Do you emphasise one type of food (veg, protein, grains, etc.)?

[Laura Corin]

I'm curious about how most people aim to eat.  If we start from the USDA plate (just to have a term of reference) then answer based on whether you aim to eat roughly like the plate, or proportionately more of some category.  

 

Please answer for your whole day's food: for example, if you don't eat much fruit with meals, but do snack on it, then assume a 'day-sized' plate.  The poll is multi-choice.

 

Laura

[wapiti]

I'm weird. I aim to eat LCHF. I voted Other: remove the grain portion entirely (but for the occasional smitch), reduce the fruit portion to about a third or less of the piece there, replace both those fractions with....fats.

 

That's just me. (eta, I have insulin/glucose issues, so this is a long-term lifestyle way to avoid type 2 diabetes and its complications as well as lifetime meds; keeping weight off is just a bonus.) The rest of the family eats too much for grains and probably not quite enough vegetables and protein, even compared to the USDA plate. For them, I'd aim to increase protein somewhat, just to get to a normal portion. Plus I'd like them to eat more fats and less grains. They already eat tons of fruit (again with the carbs!)

[Julie Smith]

Youngest eats lots of dairy in the form of yogurt. 

 

We are vegetarian, so protein is not meat. 

[BrookValley.]

I aim to eat as many greens and veggies as possible, then I worry about protein and fats. I'm not into the paleo thing, but I do think it is important to eat high-quality protein and fat. I'm a vegetarian, if that makes a difference. I eat a lot of kale, spinach, lettuces, and broccoli, as well as a lot of eggs and beans and fats from pastured butter, coconut, olive oil, etc. I eat some cheese, but I am not a huge fan of dairy otherwise. I don't eat a ton of grains/breads/pastas. I eat a fair amount of nuts and seeds.

 

(Except when I'm on "vacation," like last weekend when I had friends in town, and I eat a lot of pasta and cheesecake and, well, everything is fair game. :lol: )

[Parrothead]

We aim to eat a mostly plant based diet.

[Joanne]

Meat and vegetables (non starchy)

[Karen in CO]

I aim for as large of a variety of unprocessed food as our various allergies will allow. 

 

Our major problems are one celiac with a dairy allergy and one child with anaphylactic nut and citrus allergies along with the fact that I can't eat chicken or pork and I refuse to fry anything.  Top that with about 15 other random food allergies and you have my limits.

 

Within that I go for variety and balance.  On a typical day, we have complex carbohydrates with protein and fruit for breakfast.  Vegetables with protein and fruit for lunch.  And a bigger variety of vegetables with some protein for dinner.  I make sure I add extra fat for the celiac and keep it away from my mom who has had a heart attack.  We probably eat at least 15 different vegetables each week along with 7 or 8 different fruits.  We eat vegetarian twice a week, fish at least once a week, beef, bison and lamb are also eaten almost every week.

[mommymilkies]

I aim to eat as many greens and veggies as possible, then I worry about protein and fats. I'm not into the paleo thing, but I do think it is important to eat high-quality protein and fat. I'm a vegetarian, if that makes a difference. I eat a lot of kale, spinach, lettuces, and broccoli, as well as a lot of eggs and beans and fats from pastured butter, coconut, olive oil, etc. I eat some cheese, but I am not a huge fan of dairy otherwise. I don't eat a ton of grains/breads/pastas. I eat a fair amount of nuts and seeds.

 

(Except when I'm on "vacation," like last weekend when I had friends in town, and I eat a lot of pasta and cheesecake and, well, everything is fair game. :lol: )

Us, too, but only two of us are pescetarians.  If the budget is really tight we eat more grains, otherwise we *try* to focus our meals around vegetables and then healthy protein. 

[Pawz4me]

USDA plate -- We believe in variety and moderation.

[Firefly]

I voted other.  We aim to eat a wide variety of non or minimally-processed foods.

[6packofun]

We aim to eat as few processed foods as possible, as many whole foods as we can.  Whole grains, lean protein, always need more veggies.  :)  Not sure where we fall in the poll, though, because we just try to do things in moderation.  If we are limiting anything, it's sugar and unhealthy fats, not entire food groups.  Portion control, too.

 

That doesn't give us any cool label for ourselves, but it works.  LOL  None of our kids is overweight, I lost 53 pounds this year and am doing fine maintaining. I'm so glad I didn't have to "diet" to get here! 

 

(Dh, on the other hand, IS overweight, but has different habits than the rest of us, mainly being very sedentary and snacking too much.  But he's doing better!)

[regentrude]

Other. I don't aim at anything. To be honest, I do not think very hard about designing our diet,  I simply continue to eat the way my family ate when I grew up: all food groups in moderation, little processed stuff, fresh fruits and vegetables daily. I do not like meat particularly, will eat it occasionally.

 

[redsquirrel]

I find everything except the veg takes care of itself so that is what I focus on. Is that what you are asking?

 

When I look at my kids' food, and my own food, I tend to think "how can I add more veggies to this meal" rather than anything else. it isn't because I don't value other stuff or due to my approach to food (vegetarian, not vegetarian etc) but rather that I see it as the weakest link. My kids will eat hummus on bread and I will suggest hummus with carrots or celery, for example.

 

When they ask 'what is there to eat' I always suggest a vegetable first. They don't have any problem reaching for fruit or cheese, or cereal as a snack, but won't think of a vegetable.

[Rosie_0801]

Protein earlier in the day, predominantly beans.

Grains at dinner time or I won't sleep.

 

 

[Jackie]

What we actually eat is heavy on whole grains and proteins and far too light on fruits and vegetables. I didn't vote because I'm to sure that we "aim" for this or anything else; those are just the foods we are drawn to.

 

M weight has crept up so I'm gearing up to restart Atkins induction in a week or two. So then I'll swing to proteins and vegetables, no grains or fruit.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Veggies, as many leafy greens as possible then lean meat, then fruit. Grains are whole and only a couple times a week though my boys eat sandwiches out. Oldest dd is a vegetarian so replaces meat with eggs, nuts, beans and the occasional soy frankenburger.

[musicianmom]

I try to keep grains to once a day, fruit and dairy as garnishes, and most of my food from meat and veggies.

[Desert Strawberry]

I am mostly vegan, and we limit soy products. 

I have a family of cheese eaters.

They love starches, I don't. 

My dh cooks meat about twice a month and eats lunch meat .

I try to balance it all out. 

We eat a lot of fruit, veg ,and grains (I bake).

[Joker]

I believe it's all okay in moderation. I have one who eats plenty of veggies, but I have to push the protein. The other eats plenty of protein and I have to push veggies. Everyone here does fine with fruits and grains.

[Orthodox6]

Preference for myself and for DH is vegan.  Accepted by us when necessary are pesco-vegan and/or pesco-vegetarian.  

Children are omnivores, although vegan whenever the Orthodox Church calendar so specifies.

My father is difficult to feed owing to myriad opinions and prejudices.

 

Thus, three distinct meal plans running simultaneously in our home, unless it is a(n Orthodox) fasting day/period, which reduces the number to two separate meal plans.

 

I cook/bake myself nearly all of the time.  (except for my Dad, who dislikes what we like)

 

[ sigh . . . ]

[LarlaB]

I'm weird. I aim to eat LCHF. I voted Other: remove the grain portion entirely (but for the occasional smitch), reduce the fruit portion to about a third or less of the piece there, replace both those fractions with....fats.

 

That's just me. (eta, I have insulin/glucose issues, so this is a long-term lifestyle way to avoid type 2 diabetes and its complications as well as lifetime meds; keeping weight off is just a bonus.) The rest of the family eats too much for grains and probably not quite enough vegetables and protein, even compared to the USDA plate. For them, I'd aim to increase protein somewhat, just to get to a normal portion. Plus I'd like them to eat more fats and less grains. They already eat tons of fruit (again with the carbs!)

 

I'm weird too  :hurray:

 

That's exactly how I eat....  High Fat, moderate veggies, moderate protein, minimal fruit and just a teensy bit of occasional bread/starch  (I have a wheat allergy, so avoid wheat...but do occasionally eat potatos & rice etc)

[Farrar]

We talk about being sure to get protein, especially in the morning and at lunch because those meals are often on the go and I think you have to do a check to be sure you have something.

 

And overall, we talk about pushing veg because I think it's too easy to get sucked into grains and dairy and so forth.

 

But I don't think we're actually eating a diet that emphasizes those things per se, more that I think those are the things on my basic checklist because everything else we get pretty naturally - snacking on fruit and bready things is so darn easy so I just try to limit them a bit.  But protein, at least earlier in the day, and veg all day, are things that I have to make sure we have in front of us or we don't get enough.

[go_go_gadget]

My first priorities in a meal--my non-negotiables--are fat and protein, followed closely by veg/fruit. We eat a little more fruit relative to veg than I'd like, and we're working on reversing that. We don't eat grains, and recently haven't eaten dairy, though I'm going to experiment with fermented/aged dairy when my son's leaky gut is fully recovered. 

[anabelneri]

I reach for grains and dairy most easily, but I'm finding that they don't work for me as well as I'd like.  These days I'm "pushing" protein first for me, because it seems to stabilize my mood & keeps me focused.  Then I *try* to eat veggies, but I'm terrible at including them even when I'm trying to, with the exception of tomatoes.  I can eat a tomato anytime anywhere, it seems.  

 

Oh, and I only answered for me... dh needs a whole different lineup of food than I do to keep his fast metabolism going.

:)

[Lucy in Australia]

I voted for more veggies.  I've discovered that the Mediterranean food pyramid works best for our family.  After arguing with my mother about it for, oh, about 20 years, turns out she's right :001_rolleyes: The only difference would be that we intentionally eat more (grass-fed) red meat than the pyramid indicates. I would gladly swap that for fish/seafood, but clean, local seafood is too expensive here.

[Melissa in Australia]

Other

 We are almost self sufficient. Our diet varies according to the growing season. Some times of the year we eat more fruit sometimes we eat more vegetables. Some times of the year we have mostly cooked vegetables and other times mostly raw. We eat meat every day.

[Lucy in Australia]

Other

 We are almost self sufficient. Our diet varies according to the growing season. Some times of the year we eat more fruit sometimes we eat more vegetables. Some times of the year we have mostly cooked vegetables and other times mostly raw. We eat meat every day.

 

 

I want to move into your house :tongue_smilie: This is my dream...

[Rosie_0801]

Road trip! Pick me up on the way through, Lucy!

[AdventureMoms]

We aim to eat minimal or no grains and replace them with vegetables, quality fats, and protein.  The kids eat some grains, but not in the amounts recommended by the USDA.  I think the plate, like most USDA recommendations, is based on politics and marketing rather than health.

[Momof3littles]

I'm weird. I aim to eat LCHF. I voted Other: remove the grain portion entirely (but for the occasional smitch), reduce the fruit portion to about a third or less of the piece there, replace both those fractions with....fats.

 

That's just me. (eta, I have insulin/glucose issues, so this is a long-term lifestyle way to avoid type 2 diabetes and its complications as well as lifetime meds; keeping weight off is just a bonus.) The rest of the family eats too much for grains and probably not quite enough vegetables and protein, even compared to the USDA plate. For them, I'd aim to increase protein somewhat, just to get to a normal portion. Plus I'd like them to eat more fats and less grains. They already eat tons of fruit (again with the carbs!)

Same here. I was a vegetarian for about a decade and it was probably quite damaging to my PCOS issues. I have never had a weight issue, but can gain quickly with carbs. I only cycle regularly with low carb and metformin together. Once I got my diagnosis, it became obvious to me that my family has a lot of metabolic syndrome issues (elevated triglycerides and hypertension for my dad, elevated cholesterol for my mom and brother, one brother loses weight rapidly with low carb and his blood pressure drops nicely, etc.).

 

My husband is healthy but has a family history of type 2 in his family. His hA1c was creeping up in his late 20s. Still normal, but creeping up. He feels much better on LC and easily maintains his weight that way. It also eliminated the post lunch grogginess he dealt with for years at work.

 

We've been doing this for about 10 years now and feel much better this way. We use a lot of paleo influences as well, like reducing our exposure to certain veg. oils, aiming for pastured meats when possible, etc.

 

My kids eat some grains (quinoa, sometimes sprouted bread), but far less than most kids eating a SAD.

 

We find it very easy to do a lot of veggies while eating LC. Most dinners are a protein plus two veggies, sometimes three, or a big salad plus a protein. Right now I'm eating spaghetti squash for breakfast ;)