Daily menu for Finns and Swedes

[Karen Douglas Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Karen Douglas]

A week or so ago, a friend told me that he had heard that Finns and Swedes eat a heart-healthy diet of five meals a day. "Is that true?" he asked. He wants to adhere to a heart-healthy lifestyle and is convinced you have all the answers! So, I decided to ask you my Finnish and Swedish ''cousins." On my trips to both countries, I remember eating a good breakfast of rye bread, assorted cold meats, cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers - plus strong dark coffee. (We actually had coffee 5-6 times a day!) But, I can't remember what we had for lunch or dinner on any given day. So, a question for you: What is a typical menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner? And, do present-day Scandinavians still adhere to morning and afternoon coffeetime as my family does?

Thanks!

Karen

[sune Registered Find all posts View Profile Close sune]

Here is a typical dayly menu for me:

In the morning I usually have two slices of toast with ham, cheese and tomato, two cups of coffee, two local newspapers, the morning news on TV.

For lunch I eat out. We have a good Thai resturant and a good Chinese restaurant in town, which a visit frequently. If I eat "Finnish" I have beef with vegetables, mashed potato or fries or boiled potato. With the meal I drink water and have cup of coffee for dessert.

In the aftenoon I drink a couple of cups of coffee.

When I come home I eat a home simple home cooked meal (pasta, beef, soup, hamburger or fish). With it I drink water or beer. For dessert I have a couple of cups of coffee.

In the evening i eat a couple of slices of bread and drink a beer or a couple of cups of coffee. If the weather is fine I grill a couple of sausages in the back yard and have definitely a bottle of beer.

If I wake up hungry in the middle of the night I have a fast bowl of cereal with milk.

My colesterol is 4.4 (it was checked last week) and I am 5'11'' and weigh 176 lbs.

When I was younger I could have 20-25 cups of coffee a day without problems. Recently I have had to cut down. But if I have less than five I get a splitting headache.

I hope this answers your question

Sune

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

When I've visited relatives in Finland we've eaten 5-6 times a day and never missed afternoon coffee. Some of my relatives said they drink up to 27 cups of coffee a day! I noticed they like bread and potatoes eat a lot of it. When relatives have visited me, they go through a whole loaf of bread for breakfast! And they liked our whole wheat bread, which is the only bread I buy. My father ate what his family ate when he grew up in Finland; was seldom sick and lived to be 91 1/2.
June

[b hietala Registered Find all posts View Profile Close b hietala]

Good Diets

I agree with Sune.... have at least 3 beers a day. My dad had oatmeal every morning and he lived to 90... we ate meat, potatoes and vegetables every day.... Basically, a good Finn can eat and drink anything as long as he/she works hard.... so that's it.... eat anything you want.. drink lots of beer and coffee....