So, what exactly IS a healthy diet?

[Rooobs]

I'm confused.

NHS says the age old low calorie, low fat, plenty of fruit and veg and starchy carbs (the eat well plate etc).

I've heard sports nutritionists say high protein, low starchy carbs (but plenty of fruit carbs and grains), low fat is the way forward.
Then there's the John Briffa stuff, which I do find convincing tbh and he appears to back it up with evidence. This WOE says that fruit is too high in sugars, but certain veg ok. Pulses etc only occasionally.

Then there's the other low carbing diets (IPD, Dukan etc)
that include fairly high levels of fat, claiming that it's not actually fat that causes heart problems and that the evidence has been misunderstood.

And then there's the thing about restricted eating plans which send me fecking bananas for whatever is forbidden. I can low carb up to a point and then I go completely psycho for pasta and toast. So Susie Orbach suggests learning to eat mindfully, eating in tune with hunger but whatever your body is craving for as your body knows what it needs (to paraphrase).

So, what do you think?

I think I'm best when I'm balanced. Lots of veg, bit of protein/carbs/fruit and so on. The less processed stuff the better.I try and eat in a varied way-I find it very easy to slip into the same breakfast and lunch and a stock 7 dinners that rotate!
I felt very unwell on low carbs and find slimming world/weightwatchers and so too complicated. I just like the 'eat less, move more, eat mainly veg'-which may be a combination of 2 people's quotes!

For me it's low carb AND low fat. The only way of eating that keeps me at my goal weight without feeling deprived.

Mostly protein (fish and lean meat), eggs and heaps of vegetables. With nuts, berries and seeds. Some yogurt and cheese. I don't like sugary fruit so can easily avoid.

Lots of water.

And gin.

I've just been put on a plan by my hospital and it's been very easy to stick to. I agree with what's been said about Ww, Sw & going carb free. Breakfast is 2 small handfuls of cereal & skimmed milk or 1 piece of brown toast with diabetic Jam & a tiny piece of reduced fat Halloumi. Lunch & dinner, fill your plate half full of veg first then small handful of lean protein and even smaller of a simple starch. You can have one piece of fruit, a yogurt and an additional 50 cal snack to this and a couple of meals per week can be changed to home made veg soup to speed up weight loss. I'm finding less fruit and choc hard so my snack is a couple of dark choc covered almonds or a glass of freshly squeezed OJ. Milk must be skimmed ( but yog can be 3%) and no additional salt or sugar.

I am a Briffa convert. Since adopting this WOE (diet sounds like a weight loss plan only) I am thin, happy, impervious to the PMS that previously blighted my life and did I mention thin?

I have tried low fat/calorie controlling/exercise over the years and failed at all of them. Not this time.

I truly believe there is no need to eat wheat or refined sugar and I feel all the better for not doing so. I am not claiming an allergy or intolerance either.

Low fat/high sugar diets are just plain bad for you.

NHS says the age old low calorie, low fat, plenty of fruit and veg and starchy carbs (the eat well plate etc).

It's NOT age old - our obsession with low fat/high carb/high (fruit) sugar/low protein diet as being the desirable, healthy norm is actually very recent - started post WW2 and really only took of as the official healthy diet much later than that, c1980's. People eat far more "fake" foods (low fat and highly processed), and think it's fine because the label says low fat... these foods tend to be very high GI and mess our metabolic processes.

At the same time, people have got fatter, and less healthy, type 1 and type 2 diabetes have both increased markedly in line with the average amount of grain/carb consumption in the population.

So what ever else may be healthy, the diet we are recommended to eat, is certainly is not healthy - it bares no relation at all to the diet humans evolved to eat!

IMO - a healthy diet for the human animal is a diet rich in the foods humans would have hunted and gathered before agrarian societies formed - so lots of seafoods, eggs, poultry and meat, lots of herbs (salads and leaves), plant stalks and roots (tubers), fungi and some honey and fruits in season.

NO dairy, no grains (certainly no modern grains, they are very inflammatory)...

I do eat this way for most of the time (Paleo), but do have limited amounts of heavy cream and butter and cheese, raw where possible, and the occasional small portion of white rice.

Whoops BUNNY, your post reminds me, I forgot nuts and seeds...

Sorry, when I say"age old" I just mean, the diet my generation (I'm 38) have grown up with as 'healthy'.

I don't think I've ever had a diet which has made me feel good. I've felt tired, lazy and sluggish forever. I usually trust NHS advice, but on this one I'm not sure.

What everyone else is saying above - much less carb, more protein, eggs, fish, meat, lots of veg.

It was when we made fat the enemy in the last 40 years that we ruined the health of the planet, upped the sugar and fructose and started the obesity and diabetes epidemics. Model your eating on how we ate for 2 million years.

In fact it's really simple - if man made it, don't eat it.

Yes, have you read "In Defence of Food?" A really interesting look at the history behind nutritional advice, and a good unpicking of the science (or lack of) behind it. The author says not to eat it if your great grandmother would not have eaten it, so no processed food at all.

It make sense.

I'm with the majority - lower carb, higher fat, moderate protein. Unprocessed foods as much as possible, cooked from scratch and with imagination. Alcohol as a treat, not a habit. Oily fish a couple of times a week. A wide variety of meats and (mostly green, leafy) vegetables. Occasional legumes. The aforementioned nuts and seeds. Seasonal berries and other wild foods (wild garlic and other hedgerow greens, maybe some seaweed, nettles etc.). Some (high fat) dairy, but not to excess.

If I eat this way, I feel a lot better than I do when I'm eating so-called 'normally'.

For me 'healthy' means everything in moderation. Unless you have particular health issues, I don't think there's any need to give up particular food types or follow a special diet.

Well, I don't eat meat/fish, but that's more personal preference than because I think it's more healthy.

The Mediterranean Diet is a meant to be a good one - lots of veg, low on processed carbs.

low fat means less fat, not low-fat variations of fatty foods. These are stuffed with sugar to make them taste half decent.

all the low-carb 'converts' go on about how the diet works 'every time' - which means it doesn't work at all, and usually turn out to have guzzling biscuits, cakes etc. So they stop eating those and miraculously lose weight.

I eat NHS style, and believe me I love my food. I've never been on a diet in my life, if my clothes get tight that means I go for longer tougher walks.

no money to be made in this though, which is why messrs Dukan, Atkins etc don't peddle it.

Med good too as again it is how we always ate - whole real food, not processed. I think arguments over whether you can have brown rice and a slice of brown bread or a cup of milk are tiny tinkering around the edges. Whether you include those tyupes of products,b it of dairy, small amount of carb but ost of your diet is healthy whole foods it will not really much matter. If you have virtual door steps of bread at every meal and then massive baked potatoes it is still probably a lot better for you than the crispy creme donuts but you're not likely to lose weight, whereas steak or sardines are not something you are likely to over eat.

specialsubject - I've never had a sweet tooth, and even when I wasn't eating lower carb, I never ate cakes or biscuits, or chocolate (I really don't like it) , or sweets of any type. My 'sins' were pizzas, curries, mashed potatoes and toast, really. Low carb is in the process of working for the second time in 10 years for me. The first time it worked for 3 years, and then I stopped working it (rather than the other way round). This is the second time, and I'm down 4 stone since August. QED - it works.

Xenia,

It was when we made fat the enemy in the last 40 years that we ruined the health of the planet, upped the sugar and fructose and started the obesity and diabetes epidemics. Model your eating on how we ate for 2 million years.

YY to this comment, however to your later comments about grain consumption, we may be better off ditching grain foods... I think this is a complex area, grains wouldn't have formed any part of the human diet before we developed fire and tools, to be edible at all to us, grains need to be processed to some degree, and cooked, and even then they are not very nutrient dense (calorie dense but not nutrient dense). Older (ancient varieties) of grains, and rice are a little less inflammatory but the predominant varieties used now (semi dwarf wheat) are very toxic. The role of wheat in inflammatory and immune disease is well known, but we are esentially being encouraged to base our diets on wheat in one form or another (bread, cereal and pasta)!

Yes, I know. I don't often have grains but I've concluded if everyone moved to wholefood whether they keep their bread and rice or not they would still be much much better off than the standard English diet. I think for some people saying ditch diary/bread is too drastic for them but they can still eat pretty well and get most benefits even if they keep a bit in. The problem is that so many people make those carbs their main foods.

I think if you just stick to 'real' food and cut out snacking then that's a healthy diet. Check portion size to lose weight.
I just cannot do these low carb diets and feel ill on them.
If you do slimming world green days then you can eat all the carbs you want (not wheat and without fat) and still lose weight. I'd rather do that but prefer a more balanced approach.

A lot of people think the med approach is the right way but that diet is still rich in grains too. I live in Cy and even on my hospital regime there was wheat of some kind with every meal almost.But I have stopped that but not cut it completely. I agree with what you say as I don't want to cut carbs but I do want to make the best choices possible and I think variety is key too. Also perhaps looking at carbs with the best GI might be the way to go? But I do still have the odd dilemma. Eg. If I was to have a main meal of a piece of fish with a massive pile of veg I'd still crave a carb of some sort and wouldn't feel full no matter how much veg I ate. But if I add a handful of brown rice or eat a banana afterwards I would feel satisfied so what's the best option there?

In that case have the handful of brown rice, although what you write is unusual as most people feel very full with a lot of fat and protein and it is those eating just the carbs who tend to feel hungry more quickly. Much better to have your small amount of rice with meals than be eating biscuits between meals.

If we could get everyone in the UK eating along the lines of - "if man made it don't eat it" that is a very simple message. I would also suggest particularly if you're short of money just drinking tap water. Lotso f juice is not good for adults or children and so many people think a huge glass of orange juice is some kind of health food!

I agree Xenia, the carbs may give you a temporary feeling of fullness or maybe the spike in blood sugar levels that we often crave but it is the fat and protein that will give you that feeling of fullness for longer. A low carb diet can make you feel poorly while you body is transitioning between carb burning and fat burning but it often doesn't last more than a few days and then you should feel really good.

I tried the low carb and felt very ill (and its very hard to do as a veggie) and hungry constantly. Did it religiously for 30 days and maybe lost 8 pounds which would happen on any diet. I now eat spelt wheat bread for breakfast and am full till lunchtime. Then Dhal and rice for lunch, beans (as a chilli) with veg for tea.
No sugar. Plenty of butter, yogurt and some cheese for protein. And I feel much better. It was shop bread causing terrible acid reflux and lethargy. Home made spelt/kamut has no effects on my tummy at all.
I rarely eat fruit as it triggers the acid and drink water and tea.

I think focussing on real food, nothing processed, focus on lean meat and veg etc and just less of meals concentrated around carbs. Eggs or fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, rather than toast. Soup rather than sandwiches for lunch. Nothing particularly low cal or low fat, butjust less emphasis on bread and sugary cereals for meals.

Look at the Japanese diet - loads of fish and veg etc. As a country they have one of the longest life expectancies in the world.

Oh, and no 'low fat' processed products. Just normal real food.