I will NEVER diet or follow nutritional advice again

[holmessweetholmes]

I thought I was pretty clued up on healthy eating and on why certain foods were good or bad. Then I read 'In Defence of Food' by Michael Pollan. It is astonishing to read about how utterly clueless, completely untrue, or often deliberately misleading, official nutritional advice is. And incredible how simple it is to eat healthily. Anyone who has ever dieted/low carbed/low anythinged should read this book.

Barely a month goes by when ds is bringing home from school another change4life (NHS and nestle in glorious harmony) leaflet.

According to them, healthy eating is low fat, sugar free.
Most of their smart swap suggestions have been thoroughly debunked, but I can see how the next generation will grow up as confused as we are about healthy eating.

The NHS should be encouraging good food, instead of processed crap.

Beatrice yes Asda is OK!

I think it's possible to be overweight and unhealthy on only home-cooked food, for example if you just ate chips and cakes all day, and loads of them, even if they were home cooked it wouldn't be great.

So it's not that home-cooked means you can't go wrong, it's just that it means you can choose real food and cook it, rather than eating a lot of ready-made stuff that has lost nutrients through long storage, or contains a lot of highly processed or non-food additives (like sweeteners).

If you are trying to cook at home and use real ingredients, it's obviously still sensible to be aware that some foods are more filling/calorie-packed than others, it's healthy to include fresh fruit and veg, etc. So for example have creamy pasta and garlic bread, just keep the amounts sensible and have salad as well. Use real cream, real bread, real butter, but only eat as much as you need.

The thing is once you get your head round the idea it is not hard and doesn't feel like you are depriving yourself at all. You are not on a diet and you don't need to be "good". Your body is happy because it's getting lots of quality nutrients and you don't crave things that you are "not allowed".

Might be a dumb question, but hearing about how bad cereals are (not just the openly sugary ones!) is toast a better breakfast?

Bee, yes. If someone has doughnuts or cake at work it just doesn't register as something I want to eat. No control, no craving, nothing.

I might however, get the urge to eat some artichokes and wander off to get them when I'm supposed to waiting for a delivery.

I remember feeling very tied to eating something sweet after every meal before, that's gone and that was the main reason I started as it was a very strong connection / craving that was annoying me.

I also had low energy due to sleep deprivation and I started to prioritise sugary stuff over other stuff for the boost. I had more energy without it.

Although I've been doing it for years now, I don't want people to think you have to do everything the same way. Just find a way that works for how you feel.

Yes I think there is a risk that when you start explaining it, it might sound prescriptive, eat this, eat that because people are so used to the idea of "a diet that tells you what to eat".

Not all cereal is bad. Look for the low sugar ones like shredded wheat or Weetabix and of course, porridge is really good.
Toast is fine but wholemeal and seeded bread is better. And its better to stick to something non-sugary to put on it.
If you're like me and are starving an hour after eating toast, try having it with some veg (mushrooms, grilled tomatoes), beans, maybe a bit of cheese or peanut butter. Follow it with a bit of fruit and you'll have a proper filling breakfast.
This morning, I had a crumpet with a bit of cheese and a pile of cherry tomatoes followed by a Satsuma and I know that will keep me going for longer than if I'd just had butter or jam on it.

Pimpf, definitely not a dumb question. I think breakfast is the hardest meal to deal with because we want something quick and easy and we seem to have been conditioned into thinking that 'breakfast foods' are the only thing to have.

Sometimes I have a green smoothie, but I realise that wouldn't appeal to everyone. I find that having an egg or two makes a real difference - I stay fuller for much longer than if I eat cereal or toast.

So... a slice of wholemeal toast and a poached egg and maybe a bit of fruit? Some people swear by porridge but I find it a bit heavy and too hot for this time of year! If you can stomach less breakfasty stuff in the morning, then a bit of fish or meat occasionally with breakfast would be a good alternative to the eggs.I also like nut butter on some toast.

I am enjoying eating bread again after regarding it as the enemy when I was low carbing, but I'm quite careful now about what bread I eat. A Polish friend of mine said that she thought British bread made her put on weight when she moved here. I am either making it myself or buying drier, more open-textured and grainy bread from proper bakeries and farm shops. I think the stodgy, soft bread we are used to is very addictive, made with crappy flour and full of additives. Michael Pollan lists the ingredients of an American supermarket sliced loaf in his book and it's shocking! Bread should have a very very short list - flour, water, a bit of salt and a little bit of sugar, sometimes a bit of fat.

supermarket bread horrors Apologies for Daily Mail link.

Yep eggs are great for breakfast, and if with toast go for bakery or homemade nice stuff, whole grain perhaps.

I also eat a fair bit of smoked salmon and king prawns, but usually when they are half price . Usually for lunch with salad.

home made muesli is fab, it keeps in the fridge for a few days.

Soak jumbo oats and raisins in orange juice overnight. Add fresh fruit (berries are GREAT in this) and presto...a really delicious breakfast!

It is also great with just apple and some hazel nuts.

It tastes much much nicer than it sounds. You can put a bit of yoghurt on top.

what is the problem with wheat?

I don't believe in diets either but am not happy with my chocolate/dessert cravings. I've been looking into the Glycemic Index to see if that might help and I'm open to any advice and suggestions. It did recommend me low fat yoghurt though so now I'm suspicious of it.

Hmmm. Well, some people are coeliac of course, but plenty of others say that they find it makes them bloated or get indigestion. Also, as it said in that link above, lots if wheat is highly processed and treated. And so many people eat so much of it. If, for example, you have wheat-based cereal and toast for breakfast, then a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner (which sounds like a pretty normal day for some people) then that is a hell of a lot of wheat.

I find that if I eat lots of crappy wheaty stuff I feel a bit bleurgh, but I eat moderate amounts of good stuff I'm fine.

I always like to check out the science that is reported in the Daily Mail, and I'm always a bit wary about conflating health claims about 'wheat', 'factory-made bread' and 'home-made bread'.

So I tracked down a review article on wheat and human nutrition by a reputable scientist in a reputable journal instead (Open Access - jxb.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/6/1537.full) which might be of interest to people.

The abstract is as follows: "Wheat is the dominant crop in temperate countries being used for human food and livestock feed. Its success depends partly on its adaptability and high yield potential but also on the gluten protein fraction which confers the viscoelastic properties that allow dough to be processed into bread, pasta, noodles, and other food products. Wheat also contributes essential amino acids, minerals, and vitamins, and beneficial phytochemicals and dietary fibre components to the human diet, and these are particularly enriched in whole-grain products. However, wheat products are also known or suggested to be responsible for a number of adverse reactions in humans, including intolerances (notably coeliac disease) and allergies (respiratory and food). Current and future concerns include sustaining wheat production and quality with reduced inputs of agrochemicals and developing lines with enhanced quality for specific end-uses, notably for biofuels and human nutrition."

(In the paper, the author assumes you know about the crossing of short-stem Japanese wheat and long-stem Western wheat in the 1950s, which led to short-stemmed wheat that doesn't fall over in the rain and is generally much higher yielding, but may also be lower in certain micronutrients. That's what all the graphs are showing.)

If you prefer, you can actually buy pre-1950s varieties wheat flour to make your own bread:
www.dovesfarm.co.uk/flour-and-ingredients/organic-heritage-wholegrain-flour-1kg/

Thanks. I'm gonna see if I can steer clear of my usual bran flakes and change to shredded wheat or toast and egg/beans!

Although after reading that article on bread I can me ending up buying a bread maker!!!!

Interesting info on wheat!

Will be looking out for the dove farm flour!

I'm lucky with flour - there is a local miller's company near me who do a lovely big range of flours from local grain.

Well,I should say that although I tracked down that article on wheat and I'm sure it's all true, no-one has ever yet come up to me and said 'lower nutritional values in wheat is a major problem' (and I work in a field where they would tend to say this to me), so I think it may be rather a niche issue.

I'll try and ask around a bit and see if the word is that it's genuinely worth swapping to flour from long-stem varieties, or whether its a bit of a red herring as I suspect.

Personally, I eat loads of home made sour dough bread, pasta, wheat based products etc and am very well, so I do wonder about whether some issues are caused by the industrial bread making process and not the raw ingredients...

This message is not new. I and many others have known this for the last twenty years.

Congratulations Doitforme. It is new to a lot of people.

GrendelsMinim - dh's colleague's wife is involved in this field (can't exactly remember how, but research-based, I think) and is evangelical about not buying supermarket bread. I don't know if that is because of the actual flour though. My main concern is all the additives and unnecessary crap they put in it.

Well how about human hair and chicken feathers in bread? Really puts me off.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/may/13/10-gross-ingredients-food-horsemeat-scandal

Sorry, didn't mean to sound patronising, honest, but there are many books out there on the same subject. I have read loads. I agree that it is disconcerting how people allow themselves to be told what is good for them by powers that be.

- you're right. The problem is of course not a lack of information, but too much conflicting information. With books and web articles and chat forums talking constantly about what we should eat, who should we listen to? I mean - look at the MN boards alone. The slimming bit gets so much traffic, wuth umpteen different wats of losing weight. But how many are successful long-term, I wonder.

I think the problem is with no disrespect to anyone, people believe everything the government says from jabs we should have, tests we should take, food we should eat and how we must live our lives in every respect. It is like The Matrix. We are generally tried to be controlled. It's only when you step out of the box for a while that you see what is happening and can take back control of your own life and choices.