Food and our relationship with it.

I was really slim until the menopause hit, so it came as a shock to have to watch what I ate. I had always had a big appetite and was used to eating whatever I liked, which included lots of sweet things and puddings.

I’ve never dieted, but I do think about what I eat a bit more now, and I suppose I limit fattening things, although I don’t cut them out entirely. I have never drunk alcohol or soft drinks, so perhaps that helps a bit. I am not officially at all overweight, but I’m rather heavier than I’d like to be. I’m not giving up chocolate, though!

Since having five teeth out 10 days ago, I have had a very limited pallet, but today I took denture out and managed to eat this!! far less painful than with it in…🤗. Just rinse my mouth out thoroughly with salt water after eating and replaced aforementioned” teeth”….😬

That’s a wonderful achievement Kate.

I’m fortunate in not really enjoying sweet things - I don’t eat sweet desserts and can make a box of chocolates last months. I ate two mince pies over Christmas and have had literally a mouthful of the Christmas cake I made. None of the biscuits either. My H polishes them all off to help out! I like savoury things such as cheese, salads and veg and quality, non-intensively reared meat. No pies but the occasional home made quiche. My downfall is potatoes, which I love and would happily live off, but I ration them. I’m sure that if I liked sugary things I’d be the size of a house. Eating healthily doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, especially if you have a greengrocer or market nearby.

M0nica

Fleurpepper Many anorexics are sporty and exercise a lot in order to lose more weight. The fact that you talk about your friends over-exercising seems to suggest that they have , or had been bordering on anorexia.

While osteoporosis can be genetic, some of it at least, is caused by poor diet, not from povety, but by excessive weight lost and avoiding consuming calcium containing dairy products because they are 'fattening'.

Monica I agree. Those friends however would never accept that their 'healthy' eating and lots of exercising has a 'negative' side.

This conversation came back to me today. We had the local 'old folks' for lunch today. Several who were always on the 'chubby' side have been ill and have lost tons of weight. And it is really sad to see and really not a good look. I remember the days not long ago when they were a tad overweight but looked really strong and well.

A few years ago our daughter lost four and a half stone with no help from the NHS, slimming clubs or exercising. She did it herself by sheer willpower and has kept it off. I think that's fantastic.

This is a controversial subject, with lots of interesting points and opinions, but can I just say that I hate being in the company of people ( usually women) who talk about food as being 'naughty', who demur when you offer them a slice of cake "Oh, I shouldn't"......just say yes please, or no thank you! I love food, I enjoy a glass of wine, life is short.

Jaffacake you have my sympathy. In her late 40s my DDiL developed and auto immune disease and that has come with food allergies and all its problems.

She cannot eat fresh fruit, except for grape and bananas, but can eat cooked fruit. Her soya allergy is so severe she carries an epipen. The number of foods that have soya hidden in them is incredible. There is one product 'lecithin', which is used in many products, including chocolate as an emulsifier. It can be made from soya, and usually is, but it is also made from sunflowers, and around Christmas and Easter I can be seen in the chocolate aisle, busily reading down the chocolate products on display looking for the magic word 'sunflower' bracketed after 'lecithin' in the list of ingredients. More often than not DDiL ends up with boiled sweets or fudge.

Fleurpepper Many anorexics are sporty and exercise a lot in order to lose more weight. The fact that you talk about your friends over-exercising seems to suggest that they have , or had been bordering on anorexia.

While osteoporosis can be genetic, some of it at least, is caused by poor diet, not from povety, but by excessive weight lost and avoiding consuming calcium containing dairy products because they are 'fattening'.

A person I know was sent to a weight clinic, in Chartres, for 3 weeks by her gp, at no cost to her, to put her on the good track for losing weight, controlling diabètes, blood pressure etc.
The specialist put her on a very surprising diet. They insisted x amount of bread and butter every morning, lunch x grams of everything, starters raw vegetable (grated carrot or similar) main course, potatoes/ rice/pates with vegetables and 100 grams of protein, followed yoghurt and a piece of fruit. The same for dinner. She said she had never eaten so much and she has lost and continues to lose a kilo every week. The quantities were more than I eat.
Everyone is different and it’s about finding the balance for your own body.

I agree with all you say, AussieGran59. The obsession with dieting can ruin lives. Both DH and I would easily become seriously overweight if we let ourselves, and we do love our food, but we are fortunate enough to know how to moderate things and to eat a good diet (with the occasional short course of the 5:2 when the scales start to become inaccurate show that we've overdone it). We both maintain a sensible weight most of the time.

It is worth remembering though, that for many people on very limited incomes and often limited time as well, it is a lot easier to buy the cheap ready meals and high sugar foods, rather than fresh fruit and vegetables and good quality meat, on a quick dash round the supermarket, and so a good diet can be very difficult to achieve. Obesity is a disease of the poor, not the rich.

Just look at the TV programmes where a family is made to confront what they buy and what they could buy, often for less money, and see how amazed they are at how easy it has been to get into bad habits. The power of the big food companies to sell their less healthy products should not be underestimated.

AussieGran59 Maybe I am wrong, but why the obsession with food? We all know what to eat to feel good and it's certainly not fried Mars Bars every day, but why not enjoy your food, eat a good variety and enjoy a chocolate now and then without going into depression about "being naughty". I loathe that expression when applied to food.

I've no obsession. Nobody I know obsesses to food. We eat sparingly of high protein/low fat vegan food, avoid sugars.

Walk the dogs 4x a day. We're healthy and fit.

NotSpaghetti

No need to apologise. The cheese matrix was something I'd recently discovered and had been reading up on this.
I suppose in retrospect the ! was to me. I have found out such a lot about dairy in the last few months.

😁

No need to apologise. The cheese matrix was something I'd recently discovered and had been reading up on this.
I suppose in retrospect the ! was to me. I have found out such a lot about dairy in the last few months.

NotSpaghetti

I am not agitated Shinamae and no, although M0nica makes valid points, sge is talking about nutrition.

I thought I was being helpful posting a link to the new research that cheese benefits our hearts.

I'm sorry if my interesting paper has annoyed you.
It may, of course, interest M0nica!

Obviously I am not annoyed or I would not have put a 🤓I just thought the use of your! Made it seem as though you were agitated if not please accept my apology..

I am not agitated Shinamae and no, although M0nica makes valid points, sge is talking about nutrition.

I thought I was being helpful posting a link to the new research that cheese benefits our hearts.

I'm sorry if my interesting paper has annoyed you.
It may, of course, interest M0nica!

NotSpaghetti

Cheese is not just a lump of flavoured fat!

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31518410/

Yes Monica has already explained. No need to get agitated…🤓

Cheese is not just a lump of flavoured fat!

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31518410/

My relationship with food changed in my late 50s when I suddenly developed serious food allergies. In my 20s I became allergic to wine,probably drunk too much. My eyes would swell and take about 12 hours before they settled. Red wine induced an asthma attack.
When I was 56 I had anaphylaxis at the dentist following local anaesthetic,which I have had previously with no problems. On testing at hospital I needed resuscitating. Then I seemed to go into anaphylaxis with foods. Wheat,nuts,oranges,balsamic vinegar. Thought I was going mad.
10 years on and I have now adapted my life and recognise that different foods cause a threat to me so avoid eating out. It's just life isn't it ? I holiday in UK as difficulties getting travel insurance and would be too stressful trying to sort out meals unless self catering.
Someone at work noticed I had lost a lot of weight. I told her it was a new anaphylactic diet ! She went to Google it as she had tried lots of diets !!

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.

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

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

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..

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.

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!!

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.