What to eat

I am confused. In an age where the latest trend is to eat healthier food, buy local, and all that, I really do try.

My first motivator is the Mediterranean diet because it is supposed to be healthy and because I like the food. This means eating plant based food like grains, fruits and vegetables, less butter and more olive oil, less red meat and more fish and poultry. I can do this. Except my husband likes steak so when we eat red meat, I have gotten us smaller portions. This works pretty well for us.

Then there is the fibromyalgia diet which is lots of plant based food and lean protein which sounds pretty similar so that should work as well.

But then there is the arthritis diet which says lots of beans particularly ones with antioxidants like red beans, small red kidney beans, and pinto beans as well as black  beans and garbanzos. It also says to avoid the nightshade family to reduce inflammation. Night shade vegetables are tomatoes, eggplant, red bell peppers and potatoes. Some studies have shown them to contribute to increased pain in arthritis patients but this is not yet confirmed.

What is very common in the Mediterranean diet? Tomatoes, egg plant, red bell peppers and potatoes. This clearly leads to a conflict.

Also, there is the breast cancer - soy link. I hate tofu so I opt to skip it. I also avoid soy supplemented food and edamame because every time I turn around, the proverbial them change their mind if it is okay for breast cancer people to eat or not.

So if I take all this advice and summarize it. More chicken and fish, more beans and hummus. Less red peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes which could lead to a boring Mediterranean diet. Skip the tofu as well.