What (in your opinion) is a healthy diet?

Pop_Up_Pirate

Healthy is
Absolutely no calorie counting
High amount of fat
Moderate amount of protein
Moderate amount of vegetables but go easy on the carb heavy veg.
No dairy except butter.
No gluten whatsoever.
No packaged, tinned, pre-made foods.
Everything fresh, whole and local if possible
No sugar

The occasional treat can be had. This means OCCASIONAL. ie a cake once a month won't harm.
But when you start to say "One glass of wine a week, one bar of chocolate a week, one biscuit a week, one donut a week, one bag of crisps a week, one fizzy drink a week, blah blah", you can see that the majority of people end up with far too many 'treats' per week.

If the diet is high in fat, then cravings for other stuff tend to diminish a great deal.

GwylimT

We call it the market diet, basically meaning if you can buy it at a local market its good to eat.

We avoid processed foods, the only processed/pre-prepaired things we buy are tinned chickpeas, ghee, tinned toms and things like soy sauce.

We eat meat twice a week (but no pork or duck) and fish once a week (no shellfish).

I'll post this weeks menu so you can see the kind of things we eat.

Sunday
Chicken thighs (skin on) with roasted courgette, toms, peppers, carrots, squash and chilli.

Monday
Squash, chilli and ginger soup

Tuesday
Fried fresh sardines with lettuce, toms, cucumber, radish, avocado, seeds, carrots, baby sweetcorn, peppers and olives.

Wednesday
Veg and couscous stuffed peppers with the same salad as yesterday

Thursday
Beef stir fried with cabbage, beansprouts, sugar snap peas, onion and peppers with a sauce made from honey, soy and fish sauce and caulirice.

Friday sweet potato chips with fried egg and peas.

Saturday pizza (home made base) with tinned toms and left over veg etc.

WantToBeSE

Thanks everyone for your input, its all really interesting.

I would say that a healthy diet is high in vegetables, beans, grains (whole grain) and a little lean meat/fish.
As long as it is natural i think it's (reasonably) OK.

I am interested in the high fat diet, as i have heard that a diet high in natural fats (but low in saturated fats) can curb any cravings for junk food.
So I'm thinking of trying that out.

ladymarmalade

To me a healthy diet is a balanced one that is homemade and free from processed foods. I'm 29 and have been pretty much the same weight for about 10 years (since leaving home). I pretty much eat what I want at meal times but everything is made from scratch with fresh ingredients. For example last night I had a homemade pizza and tonight I had homemade chicken kebab in pitta. I have one vegetarian day a week and I try to eat fish twice a week. I have large portions of my main meal and avoid snacks as I feel this is where lots of sugar and salt come from.

trailingspouse

For me, a healthy diet means sensible quantities of good food. And by good food I mean real food - fresh, unrefined, and cooked carefully.

Unrefined carbs - wholemeal flour bread and pasta, brown rice, unrefined sugar.
Good quality meat, and not too much of it - meat that actually looks like meat.
Plenty of good quality fish.
Plenty of fruit and vegetables - there are no bad ones in my book.
Minimal quantities of salt - I never add salt when I'm cooking, and only add it at the table if I'm having chips (and I don't have them very often). Without the salt, food tastes like food.
No fizzy pop. I used to work in the NHS and I suggested to one of our doctors that the cost of providing NHS services would be halved if everyone stopped drinking fizzy pop - and he said 'Oh god, yes'.

The odd treat is perfectly fine - I've just had a glass of wine - but it isn't a treat if you have it all the time. I'm 56, I weigh 9 stone 3lb, I'm 5'8", and I've never counted a calorie in my life.

But it's not just the food that matters - I thinks it's important to eat it properly too. Set the table, sit at the table, eat slowly and enjoy what you're eating - small mouthfuls, finish one before you take the next. I hate to see people shovelling food in. If you eat slowly, your body has chance to notice that you're full before you've overeaten - you need to listen, and act accordingly.

tessie_bear

for me a healthy diet is proper food no shakes or any of that rubbish deep suspicion of any new super food that suddenly pops up and is pricey anything that costs a fortune is treated with suspicion

i once read that anything your grandparents would not recognize as food is best avoided eg cheese strings

i am really struggling with this whole high fat diet thing at the mo as i loath cream/cheese/fullfat milk so i am soldiering on with the low fat stuff i like

Slinky

WantToBeSE wrote: »

I am interested in the high fat diet, as i have heard that a diet high in natural fats (but low in saturated fats) can curb any cravings for junk food.
So I'm thinking of trying that out.

You might find "Escape the diet trap" by Dr John Briffa a good read.

kathrynha

For me it is as little processed food as possible, lots of fruit, veg and lean protein and a sensible amount of carbs.


However there are some foods that are processed that are regularly in my diet, but I think are okay. Generally they are processed foods with only 1 or 2 ingredients. Stuff like tinned tomatoes, frozen veg, tinned tuna, and tinned beans (not baked beans). They are more convenient and often cheap than the fresh unprocessed version.

Pewmouse

My healthy diet is a vegan one, I love fruit and veg so eating plenty of veg is no problem to me. I also like grains, pulses and beans. I'm not bothered for processed foods such as fake meats but I do like vegan chocolate, ice cream and biscuits but most sweet treats are made by me at home so I know what's going into them. Most things can be veganised and I tend to find that most things made vegan are done so using more natural and healthy options.


We made chocolate mousse yesterday using avocado, dates, maple syrup, coconut milk, coconut oil and cocoa powder. It was delicious and it was lower in sugar than its 'regular' equivalent and good fats from the avocado too.

WantToBeSE

Slinky wrote: »

You might find "Escape the diet trap" by Dr John Briffa a good read.

Thanks Slinky, I'll check it out