Healthy diet

Ana but of course!

I think I'm with you ANYA

FlicketyB that author is Michael Pollen and his books are really worth reading. No preaching, just straight observation and told from his own point of view and understanding of food cravings. I dont believe in the low fat/.low sugar mantra as they generally involve processed foods. I prefer to eat the original food be it yoghurt or cheese or anything else, but eat less of it. Low fat cheese is absolutely disgusting, better having half the amount with all the taste. Would prefer sugar to the alternatives which are very harmful and mess with your insulin levels. Eat very little red meat, make own soups, but do buy some ready meals, fresh from M&S as can't always be bothered to cook when I get in from work. I think that M & S cottage pie served up with a pile of fresh veg is convenient and a good compromise for example. Always bake my own cakes as generally find shop mass produced ones are yucky. Dont buy biscuits to avoid mindless reaching for the tin when I have a coffee, but confess to a weakness for crisps........

We try to eat fairly healthily on the whole with lots of vegetables.
However, I did find an unopened box of M&S shortbread last night

Yes, I have read a number of his books and articles and he talks such basic common sense about food. He has also brought out a book of food 'rules' drawn up by his readers. It includes; Don't buy your food where you buy your petrol, Do all your eating at a table, Avoid foods you see advertised on television, and, quite simply Cook

We avoid all processed foods and try to eat fruit and veg as our main intake with some lean meat, chicken and fish daily. Cant give up wine so its 2 small glasses a day. Wish I wasn't in love with carbs but try to keep to brown rice and pasta, some potatoes plainly cooked and have been virtually breadless since before Xmas. Am I any healthier - probably not but not riddle with guilt and can look GP in the eye.

rosequarze . I wonder if I squirrelled anything away.

Can't have. Already searched the house from top to bottom.

My mum was border line anorexic and lived on bread and butter, ham and biscuits.

She smoked from the age of 15 and lived to be 90.

She worried about everything all the time and used to shake with nerves and temper.

The first time she had to go to hospital was when she was in her middle seventies.

Dad ate a good diet, provided by mum who often didn't eat what she cooked, didn't smoke or drink had a placid nature and passed away at 55 from a stroke.

Guess a lot of it is down to luck.

I try to eat a lot of fresh food but I'm addicted to diet coke. Well more accurately I'm addicted to the aspartame in diet coke. I've tried to give it up many times but tbh giving up smoking was easier. So I've set myself a new rule. I have to have four bottles of water before I can have my first can which usually means I can get to lunchtime. Then I can't have three cans in a row. They have to be interspersed with preferably water or at worst coffee.

I know it sounds daft but it's better than the half dozen or more cans a day that I was drinking.

jingls I could post some to you in an envelope (could be a bit crushed by the time they get there, but would still taste the same!), also a small box of Ferrero Rocher (don't like those much anyway).

We did not buy these goodies, they were given to us.
The trouble is with M&S shortbread, once opened they are very moreish .....

My friend's DGM ate mainly biscuits and lived until her 90s.
Thank goodness I don't like coca cola as well as biscuits!

Fish with spinach, tomatoes and peas tonight

Falconbird A lot of it is down to genes I think.

rosequartz - I think you could be right about genes. Also I think a lot of it could be to do with weight. Trying to lose about a stone at the moment.

Me to, so finding the biscuits didn't help.

too

I don't eat bread or any manufactured foods. Fruit for breakfast, soup or salad for lunch, veggie supper. No alcohol but lots of black coffee.
I'm still quite overweight because I'm greedy and have a very sweet tooth.

The things I won't eat are canola and vegetable oil. I would never consume aspartame or diet coke, or diet anything, vampirequeen what are you thinking? Aspartame is poison. Aspartame is also found in low fat yoghurts and in fact low fat anything, some people feed it to their children.

What I do eat or drink every morning are almonds, water, pepitos, sunflower seeds, one date, fruit, ginger all in my smoothie. I make my own bread or if I do buy it try for something that doesn't burn my stomach. I use coconut oil in everything instead of butter, dates or raw honey instead of sugar. I am, after years of eating, I thought quite sensibly, now very sensitive, so don't eat bleached flour or package food and do not eat processed sugar, nor meat (48 years now) and barely any dairy. I am now the oldest I have ever been and have never felt better.

Michael Pollen is my guru! Such eye opening common sense.

Two years ago I was in the middle of a six month wait to find out if I had bowel cancer, which tends to make you a bit more curious than average how healthy your diet is. Rather than jump to conclusions I decided to set up a sreadsheet and find out, but I didn't have very high expectations as I'm the sort who regards cookery as a chore and not a hobby. I was astonished to find that my diet meets all the current FSA nutrition recommendations, most of them by a country mile. It's a myth that you have to cook everything from scratch to get a healthy diet, it's about what you eat, not who cooks it.

Is canola oil rapeseed oil? Why should you not use it?

Please enlighten me then, Faye, as we use organic rapeseed oil for cooking and cold-pressed organic rapeseed oil as well in preference to the olive oil we used to use (which apparently should not be used for cooking). I have 3 bottles of it in the cupboard!

One week something is healthy, the next week it's not. Can't keep up.
Quite honestly, there are so many scare stories around, some which should be listened to and others which are myths.

We mostly cook from scratch. I have porridge 4 days a week, no breakfast on two days (5:2) and egg on toast on Sundays. I also put All Bran in my porridge and drink two large glasses of water each day. We have stopped having cartons of orange juice as it is so high in sugar.

Falconbird - I agree with the luck theory although obviously we have to try. I have had a couple of friends who were extremely health conscious and died in their early 50s of cancer. One of these was a lady I worked with. She was always advising us to put seeds on our cereal, eat avocados, avoid alcohol etc. We used to have a little party each Christmas for which we would buy typical party food - sausage rolls, sandwiches, mince pies etc. This lady would never touch the food but would bring a salad and a bag of grapes. She was dead at 53 from cancer. Everything in moderation maybe?

Incidentally both of these ladies were very slim - no weight issues there.

You just never know, do you, KatyK.

And perhaps it is just as well.

The environment, stress, genetics, all have a part to play.

rosequartz There is no reason why you shouldn't use olive oil for cooking. The Mediterranean diets are said to be among the healthiest in the world and no Italian or Spanish cook would dream of using anything else. However, it is not really suitable for deep-frying because it has a relatively low flash point.

No rose you don't. Thinking back the lady I described had just been through an horrendously stressful time so I wouldn't be surprised if that contributed. Poor lass.