Hello all, does anyone please have any tips on how to eat healthy and get the vitamins and minerals needed when you struggle eating stuff outside of safe foods (which for me are not the healthiest)? I have had a few deficiencies in the past and want to take steps to prevent them but its hard! Thanks in advance 
It sucks that all the best and most comfortable foods to eat are all bad for you. If possible try to include some new foods into your diet but gradually do it, small amounts at a time. Allowing your body to get accustomed to them.
It’s difficult to eat new things as the body isn’t used to new sensations. I have trouble eating some foods as I cannot stand the textures.
Used to hate raspberries and grapes but like them now as I only had small amounts at a time. Mum would give me a few every lunchtime to have with a sandwich.
Keep a journal / log of what you have eaten throughout the day. It’s easy for people to eat too much of the same thing as they don’t keep track of their food consumption.
Hi MJ
i did the Primal diet for 3.5-4 years and although I don’t follow it strictly now I’ve stuck with it mostly. It’s similar to a Paleo. Suppose the main difference is you get enough carbs which I needed as I didn’t need to lose weight but wanted to be healthy. I had a coach that for the first few months I would send in pictures of what I ate and kept a food diary. Because I was accountable I followed it strictly until I was confident I could keep it up. I would warn you that the first 2-3 weeks were extremely tough as my body was detoxing and I had headaches, low energy and sometimes felt a little sick. After that I felt good with lots of energy. Once I was focused and determined I could keep it going and was surprised how good I felt in general just from eating clean.
The breakfast cereals you eat have a lot of sugar, so you could try plain porridge and add just a teaspoonful of brown sugar if you want to sweeten it
It’s worth keeping in mind that most breakfast cereals are fortified with added vitamins and minerals, so can help with meeting our recommended daily levels of them.
I usually have cereal for breakfast (frosties, or chocolate hoops
For example, Kellogg’s Frosties and Kellogg’s Coco Pop Loops each contain added vitamins and minerals. A serving of each also contains only 12% or 7%, respectively, of the daily adult reference intake of sugar.
This is perhaps a good example of why I‘d encourage you to get advice from your GP and/or a nutritionist or dietician (as I’m currently doing).
I know that Lotus’s suggestion is well-intentioned (and I don’t mean any offence with this reply), but medical professionals will consider your overall dietary needs, enabling them to make fully informed recommendations for a healthy and balanced overall diet.
This is not medical advice, just general knowledge - we all know too much sugar is bad for us, so I would swap the high sugar foods for something healthier.
I buy Nairns Oaties biscuits which have about half the amount of sugar compared to a normal biscuit. Also you could try carrot sticks, plain crackers with cream cheese, or nuts as snacks.
The breakfast cereals you eat have a lot of sugar, so you could try plain porridge and add just a teaspoonful of brown sugar if you want to sweeten it (which is less than most cereals contain). Look at the grams of sugar per portion - a teaspoon is about 4 grams, so if it says 12g sugar per portion, thats 3 teaspoons.
So I do a lot of snacking through the day a lot of biscuits (bad I know). I usually have cereal for breakfast (frosties, or chocolate hoops something like that). My mum makes dinner so not normally to bad and lunch varies depending on how I feel that day. Normally like a cheese sandwich or something. I do mainly rely on a lot of snacks and i know I don't drink as much as I should as I find that hard too. I am vegetarian and can't have fructose. I'm sorry I know its not an exact list its just really hard to think of them on the spot!
What are your safe and unsafe foods? It would be much easier to make suggestions if I knew.
There's some advice here from the NHS, which includes:
Again, though, I suggest getting your GP's advice about any vitamin or mineral supplements that you might consider taking.
You're welcome! Even if your GP doesn't think that a dietician (or any other) referral is needed, they can still give you helpful advice. They might also offer a blood test, for example, to check for any current deficiencies.
Hey, I am not the best at cooking but I could ask my mum to help. My mum normally cooks dinner and so I am getting at least a couple vegetables with every meal. Usually something like peas, sweetcorn, carrots, green beans etc.
Hi are you good at cooking at all you could make meals like spaghetti bolognaise and add extra vegetables to it. What I do as well is if I’m making something like pork chops and super noodle I boil some frozen vegetables to go with it as well.
I suggest asking your GP for support with this. Mine has just referred me to a dietician, including for help with eating more healthily. In the meantime, I've been prescribed some nutritional / dietary supplements.
These NAS articles also mention other professionals who could potentially help:
