Hi I have been reading about eating real food for about six months and have started to make some changes that I have mostly managed to stick to. So I pick food that isn’t man made and has come from nature. But I am a bit confused about the grey area in the middle so the foods that came from nature but have then been through some human processes eg cheese, milk, tinned fruit, baked beans, alpen and bread etc?
I find this all a bit confusing I avoid ham, sausage etc and now give the kids cheese for lunch but I’m not sure about the middle bit
I would really love to hear the views of people that have been studying and eating well
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Kay_Lee
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I've been vegetarian for a little over 30 years, & aim for a wholefood diet as much as possible with a ratio of 90% good food & a maximum 10% treat/not so healthy food. Time's not an issue now, but when I worked a 50-60 week, I had to cut corners with what we ate, so occasionally I'd justify using a quick bottle of processed tomato sauce, by adding several times the quantity of fresh vegetables. I'll use passatta now, which has some health benefits over fresh, as do tinned tomatoes. I always have assorted tins of beans for making soups & stews, mainly to cut down on cooking time, as much as preparation, though use lentils just as often. Every few weeks ormonths in winter I enjoy baked beans, which is fine as long as the rest of my food that day is unprocessed, & is low in sugar (fruit aside) & salt. I usually eat at least two pieces of fresh fruit each day, but would use tinned fruit for cooking, at a push, if fresh was unavailable, though it keeps long enough that this isn't an issue.
Some foods like cheese are a convenient source of protein, & are high in salt, so I mostly use this as a seasoning rather than a main source of protein. When it's practical, I swap to nutritional yeast in many meals as this has a similar cheesy taste but is high in B vitamins & zinc, & lacking the salt & fat.
I'm not a big bread eater, though I've swapped normal bread for sourdough as it has better nutritional qualities, & enhances rather than reduces iron absorption.
I usually skip breakfast as I stick to a short eating window. My brunch is sometimes porridge, oat or buckwheat pancakes, sauteed veg & potatoes, or I go straight to a lunch type meal.
I'd buy some types of muesli, & like Dorset cereals as I can see all the pieces of food individually, rather than dust & sugar. I've also made my own as I usually have enough nuts & seeds etc. There's possibly as much nutrition in the box as many packaged kids cereals are so processed, synthetic nutrients need to be added. See some of my posts from earlier this week.
I like these as a basic guide for people to see what's good to eat, though I don't do the meat & fish sections: anhinternational.org/wp-con...
Which book are you getting, Mark Hyman's? Look at Chris Kresser & Michael Mosley's websites. There's probably enough information between those doctor's websites that you won't need to buy anything.
It was when I was at school as I learned about basic nutrition. I especially liked the text book chapter on vegetarian diets. I was quite appalled when I found out cookery classes in schools, when I became a teacher, were then called food technology, & the children learned about packaging rather than what to eat & how to cook to be healthy.
Most breads are added certain harmful substances to give them colour, softness etc. Sugar too. Fermentation is good if done with healthy cultures and not with chemicals.
Oils are good provided not rbd. Fruits good. But not if ripened unnaturally. Jam not natural. Flour is just change in the form to make digestible. Refine flour not good.Boiling, roasting, fermenting good.
Yes. I avoid processed foods. Cooking is not processing in a way.
I carefully source the bread I buy, & any other foods that are not in their natural state.
Rbd oils? I use organic & cold pressed, not chemically processed.
Jam is a way of preserving seasonal summer fruit for winter. Not everyone has to count every gram of carbohydrate. I really enjoy a good dollop of home made jam on a piece of organic sourdough with organic butter, as an occasional treat.
Food on its natural form made eatable & palatable by cooking. Fruits natural. Jam not. Natural food made in such a way that our body can digest. Boiling, roasting, fermenting. Condiments are added for taste and stimulating secretion of digestive juices.
The closer to whole food plant based low oil lifestyle the healthier you will become, end of story. If you have an illness you need to get there sooner rather than later.
I include wholemeal bread in whole foods because the whole grain is made bio available by the cooking process, whereas wholewheat pasta destroys the whole grain and is less preferable.
It's about getting great nutrition in a tasty way in every mouthful.
I have them in limited quantities. So that's something like a few nuts per week, say about 5 or 10 max. Mostly brazils (for the selenium) and walnuts (anti-inflammatory & omega-3). Cashews I use as a cream for various purposes. Peanuts I avoid almost entirely.
If I have a bowl of muesli then that is it for the week. Avocado I have one every two weeks-ish.
There have been months when I have had no nuts nor avocado. Like most people, once I start munching on nuts it is difficult to stop, but I do try to stick to my plan as above and generally succeed.
It's very good to eat a less processed diet. That means avoiding pre-processed food. Bread from small bakeries tends to be less processed or make your own is best. If something is packaged look at the list of ingredients. More than 2 or 3 in addition to the main ingredient should be avoided.
Make as much as you can from the raw basic ingredients. Time to cook cook cook.
But don't be too hard on yourself. These things take adjusting to.
I used to add a little malt extract or molasses & ascorbic acid powder to speed up yeast growth, though I'm not usually in that much of a hurry these days, so use kefir.
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