As a Dietitian I am sure most people wonder what we really eat. Do we survive on salad? Do we ever eat cake? Do we actually practice what we preach?
It is an interesting question, so I decided to let you have a peep into my fridge after a food shop. This will be genuine; no special buys or cheating.
Do I eat a healthy, balanced diet? Here is the contents of my fridge after a shop:
Fruit and Vegetables – I may follow the dietitian stereotype here. In my family we do try and eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. I love strawberries, raspberries and blueberries with yoghurt, as a dessert, so we always have a few tubs in the fridge. Peppers and onions are the staples of most of my evening meals and most days for lunch I have a salad. Rocket, cucumber, carrot and tomatoes are found in abundance. The 5 a day message is still very clear; in some countries this reaches 9 a day. My goal is to try and get my family to eat as much as we can; focusing more on vegetables where possible. They are low calorie, full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. Actually achieving this with a 23 month old is another matter! She hates fruit…HOW???
Milk – we have a LOT of milk in the fridge. I am not a milk drinker at all and have to look to alternative sources to get enough calcium; yoghurt, cheese, almonds and green vegetables are more my preference. My husband consumes a lot and uses the lower fat, semi-skimmed on his cereal. It is important my 22 month old daughter continues on full-fat milk until she is at least 2 years old. The fat and calories are important for her growth.
Chicken, turkey mince and salmon – it’s important to include lean protein with each meal and these are the sources we pick in my family. Protein helps to keep you full. Chicken and turkey mince are low fat and really easy to cook with. We have curry, chilli and bolognaise most weeks. We have just returned to eating salmon as are aware it is packed with Omega 3 oils, good for heart health. It is lovely in a Thai curry or risotto.
Eggs – quite possibly the most versatile thing in my fridge. I have a boiled egg every day for breakfast. My husband enjoys poached eggs for his lunch and scrambled egg and peas is my daughter’s fail-safe meal. Eggs are packed with protein, Vitamin A, B12 and D. They do contain cholesterol but this does not cause your own cholesterol to rise, so they can be eaten freely.
Olives, homous, low fat coleslaw and pasta salad – I love a good salad for lunch but lets face it, they need spicing up a bit. Olives are a great source of mono-unsaturated , hearth healthy fats and really tasty. They can be a bit salty, so you only need a few. Homous comes in so many different flavours now and a blob is lovely on salads. I love the spicy varieties but do remember there is a lot of calories in it so stick to 1/4 of a tub per portion. You can try low fat versions but in my experience they don’t taste as nice. Small amounts of what tastes good is fine.
Yoghurt and fromage frais – I have a slight obsession with Greek yoghurt . It is delicious with berries. My daughter also loves it and she will have some at least once a day. Normal Greek yoghurt is higher in fat and saturated fat but a small amount; two tablespoons, is not a problem. It contains no added sugar or sweetners and a good source of protein and calcium. My daughter is a fruit flavoured fromage frais addict but we to restrict them due to the higher sugar content; one every other day is pretty normal.
Cheese – Mozzerella, Red Leicester and Edam are the firm favourites in our household. Mozzerella is perfect for making home-made pizzas and my daughter loves Edam when having more of a picky-style tea. It is high in protein and a source of calcium. Bear in mind your portion sizes. A matchbox which is around 30g is classed as a portion. Try grating cheese where you can to ensure you are eating less. It is high in fat, calories and salt which can add up quickly
Spreads – there is all types of spread in my fridge. Normal butter, high in saturated fat; Flora, high in polyunsaturated fats and olive spread, high in monounsaturated fats. This was due to my husband not being sure which to pick! It is confusing. Ultimately we usually have the olive spread, due to the higher content of monounsaturated fats, which help raise good cholesterol levels and are good for heart health.
Chocolate – there is no way my fridge is a perfect fridge. I love chocolate as much as the next person and we always have some stashed away. My husband and I tend to a few squares after tea with a cuppa. Enjoying small amounts of these foods is fine, as long as your overall diet is healthy.
I think this fridge is a pretty healthy fridge. It is filled with fruits and vegetables, lean protein and dairy. There is always some chocolate and overall the makings of some very delicious food!
What about you? What does your fridge look like? Do you eat like a dietitian
**Please note this post was in no way sponsored by Tesco and there are plenty of other reputable supermarkets where you can stock your fridge.
Very healthy I'm always so nosey and love to know what other people eat! we all have to have a little chooclate stash somewhere!! #sundaystars x
Our fridge is similar with a little stash of dark chocolate instead of dairy milk. Lots of veggies too like you. I am thinking of trying the turkey mince. Great idea. I will look for it. #sundaystars
I love seeing into other people's fridges and seeing what they eat! I love hummous and I too eat a salad every lunchtime so it does need spicing up! #sundaystars xx
Thank you sooooo much for sharing. I have no imagination when it comes to food & since going vegetarian a few months back ive pretty much lived on cheese on toast for lunch! I'm off to buy salad, make humous, olive spread & start using my juicer again. #sundaysStars
Really interesting read, we have started to look at our diet carefully in the last few months and had a few small changes that really helping. Since OB was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes I was shocked at how little I understood food
This is a great post and I love it that your a dietician. I see a dietician every 3 months and have been eating just 1400 calories a day since october last year (i'm also on tons of steroids) I'm doing okay as i've lost quite a bit but your post makes me feel that i need to balance things out better! I really think I need to follow some kind of plan… but yes focussing on fruit and veg and the protein is a good start!
Angela x
I'm always fascinated by what other people eat. You have a great, healthy combination of foods here – but being a dietician you know that already 😉 #sundaystars
What a great idea for an article! Love it.
Ooo it's interesting to see in your fridge! Ours is actually quite similar which makes me feel good 🙂 #sundaystars
My fridge is a dairy free version of yours! Good to see you still fit a treat in there 🙂
looks like a well stocked fridge. We tend to always have strawberries and raspberries at this time of year as well. Don't have much meat in ours as I'm vege (kids and hubby eat it) but we tend to have a few vegetarian meals instead
#bloggingtojogging
I don't like fruit either, so I can empathise with your daughter! I'm fine with vegetables – and I tend to like the sweeter types like sweetcorn and peas – but I just don't like fruit? Isn't it odd?! I like a fruit smoothie though so it's actually the texture that puts me off.
x
#bloggingtojogging
This was an interesting read, I don't think I've ever come across the fridge of a dietician before. I live on a Greek island so we avoid all processed foods as they are imported and expensive but are lucky to have the most amazing fruits and vegetables growing around us.
I was very surprised to find low fat products in your fridge though as we all now know how much sugar they contain. The other surprise was margarine of any variety as it's so processed and recent research has shown that in fact it is not healthy for your heart at all, but butter is.
What's your view on low carbohydrate, high fat as a way of life? I'd be really interested to know…
Thanks for sharing on #SundayStars
I love seeing a fridge filled with food. I am trying to have a much healthier diet and so this post is a brilliant help. Our fridge is also filled with huge amounts of fruit and Greek yoghurt. Little Miss H is a fruit monster and would quite happily eat only fruit. Thanks for linking up to #SundaysStars lovely. Hugs Mrs H xxxx
This is really interesting to read and like most people who have commented, I love a good nosy through people's fridges (it's just too bad I can't help myself to what's in them!) 😉
We've just had our food shop delivered this morning and the contents of my fridge doesn't look dissimilar to yours. I'm more of a fruit person though so I feel like I should probably up my veggie intake.
Jenna at Tinyfootsteps xx
Looks pretty similar to mine! Interesting about restricting the petit filous…..my daughter doesn't like milk so she has two a day which I thought was a good thing for her calcium intake. Cue panic! xMMT #bloggingtojogging
I love getting insight into other people's eating habits. I think your fridge looks very much like mine. I try to encourage my family with lots of fruit and veg too but don't worry about us having an occasional treat too (chocolate is my favourite!) #bloggingtojogggibg
Loved reading this and was pleased to see a lot of similarities with my own fridge. Just wish I could stop at a few squares of chocolate!
Great post. #SundayStars
x
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Haha I do find it tricky!! x