I’ve never been a fan of fruit & veg - I’ve tried endlessly to change it & try new things but I just don’t enjoy eating them, and I reeeaally like to enjoy what I eat. Apart from my fussy tastebuds, I’m a big foodie.
I’ve gotten into a rut of quick processed meals (new mom, not much time, guilty as charged) & want to make some quick changes that I can actually stick to.
So I’m thinking if I continue taking a daily multivitamin, which I have done since the day I found out I was pregnant 18 months ago, along with a few other habits I want to implement, like daily fresh orange juice, snaking on nuts more often (albeit roasted or salted nuts most likely), eliminating processed foods... is it possible for this to be a healthy diet, with minimal fruit & veg?
I love potatos, I love pasta/bread - basically all carbs. I love meat; never a doubt I get enough protein. I just do not like (most) fruit & veg. Occasionaly I’ll have a healthy day, like I love tomato soup, and I can tolerate carrots. And one of my favourite dishes to cook is pasta with potato, bacon, broccoli & cheese - yummy. But I imagine if I have those every day just to get my 5 a day in, I’ll be bored pretty quickly.
I guess what I mean is, if the rest of my diet is relatively healthy, and I cut out the sugar & processed rubbish, is a multi vitamin supplement enough?
Tia x
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charliie_em
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Congratulations on your pregnancy. I don't know the answer to your query, but I would suggest discussing your query with your health visitor or GP - and there is some Pregnancy advice regarding diet here in NHS Choices - a link is here if you'd like to take a look:
Not really sure! Well i know the cutting out sugar and processed foods is a 👍🏻 BUT( im sorry it is coming) theres vitamins and minerals in green food that u cant get anywhere else.... taking a mineral or multivitamin is good BUT( again sorry) there b things in them ur body may not need then ur body may react to them.
Whereas if u eat a fruit or a bit of greenery or salad( ruffage) it all natural vit and mins and helps ur digestive system ur kidney ur liver...also helps u 💩😜.
I took a multivitamin and ended up over dosing on zinc and iron and was quite sick so u may take things ur body dont need.
Try to find ways u can eat it... 5 bits fruit blitz it as a smoothie??
Veg shove it in a stew?
Just get it in things u love so u cant recognise it....
All the carbs ie pasta breads and potatoes are not good for u they make u put on weight and there also just pure startch and carbs there nothing really good there at all. Mayb go sweet potatoe less cal and less carb and startch.
Pasta just do it once a week mayb try gluten free one less heavy.
Im sorry but ur answer is yes u do need fruit and veg it what keeps out body healthy and full
Of all the vitamins and min we need to b healthy and strong.
Also u dont want ur baby to have a food problem.. u know she/ he must eat healthy for growth and immune and if it see there mum not eating healthy they wont and believe me i see ALOT of fat unhealthy children.. nip it in bud now
If you research you will see that multivitamins were recently discovered as not having any health benefits. Sorry to say but not having any fruit or veg in your diet simply can't be considered healthy.
For the sake of your health and your kid (they learn from their parents) eat fruit and veg and think about the health benefits rather than the taste.
well for starters cutting out the crap is obviously good!
Unfortunately loads of bread spuds rice & pasta still comes to the equivalent of lots of sugar. If you have to eat them how about aiming for a bit less and increase what you have with them? What do you usually have with pasta? E.g. if it's spag bol stick more onion pepper tomato & garlic (or whatever takes your fancy) in & stick more cheese on top. Sauces and stews are a great way of eating lots of veg without any of them having an over-riding flavour.
I'm not sure why Zest is giving you a link to pregnancy advice when you found out you were pregnant 18 months ago. I'm guessing you're no longer pregnant.
You certainly don't need fruit in your diet, and I wouldn't have a glass of orange juice (or any juice ever) as that's basically a glass of sugar. Fructose (fruit sugar) is natural but it's still sugar. This fruit smoothie fad is a dangerous one not just because fruit isn't naturally available all year round but because it overworks the liver and can cause kidney stones and gallstones. Limit the sweet fruits to berries.
As you like pasta, potatoes, and bread; and can tolerate carrots (basically sweet/starchy foods that give you a sugar rush because they require minimal processing (carrots take a little more work) by the body and just dump glucose into the bloodstream) then it's just a case of deciding on whether you eat to live or live to eat. I eat to live and don't find food exciting or boring; it's just fuel to enable me to do everything I want to do.
Add salt, pepper, and herbs to veg to make it more interesting and steer you away from the carbs.
I eat broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, mushrooms, green beans, onion, peppers, celery, beetroot (reacts with saliva in the mouth to produce nitric oxide which is VERY important to the body).
Years ago I stopped eating bread then tried it again after just 30 days. Not nice. Whatever I (thought) I liked about it was no longer there. Just a habit that I broke.
Vitamins. While it's true that the majority of vitamins don't really provide any benefit, that's because they're artificial. One of the major ones is vitamin C. Most vitamin C supplements aren't real. On the label, you'll see 'ascorbic acid' which is only ONE of the nutrients that make up the vitamin C molecule. So, yes, take a multi-vitamin but make sure it's a "food state" one. More expensive, but you don't even have to take it every day without fail. I miss a day here and there and even skip an entire week a few times throughout the year so I'm not pandering to my body.
I would add a magnesium glycinate supplement. Make sure it's one with minimal fillers such as Doctor's Best.
Oh, and don't skimp on the fat (coconut oil, grass-fed butter, animal fat). Ignore the nonsense that fat/cholesterol is bad. Fat is bad for us only when it's accompanied with sugar. Our energy-hungry brains are 60% fat.
The body needs cholesterol to carry out repairs. Cholesterol gives structure to cells, making them "stiff" and not floppy where they can stick together leading to clumps which can lead to blockages. Cholesterol is used to make the Myelin sheaths that cover and protect nerve cells. People who avoid fat and cholesterol can suffer from migraines, Parkinson's, MS, etc due to unprotected nerves in the brain. And on, and on, and on...
Taking multivitamins as a long term panacea is asssociated with poorer health outcomes. So my advice is get proper food inside you.
I guess the reason you don't like veg is your gut is not used to them and/or you are eating them in a boring way. My veg are exciting and full flavoured and I cannot devour enough of them. There is NO RESEARCH saying veg are bad for you, no research at all. On the other hand veg are great for you providing all the nutrition you and your baby needs. Yes there are people who cannot tolerate or don't like veg, but as I say that is because you are not used to them.
Get the processed foods out of your life, end of story.
Have to admit I feel a little bit accused by a couple of the responses.
Just like to say my child’s diet is no where near like mine - his is full of fruit & veg, and so is his dad’s. My cooking involves a lot of veg so they get it - I just end up pushing it around my plate & leaving it! It’s not for lack of trying; I roast them/glaze/put them in sauces/blend them up. I just don’t like them.
And I just wanted to add, I’m in no way unhealthy (GP check wise) with the rest of my life or overweight - for all those concerned abour my carb in take. I am a bit of a fitness fanatic, gym 4 times a week, dog walks every day; I just know my diet is the one area I’m lacking in, I’ve become reliant on more sugary foods for my energy & wanted some advice on how improve that easily. I’m not a great cook, nor have time to spend hours over a cooker, being a working mom & having 2 dogs.
On a side note, if anyone has any quick healthy recipes with minimal veg/blended sauces etc. that you think would be a good place for me to start, that would be greatly appreciated!
Sometimes there's no way to sugarcoat the truth. You were very honest about your position and people were honest back The bottom line is that there is no quick fix for your situation, only radical and complex ones. It will take time and conscious effort to achieve this.
Ill-health as a result of poor diet hits people in different ways. While you'll often hear "you can't outrun a bad diet", you actually can ... but only up to a point. I was just reading Gordon Ramsay's book about food for fitness, and while the recipes look nice, the health advice is mostly hearsay and superstition (and he even manages to contradict himself several times). I can't blame him for that because mainstream health advice has devolved into a hodgepodge of random beliefs, and he's a chef, not a scientist, but the point is this: you can get a lot of stuff wrong and still be pretty healthy if you exercise a lot, and Ramsay does that. As you get older, though, you become less and less able to exercise hard, and your body becomes less and less able to cope with dietary extremes. It's better to get it right sooner rather than later.
Obesity is just one symptom of poor health, and there are plenty of people who are "skinny fat" (they develop visceral fat, around their organs, instead of subcutaneous fat) who don't even realise they have a problem until it's too late. The fact that you have "become reliant on more sugary food" suggests that you have an impending health problem caused by excessive reliance on starches. The failure modes of a human body tend to be "brittle" precisely because it's so good at adapting around problems: when it runs out of possible adaptations, failure is dramatic and rapid.
As a couple of other posters have already said, it all boils down to what you consider important. If you can't cook very well then learn to cook well, and arrange your life such that you have time to do that. It can be done, even if you're working. If you dislike vegetables then experiment until you find something you like. It may actually be that you dislike supermarket vegetables, which are garbage. Try some of the online organic suppliers, or just grow your own (which is much cheaper and not that difficult). Same applies to meat, which is of such poor quality these days that I'm amazed anyone is still buying it.
TL;DR: think about what it is you want from life, try stepping outside of your comfort zone and trying different things, and learn some new skills.
Can I recommend a basic recipe that will mean you cannot avoid the veg that is great at this time of year. In a large heavy pan, add water and a pile of lentils that covers the bottom on a low heat. Chop and add onions, garlic. As it heats up add more water & stir with a large wooden spoon. Chop and add any beans/vegetables in your cupboard and fridge. Add more water to cover the veg. Keep adding veg until the pot is nearly full. Add salt, pepper and any other herbs and spices you want. An easy way to get flavour is bouillon powder or a stock cube of your choice. Just make sure it is flavoursome. If the whole thing seems too runny perhaps add some pasta or cous-cous, or even rice.
Serve piping hot in large bowls.
This basic recipe can be adapted to whatever you have in the fridge/cupboard. You can spice it up and add something like coconut cream if that floats your boat.
I can guarantee you and your family will love it. It will be completely nutritious. Easy to clean since there is only one pan. Just make sure you add water and stir to move the food around the bottom of the pan, especially if you turn the heat up!
If you have any leftovers then these can be put in the fridge for meals on other days.
Remember - keep adding enough water - ensure it has plenty of flavours that you & your family like.
As Andy said but you could also use that most amazing of inventions: the Slow Cooker! Whaddaya mean you haven't got one? Throw everything in (meat at the bottom) in the morning, switch it on and it's there ready to scoff in the afternoon/evening. (make sure the dogs aren't anywhere near it!)
As for feeling accused... well, we don't know you and you don't know us so if anything has been said that doesn't apply then don't take it to heart; we're just trying to cover all bases and give you as much information as possible as quickly as possible. Whatever doesn't apply to you just ignore. I can assure you, no one is judging you. I've been heavily judged on here and I actually enjoy it (they're only words after all).
My top recommendation for a diet/lifestyle to follow if you're lacking in time (brace yourself, Andy!): the Ketogenic Diet. Say goodbye to sugar and carbs as you'll get an abundance of energy from fat. Shopping and preparation is a breeze.
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