Flexitarian diet

[alan refail]

Anyone for no more meat than a burger a week but plenty of nuts and berries?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46865204

[tigerburnie]

We eat vegetarian meals every week, but we also eat fish and meat, it used to be called a healthy balanced diet and was apparently good for you(seems to be working as I'm still here).

[Primrose]

I agree. We,ve often eaten vegetarian meals like cauliflower cheese , vegetable curriesor pastas with vegetarian sauces without necessarily thinking of them as being vegetarian. It seems that every year now the food fashionistas have to come up with a new theme and it gets plugged to death. I think we'll just carry on very much as usual. We normally have at least two meat free meals a week without consciously being aware of making a specifically vegetarian choice .

[oldherbaceous]

What happened to the days when people could think responsibly for themselves, without having to be advised on every single thing...makes me quite angry...

Funny thing at Hospital the other day...I had already been told to take all my medication in, so I said I didn't take any and the Lady on the phone sounded really surprised...Then both Nurses at Hospital, questioned my reply of, no I don't take any tablets at all.....very strange.

[Geoff]

I agree OH, the medical profession have made a rod for their own backs in two ways. They've created a culture that says there's a pill for everything and the illusion that you should feel well all time, if not come and see me and I'll give you a pill to pop. No wonder they are over loaded and the drugs bill is so high. This from the father of a GP, we have had a few debates!
I'm with tigerburnie on the balanced diet. My other nugget of advice is keep regular hours, up at the same time, bed at the same time. You can't catch up or bank sleep - if you are up late or need an early start just assume you've lost it and get back to routine.

[Westi]

You are right with the need for regular timed sleep Geoff. There has been lots of research on shift workers & their health is substantially worse than those that have regular shifts & sleep at night.

[Primrose]

Has anybody read Dr. Rangan Chatterjee's book The Four Pillars (to health) ? As a GP he expounds the same principles of recommending healthy living practices wherever possible instead of prescribing pills, many of which which after all are only importing toxins of some kind into our bodies.

I think the sad reality is that these days if somebody walks out of a GP surgery without a prescription of some kind they probably think the NHS is cheating them of their rights. in the West we just have too much food available to us and much of it isn't healthy. I wonder how much obesity and potential diabetes for example would have been avoided or cured if all unhealthy foods were actually on ration and we had to hand over a coupon to the supermarket for every packet of crisps, cream pastry or bar of chocolate we purchased ?

As a wartime child I recall how precious the sweet ration was and how sweets were lingered over and eked out. Now they and other similar items are consumed almost without consciousness because they're so readily available.

[Tony Hague]

The point of this diet, is that it is contrived by scientists to feed a world populaton of 10bn in a healthy way that is not completely destructive to the environment. It does include small amounts of meat and fish, but is heavily based on pulses, nuts, fruit and veg.

I don't understand how you manage without much livestock, without becoming deeply dependent on synthetic nitrate fertilisers produced using unsustainable amounts of fossil fuels.

[Monika]

Primrose, I bought Dr Chatterjee's book when it first appeared and, indeed, his advice is very sensible indeed.

The government's idea of reducing the consumption of sugar by taxing it heavily is so misguided. If people are intent to buy sugary food and drinks, the increased price is not likely to put them off. Also, obesity is not necessarily caused by sugar. I happen to have no sweet tooth whatsoever - I never consume sweets, cakes, puddings or sweet drinks and very rarely have any chocolate, but could gorge myself on cheese and savoury things like crisps. So, if I did not watch my food intake, I could balloon like the Michelin man.

To me, the lack of exercise (and I don't mean gyms or jogging) is today's problem: so few children walk to school, spend their free time climbing trees or playing 'cops and robbers', and adults are no better, nipping to the shop down the road in their car!

[Primrose]

I think part of the problem of exercising is peoples' perception that you have to get dressed up in Lycra and get outside I. All weathers.
We've found an ideal solution which can be done indoors at home in the pouring rain without having to get dressed up - the Leslie Sansone Walk at Home YouTube videos where you can do a 1 mile, 2 mile walk (or whatever you wish) walking on the spot to music.
We put one one and do it two or three times a week.

My husband bought me a Fitbit type wrist step monitor some months ago and often at the end of the day, especially if it's been rain8ng and i haven,t been outdoors I'm ashamed how few paces I've actually walked. Putting one of these videos on and doing a quick Walking on the spot session brings it up to more respectable nimber - and to be honest, I always feel better for having done it.