Is my diet okay?

[twix38]

I have got to wondering if my diet gives me all I need in terms of vitamins, minerals, fibre, etc. Basically can I live healthily on this diet?

Breakfast:

2 Weetabix, Milk (Blue top standard)

Banana.

Occasionally swapped for oats, milk and 2 half peaches for about 4 days each quarter.

Lunch:

Rotates around..........

ready meal - of pasta (and chicken, ham or tuna)

ready meal - Egg Flan and beans and garlic

Tinned Macrael, sunflower seeds, Flax seeds.

2 hard boiled eggs

(All above with 2 rounds of toast daily and Olivio spread/butter)

once a week...........

Subway - tuna and salad sandwich, crisps, coke

Small size English breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, fried potatoes & toast)

The above lunch choices rarely if ever change and so I have one of the above week in and week out.

Evening Dinner:

Does vary, but nearly always includes chicken or Tuna as the backbone of the meat option.

I try to eat veg with most meals, but again don't vary much from a selection of some of these - rice, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, onion, green beans.

Daily: one medium sized chocolate cake and 1 bar of chocolate(snicker/kit-kat)

Also 5 strawberries, 1 banana and yogurt.

Drink Mineral water. Aura or Minere

Apart from small variencies such as a kiwi here and there, peanuts, occasional mixed pulses introduced maybe once a quarter and put up with as I think they are good for me, there isn't much change to this menu.

I am wondering a few things about this diet.........

Am I missing or low on an important area - nutrient, vitamin, mineral etc. in other words is my diet likely to make me deficient in something in the long run?

I eat Red meat probably no more than once every 3 or 4 months.

Is focusing my diet so heavily in terms of the meat part, on Chicken and Tuna a bad idea?

I am not fat, a modest middle aged spread and I excersise most days - 170cm and 62kg. It does cross my mind if I may have the tofi issue (thin outside, fat inside) i.e. vital organs surrounded with excess internal fat.

Overall, I have been thinking for some time that my diet is a bit limited and that I base my meals almost entirely on Chicken or Tuna, though I do like my diet and am otherwise perfectly happy with it.

[bkkjames]

I would cut it down to only half a cake every day. Rest looks good.

[JSixpack]

Leave off:

Weetabix
pasta
toast
crisps
coke
fried potatoes & toast
rice, potatoes
chocolate cake and 1 bar of chocolate(snicker/kit-kat) - substitute natural cocoa (not Dutch processed) w/ artificial sweetener
yogurt except full-fat Greek yoghurt

Subway bread

Wouldn't worry about the chicken & fish. Jack LaLanne ate only fish and did well enough for himself (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/01/24/jack-lalanne-fitness-guru-dies-at-96-learn-10-of-his-habits.html). Google around for the tuna & mercury issue--vary the fish. Wouldn't worry about eating pork or more red meat. W/ above low carb diet, can leave the skin on everything.

Edited July 28, 2014 by JSixpack

[h90]

Leave off:

Weetabix

pasta

toast

crisps

coke

fried potatoes & toast

rice, potatoes

chocolate cake and 1 bar of chocolate(snicker/kit-kat) - substitute natural cocoa (not Dutch processed) w/ artificial sweetener

yogurt except full-fat Greek yoghurt

Subway bread

Wouldn't worry about the chicken & fish. Jack LaLanne ate only fish and did well enough for himself (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/01/24/jack-lalanne-fitness-guru-dies-at-96-learn-10-of-his-habits.html). Google around for the tuna & mercury issue--vary the fish. Wouldn't worry about eating pork or more red meat. W/ above low carb diet, can leave the skin on everything.

Soon:

No carbs....they are evil...

vs

No meat we'll all die...

[arjunadawn]

Few people have such recall/discipline regarding their diet. Your diet, compared to average western diet, is exceptional. Perhaps it is not varied to you but consider this: I eat the same meal everyday, year after year- and only once a day: kao pad jai, sometimes pad Thai jai. I am 90 kg, little fat, mostly muscle. How? I strongly believe diet should be supplemented with protein, at least to the standard of .8gram/kg body weight. I also recommend BCAA, especially for vegetarians. You've a nice diet.

[JSixpack]

Leave off:

Weetabix

pasta

toast

crisps

coke

fried potatoes & toast

rice, potatoes

chocolate cake and 1 bar of chocolate(snicker/kit-kat) - substitute natural cocoa (not Dutch processed) w/ artificial sweetener

yogurt except full-fat Greek yoghurt

Subway bread

Wouldn't worry about the chicken & fish. Jack LaLanne ate only fish and did well enough for himself (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/01/24/jack-lalanne-fitness-guru-dies-at-96-learn-10-of-his-habits.html). Google around for the tuna & mercury issue--vary the fish. Wouldn't worry about eating pork or more red meat. W/ above low carb diet, can leave the skin on everything.

And leave off the beans, too. You can add in more veggies for the starches. Sorted!

[twix38]

Thanks for responses.

A varied lot, from just eat half the cake and fine, to leave off/cut out half the menu or even exceptional! lol

Do I get enough Iron for instance, as anemia was one thing I had in the back of my mind as storing up trouble for later, along with the questions asked. Also I assume my diet is too fatty with the full fat Milk, chocolate, cake and dairy. I do have high cholesterol, but not terribly high at 6.3mmol/l and frankly I am ignoring it.

Guess my diet is not as bad as I feared, but it does seem stuck in a narrow rut when it's a diet-for-life and this was my concern, though not quite to arjunadawn's level ;-)

Thanks for advice/comments

Edited July 28, 2014 by twix38

[A1Str8]

That's a good diet. But you eat like a bird.

Double that and get involved in some light exercise.

If you don't have access to a gym just power clean your gf for twenty reps. Then proceed with deadlifts.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[twix38]

A1 Str8,

well, I mentioned "I am not fat, a modest middle aged spread and I excersise most days", so I do the excersice already - basically 5 days a week of 1 hour+ in gym - bike and bit of weights.

good diet, but eat like a bird??

[JSixpack]

Do I get enough Iron for instance, as anemia was one thing I had in the back of my mind as storing up trouble for later, along with the questions asked.

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/

Add up the numbers yourself from your diet.

Standard blood screenings offer indication re: anemia. You can request some extra tests.

Anemia is a good thing to be aware of as it increases the risk of dementia--which affects so many of our forum members, often taking the form of OCD (Obsessive-compulsive disorder) about subjects such as CONDO GLUT, ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IMMINENT!!!, or NEVER EAT MEAT.

Why not just alleviate most of your deficiency fears at once by popping a daily multivitamin?

Also I assume my diet is too fatty with the full fat Milk, chocolate, cake and dairy.

No, too high in useless carbs. What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?

I do have high cholesterol, but not terribly high at 6.3mmol/l and frankly I am ignoring it.

Not sounding good. Need also to look at the LDL, HDL, and triglycerides and check the ratios.

Guess my diet is not as bad as I feared,

True, it's even worse than feared.

Edited July 29, 2014 by JSixpack

[Kitbaikitmah]

Cool and important post OP-er.

Had recent annual check...elevated cholestrol with a noticeable mid-section spread. Now my diet is. 30% fruit, 40% veg, 20% carbs and 10% meat. I now home cook so control the added sugar, salt and oil..My life style is sedate.

Currently I am winning, reduced bodyfat generally but the spread is going slowly. My daily excercising is starting to show through as I lose the fat.. I think the excercise keeps me 'younger-more able' but the diet sheds the excess.

Best of luck....I think its a long term

game for us older guys..slowly, surely over time, no suddened impacts

[techboy]

Why the heck don't you consult someone that can give you a qualified answer instead of subjecting the forum to this droll crud.

[HUAHIN62]

Try to cut out processed foods as they normaly contains high levels of salt and sugar.

[BudRight]

I just read the tag line and was going to post that your diet is fine no matter what you listed, but I see that you're not eating any Thai food. No rice either. Weird.

Edited July 29, 2014 by BudRight

[Pii Kate]

5-7 servings of fruit and veggies daily. Each serving should be at least one cup in size (4 oz.) Lots of water as well.

[twix38]

actually I do have some Thai food for dinner (items were not listed other than 'does vary' and did include rice in the list). I do include rice with...chicken sweet and sour, occasional fish dish, chicken & cashewnuts and chicken fried rice. Nothing spicy and certainly true that it is mostly a Western diet.

Gained a good action plan to amend the current diet by reducing carbs a bit, cut down on sweet items, add multivitamin daily supplement, increase beans and pulses frequency, will help address cholesterol and get checked with HDL/LDL readings.

Thanks - with special thanks to Techboy - a Diamond!! lol

btw, i'd expected a reply from moderator, giving advice in health section, who is knowledgeable and has a health/medical background afaik. Otherwise thanks for all the advice and suggestions.

Edited July 29, 2014 by twix38

[peergin]

I am looking for a full time dietitian or nutritionist. I have tried several Department of Employment offices and universities but no luck. Also, advertisements in some Thai newspapers have not yielded any response. I believe there are many unemployed new graduates but I don't know where else to look. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thank you.

[bkkreed]

I am looking for a full time dietitian or nutritionist. I have tried several Department of Employment offices and universities but no luck. Also, advertisements in some Thai newspapers have not yielded any response. I believe there are many unemployed new graduates but I don't know where else to look. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thank you.

Each individual is so metabolically unique, I advise a bit of wariness about trusting graduates of standard nutrition programs. They are well schooled in balancing calories and determining other abstract nutritional measures, but are usually uniformed about the complexities of individual differences. They generally have little regard for quality of food sourcing (as seen most horrifically in hospital food and nauseous, canned artificial "food" tube fed to severely ill patients.) Self-education and keen self observation are the most reliable, albeit time consuming directions for achieving health. There are many websites with researchers offering cutting edge information on the latest research and analyses for people serious about healthy lifestyles.

Two of my favorites among many good health sites are: chriskresser.com and perfecthealthdiet.com (the name is off-putting, but the research is good.)

[danasutton]

HI,

It looks good to me. I have been on a gluten free/paleo diet for about three years and I feel that it has been beneficial. Check out a site by Dr. Peter Glidden. I think he is the best nutritionist that I have found.

Good luck

Dana

[Water Buffalo]

It looks healthier than my diet, but just some thought:

ready meals? (salt content?)

chocolate every day?

Watch the tinned fish (very high in salt...usually).

Don't worry about the red meat thing, or the chicken or fish thing. You would get enough protein as a vegetarian. The eggs you eat would be enough, but chicken and fish are the best meats, i would say. (especially grilled)

If your margarine spread isn't "trans fat free", get rid of it and just consume butter instead. Trans fats are very bad. Butter is healthier for that reason.

A daily salad would be awesome.

[JSixpack]

actually I do have some Thai food for dinner (items were not listed other than 'does vary' and did include rice in the list). I do include rice with...chicken sweet and sour, occasional fish dish, chicken & cashewnuts and chicken fried rice. Nothing spicy and certainly true that it is mostly a Western diet.

Gained a good action plan to amend the current diet by reducing carbs a bit, cut down on sweet items, add multivitamin daily supplement, increase beans and pulses frequency, will help address cholesterol and get checked with HDL/LDL readings.

Thanks - with special thanks to Techboy - a Diamond!! lol

btw, i'd expected a reply from moderator, giving advice in health section, who is knowledgeable and has a health/medical background afaik. Otherwise thanks for all the advice and suggestions.

And triglycerides, very important. It'd be good to test now to get a baseline before you change your diet. You can do this at a bloodwork lab pretty cheaply here in Thailand.

You're not quite on track yet. Forget the rice. Forget the sweet in the sweet & sour. Cut out sugar and starches completely. Beans--not so great (a starch) but baked beans (sugar) a la English brekkie are the worst.

After you're where you need to be, you can cautiously add back in some starches.

Now around here and from the usual popular sources on the 'net you'll mostly get a parroting of the standard food pyramid. People just aren't up-to-date. To understand the problems with that, you'll need to read

Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health

Watch this:

Read this:

http://garytaubes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/WWGF-Readers-Digest-feature-Feb-2011.pdf

And here's specifically and simply how to do it. Nothing complicated:

http://www.fitintegrity.com/uploads/9/5/1/6/9516119/no_sugar_no_starch_diet.pdf

BTW, we had a cholesterol thread not long ago. Good luck.

[ginglee]

Leave off:

Weetabix

pasta

toast

crisps

coke

fried potatoes & toast

rice, potatoes

chocolate cake and 1 bar of chocolate(snicker/kit-kat) - substitute natural cocoa (not Dutch processed) w/ artificial sweetener

yogurt except full-fat Greek yoghurt

Subway bread

Wouldn't worry about the chicken & fish. Jack LaLanne ate only fish and did well enough for himself (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/01/24/jack-lalanne-fitness-guru-dies-at-96-learn-10-of-his-habits.html). Google around for the tuna & mercury issue--vary the fish. Wouldn't worry about eating pork or more red meat. W/ above low carb diet, can leave the skin on everything.

He asked is his diet healthy...not is his diet ok to enter Mr Thailand ! His diet is fine... has one day off for things he likes- spot on ! Jack Lalanne is a freak- used to pull boats around by his teeth !

[ginglee]

You say you're worried about Anemia? Then get some bloods done...You should do this at least every year anyway...

[JSixpack]

His diet is fine...

You have no idea. Just hot air.

I do have high cholesterol, but not terribly high at 6.3mmol/l and frankly I am ignoring it.

High? But his diet is fine. And OP is blissfully unaware of some highly critical other numbers. BTW, OP, I'd get a glucose-tolerance test. Best to know if you're pre-diabetic or becoming insulin resistant as soon as possible.

[JSixpack]

He asked is his diet healthy...not is his diet ok to enter Mr Thailand ! . . . Jack Lalanne is a freak- used to pull boats around by his teeth !

Duh. The point of that example wasn't about exercise, bodybuilding, or feats of strength at all but merely and narrowly about the possible harmfulness of eating a lot of fish. Period.

Edited July 29, 2014 by JSixpack

[Chonburiram]

No alcohol, coffee, tea, nicotine?

Sounds good to me...

Maybe eat less ready meals, sugary stuff, but more unprocessed and fresh food/ vegs?

62 kg at 1.70m? I think more than 75% reading this would like to change with you...

[Taggart]

If instead of only watching Jack LaLanne for a few minutes, while flipping channels on a black & white picture TV set as a young teenager back in the early 60's, but actually listened carefully to what he had to say regarding nutrition and following a basic exercise program, I'm sure I'd be in a lot better health today.

If the OP wants to really know whether his diet is satisfactory or not, all he has to do is a search on the internet for any interviews before LaLanne's death at the age of 96.

[JSixpack]

If instead of only watching Jack LaLanne for a few minutes, while flipping channels on a black & white picture TV set as a young teenager back in the early 60's, but actually listened carefully to what he had to say regarding nutrition and following a basic exercise program, I'm sure I'd be in a lot better health today.

If the OP wants to really know whether his diet is satisfactory or not, all he has to do is a search on the internet for any interviews before LaLanne's death at the age of 96.

Ha! You remember that too, eh? My momma bought one of his "Glamour Stretchers," one of the first and best-known of the exercise bands. I think she used it twice and thereafter the family dog enjoyed pulling on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR3mLqYbhZU

That was only one of his inventions. He also developed "the first leg extension machine, weight selector machine, cable/pulley machine, calf machine, and wrist roll machine, all now standards in the fitness industry."

Good read: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ahead-of-his-time-then-and-now.html

Yep, an extraordinary innovator and promoter of diet & fitness. His stunts were great publicity for the cause. Speaking bad about him only reveals the abysmal ignorance, trolling, and nonsense we have to suffer here on the forum.

Edited July 30, 2014 by JSixpack

[ginglee]

His diet is fine...

You have no idea. Just hot air.

I do have high cholesterol, but not terribly high at 6.3mmol/l and frankly I am ignoring it.

High? But his diet is fine. And OP is blissfully unaware of some highly critical other numbers. BTW, OP, I'd get a glucose-tolerance test. Best to know if you're pre-diabetic or becoming insulin resistant as soon as possible.

I do have an idea...and possibly the hot air is related to beans...I did say in another post he needs to get his bloods done. Looking at his diet it shouldn't give him high cholesterol- it could be down to something else. If your diet is low in it, then you liver will excrete more, it will also excrete more if you're stressed.....So I'll say again his diet is fine.

[ginglee]

He asked is his diet healthy...not is his diet ok to enter Mr Thailand ! . . . Jack Lalanne is a freak- used to pull boats around by his teeth !

Duh. The point of that example wasn't about exercise, bodybuilding, or feats of strength at all but merely and narrowly about the possible harmfulness of eating a lot of fish. Period.

C'mon you're taking this far to serious....My point was -Jack was the extreme. I was just giving my opinion that this guys diet is fine IMO ....But hey, what do I know?