Healthy diet

I've always tried to eat healthily. When I was working I had a really healthy diet and was more active. Since retirement it has gone to pot a bit. It's too easy at home to reach for the biscuits when I have a cuppa. When I was at work I rarely ate a biscuit or a cake in the daytime. I would take a salad to work for lunch and then have fruit and a yoghurt. I had a routine and would prepare my salad the night before. Now I tend to make a sandwich. I do still try. I avoid fried food and fat, chips etc. Fortunately I can live without cakes and chocolate but have become a bit of a friend of the biscuit tin.

milk - stops leg cramps
eggs - stops my nails from splitting
greens - helps keep my mental health fine
oily fish - keeps my joints oiled
wine - small amount [for sake of stomach and other ailments says the bible]
almonds - I used to have a health book, and little things that I had wrong all seemd to be able to be improved with almonds, so they are part of my diet now

Porridge every morning sets me up for the day.

soontobe you don 't really get your health tips from the bible, do you? That's going it a bit.

Keep the fat lowish (and I still try to stick to 'healthy' fats. Sod the latest "research")

Keep the sugar intake low (ish). Most of the time.

Try to remember to swallow a calcium tablet ever day. (Not often successful in the remembering)

What else do they want? Blood?

Everything in moderation and 'a little of what you fancy does you good'. That was my mother's philosophy and she lived until she was 95.

My granny used to eat bread and dripping and bread and lard with sugar on it. Lived to about the same age Liz.

Mind you, on the very rare occasions we had shop bought cake, she always gave her portion to me. And a small joint of meat lasted two days.

And then there was the herrings.

Only wine and honey jingl!
[forgot to put honey on my list]

Honey.

No comment.

Must have my Vits D, K2 and my calcium or my bones will crumble away and I'll fall down

No crisps too much salt and fat, only sugar free lemonade, porridge or bran flakes for brekkie and a Omega 3 fish oil capsule daily... couple of bits of fruit daily..
I try to have a slimmer cup a soup for lunch and buy a small granary loaf a week for toast. Cakes and pudding are my downfall and it seems so much easier in the Summer to eat healthier..

I am vegetarian; haven't eaten meat or fish for over 30 years and never will. My reasons are ethical and physiological. (Let's not get into one of those arguments like we do over religion and Politics, eh?)

Apart from that:

Yes
As much "clean" food as possible I.e. unadulterated with additives, preservatives, and salt and sugar that does not occur naturally in these foods. For example, bread should, ideally, contain only flour, yeast and water. (Look at the side of a pack of sliced bread)

Dark green vegetables, pulses, and almonds or walnuts for protein and calcium

No

Fried foods
High fat foods, especially saturated fats

This is me at my very, very best! While I have never fallen off the vegetarian wagon, I frequently topple off any other. Particularly when faced with chips..

I am totally healthy, but I do not take notice of additives, and wonder if I should.
Aren't preservatives necessary and ok [I dont know for sure].

I'm with Ariadne. Most of my food is organic, too.

I've said it before but 'Eat well, not too much, most of it plants' and you are unlikely to go wrong. Add the corollary 'If it is made from a plant, eat it. If it is made in a plant don't' (the author of these statements is American) and you are probably not far from the ideal healthy diet.

Doesn't matter whether you are carnivore, omnivore, vegetarian or vegan These statements can be applied to any eating pattern. It is so much simpler than chasing super foods, foods with particular properties etc etc.

Preservatives, in general, lead to a longer shelf life, which of course, benefits the manufacturers most. I think it is hidden salt whih is the biggest danger - 2,300 mgs a day is the suggested top daily limit, but in 1 cup of baked beans there are 1068 mg..

I havelow blood pressure. So am in the minority of people who has to have more salt.
The low blood pressure doesnt cause me any problems though.

I try to get my five portions a day in but some days are better than others lol.

I think it is good to grow your own vegetables if possible. If you eat your veg soon after picking, it is so much tastier.

I keep small bowls of home made soup in the freezer and it is handy for a quick lunch with a piece of wholemeal toast (with thick butter I'm afraid).

I need all the preservatives I can get.

Isn't alcohol a preservative?

We very rarely buy frozen/chilled convenience foods but other than that we're not especially careful about our diet.

Freshly squeezed orange in the morning, shredded wheat or Weetabix, full cream milk, wholemeal toast butter/marmalade/jam. Simple lunches (e.g. home made soup, pasta and home made tomato sauce, fried mixed veg with ginger, garlic and chillies, omelette and chips, curried veg or veg biryani, baked potatoes, etc, ditto tea.) We go out quite a bit for meals as over the years we have found a few cheap (but healthy) places to eat locally and a bit further afield, like in Greenwich.