Food intakes

[Virtue]

What exactly should I eat to stay healthy?

[andyswarbs]

Hi virtue, if you ask anyone, and I mean anyone who lives a normal life then they will say they live and eat a healthy lifestyle. Yes, they may treat themselves to the odd cream tea, alcoholic night out, have a super sweet desert at the end of an evening meal with friends etc. After all humans are social animals.

Then ask someone the same question who has hit the road blocks and then decided to change their life through better dietary and exercise choices and you will get a different answer. They will be the kind of person who restricts "treats" to very or extremely infrequent occasions as if their life depends on it.

And of course in the middle are a vast part of the population of any modern day society who are medicated with prescription pills, supplements etc etc such that symptoms are suppressed to the point that people can continue in their bad habits for a number of years. And yes, because the power of medication people feel normal, not seeing what is going on underneath.

My point is that what "healthy" is depends on where you are coming from. Many if not most people posting on this website will have admitted to themselves they have some kind of health challenge and so looking for solutions.

The starting point in health issues for most people is being overweight. What no-one on this forum will advocate for (as far as I can see) is short term dietary changes, the so called quick fix. This is an important common element because being overweight is a signal for so many other chronic health issues, albeit an early warning.

I recently started a post around the rounded benefits of a whole food plant based diet healthunlocked.com/healthye... which looked at the potential health benefits of that kind of lifestyle. Other people on this forum strongly advocate for a high meat diet of one form or another.

Both of these seemingly opposing lifestyles will help with weight loss. Much of this is down to reducing intake of processed foods. I look at food labels and if there are ingredients I cannot understand then I put the item back on the shelf! Instead I buy items like butter beans, with only one ingredient - butter beans!

So a general approach to eat in a more healthy way is to adopt this kind of principle. However if you have health challenges then these may need to be addressed perhaps by limiting or even removing specific foods eg gluten.

Eating in a more healthy way is a life journey. It is taking responsibility for your health and getting your body into a state where you never need medication, supplements, doctors (except for acute problems) ever again to the end of a happy and healthy life.

[Agoodenough in reply to andyswarbs]

Well said. I think this sums up the situation very well.

[Hidden]

Hi virtue, I'd speak to a dietician because of your BMI and type 2 diabetes as its finding a healthy diet that works for you coupled with exercise.

So good luck with this, you've joined us and are taking steps to sort yourself out so well done.

Jerry 😊

[Virtue]

Thanks for your candid responses. Very helpful. Thanks

[Penel]

Hi Virtue

If you’re having to cope with type 2, have a look at Michael Mosley’s “Blood Sugar “ diet.

thebloodsugardiet.com

Avoiding packaged food is a good place to start, as Andy has said. Go for variety, colour and quality in whatever you eat. Cut out foods with added . sugar, like low fat yoghurts and breakfast cereal.