In search of a healthy eating plan

Little chef helps out

So you are what you eat, apparently. Well not literally – I don’t eat knackered-looking overweight middle-aged women.

On the other hand, if yesterday was anything to go by I’m oatcakes and cream cheese with leftover salmon, nuts, broth, a sneaky bit of cheese, a couple of apples, sausages and mash, and, finally, two big handfuls of jelly babies. So that makes me aspiring to be healthy but not quite getting there, knowing what I should be eating yet falling short, and, ultimately bewildered where the jelly babies came from. Probably about right then.

Of course, I’d like to eat healthily. Who wouldn’t? And it should be so simple – all you need to do is put good things into your mouth not bad ones. Yet it is far from simple, or at least for me.

The first question is knowing what is actually healthy. Green things are, except jelly babies. Brown things are, but not the top of crème caramel. What then?

In fact it’s bewildering. A quick squiz at today’s news reveals that: A high-fibre diet could show the progression of prostate cancer (and I was so worried!); sugary drinks raise the risk of depression; four cups of tea can slash the chance of having a stroke; superfoods can cause cancer; but coconut oil can ease Alzheimers. And that’s just today. Tomorrow will bring another shopping basket stuffed with contradictory information.

Even without the benefit of nutritional news, my own bookshelves contain volumes in culinary opposition. Low fat – low carb, slow food – quick suppers, no sugar – chocolate and wine diets, no diet diets - see calories then count ’em. What’s a girl to do?

Then there’s mood food – food for comfort, hormones, morning or night, party food, solo suppers. Naughty food, virtuous meals, fuel for energy or irresistible treats. Add that to supermarkets offering two-for-ones and children trying to survive on the breadcrumbed rubbish regieme and it gets even more messy. Oh and it’s not all what you eat but how much (when and where too).

Clearly if you eat more than you use up, whatever you pick, then your body will store it as fat. Or at least that seems to be one logical explanation. Yet some folk can stuff themselves all day and not seem to put anything on, others just need to set foot in the sweeties aisle of the supermarket and they are busting out of their clothes.

Diet stuff is packed with toxins and low fat food laced with sugar then “fresh”, “handmade”, “wholesome” and “nutritious” can be entirely meaningless.  Sigh.

Right then, I’m going to have to make my own food rules up for myself.

·         Healthy food will still resemble the animal or plant from which it came.

·         It will taste good (not just salty or sweet).

·         It will be many colours – the more the better. (I’m not daft, this clearly includes jelly beans.)

·         It will not contain ingredients I don’t understand or immediately recognise. (Bye then jelly beans.)

·         I eat sitting down and slowly.

·         Where possible I will ignore what other people (particularly those whose views are expressed in, for example, the Daily Mail) say I should eat.

·         It is not necessary to eat everything on the plate. In fact, leaving something is to be encouraged. (Yes I know we chuck too much away, but better than treating myself like a bin.)

Obviously, cooking – whether it’s a daily core, relaxing hobby or both – is part of the equation. The right equipment can make all the difference so it might be time for a cooker or other buy now pay later electricals.

This post is contains a commercial link in association with BrightHouse. However, the content is written by me and will, hopefully, entertain/inform/irritate as usual.