We had that as well.
I was just lucky to grow up in a place during a specific time period where fresh food from the market (beef, poultry, veggies) was cheaper than processed food. Also, parents with a defiant attitude to what we now call self-improvement.
Not sure what I would have learned in an environment where processed food is cheaper than fresh food, and self-improvement has become a source of anxiety and burnout.
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I had never heard about that but it appears to only be important for those people with existing health problems like pre-diabetes, obesity etc
.
For those without any conditions, it doesn’t matter.
This is definitely true in the US. The manufacturer decides what constitutes a “serving size” and the nutrition label information is based on that.
Here are a few images from Reddit rants. First, a bag of crisps that is small enough one might think it’s a single-serving bag. The calories are in in big, bold print and you might think okay, 80 calories isn’t bad. Except a serving size is 1/4 of the bag. I will grant that the serving size is right above the calorie listing, but no one reads that when it’s already a small bag.
Then there’s this one, which is an individually wrapped cookie. The serving size is 1/3 of a cookie. At least they’re honest and also provide a calorie count for the whole thing:
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I have a big interest in nutrition. My mum was a cook in the WAAF at an airbase in Scotland during WW2, she taught me a lot about different cuts of meat, how to deal with them etc. My dad had a large vegetable garden at the back of the house he grew lots of healthy stuff in, it was his hobby when he wasn’t backing horses at the bookie’s 
He used to tell us not to eat a lot of sugary stuff and if he gained weight he cut down on the calories for a month or so to lose it again. I think it was military discipline as he’d been a Royal Marine.
My husband revamped the vegetable garden when the house was left to us after dad’s death, it proved to be a great release for him when I was being treated for cancer and I appreciated all the lovely seasonal veg, salads and rhubarb he grew.
My brother and his wife are both Type 2s, he manages his but she doesn’t and just eats a load of crap. She nearly died a couple of years ago and was in intensive care for a long time as her blood sugar levels were all over the place (she was warned she was lucky to survive). She just doesn’t care and it’s like she has a death wish, sits in front of TV all day eating sugary snacks and other rubbish. It makes me mad if I’m honest as my bro worries like crazy.
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My aunt does the same thing. She doesn’t want to stop eating her favourite foods and just injects insulin…
If either of your relatives doesn’t have a CGM - Continuous Glucoe Monitor- they should try to get one. Effortlessly gives an accurate indication of where your BS levels are. I believe a prescription isn’t necessary anywhere in Europe to buy them but if you want insurance to pay they need to be prescribed by a diabetes expert.
Learning what individual foods do to your sugar levels is a first step to modify behaviour.
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BBC article this morning: You don't need 8 hours sleep: Health tips from the BBC's twin doctors
One interesting take from the psychologist the docs had as a guest on their podcast (quote):
…there’s no such thing as willpower…Willpower is not this magic thing inside you, instead your ability to stick to something is “about the way you’ve arranged the world around you”.
I liked the sleep advice, but as to “no such thing as willpower”. That is BS. Of course you can arrange your life to make things easier. It is much easier to keep up your exercise (or any other activity or habit) if you have a regular class or routine but the idea that willpower plays no role is misleading.
In a similar vein -one I heard the other day, and which I wish I had known and appreciated earlier - and it doesn’t just apply to fitness.
Motivation is usually something that happens after you start an activity and not before.
People put off things - going for a run in the rain for example, but once they put on their running shoes and get out of the door, they start feeling great and often a planned short run turns into a much longer one.
Once people actually start something, they usually see it through.
I suppose it’s willpower that actually gets them out of the door.
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Although the idea of this thread suggests that if we had known things earlier, our current state health may have turned out better, I’ve read a few stories on social media/news recently which suggest it’s never to late to start.
There were the big stories like the 80-year-old grandmother became the oldest woman to finish the Ironman World Championship.
Anyone who has done any type of endurance sport will appreciate what an amazing achievement this sort of thing is, at any age but in this case, as well as her age, she didn’t even know how to swim until she was 59.
On a smaller scale, but still a great achievement, was another lady in her eighties who was confined to shuffling along with the aid of a rollator. She could no longer walk unaided for more than thirty seconds due to osteoporosis.
Then she started doing some simple weight training - weighted squats and so on and can now walk for three minutes, at speed.
I saw the story on Instagram but it’s here
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EbS_tPV5qRw
I suppose the lesson here is that we all lose muscle as we age so it’s important to retain, or increase muscle if we can - but, and here’s the important bit - when older, it’s easier to retain existing muscle than build new muscle.
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I was diagnosed with adhd and dyslexia in my 50s, it helped a lot, but I had some really serious anxiety growing up and I will never really know if understanding adhd at a younger age would have helped deal with my anxiety because they are related.
I also wish I had a better understanding of the impact of yo yo dieting and wished I had just said no to some of it.
I wish I had not dealt with misogynistic physicians.
Ditto the yo yo dieting. Back in the 80s my sister talked me into joining a slimming club with her, at the time I was 8st 7 and a British size 10 (Eur 38 / US 8). The group leader told me I needed to lose 10lbs which I did, but afterwards I started regaining it and more. I ended up yo yo dieting and now at the age of 64 I’m a UK 14/16.
My sister is older and obsessed with people needing to be thin, her generation of teens had the likes of Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy as role models. I think she’s been on and off diets since she was 16 which was back in 1969. Every time I see her she’s cutting down again but she’s tall compared to me and only a size 10/12. I don’t think she was helped by having a controlling partner in her 20s and early 30s who used to make her weigh herself every day. He was a hairdresser with 2 salons and vain as hell.
I just read an interesting article:
Banana enzyme blocks heart-healthy compounds in smoothies, study shows | Fox News
Shame, I really enjoy bananas and berries together!
I go to Fox news for amusement, not for (dis)information. There is an element of truth in this article. Bananas are high in polyphenol oxidase, so are apples and many other fruit. However it takes a lot of oxygen and time to significantly reduce polyphenol levels (I once worked on a project aiming to reduce! polyphenol levels in white wine). Quickly blending a smoothie (cooling helps reduce the reaction and they better drunk fresh) is not going to do it. So just keep on enjoying those bananas in your cocktail. 
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Bathe in the river or lake in winter. Preferably naked.
That should be legally punishable.
I am sad that so much of the brain power (and life!!!) of women is wasted on those type of things. @Cherub let me give you the perfect way out to sizes… a tailor! 
About 20 years ago I was working in the Philippines, and one of my western male colleagues asked me if I could join him to go to a private clinic for a liposuction.
I answered him WTF? you don’t need anything (he was absolutely not even chubby, but was depressed, so I guessed that was one of the ‘scape outlets’).
Then I thought, well, maybe it’s better if I go and try to convince him otherwise, or he’ll go alone, and god knows what he will get himself into.
Fast forward one week, we go to an appointment with a ‘plastic surgeon’.
The ‘doctor’ greets us, and my male friend starts with " well, there are some areas that I am not happy with"…
the “doctor” stops him, and says, “let me give you my professional opinion”. Then, he comes to ME, starts turning me around, and says "well, yes, we could get rid of ‘this’ and ‘this’ and ‘this’… It was so totally unexpected, that, for 10-20 seconds I was speechless.
And then…well, after what I said - very coldly- to that “doctor”, my friend would have never had the option of being operated in that clinic… (and he abandoned the idea, thanks god).
On that field, there are so many unprofessionals that it makes me cringe…
p.s. and no, I didn’t need to get rid of anything 
Not exactly yo-yo dieting but bad advice nevertheless.
In 1990 when I started working in France I went to the company medical and the doctor there told me I needed to watch my weight. I was 1.70 and weighed 61kg which is on the low side of a healthy weight range but she insisted that I shouldn’t be above 60kg.
I ignored her advice.
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60kgs? Thats like an embryo, I use 60 kg dumbbells for a warm up.
I really only have one regret and that is in not seeking help for depression earlier. Now there is so much good information and help available but one does have to sift through it carefully. I really liked this article on sport as you get older, which is highly relevant for me now; You should act your age – at least when it comes to exercise. Here’s why | Well actually | The Guardian