits and pieces in all weathers.

It all seems to count for nothing when dementia takes a hold.

There is nothing wrong with a 500 calorie breakfast, so long as it's filling and nutritious.

There absolutely is if you’re trying to lose weight!

I think it's UPF that needs to be drastically reduced, rather than calories per se.

If people eat more real food and less UPF, they naturally then consume fewer calories because real food is more filling and satisfying, takes longer to eat and gives your body a chance to let you know you're full.

Apparently, more than 50% of the average UK diet is UPF. If that could be reduced to less than 20%, we would be a much healthier nation.

Not if it fills you up for hours. That’s the key really, food that doesn’t have you thinking about snacks etc.

You can eat 1500 calories of McDonald’s a day, as long as you’re in a deficit you’ll lose weight.

nutrition can come after the weight has come off.

Nope. Part of losing weight and keeping it off is developing sustainable habits and one sustainable habit is having a breakfast that doesn't leave you eying up the office biscuit tin at 10am because you're hungry already.

There isn't as long as you factor it into your calories for the day. If you choose to have (say) a 500 calorie breakfast, 200 calorie lunch and 300 calorie dinner, that's up to you (if you have a lot to lose and are aiming at 1500 calories to start with, you could have 500 at each meal).

That is the absolute beauty of calorie counting, you can fit it around your lifestyle and preferences. It does not rule out UPF but to get the most out of your calories, it's best to base your meals around non-UPF, low-sugar foods.

I calorie counted to lose weight and still do it to maintain a healthy weight, and I have never eaten a single 'low fat' thing - it's full fat all the way for me with yoghurt, cheese and milk. I just have less of it if it's more calorie-dense than the low fat version (often there isn't that much difference).

Put simply, I would rather have half a pot of full fat Longley Farm cottage cheese than a whole pot of low fat cottage cheese.

You're not being unreasonable about criticising the poor quality, out of date advice. However, Yabu criticising the hamster because you don't see enough hamsters on TV 😁