BBC The truth about healthy eating

The other thing I was quite relieved about was that no, you don't need to be drinking water constantly. Thankfully. Good news for those of us who are not so robust in the bladder department.

Rickets is still around. People have blamed the panics about skin cancer "keep the child out of the sun and put on sunblock because it dangerous" and children have been covered too much.

In Britain you can't get much vitD from the sun for about half the year anyway.
Those with darker skin get even less in our often cloudy Britain. I seem to get low on vitD and I am thinking of taking cod liver oil despite being a vege.

My mother used to put it in my food. Thought I wouldn't notice. Result, I hardly ate anything.

After I'd had pneumonia at the age of 6, the doctor prescribed Virol to 'build me up'. I disliked it intensely!

Oh my I love cod liver oil and malt just like melted caramel... mmmnnnn

Wasn't Virol a malt and cod liver oil concoction? I used to love malt and cod liver oil when I was small. My two never liked it, and I bought a jar when GS was about two and tried it on him. He spat it out all over the table and guess who had to eat her way through the jar? Yum!

ahah it needs to be strained in a very fine muslin bag. I have inherited my grandparent's small jelly press- it looks just like a wine press- made out of wood with a lid that presses down the mixture, a gully and a metal spout, and a cork screw that you tighten- much better than the upside down on chairlegs method. It extracts practically 100% of the juice and no cloudiness.

Oooh, I remember rosehip syrup! And something called Virol which was gloopy and sweet. Also some orangey stuff.
Once I made my own rosehip syrup from foraged rosehips but we (BH and I) were up all night halving the hips and trying to remove the hairs. Never again. Gave some of the resulting gunge to baby daughter and it gave her diarrhoea

So that was that....

gettingonabit- this is more or less exactly what the conclusion was on last night's programme. Brilliant.

Someone posted a hilarious video about those people who calle themselves 'gluten intolerant' when they are nothing of the sort- it is hilarious but I daren't 'like' or 'share' - as some among family and friends belong to that group.

Real gluten intolerance is very unplesant and even dangerous- but the vast majority of those who claim to be nowadays- are not at all. That is actually dangerous in many ways- as people who really DO have life threatening allergies are often no longer taken seriously (like my 10 year old grandson who is highly allergic to eggs).

'Eat well, not too much, most of it plants' is my guide to healthy eating. The saying comes from an American food writer, Michael Pollan.

The one thing I am aware of is that I eat far less than I did in my prime, if I still ate as much I would be shaped like a beach ball and for that reason I am concerned as to whether the reduced amounts I now eat contain a sufficient quantity of all the micro nutrients that are required to remain in optimal health.

While I understand that healthy young to middle aged people with a good diet cannot boost their vitamin levels above their bodies healthy norm by taking supplements. I do wonder whether older people eating a balanced diet, but much less than they did, may need still need supplements in order to reach their natural healthy vitamin level.

greyduster it WAS Minadex! Thanks (nostalgic sniff).

Could it have been Minadex, gettingonabit? Remember my mum giving it to me and I seem to remember that being orange and gloopy; also Scotts Emulsion, which I quite liked. I think rose hip syrup fell out of favour for the same reason as Ribena - dental issues. I gave both to my two and they never had any dental issues.

granjura I've noticed this in my local shop. The "free from" range is huge, given the size of the shop. Lactose free, gluten free, dairy free.... Not sure if lactose free and dairy free are the same thing, mind.

I wish someone would just say "everything's ok in moderation" but I doubt that. Moderation doesn't make good telly.

My mother always made rosehip syrup- we had to go into the woods to collect the fruits, and it was great fun to bite into one and stick it down a friend's top - it hitches to bug*****y- in French popularly called 'gratte-cul' (scratch arse)- and make jelly too.

Bella, a few of the boys from my class took all the skins off our milk and gobbled them up one by one!

gettingonabit- it is just a fad I believe- some people become obsessed with some foods being bad- like dairy in this case (and meat, etc) and get stuck into very limited diets and all sorts of supplements.

I've always assumed that if you eat a normal balanced diet - moderation in everything - then you can't go too far wrong.

I was a 1948 baby and we got the orange juice as well. It was lovely! Can't remember getting any cod liver oil though, thank goodness!

I didn't see the programme. Did they say it was right to have plenty of fruit and veg and not too much red meat or processed foods? That's what we try to do, and small helpings.

I remember Rosehip Syrup, as a very young child. I think it fell out of favour in the early 60s.

I also remember some very sweet, gloopy orange stuff which I was given as s supplement. Can't remember its name though..

I think that rickets was just because the chidren were poor and had no milk or were not properly fed as very young babies.
In Germany it is called the English disease because of the industrial revolution which put workers in cotton mills and bad housing and seperated them from a bit of garden or common land where they could grow cabbage and potatoes.

My babies got a shot of Vit D at two days old. A deposit as the body can store it.
I remember reading an article from a dutch researcher and he said the most antioxidents were to be found in packet soup. Antioxidents stop it going off.
I had bacon and egg for lunch with fried potatoes. Lovely!

To be fair there are good reasons for making some of the expensive selections in the programme that were not covered because they were not relevant.

DD developed a severe lactose intolerance after an accident meant she was on very high doses of multiple antibiotics for a month. The problem was eventually solved but she was drinking and using milk alternatives for nearly 2 years

Anyone remember the rose hip syrup we were also given by the Ministry of Food? School children used to go round the hedgerows in autumn filling sacks with the hips. If you broke one open and stuck it down someone's back it gave them an intolerable itch! A nasty trick.

I didn't know that about almond milk. Why do people drink it then? Because it's dairy free?

I thought it was common knowledge about fried eggs not absorbing fat, and about a high protein breakfast being the most filling.

I felt a teeny weeny bit smug too. Some dim people about.

I am/was a war baby. I am the only person I know who actually liked/likes cod liver oil! And I loved the orange syrup we used to get.

I thought most of last nights programme was just rehashing information that has been available from other sources for several years, although the use of regular experiments to prove the point was, I think, a very good idea for convincing the disbelieving.

Thankfully, none of the items FP put in her basket have ever featured in mine so I knew from the start that I would probably reach the end of the program feeling smug. I am apologetic, but I did.

Anno I can still "taste" that awful clinic cod liver oil. Ugh. The clinic oranje juice was nice though. I don't know if you were ever given iron, which also came in liquid form and turned the spoon black. It was revolting and when my mother wasn't looking I used to dispose of it. We are so lucky nowadays with capsules and flavoured medicines. gj. I would have loved that skin. I always asked for it from the custard saucepan, and still like skin from the milk in my breakfast coffee. Weirdo !

Anno I am a post war baby, and grew up in central Europre- but we also had cod liver oil, from a large bottle and one spoon, unwashed, for the whole class everyday. And a 'bol' (round mug) of hot creamy milk at breaktime (that skin - still makes me feel sick today- cannot drink warm milk now).

We have friends, just a bit younger, who have gone 'all funny' about their food recently and it is concerning as their diet is so restricted. They only drink almond milk- which was made clear last night makes them be short of Vitamin B12 (they don't eat meat either) and calcium, and so much more. I do wonder if they were watching the programme, but wouldn't dare ask.

During WW2, children were provided with vitamin D in the form of cod liver oil which I loathed; and vitamin C in orange juice. The national loaf had, I believe, added calcium plus vitamins A and D. So those of us who were small children during that period were no more malnourished than any other generation - perhaps better nourished than many children are today.
www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/574988/War-time-diet-good