To not understand why my healthy (I think) way of eating isn't making me feel energetic and fabulous

[LindyFoo]

AIBU to consider this is a healthy daily diet (not looking to lose weight as already a healthy weight). I want to feel more energetic and fabulous :-). Don't eat meat or drink alcohol. In my 60s, fit and well, very minimal stress.

AM
Smoothie with banana, kale, milk, peanut butter, avacado, skimmed milk powder, greek yoghurt
SNACK
Sourdough bread with peanut butter
MIDDAY
2 egg with onion, peppers, cheese and a mixed salad with olive oil dressing
5PM
Salmon with salad or brown rice with prawns and lots of vegetables and spices

What is missing? Or not helping?

it depends I think, I’m generally healthy and at a Christmas do thought I’ll have the salmon wellington. I felt absolutely awful after it, it was the pastry it did not make me feel well at all. The idea that one should use food to cheer strikes me as not the right way to treat food. I do agree you don’t want to be the po faced person refusing birthday cake (even if you only eat a little bit) but there are fat better ways to treat yourself I think.

Eat the whole fruit rather than a smoothie and include some meat for iron.

Hardly any carbs there! And carbs are the main source of energy.

Also your info on meat is incorrect.

There is no vitamin C in meat. No Fibre in meat. Little or no K1, Vitamin A or D.

On the surface the food you've listed is good quality and nutritious.

however, if this is one "typical" day it doesn't give sufficient insight over the course of a week, a month. The key thing is variety. And ensuring you have lots of different colours (eg spinach, red and orange peppers, butternut squash, carrot, purple sprouting broccoli etc).

you haven't mentioned your fluid intake. I cannot tell you the amazing difference it has made to my wellbeing to ensure my fluid levels are consistent every day. Recommended target is 2,000 ml per day, with an increased amount if you add exercise into your day. I try to drink this quantity through the day as water. Any additional fluid eg the odd cup of coffee (I have cut the amount of coffee I was drinking) are extra.

Too many carbs, not enough fat, protein and iron would be my conclusion. What do they come out at if you put it into myfitnesspal or similar? Are you doing resistance exercise? Post menopausal women need to lift properly heavy weights, and be getting explosive forces - jumping etc, for bone density and muscle mass.

Muscle mass is what makes you feel energetic and fuels metabolism. You are what you eat, because what you eat is what you’re made of. And you want that to be muscle.

Yes! People don't use their teeth and jaw nearly enough, due to heavily processed food. Not in the case of the OPs diet, but smoothies aren't nearly as satisfying and they don't need any biting and chewing.

Not much vegetables and salad is low in phosphates. I found this out when DD ended up in hospital with cluster seizures. Her bloodworm should she had low phosphates and is why she was having a lot of seizures. I had given her salad with her midday meal. Salad is fine to have once a day. But family had her at theirs for tea. Said family member said they planned to do salad for tea. I pointed out she had already had salad. They said they would do something else but didn’t. If I had known it would trigger her to have so many seizures I wouldn’t have let her go.

Fibre is also important a lot of salad is mainly made up of water but there’s also very little fibre.

Just get some bloods done. You could be low in iron/ferritin. I know you can get this from food sources other than meat but it does take planning and effort and combining various foods.

Also B12. As we get older we can have absorption issues.

Do you take a vitamin D supplement?

I don’t know what the rest of your diet looks like as that’s just one day. But be careful not to be be too restrictive. You need a good variety. Definitely introduce some beans/pulses/lentils.

Are you doing resistance exercise? Post menopausal women need to lift properly heavy weights, and be getting explosive forces - jumping etc, for bone density and muscle mass.

expecting a post- menopausal woman to start lifting heavy weights and explosive forces by jumping is unrealistic and in many cases overkill and could lead to injury, especially if they've been sedentary most of their adult life.

You can maintain muscle mass and bone density with walking and other daily activities such as gardening. Hand weights could be a few cans of beans in a carrier bag,

I Agree. It all sounds a bit joyless. Have the odd Mars bar and packet of crisps.

Just saw you don’t eat meat. Get your ferritin checked. I only get physical symptoms when mine drops below 30. But I feel AWFUL it’s below 60 and to feel good I need it to be over 100. (Normal is 30 - 291. That’s not even mid range)

The diet looks good to me. I think what may be missing is weight bearing exercise? If you’re feeling unusually fatigued, then I would get a full blood count and tests for nutrient deficiencies to see what might be causing it.

If you can afford to, I'd find a recommended trained nutritionist to discuss all this with and take their individualised advice.

You surely mean not enough carbs!

Good sources of high carbs are potatoes, rice, pasta.

Also carbs are the main source of energy, which OP says they’re lacking in.

Calories? You must be starving!

OP, use Chat GPT. They have given me a full meal plan along with shopping list for my chosen supermarket. It’s been really amazing and they have tailored it around my allergies and the fact I’m a vegetarian.

I guess so. I just think if you don't have certain things in moderation it could lead you to binge on them. I agree treat is the wrong word. It's just one meal or snack as part of an overall healthy diet.

I'm a bit like that with pastry actually too. I love the idea of it but can't eat much as it is kinda bloating.

No foods should be labelled good or bad. If they're safe to eat them they're just food.

You think toast and honey/jam for breakfast and an omelette for dinner is enough food? This place is proper bonkers.

You are not eating enough would be my guess. I would get rid of the smoothie (you need something filling and slower release for breakfast) - it's not filling you up enough to last very long if you are needing a snack AND an early lunch. Then you have FIVE hours between lunch and dinner, a tiny lunch that contains no carbs. Salmon with salad is a ridiculously small dinner. You have no energy because you are not eating enough and starting off the day really really badly.

Haven't read the full thread but peanut butter is very calorie dense. Your breakfast and snack could add up to a lot of calories

Your diet looks fine.

How are your stress levels?

How much sleep do you get?

Can I ask roughly what time you have the smoothie at and do you work full time or retired etc? If it’s quite early ie between say 7 and 9 am I would say it’s too sugary for that time of the morning and I agree with someone else that said maybe it’s an energy peak? I’m almost 59,work full time and have a teenager at home,I don’t think I eat as much as you’ve listed and I feel ok.
I started to fast a bit and definitely have more energy…I don’t have anything apart from maybe a coffee and biscuit until around 11am or later then I have chia pudding with berries and yogurt,a sandwich/salad at around 2-3pm and dinner around 6.
Are you drinking enough water? I started taking vitamins,supplements,electrolytes around 6-8 months ago and I think they help a bit.Maybe you’re iron deficient as don’t eat meat xx

Do you mean the way you're eating isn't making you feel that great? If so I'd keep a food diary for a while. To me, your diet seems a bit faddy, like its been prescribed by a Daily Mail nutritionist - I wouldn't feel that good on it but it's all individual. I know you say you don't want to eat meat but my husband made a pho out of bone broth recently and we both felt amazing the next day. It just worked. Salmon on white beans with tomatoes and greens also makes me feel brilliant.

No pulses. Hardly any whole grains. Plenty of insoluble fibre (assuming decent portions of the veg you mention) but not a lot of soluble fibre.

Try switching the snack to wholemeal sourdough with hummus, adding ground chia and flax seeds to your smoothie, mixing the brown rice with quinoa and alternate it with freekeh.

But there's a lot more to health than diet - you say you 'could be more active'. That's likely to be a big part of it. You only build strength with work.

That’s not a lot of carbs! What is all this carb fear?? Ooh dearie me, god forbid someone should have bread for lunch and rice for tea - the horror! 😱 😂