Most of what you believe about a healthy diet is probably not true.

[fez]

There is no diet to immortality.
You are going to die.
If you die as healthy as you can be.
You die the exact same as a heroin overdose.
So ffs enjoy your food. Enjoy your time. Do what you do. Have a good day. Enjoy the fact you can have a good day. Some people are having really bad days.

Thats a lovely way to put it. Unfortunately that completely ignores the years of pain, lack of mobility, cornucopia of drugs you will be taking, most of which will have competing side effects.

Healthy people don't just live longer lives, they live happier lives.

My body is not a temple but god damnit I am not going to be a 50 year old man with a pot belly who waddles around out of breath and miserable. Everything in moderation.

 

[andybird123]

Ok, I can replace veg oil with coconut oil, I can swap certain products for plant based alternatives... but ain't no way I can find a viable substitute for the sugar in my tea! Help me senpaiii

I now have no sugar in my coffee, just (full fat) milk, giving up sugar in almost everything I eat has actually recalibrated my taste buds to a certain extent and I find just milk is enough now

you don't need to swap anything for plant based alternatives though, meats are the best source for protein and a whole bunch of macronutrients, and veg oil uses up 30% of agricultural land, most land used for farming animals wouldn't be able to grow crops, ruminents actually upcycle food humans can't eat in to a form that we can eat (meat), animals in UK/US are also fed the waste from vegetable growing - there are a lot of countries that are less efficient about farming animals so really the concentration of effort should be on education rather than false claims that we should stop eating meat.

 

[NVP]

I now have no sugar in my coffee, just (full fat) milk, giving up sugar in almost everything I eat has actually recalibrated my taste buds to a certain extent and I find just milk is enough now

Ah you see, as an Indian I like my tea sweet and milky, with cardamon, cinnamon, cloves and fennel seeds - removing sugar from that equation leaves a thick soup of potpourri. Tbf, my 1.5pint mug only has a teaspoon of 'half spoon', but swapping for stevia or the like changes the flavour too dramatically... I guess I'll just die young with a nice taste in my mouth.

you don't need to swap anything for plant based alternatives though, meats are the best source for protein and a whole bunch of macronutrients, and veg oil uses up 30% of agricultural land, most land used for farming animals wouldn't be able to grow crops, ruminents actually upcycle food humans can't eat in to a form that we can eat (meat), animals in UK/US are also fed the waste from vegetable growing - there are a lot of countries that are less efficient about farming animals so really the concentration of effort should be on education rather than false claims that we should stop eating meat.

Ah, nah the reason for me choosing plant based is generally to remove dairy from the equation (I can have my lactose-free milk in my tea, and that's all). I'm a meat eater through and through. That's interesting to hear though, as this faux-vegan life of "be kind to the animals so we dont kill ourselves" being spouted everywhere was beginning to **** me off.

 

[tom_e]

It's been known yes, as in most of the research I'm referring to is at least 10 years old, but not by the majority of people - I've even had my doctor as recently as 6 months ago tell me I need to eat less salt and animal fat if I want to get my blood pressure down, but I've managed to do that doing the complete opposite of what he suggested, which hadn't been working for me for 10 plus years prior.

GPs do the grand total of something daft like 1 hour of nutrition training in the whole of their education, they're basically the last people you should listen to as you've found.

 

[Lysander]

Oh the subject of diet, from today I have decided to eat a little more healthily.

Unfortunately there is a Coop down the road from work. Their sandwiches always make me feel bad afterwards but I buy them out of laziness.

Yesterday I bought a chicken and stuffing sandwich, an Irn Bru and a packet of baked crisps. I felt pretty damn tired afterwards for 2-3 hours. From now on no more supermarket sandwiches or soft drink crap. I could probably cut out bread altogether, that would be the first stage.

 

[Freefaller]

Thats a lovely way to put it. Unfortunately that completely ignores the years of pain, lack of mobility, cornucopia of drugs you will be taking, most of which will have competing side effects.

Healthy people don't just live longer lives, they live happier lives.

My body is not a temple but god damnit I am not going to be a 50 year old man with a pot belly who waddles around out of breath and miserable. Everything in moderation.

100% agreed. I'll have teenage kids in my 50s and want to be fit and able to interact, play, be active with them. Although I was always self motivated for sports and nutrition since having children I'm even more motivated on being healthy. I do take regular blood tests and do health checks, and despite being in my 40s my "body age" is someone in their early 30s (at the moment at least!).

It's no longer an effort, it's just part of my lifestyle. It does take some doing but as you get used to it no longer becomes "diet" and just your behaviour.

People like @AndyCr15 are a testament to how changing your lifestyle can revolutionise your life. You should go and check the weightloss thread in sports arena.

 

[Freefaller]

Ah you see, as an Indian I like my tea sweet and milky, with cardamon, cinnamon, cloves and fennel seeds - removing sugar from that equation leaves a thick soup of potpourri. Tbf, my 1.5pint mug only has a teaspoon of 'half spoon', but swapping for stevia or the like changes the flavour too dramatically... I guess I'll just die young with a nice taste in my mouth.


Ah, nah the reason for me choosing plant based is generally to remove dairy from the equation (I can have my lactose-free milk in my tea, and that's all). I'm a meat eater through and through. That's interesting to hear though, as this faux-vegan life of "be kind to the animals so we dont kill ourselves" being spouted everywhere was beginning to **** me off.

Cinnamon is actually VERY good for you and insulin response, so keep using it. Refined sugars are generally not so good. Naturally occuring sugars from fruit are fine, but as fruit not juice, the science being that the fibre in the fruit is a good way at minimising the insulin response of your body.

 

[AndyCr15]

3 years later I put at least half of it back on

Tbf, that's not an issue with the system... 3½ years on and I'm still doing fine.

with calorie counting I was constantly hungry but just fighting the urge to eat, with keto I get hungry near lunch time, eat and the don't feel hungry again till the next morning

I won't lie, if I'm trying to drop a pound or two, after perhaps a big weekend where I've not controlled things so much, I do spend most of my day hungry, but I don't see that being different when I eat different things. I don't know if it's a metabolism thing, I can eat until stuffed and will still feel hungry 2 or 3 hours later...

People like @AndyCr15 are a testament to how changing your lifestyle can revolutionise your life.

Thanks for the shout-out. One thing that really made me feel good, I worked in a shop while I was losing weight and quite a few people came up to me saying I'd inspired them to do better. Brought a tear to my eye on occasion.

 

[NVP]

Cinnamon is actually VERY good for you and insulin response, so keep using it. Refined sugars are generally not so good. Naturally occuring sugars from fruit are fine, but as fruit not juice, the science being that the fibre in the fruit is a good way at minimising the insulin response of your body.

Would rock sugar (unrefined cane sugar) be a healthier alternative for tea and cooking?

 

[fez]

100% agreed. I'll have teenage kids in my 50s and want to be fit and able to interact, play, be active with them. Although I was always self motivated for sports and nutrition since having children I'm even more motivated on being healthy. I do take regular blood tests and do health checks, and despite being in my 40s my "body age" is someone in their early 30s (at the moment at least!).

I always wonder what their metric for "body age" is as the average 30 year old in this country is an overweight, unfit oik .

It's no longer an effort, it's just part of my lifestyle. It does take some doing but as you get used to it no longer becomes "diet" and just your behaviour.

Thats literally the key to living a healthy lifestyle. It has to become part of your lifestyle. You have to enjoy what you do and see the benefits of it in one way or another which makes any sacrifices worthwhile. When my weight increases a bit I cut down on my calories a little. I started cycling recently because my job is very sedentary and climbing doesn't give me any cardio fitness. I have never been overweight but thats partly because I refuse to let myself go.

I am not willing to do things that I don't enjoy that take up a lot of time so they key is always to find things that you enjoy doing which also benefit your health. The key with diet is again, to find food that you enjoy and isn't unhealthy. None of this is hard to do but it does take some base level of effort.

People like @AndyCr15 are a testament to how changing your lifestyle can revolutionise your life. You should go and check the weightloss thread in sports arena.

Yeah, hes annoyingly fit now

 

[Uther]

Ah you see, as an Indian I like my tea sweet and milky, with cardamon, cinnamon, cloves and fennel seeds - removing sugar from that equation leaves a thick soup of potpourri. Tbf, my 1.5pint mug only has a teaspoon of 'half spoon', but swapping for stevia or the like changes the flavour too dramatically... I guess I'll just die young with a nice taste in my mouth.


Ah, nah the reason for me choosing plant based is generally to remove dairy from the equation (I can have my lactose-free milk in my tea, and that's all). I'm a meat eater through and through. That's interesting to hear though, as this faux-vegan life of "be kind to the animals so we dont kill ourselves" being spouted everywhere was beginning to **** me off.

What I found with stevia was you need a lot less of it than sugar to get the same sweetness.
I have a terrible sweet tooth (although I don't like sugar in tea/coffee etc) but it's certainly something I am trying to eliminate. It's basically a poison.

 

[Freefaller]

I always wonder what their metric for "body age" is as the average 30 year old in this country is an overweight, unfit oik .

haha! I agree - I think it's very much historic averages. But I'll take it!

Thats literally the key to living a healthy lifestyle. It has to become part of your lifestyle. You have to enjoy what you do and see the benefits of it in one way or another which makes any sacrifices worthwhile. When my weight increases a bit I cut down on my calories a little. I started cycling recently because my job is very sedentary and climbing doesn't give me any cardio fitness. I have never been overweight but thats partly because I refuse to let myself go.

I refuse to be a "dadbod" - but having played decades of rugby, and then onto fairly serious weightlifting and swimming it's been ok... but the early days of parenthood definitely had a detrimental impact on me in terms of committing to fitness. However, what kept me afloat was the habit of good food.

I am not willing to do things that I don't enjoy that take up a lot of time so they key is always to find things that you enjoy doing which also benefit your health. The key with diet is again, to find food that you enjoy and isn't unhealthy. None of this is hard to do but it does take some base level of effort.



Yeah, hes annoyingly fit now

100% agreed - finding something you like makes it easier to stick with it. Although sometimes you may need to "train" yourself to like some things, but that's a behavioural thing. It's easy to be lazy sometimes, but that's a mental health issue as well that should be considered.

 

[Freefaller]

Would rock sugar (unrefined cane sugar) be a healthier alternative for tea and cooking?

It's actually still refined to a certain degree (despite it saying it isn't!). I mean don't get me wrong, a teaspoon a day is not the end of the world or bad. But if you have 5 cups of a tea and a teaspoon in each of them, then it does become a problem.

 

[NVP]

It's actually still refined to a certain degree (despite it saying it isn't!). I mean don't get me wrong, a teaspoon a day is not the end of the world or bad. But if you have 5 cups of a tea and a teaspoon in each of them, then it does become a problem.

That is the problem, large cups of tea helped me sustain my hunger, however they all have a teaspoon (of half spoon, so half sweetener and half sugar) but at between ~5-10 cups a day it adds up. I don't consume sugar elsewhere, apart from when I cook (but mostly try to use honey) however with my ancestory and what-not I'm bound for diabeetus and heart disease at some point so know I need to cut it out completely. Tea tastes so nasty unsweetened

 

[Freefaller]

That is the problem, large cups of tea helped me sustain my hunger, however they all have a teaspoon (of half spoon, so half sweetener and half sugar) but at between ~5-10 cups a day it adds up. I don't consume sugar elsewhere, apart from when I cook (but mostly try to use honey) however with my ancestory and what-not I'm bound for diabeetus and heart disease at some point so know I need to cut it out completely. Tea tastes so nasty unsweetened

You should try and learn to enjoy it without really. I'm not sure what to suggest/advise as I've never liked sugar in coffee/tea. I mean I drink water to help mitigate hunger - I often put a few slices of lemon in my water which is also beneficial from an electrolyte perspective.

 

[SixTwoSix]

I like sweet tea with demerera sugar but was playing havoc with my tooth health as used to drink a lot so switched over to a sucralose sweetener (which I believe the body doesn't actually metabolise). It could never entirely mimic sugar but now if I have tea with actual sugar, it makes me feel quite sick.

 

[NVP]

You should try and learn to enjoy it without really. I'm not sure what to suggest/advise as I've never liked sugar in coffee/tea. I mean I drink water to help mitigate hunger - I often put a few slices of lemon in my water which is also beneficial from an electrolyte perspective.

I know you're right, but I hate you for saying it Tbf I do also drink a lot of cucumber water too, perhaps I should treat tea like a desert or a treat, just occassionally - I drink decafe tea anyway so won't be an issue cutting back in that regard. OK Let's do it! ...*takes another huge gulp of milky sugar*

 

[fez]

I like sweet tea with demerera sugar but was playing havoc with my tooth health as used to drink a lot so switched over to a sucralose sweetener (which I believe the body doesn't actually metabolise). It could never entirely mimic sugar but now if I have tea with actual sugar, it makes me feel quite sick.

Thats because normal tea with sugar in it is disgusting and your revulsion to it is just proof you aren't a savage!

 

[RxR]

I need quit coffee again - its giving me wrinkles.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Thats because normal tea with sugar in it is disgusting and your revulsion to it is just proof you aren't a savage!

It's funny, I have a proper sweet tooth for tea and coffee but when it comes to sweets and cakes, I can happily go without.