Viking Diet, what do we think?

avro001
avro001 Posts: 13 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi Guys,

So I just heard about this Nordic diet which is apparently as healthy as the Mediteranean diet. Now, i'm not looking to stick to only eating specific foods but I am interested in foraging ideas from other cultures and ways of eating.

It promotes essentially viking foods such as :

Wholegrain cereals, oats, Fish, Onions, root veges, brussel sprouts, Fruit and berries, Game meat, Pickles, gherkins, Barley, Pears, plums

What interests me is that I think a diet such as this could be used either to restrict calories to healthy fats and carbohydrates when wanting to loose weight, or used as a really clean way to add calories to your day.

What do we think?
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Replies

  • danielg810
    danielg810 Posts: 76 Member
    I haven't heard of this!

    got my info here: http://www.danishnet.com/info.php/vikings/viking-food-140.html

    sounds really great though, I wouldn't mind trying this to see how I like it! I have been eating a mediterranean/ south beach diet recently but the fact that oats dont really fit into it always puzzled me! making things from those whole grains sounds immensely healthy & delicious :)

    Where did u get you info on it? Are you on it?
  • monty619
    monty619 Posts: 1,308 Member
    just another fad diet like meditaranian, south beach, paleo, raw food, blah blah blah... just count cals and macros, exercise, and be consistant.
  • avro001
    avro001 Posts: 13 Member
    I haven't heard of this!

    got my info here: http://www.danishnet.com/info.php/vikings/viking-food-140.html

    sounds really great though, I wouldn't mind trying this to see how I like it! I have been eating a mediterranean/ south beach diet recently but the fact that oats dont really fit into it always puzzled me! making things from those whole grains sounds immensely healthy & delicious :)

    Where did u get you info on it? Are you on it?

    Yea, I like that it seems to include all categories of food, like it doesnt systematically attempt to reduce carbs or fat etc. It just takes from food cultures up those ways. I had to do lots of looking around to figure out what a few days of eating that way might be like, just to try for fun and came up with this:

    Menu:

    Breakfasts:
    • Porridge with fruit, nuts and honey
    • Sour yoghurt with tinned berries and muesli


    Lunches
    • Homemade bread and toppings, like hummus, tuna
    • Salad of barley and fish
    • Left over lentils with added smoked mussels

    Snacks
    • Walnut Bread
    • Nuts and carrots

    Dinner:

    • Game meat with Parsnip chips and lentils

    • Cabbage Soup and rye bread

    • Asparagus and Poached egg yolk with Herring and rye bread

    • Roasted cauliflower, Salmon fillet roasted and pickles

    But you can be very creative within it.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    just another fad diet like meditaranian, south beach, paleo, raw food, blah blah blah... just count cals and macros, exercise, and be consistant.


    What Monty said! Why do we go looking for secrets pills?
  • avro001
    avro001 Posts: 13 Member
    just another fad diet like meditaranian, south beach, paleo, raw food, blah blah blah... just count cals and macros, exercise, and be consistant.


    What Monty said! Why do we go looking for secrets pills?

    I agree, looking for quick fixes and fad diets is a really bad idea!

    I just love adding foods into my diet that I would never have thought of before.. like herring! Such a good snack with a protein boost and good fats! :)

    My only daily diet rules are to try to eat clean and balanced, with lots of seasonal fruit and veges and the delicious lean meat and free range products we get in New Zealand
  • lachesissss
    lachesissss Posts: 1,298 Member
    But the real question... is there pillaging involved?
  • Cranktastic
    Cranktastic Posts: 1,517 Member
    But the real question... is there pillaging involved?

    heh...excellent.
  • AEFidgets
    AEFidgets Posts: 243
    It's not pillaging it's hunting for souvenirs. :laugh:
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    Why not just eat thing you like and make sure it fits your calories/macros?
  • avro001
    avro001 Posts: 13 Member
    Why not just eat thing you like and make sure it fits your calories/macros?

    orrrr... dress like a viking and eat a viking feast just for fun :P
  • freddykid
    freddykid Posts: 265 Member
    If I learned anything from MFP, calorie deficit = losing weight. what ever you will impact your health bad or good. But if you want to lose weight, all that matters is you eat less calories than your BMR fairly consistently. Winner

    Viking diet may taste good though, I think of a celebration feast with wine after rampaging through a village. Rampaging burns the more calories than swimming I hear.
  • EatClean_WashUrNuts
    EatClean_WashUrNuts Posts: 1,590 Member
    If your approach is short-term and not a life-style change, like say switching to Vegan or Vegetarian, don't waste your time, and better define what your definition of a diet is.

    Edit: stupid auto-correct
  • dlg1467
    dlg1467 Posts: 68 Member
    so the Viking diet isn't just whatever you can pillage from the neighbour?
    Damn, I've been doing it all wrong.......
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    Don't forget mead! Drink it out of a horn.
  • spud_chick
    spud_chick Posts: 2,640 Member
    Barring the game meats, I dig the general menu.

    Sardines (which I would think would be on this list) are supposed to be great for you, and I love fish, but I'm not sure where to even start with them.
  • avro001
    avro001 Posts: 13 Member
    Barring the game meats, I dig the general menu.

    Sardines (which I would think would be on this list) are supposed to be great for you, and I love fish, but I'm not sure where to even start with them.

    Glad you like the menu :) I love sardines, herring, white anchovy etc. Sardines are great for making a really simple pasta. Just add olive oil, plain sardines and fresh garlic to spaghetti.. yum! otherwise any of those fish just on toast that you make in the oven with olive oil are great too!

    Of course pasta is not viking food but hey, it's something you can do with sardines :)
  • dsjohndrow
    dsjohndrow Posts: 1,820 Member
    Sounds good as long as you don't have to discover America again and not get credit for it..
  • pullipgirl
    pullipgirl Posts: 767 Member
    Why is it called a "viking diet" I'm pretty sure they ate the same thing as other people at the time maybe with just more protein. What's next the Swahili diet? Zombie diet? 50 shades of twilight diet?

    This sound like just another diet repackaged with a catchy name that will make people follow it.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Just a bunch more people making money from gullible people who will try anything other than a sensible, balanced diet to lose weight.
    No wonder there are so many books of every possible combination of foods under the sun, how many people actually just relearn how to listen properly to their body rather than listening to what random strangers suggest they eat ?
  • Natihilator
    Natihilator Posts: 1,778 Member
    Not into diet fads that aren't sustainable long-term, but if you can eat like this for life, go for it.

    Except I wouldn't eat too much pickled fish/veg, its not great for you in large amounts and hard on your stomach. I have Eastern European roots and I used to love me some pickled herring growing up but don't know if I could eat it now lol
  • Thomasm198
    Thomasm198 Posts: 3,189 Member
    Why is it called a "viking diet" I'm pretty sure they ate the same thing as other people at the time maybe with just more protein. What's next the Swahili diet? Zombie diet? 50 shades of twilight diet?

    This sound like just another diet repackaged with a catchy name that will make people follow it.
    The zombie diet: eat nothing but raw meat. No fruits, vegetables, grains, breads, pastas, etc. The meat should ideally be still on the bone and ideally be human. :laugh:
  • msbunnie68
    msbunnie68 Posts: 1,894 Member
    Why is it called a "viking diet" I'm pretty sure they ate the same thing as other people at the time maybe with just more protein. What's next the Swahili diet? Zombie diet? 50 shades of twilight diet?

    This sound like just another diet repackaged with a catchy name that will make people follow it.
    The zombie diet: eat nothing but raw meat. No fruits, vegetables, grains, breads, pastas, etc. The meat should ideally be still on the bone and ideally be human. :laugh:

    Zombie diet: brains...braiiiiiinsss...braiiiiiiinnnnssss
    Or for the discerning vegetarians, there is the Vegan Zombie diet: grains....graiiiiinssss...graiiiinnnnssss
  • chubbygirl253
    chubbygirl253 Posts: 1,309 Member
    I don't do fad diets but the name VIKING diet conjures up memories of the nasty concoctions that Rose on The Golden Girls would come up with. I think they all involved pickled herring. Hmm no thank you!
  • ferrytrip
    ferrytrip Posts: 497 Member
    I'm so glad you explained the diet. I live in viking country i.e. Minnesota and the viking diet here is beer, brats, pizza, hamburgers etc very unhealthy - lucky football season is only so long.
  • chubbygirl253
    chubbygirl253 Posts: 1,309 Member
    Why is it called a "viking diet" I'm pretty sure they ate the same thing as other people at the time maybe with just more protein. What's next the Swahili diet? Zombie diet? 50 shades of twilight diet?

    This sound like just another diet repackaged with a catchy name that will make people follow it.
    The zombie diet: eat nothing but raw meat. No fruits, vegetables, grains, breads, pastas, etc. The meat should ideally be still on the bone and ideally be human. :laugh:

    Zombie diet: brains...braiiiiiinsss...braiiiiiiinnnnssss
    Or for the discerning vegetarians, there is the Vegan Zombie diet: grains....graiiiiinssss...graiiiinnnnssss

    brains...grains, lol
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    This just sounds like traditional English food - stuff my Mum used to make me when I was a kid before Pizza, Curry and Pasta became UK table favourites. It's sort of a default setting for Northern European diet.......
  • Arrabindi
    Arrabindi Posts: 169 Member
    Why is it called a "viking diet" I'm pretty sure they ate the same thing as other people at the time maybe with just more protein. What's next the Swahili diet? Zombie diet? 50 shades of twilight diet?

    This sound like just another diet repackaged with a catchy name that will make people follow it.

    There's nothing called the viking diet, and it's not a diet in the weightloss dieting meaning of the word diet (hope that sort of made sense). It started as a revolution against the idea that all finer foods were inspired by the French cuisine, and there were some innovative chefs like Claus Meyer and Rene Redzepi that decided to make nordic produce modern and cool. Noma (short for Nordic Food in Danish) has been awarded the best restaurant in the world for the past three years, and some claim Copenhagen to be the new food capital of the world. It's basically all about eating natural foods that are in season, which is a lot healthier than processed crap, but the new Nordic kitchen is not about weightloss.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/apr/30/worlds-50-best-restaurants-2012-noma
  • Arrabindi
    Arrabindi Posts: 169 Member
    I'm so glad you explained the diet. I live in viking country i.e. Minnesota and the viking diet here is beer, brats, pizza, hamburgers etc very unhealthy - lucky football season is only so long.

    And here I thought Scandinavia was viking country. Never knew they actually came from Minnesota...
  • supafly419
    supafly419 Posts: 7 Member
    I think it is quite interesting and worth looking into another way "evolution".
    We just developed food way to fast during the last centuries and our bodies did not have the chance to adapt that fast.
    E.g. the stone age man where eating way less carbs. No bread, no noodles,.... We eat carbs in quite big quantity every single day.
  • ferrytrip
    ferrytrip Posts: 497 Member
    I'm so glad you explained the diet. I live in viking country i.e. Minnesota and the viking diet here is beer, brats, pizza, hamburgers etc very unhealthy - lucky football season is only so long.

    And here I thought Scandinavia was viking country. Never knew they actually came from Minnesota...

    Lets not let logic or history get in the way here. This place is full of Scandanavians and a mysterious food called "hot dish"

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