Healthy Food?

[LittleGreyCat]

I recently went to a Diabetes bash where there was a lot of discussion about how to reduce the incidence of Diabetes, and what you would do if you were the Government and able to legislate. You will note that the solutions are very T2-centric, since research is the main tool for reducing the incidence of T1 (IMHO).

The general consensus was that banning and taxing stuff is not always the most effective solution, and that education should be the chosen long term objective.

So there were two main groups of solutions:

1. Legislate to discourage the production and sale of unhealthy foods, including sugar tax and restriction on the display of unhealthy foods in shops and supermarkets.
   
   
2. Education, education, education about what is a healthy diet and what foods are unhealthy and should be avoided.

However a brief discussion round the table revealed (No sh*t Sherlock) that nobody could agree what was healthy and unhealthy food.

There was strong support for LCHF but dieticians were still pushing the "healthy carbohydrates" and "you need carbohydrates to feed your brain" line as they have no doubt been taught.

There was quite a bit of "well, yes, butter is O.K. but you wouldn't want to eat a lot of it" from the group as well.

This forum illustrates that there is no single view of what is good and bad nutrition and we are (hopefully) more open thinking than most.

However in my biased opinion the priority is to establish a research body not funded by the food & drug industry which can look at food trials and drug trials (including currently unpublished studies which go against what industry wants) and especially consider the benefits of NOT taking drugs.

How can we campaign for healthy eating and healthy living if we can't even agree what it is?

Education of children is essential, but at least as important is the re-education of the adult population.

Which brave souls, however, are going to campaign against the massive economic power of the food & drugs industry who rely on ever increasing consumption to fuel their growth and prosperity?

 

[Squire Fulwood]

It's not only at your diabetes bash. I have read posts on here of the kind, "I always eat healthily and today I had cheesecake and a pizza". People have different perceptions about what is healthy. I once knew a young man who would only eat in McDonalds since it was clean and healthier. Everyone hopes that the things they like are healthy eating.

What makes me throw my hands up in despair is when posters report that their doctor has told them to eat "healthily" and don't say what that means. In my case I was handed two diet sheets. They conflict, have nothing to do with diabetes and both appear to have been written by Emma Thompson with warts. (Nanny McPhee to you and me).

 

[Lamont D]

Where you get a lot of what is a healthy diet is how it applies to the individual.
A healthy diet for someone who has not got a condition is a balanced intake of what helps them be healthy.
However as so many times it has been said, my healthy diet is not your healthy diet even though both of us has blood glucose disorders.
You can only advise them to find out there threshold levels through experience and experimenting.
You cannot just say that low carb, high fat is right because of other conditions that the individual may have such as celiac.

What we need to do is give the advice that to start is reducing your intake of the foods that effect you and your blood glucose levels.
To do more to help with how they manage the hard part of not eating the rubbish they perceive to be healthy.
Education is key to getting a diabetic to contender lifestyle.
I've used diet as a word to promote a change in eating habits.
I prefer lifestyle changes. Because a diet means short term.
And as everyone who is still needing control, short term just doesn't do it!

Education, education, education is the most important part of treatment.
Lifestyle changes that really work.
Carbs are still carbs for someone like me.
No matter the label, wether, healthy, complex, or wholemeal etc. They still spike me.

Until you do get a lot of the rubbish out of food production, education is certainly the only way to go.
I can't see the food industry, pharmaceutical companies or government getting major changes into the health industry for a long time yet!

But we will carry on, regardless!

 

[donnellysdogs]

I still think the key to living ok with health is eating natural products... And not in excess.

I now have multitude illnesses to try and balance but the biggest hinderance for me was not being told in 2003 that I had intolerances to aspartame, sweeteners and preservatives. Only finding this out when I asked for a review of my medical notes and to see them. If I had known in 2003 how much these things were affecting me then I wouldn't have had drambuiee and diet coke or eat sugar free gum etc... I was killing myself without knowing it.

Health of people to me seems to have taken a downward slide since ready meals and takeaways became so accepted in society. To see some families literally living on takeaways etc is truly not good. However, sometimes I think I'm wrong because I have the illnesses-they don't.

 

[Inour]

Where you get a lot of what is a healthy diet is how it applies to the individual.
A healthy diet for someone who has not got a condition is a balanced intake of what helps them be healthy.
However as so many times it has been said, my healthy diet is not your healthy diet even though both of us has blood glucose disorders.
You can only advise them to find out there threshold levels through experience and experimenting.
You cannot just say that low carb, high fat is right because of other conditions that the individual may have such as celiac.

What we need to do is give the advice that to start is reducing your intake of the foods that effect you and your blood glucose levels.
To do more to help with how they manage the hard part of not eating the rubbish they perceive to be healthy.
Education is key to getting a diabetic to contender lifestyle.
I've used diet as a word to promote a change in eating habits.
I prefer lifestyle changes. Because a diet means short term.
And as everyone who is still needing control, short term just doesn't do it!

Education, education, education is the most important part of treatment.
Lifestyle changes that really work.
Carbs are still carbs for someone like me.
No matter the label, wether, healthy, complex, or wholemeal etc. They still spike me.

Until you do get a lot of the rubbish out of food production, education is certainly the only way to go.
I can't see the food industry, pharmaceutical companies or government getting major changes into the health industry for a long time yet!

But we will carry on, regardless!

I don't agree that education is the solution, most people know what they should and what they shouldn't eat, specially if you are a teenager (like me) it's very hard to change your lifestyle when every thing around you is against it.
Eg. My school canteen is a place where you can get these 'rubbish' you are talking about, it's not healthy for anyone with or without a medical condition like diabetes, you can actually see oil running in the plate around your food, they rarely do any vegetables without putting tons of mayonnaise, i try to avoid these things.
But education doesn't make students stop eating that food or the school itself stop getting that food

 

[Brunneria]

I sat outside a Costa this morning, with the dogs (just walked) and a medium sized Americano and cream. The woman on the next table eyed me as I added erythritol.

Presumably, she saw a fat woman spooning sugar into her drink. lol.

Anyway, I spent the next 15 mins shamelessly eavesdropping on their conversation.

'Yes, I know' says the blonde, slim, fake tanned woman in her leathery 40s. 'But I had a look at her food diary, and she just doesn't know what she is doing!'

'What do you mean?' Said her partner, als0 in his 40s, also fake tanned, exfoliated and obviously a gym member - muscles on muscles.​

'Well, it was avocado with every meal. And coconut. And nuts. She eats nuts as snacks all the time. I mean! Nuts! What is wrong with a banana? It is all FATS (revolted tone of voice). She has given up bread and stuff, so she is eating mashed avocado on rice cakes. And FRYING - Ewwww! - in coconut oil!'​

'Hmmm'​

'Yes! I mean, it is all good fats, I get that. So does she. But far too much of it!!! She needs good carbs and less fat. I told her. I went through it all with her. But she has some very funny ideas. She needs to get her energy from carbs. All that fat! She is just going to put on weight.'​

Have you any idea how proud I am that I didn't interrupt them and suggest their friend stops with the rice cakes?

 

[carty]

Also the same foods differ greatly in how they are produced and what is in them I personally try to cook from scratch and buy local meat eggs etc I had a sausage when helping at a build (no choice) sausages and mash so I just ate the sausage and my normal yoghurt and nuts my BGS went to 14 !. So I kept well away from sausages ,then I picked up a pack out of interest 22.5 % carbs another pack >5 % so I occasionally have a sausage ,they tend to be more fatty than the high carb ones but they taste great
CAROL