A Healthy Diet

We often use this term to mean a weight loss program but the definition of diet is just your intake of food and drink. We all have to be aware of our diet because…

You are what you eat

I hope not literally because I would be an unholy mix of stuff but what goes in to your body has a direct influence on what you are in terms of being healthy or unhealthy. I hear people saying that they don’t know what’s healthy any more because the messages keep changing about what is good for you and what isn’t. If you want to have a healthy diet, there is plenty of advice available from all sorts of sources – pick the advice that resonates with you and the outcomes you want to achieve and go for it. What you do may be different from others around you but if it makes you feel healthier, you’re likely to be on the right track.

Case study

John, 57

John is a healthy-looking middle-aged man who enjoys cycling and golf and has never been overweight. Annoying, right? However, a routine blood pressure check revealed that John had elevated blood pressure. Monitoring over time showed that his blood pressure remained high and the doctor offered medication to bring it down. The only other option was to instigate lifestyle changes. You might think that taking the medication was the preferred option but John was concerned – what was causing his blood pressure to be too high? He worried that taking the pills would paper over the cracks and the underlying cause would continue to expose him to health risks. There had been too many strokes, heart attacks and premature deaths in John’s family. He knew that high blood pressure had probably been a factor in many of these cases and he did not want to suffer the same fate.

Since he was already exercising regularly, John’s research focused on dietary changes he could make to bring down his blood pressure. He identified the following dietary goals:

Reduce red meat

Eat more vegetables 

Reduce dairy intake

Introduce key vitamins and minerals

There followed a hit and miss period where John’s kitchen resembled a weird apothecary until he finally settled on a breakfast shake that included all the elements he had read about for reducing blood pressure but excluded all the elements that made him want to throw up or run to the toilet every five minutes. He had settled on breakfast as his key meal for introducing medicinal ingredients as this was the meal that impacted the least on his family – they were not ready for nettles and flax seeds!

Trying out new recipes to maximise taste levels meant the other changes were implemented fairly easily. The family grew to prefer diary free soft cheese and still enjoyed the odd steak or burger. Experiments with meat free mince worked out well but tofu has not yet become a regular on the family menu! 

You might be wondering if the goal was achieved – did John bring down his blood pressure? Absolutely! It came down and has stayed down. He never did take the medication but has managed to reach the same outcome without having to be on pills for the rest of his life. John’s case shows just how important your diet can be and how implementing some key advice can give us a feeling of control over our current and future health.

Calories

The key to a healthy diet is to eat the right amount of calories for how many you will need in the course of a day. 

Do the math

Energy in = energy out = weight maintenance

Energy in > energy out = weight gain

Energy in < energy out = weight loss There’s a misconception that you can exercise your way to lose weight and while it’s strictly true, it is highly unlikely that you have enough hours in your day to do that! Exercise does not burn as many calories as you wish it did - sorry but it’s true! We have easy access to foods which are very high in calories and fat and can undo all your good work at the gym in one fell swoop. The harsh reality is that we need to be aware of how many calories we are consuming if we are concerned with weight gain / loss. 

So if food is the key to weight control, how much do you need? Men need about 2500 calories a day and women need about 2000 calories. The reality is that most adults in the UK are exceeding those amounts. 

Hidden calories

Essential additions

Do you take milk in your tea? How many sugars in your coffee? Do you use cooking oil? Love butter on your toast? Dipping your chips in ketchup or mayo or sweet chilli sauce? Are you adding flavour to your stir fry with some sauce?

These little essentials are not the reason many of us are in calorie excess but if you are watching what you eat and still struggling to lose weight, these hidden additions could definitely be a contributing factor. It doesn’t mean you have to stop including them in your diet but if you can be aware of all your little extras, you’ll know how much you’re actually consuming.

Teeny tiny mouthfuls

Tasting food as you cook, stealing the odd chip off someone else’s plate (aka the chip tax!), breaking the corner off the cake / cookie / doughnut / croissant seems innocuous, right? As scandalous as it sounds, those calories actually count! 

Liquid calories 

Another tragic reality is that you can drink your daily calorie allowance quite easily. Common culprits include your morning coffee, that healthy OJ with breakfast, the smoothie you bought instead of a cake, the energy drink that keeps you going through a long shift, the hot chocolate to heat you up on a cold day, that medicinal glass of wine after a hard day at work – they add up all too easily to a significant calorie intake. 

Eating out

It’s easier to be aware of calories when you’re reading a ready meal packet or cooking from scratch but eating out can make it more complicated. Nowadays some places provide a calorie count on their menus – I find that terrifying but extremely helpful! My pet peeve is when you think you’ve made a healthy choice and then you see that ‘healthy salad’ has 1200 calories! How is it even possible? At least you can make an informed choice when the numbers are provided but without the information, it’s down to you to put your own controls in place about food choices, frequency of eating out and how you eat the rest of the day to balance out.

Healthy but high calorie 

I love avocado, cashew nuts and olives. And they’re all healthy, right?  Yes, but…they pack a punch with calories as well as those healthy fats we’re encouraged to look for. They have to be counted in with your overall consumption or else they will be undermining the good work you’re trying to do with your healthy diet.