Food and our relationship with it.

Monica That is just my point.
If the options were different, the choices would be too.

Ro60* retailers have to supply what the customer wants. If the shop supplies things that they do not want, they will go elsewhere.

It does not follow that if options are different choices will be different, well, they will, be, but the options include not buying anything and going elsewhere.

There is a well known saving that you can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink

Kate1949

I think just try to be sensible. It's not easy I know. I had a friend who was a health fanatic. I used to take my breakfast cereal to eat at work and she'd say 'Try some seeds on that. Try almond milk'. She was very slim. She even brought her own food to office parties - a small salad and some fruit while we all tucked in to party food. She died of cancer at 53 poor soul.

I can relate to this post. My best friend was always a total health freak. Never had butter in her house, no salt allowed in cooking anything, would not use deodorant, went to gym four five times a week. Was so...so...healthy -ran a marathon in her mid-60's. even if she stayed with me (which meant no going to gym) she went for run in the morning. She was totally obsessed with not eating any thing NOT healthy!!! I was always the overweight, un-fit one. We were born inthe same year. She has now been dead for twelve years (Cancer)- me I am going on in my overweight, un-fit way.

I know that if I eat as I would like I would get very overweight. Have managed to put on half a stone since November - as I rlaxed to enjoy the festive season food. So, you could say that I have 'on diet' all my adult life. Not fad diets, never tried any of those, just straight forward boring old calorie controlled - do not need to keep records of these I know what most foods contain. Yes, I will be strict now and take off those 7 lbs slowly over next several weeks. However, if I go out for a meal or away for a weekend I eat as I like rather what I should.

TillyTrotter

Most of us do know what a healthy diet is Aussiegran but are tempted by the sugary, fatty foods that are being promoted all around us by unscrupulous retailers.
Why are the so called ‘naughty foods’ addictive? Why do they taste so good?

Spot on.

And yet the lobbies are so strong, and the financial rewards so maasive- that most attempts to do something about it are thwarthed.

I've never been on a diet in my life. I love food. I chose mostly simple food, foods which aren't processed without a long list of additives and preservatives or artificial sweeteners. I avoid anything with palm oil in [protest at losing the rain forests as well as for health reasons]. I usually cook each evening from scratch. I avoid ready meals but have the odd one now and then.

I love, love vegetables, and fruit....also chocolate and cake, pasta and fish and chips! So I do have treats too - in moderation. I believe in balance and moderation. I also believe in movement throughout the day not inactivity so I walk a lot and balance the eating the food with burning it off. I'm lucky I can do so.

Not a drinker of alcohol though, nor a smoker [not now]. I listen to my body too...so I don't like things too sweet and have cut down a lot on meat as I age, fancy more fish etc.

I've had an interest in nutrition from a teenager though so that helps I think. I'm nearly 74, fit and well, no real problems at all. I realise I'm lucky to be able to say this...and it could all change tomorrow. But I've tried to take responsibility for my health so I can be around for those I care about. So far it's worked.

On the other hand I know a few people my age close to me who drink/smoke/each rubbish whose health is seriously failing them now. And it's tragic to witness.

....'eat rubbish'....

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

That was one thing that was alien when I moved to China. The nearest big supermarket to me had the ground floor full of only 'real' food. They did sell junk/processed, but that was upstairs. Even canned foods were up there. Downstairs was fruit, veg, fresh meat, fish, piles of rice, different types of tofu, noodles, the bread they sold was made there (although I'm sure arrived pre-frozen).

It took me a while to work out how to shop there. Fruit and veg downstairs, then upstairs for tins (tomatoes etc - not used there), cereal, juice etc.

Indeed AussieGran. Being obese is another story. But being strong, healthy, active and 'chubby' seems not to be a bad recipe. I am NOT excusing my excess weight- but thinking about it today, all the friends I have lost, in their 50s and 60s, were all very slim and even thin, and constantly obsessed with not having any fat, etc. And currently the same with several friends who are, as said above, just crumbling due to osteoporosis, and without any cure.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Yes, you are right. I am talking about friends born in the late 40s and 50s.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

An interesting and very important discussion.

So many good points being made. Another problem is eg you buy a packet of biscuits you know you’re going to be able to eat them all. You buy a bag of potatoes and how many might be okay? This week I’ve had to cut away so much before I could start boiling them and even then some turned black. I bought a bag of frozen broccoli and more than half turned black upon cooking. I opened the packet of biscuits

Most of us do know what a healthy diet is Aussiegran but are tempted by the sugary, fatty foods that are being promoted all around us by unscrupulous retailers.
Why are the so called ‘naughty foods’ addictive? Why do they taste so good?

No food is bad. There are only people who make bad choices.

Over the years I have gently retrained my eating choices. I now do not have a sweet tooth. There is a packet of biscuits in my kitchen that has been there for months, I just do not want to eat them and if I did I would not enjoy them. The less sugary stuff I eat the less I want to eat it. If you really do not want to eat something don't.

I have learnt that my eyes are bigger than my stomach, so I have taught myself to eat less, and now I have done it, Christmas and, possibly holidays, apart I rarely vary much in weight - even then, I eat less at Christmas and on holiday. so a week or so of watchful eating, soon gets me back on track.

Keeping to weight and keeping healthy is entirely in our own hands, if it matters enough we will succeed.

Franbern. I'm sorry about your best friend. I'm not trying to say that people are wrong to try to be healthy. Of course they are not. It's the luck of the draw really isn't it?

all the friends I have lost, in their 50s and 60s, were all very slim and even thin, and constantly obsessed with not having any fat, etc. And currently the same with several friends who are, as said above, just crumbling due to osteoporosis, and without any cure.

But none of these people were fit and healthy were they? They had disordered eating patterns and were underweight. and suffered the medical problems associated with people with these problems.

AussieGran 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Right on the button! As far as we know we only get one life, why make ourselves miserable?
Eat normal size portions of healthy food with some treats along the way and a glass of vino or two.

Fortunately I'm not one for cakes and biscuits etc. I like them but it wouldn't really bother me if I never had them again.
My downfall is things like bread, cheese and wine. However, I'm not really overweight, maybe a couple of pounds around my middle. It's not easy that's for sure.

I have been avoiding sugar now for some weeks, my downfall is Saint Agur cheese and crusty bread…. I also love vintage cheddar and will not be giving up my cheese…🤗.. even though it has been pointed out to me that cheese is a lump of flavoured fat!!

Cheese is NOT just a lump of flavoured fat. To begin with cheddar: for example. 100g of cheddar is only a third fat (33g). It contains 25 g of protein and is high in calcium and also other minerals and vitamins.

Brie has 28% of fat in 100 grammes of cheese. So keep eating the cheese Shinmae. Cheese can provide you with a large proportion of your daily requirement of calcium, so necessary for us as we get older.

M0nica

Cheese is NOT just a lump of flavoured fat. To begin with cheddar: for example. 100g of cheddar is only a third fat (33g). It contains 25 g of protein and is high in calcium and also other minerals and vitamins.

Brie has 28% of fat in 100 grammes of cheese. So keep eating the cheese Shinmae. Cheese can provide you with a large proportion of your daily requirement of calcium, so necessary for us as we get older.

Thanks Monica I will but I had five teeth out yesterday and a top denture so my gums are very tender at the moment and I cannot eat my beloved cheese and crusty bread 🤦‍♀️I’m having to eat some food like soup and stew, how very boring..

Shinamae. Ow! However, how about cheese soup, or stilton and brocoli soup?

I live alone and look forward to my simple basic meals. I am naturally drawn to fresh vegetables and limited fruit and 100% dark chocolate. Sometimes I bake and have parkin, currant buns, buttery crumbles and hm wholemeal/rye bread in the freezer. Butter, cheese, hm kefir and oat milk in my fridge as well as tofu. Extra virgin olive oil is a standby

I don`t buy rubbish food as my downfall would be biscuits and anything with glucose/fructose syrup which is addictive and causes the sugar cravings. I spend extra on organics and that includes grass fed meat, eaten sparsely

I never diet, my bp is extremely good, I don`t have any illnesses nor medications and I have a lot of energy but I don`t hold back on the butter, etc. My body tells me what I need to eat and I listen, easily done as I don`t have to cook for anyone else

When I cooked for my husband who was an athlete, I put weight on and became a size 22. Eating what I am drawn to now, as well as cycling, I am now a 14. I don`t think about it, I just don`t have the rubbish biscuits and snacks in the house so am not tempted

M0nica

^all the friends I have lost, in their 50s and 60s, were all very slim and even thin, and constantly obsessed with not having any fat, etc. And currently the same with several friends who are, as said above, just crumbling due to osteoporosis, and without any cure.^

But none of these people were fit and healthy were they? They had disordered eating patterns and were underweight. and suffered the medical problems associated with people with these problems.

Thinking back, it depends. Some were very healthy, eg very sporty and much fitter, and exercising a lot, over exercising even.

Others were not, smokers and heavy drinkers, both real issues with osteoporosis.