43 and trying to get healthy

This advice may be given with the best intentions, but it's taken to such extremes that it's not only impossible to follow, it's unhealthy if it were to be followed to a T. You can't go low fat and low carb at the same time, that means high protein and bad for your kidneys. I think the most important thing you can do for your health, including your blood pressure, is to lose weight and become more active. To do that, you need to stick to lower calories. To do that, you need to eat well. Bland, boring food is not eating well. Instead, and what I think was the thought behind this advice from the start, but somehow hard to prescribe: cook more from scratch, and prepare balanced meals. Add just enough fat, sugar and salt to make the food appealing. Eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, including whole grains, beans and pulses, eggs, dairy, fish and meat, nuts and seeds, fats and oils. Have treats occasionally. Eat food you like, and enjoy your food. Don't eat too much overall. Get enough sleep, manage stress, exercise moderately.

michelle91674 wrote: »

kommodevaran wrote: »

This advice may be given with the best intentions, but it's taken to such extremes that it's not only impossible to follow, it's unhealthy if it were to be followed to a T. You can't go low fat and low carb at the same time, that means high protein and bad for your kidneys. I think the most important thing you can do for your health, including your blood pressure, is to lose weight and become more active. To do that, you need to stick to lower calories. To do that, you need to eat well. Bland, boring food is not eating well. Instead, and what I think was the thought behind this advice from the start, but somehow hard to prescribe: cook more from scratch, and prepare balanced meals. Add just enough fat, sugar and salt to make the food appealing. Eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, including whole grains, beans and pulses, eggs, dairy, fish and meat, nuts and seeds, fats and oils. Have treats occasionally. Eat food you like, and enjoy your food. Don't eat too much overall. Get enough sleep, manage stress, exercise moderately.

I totally agree, and I think you are exactly right. when the doctor first told me, low carb, low fat, low sodium I was left thinking, well what do I eat, I don't know how to low carb and go low fat at the same time. She had recommended the DASH diet, so I did some research, the basics of DASH is eating whole grains, fruit and veggies, no processed food, lots of water, healthy fats.

It's the absolutes that makes diets so difficult, and scary too, because they demand perfection, so the smallest slip means failure. But perfection is neither possible nor necessary. What you're really after, is improvement. Improving your diet is really simple and attainable: choose whole grains more often, eat more (both amounts and types of) fruit and vegetables, cook more at home (home cooking is processing too), be aware that many drinks have calories, avoid man made trans fats and deep fried foods. If you're not enjoying your diet, you're adding to the stress, and stress is not good for your blood pressure.