Meals... What do you eat? Need advice...

Reason

Reason

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I am looking to improve the overall meal choices for my g/f & I and switch to a more planned out program with more variety & less carbs.

We've been eating entirely too much pasta, potatoes, burgers, steak, pizza, macaroni, etc....

As you might have guessed I am not a huge vegetable fan but I want to start making baby steps to a healthier diet & introduce some variety as well.

I am beginning my search for some free online guides & such so any suggestions/advice is much recommended.

Thx!
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I recently decided to start eating healthier. Been at it for like three weeks I suppose, feel I can keep doing this indefinitely. Been eating a lot of fruit and nuts. Who doesn't like fruit?

I don't really like vegetables either, but they are not all bad. Celery is good with peanut butter, carrots are good with spinach dip or something similar. Salads are good, throw some raisins and nuts in there and it'll be more satisfying than you would imagine. Today for dinner I had these chicken strips cut to smaller bits and threw them in to a big salad, then had a banana on the side with just a glass of water. I'll bring say a peanut butter sandwhich to work with some cantaloupe or a grapefruit. I think I'm gradually starting to eat less than I did before, but I'm not any more hungry for it, I was simply eating too much. I'm really skinny mind you so I'm not doing this to loose weight, but for general health and all the good jazz that that entails. I'm pretty lazy and noobish when it comes to preparing meals, so I can't really give ideas on recipes or well prepared meals, I go for low prep time just as I did before.

I wouldn't try and ban certain stuff from your diet altogether, I hear that does not work out so well, in that it will just make you want those foods more. I mean I've been completely abstaining from certain junk stuff like cookies, stuff that I like but can easily go without, that way it does not seem as big a deal to me to eat things I do genuinely crave, and eat em once a week (like a pizza or a burger). I like sugar sodas, but not enough that I can't simply do without them altogether. So for example I note to myself I haven't had a soda in three weeks, having a pizza one night isn't such a big deal considering I'm eating much healthier overall.
 
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I would highly recommend making a good hearty soup in bulk and then freezing it for latter use. Also, it is the type of carbs that you are eating that are harmful. Wheat, for example, contains a tremendous amount of complex carbs which are much better for your body (they take hours to feed into the body as opposed to simple carbs which jolt you with blood sugar spikes).
 
I've been monitoring blood sugars for a few days now, and here's what I've found:

Salad--good.
Meat--good.
Cereal--bad.
Eggs--good.
Whole grain bread--good (but still in ltd quantities.)
I made chicken, stuffed it with a mix of ricotta, mozzarella, spinach, garlic and parmesan. Just something I made up...should have added a bit of lemon juice/rind to the cheese mix for flavor. Seared it in a pan, then baked. Blood sugar stayed normal--so it was very good, in this sense.
Nuts--good.
Stevia--good for when sweetener is wanted.
Milk--jury's out as of yet.
Beans--good in ltd quantity.
Vegetables--all good.

Also...I've read up that cinnamon, turmeric, garlic and onions are some of the more common things to help control sugar in the blood, so I use them as much as possible. Cinnamon in the coffee. Turmeric on eggs. Garlic/onions in appropriate foods. Can't say whether it works or not yet, because I haven't started experimenting with negative/positive controls...but it can't hurt.

My cholesterol is also genetically very low, so I don't worry about that at all...but yours might be different. Get it checked someday if you haven't. Even if it is high--don't eat low-fat packaged foods! That stuff has some of the worst crap in it and will definitely knock your blood sugars out of whack--even non-sweet stuff.
 
Andrew-Austin said:
I recently decided to start eating healthier. Been at it for like three weeks I suppose, feel I can keep doing this indefinitely. Been eating a lot of fruit and nuts. Who doesn't like fruit?

I don't really like vegetables either, but they are not all bad. Celery is good with peanut butter, carrots are good with spinach dip or something similar. Salads are good, throw some raisins and nuts in there and it'll be more satisfying than you would imagine. Today for dinner I had these chicken strips cut to smaller bits and threw them in to a big salad, then had a banana on the side with just a glass of water. I'll bring say a peanut butter sandwhich to work with some cantaloupe or a grapefruit. I think I'm gradually starting to eat less than I did before, but I'm not any more hungry for it, I was simply eating too much. I'm really skinny mind you so I'm not doing this to loose weight, but for general health and all the good jazz that that entails. I'm pretty lazy and noobish when it comes to preparing meals, so I can't really give ideas on recipes or well prepared meals, I go for low prep time just as I did before.

I wouldn't try and ban certain stuff from your diet altogether, I hear that does not work out so well, in that it will just make you want those foods more. I mean I've been completely abstaining from certain junk stuff like cookies, stuff that I like but can easily go without, that way it does not seem as big a deal to me to eat things I do genuinely crave, and eat em once a week (like a pizza or a burger). I like sugar sodas, but not enough that I can't simply do without them altogether. So for example I note to myself I haven't had a soda in three weeks, having a pizza one night isn't such a big deal considering I'm eating much healthier overall.
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Only eat the natural peanut butter. Jiff and Skippy and all are hydrogenated into plastic.
 
This summer me and a buddy did an "all natural diet". I went from 205-175 in 3 months. That was from eating well and exercising from the summer.

The diet was basically eating all natural foods. It was mostly everything on the food guide pyramid. For meats we ate grass fed beef and pork. Remember to eat plenty of fish. I ate a lot of tuna and tilapia. Tilapia is generally pretty cheap. Tuna is too but yeah you know. Fruits are always good. Whatever you want will work, strawberries, bananas, apples, etc. We also made stir fry pretty often. We usually put in like broccoli, cauliflower, black olives, kidney beans, and probably some nuts. We also drank raw milk. Some states don't allow raw milk sales. Raw milk is way superior to everyday, pasteurized milk. It has a lot of nutrients and vitamins that aren't in regular milk. Eggs are good.

I feel like I'm rambling. Basically this isn't rocket science. Just eat more "good" food than you do junk food. An apple is obviously better than a debbie snack. A lean pork chop is better than a bowl of macaroni. Just keep it simple. Keep it natural. Remember to cut out corn syrup. You don't have to cut many things out just switch a little. I still eat with oil but it's olive oil now. I still eat bread but I eat bread without hfcs. I still eat sugar. It just happens to come in the form of fruit.

Remember that weight loss is all about calories. So regardless what you eat if you exercise enough you'll be okay. Good luck. My diet did wonder for me. I loved it and saw some real tangible results. Good luck.
 
Mental diet is more important than physical.

God bless you!
 
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Lift heavy
Take a multi
Acquire Aesthetics
$$$ Profit

Good luck with your fitness goals in 2011.
 
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Before work - A glass of whole milk and either boiled Tilapia or Kielbasa
At work - a powerbar or 1/5th of a raw coconut or both (I'm pretty active at work - eat both of these and you'll be bouncing off the walls for hours with a noticeable rise in body temperature)
After work - Any combination of: broccoli, a sweet potato, blueberries, an egg, cheese (mozzarella or cheddar), "spring mix" frozen vegetables, shrimp, and a ton of mixed nuts

That's basically my diet 6 days a week. The seventh day is more like raw cookie dough, pizza, hot pockets, and ice cream. I went to the gym a couple months ago and they gave me some kind of electronic device that measures body fat. I don't know how accurate it is, but it said I had 5.2% body fat.
 
Watch the fruit --- you really can eat too much of it, and it'll screw your blood sugar if you've got problems already.

I don't cut out the starch entirely. I don't cut out the fat entirely. I don't understand why I would.

What I do cut out as much as possible is anything processed (I don't like the taste, anyhow). Lasagna, for instance, is supposedly a no-no. Today I'm making my lasagna roll-ups, which have just one piece of pasta each, and are filled with nice fresh cheeses and veggies. On top, a homemade tomato sauce with veggies and chicken, and a sprinkling of parmesan that will brown and give it a little texture. The original recipe I tweaked and changed was from someone's Weight Watchers book (but I liked how it looked, so I exchanged all the chemical-filled "lo-fat" stuff for the real deal). They're filling, and they're delicious.

Is it a "diet" food? Am I going to lose weight? No and no. It is, however, good enough to keep my sugar stable and my hunger sated.

I guess my point is that you can minimize your starches and make good decisions without completely cutting them out. Your plate should look balanced. Your starch should not fill up the plate, or even half of it. I usually aim for no more than 1/3 or 1/4 of my plate as starch, and only that because I cheat and mix veggies in with my starches at every turn. You can have more if you're eating a super-healthy "starch" like a sweet potato, I'd imagine, but I was born with the bad fortune to not enjoy them.

You can nitpick at everyone's list of food and find "bad foods" among them. Shrimp and eggs are high in cholesterol. Nuts are often high in fat. Powerbars... the jury is still out but I don't trust them, personally (I'd rather have some trail mix where I can control what goes into it). Chicken available in most supermarkets is of dubious origin. Cheeses are fatty or, if you go for low-fat versions of what's naturally a fatty cheese, a chemical wonder. Balance, patience, and a bit of forethought make a big difference.

* * *

Amy: Cinnamon is EXCELLENT and is also sold in little capsules if you can't stomach eating it all the time. Everyone's body reacts differently, but that's the biggest means of controlling my blood sugar, and it can even work too well at times.
 
MelissaWV said:
Amy: Cinnamon is EXCELLENT and is also sold in little capsules if you can't stomach eating it all the time. Everyone's body reacts differently, but that's the biggest means of controlling my blood sugar, and it can even work too well at times.
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I may try the capsules b/c I don't think I'm getting enough to be effective in my diet...I've found that the only time (in my short duration of testing) that I have glucose spikes is in the morning (so far, around 160 after breakfast)...if I'd been tested for glucose tolerance in the afternoon, I would have likely passed their little test. I wrote down a list of stuff to try, and cinnamon's on it. So I read up on the two different types of AM glucose spikes, and have to determine what it is also...whatever the remedy, I'll likely keep it long term, since this ups my chances of developing type II diabetes...which just still sounds so weird to me since I don't know of a single person in my family having it (that they know of.)

Thanks. :)
 
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I have used the e-mealz website http://e-mealz.com/ and think it really simplifies things. You print out a 7 day meal plan at a time. While I dont agree with all their recipes nutritionally, they do have a good bit of good stuff. They have multiple plans, including low-carb, gluten free, for families and couples. It does cost $15 for 3 months (12.50 if you use the dave ramsey discount code - DAVE I think) but you can save meals from three months and have enough forever. You print a grocery list and just get it. It is very simple. It takes away the planning and list making. Most of the meals are pretty easy and pretty quick and they try to use sale items in the menus.

I realize this isnt free (which is what you asked for) but to me it is more than worth it.
 
http://nutritiondata.self.com/

I use that website as a guide to try to put together meals. I'm trying to incorporate more fresh fruit and veggies and seeing the nutritional content vs. the other things I eat is encouraging. I've been using my blender to make fruit smoothies for breakfast (banana, berries (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry etc.), peaches, kiwi, etc.) anything that I like as a fruit I have liked blended into a smoothie. I make a huge glass and it is a good start to the day, low in calories for its nutritional content but high in carbs. I've started "hiding" in some greens like spinach, which hasn't really affected the taste. Hopefully can get to a 60/40 split of fruits vs. vegetables and still enjoy it.
 
gerryb said:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/

I use that website as a guide to try to put together meals. I'm trying to incorporate more fresh fruit and veggies and seeing the nutritional content vs. the other things I eat is encouraging. I've been using my blender to make fruit smoothies for breakfast (banana, berries (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry etc.), peaches, kiwi, etc.) anything that I like as a fruit I have liked blended into a smoothie. I make a huge glass and it is a good start to the day, low in calories for its nutritional content but high in carbs. I've started "hiding" in some greens like spinach, which hasn't really affected the taste. Hopefully can get to a 60/40 split of fruits vs. vegetables and still enjoy it.
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You should throw some protein and fat in there. Raw eggs and whey protein would be my suggestion. Fat is a better fuel and protein is essential. Sugar from fruits is just HFCS with some vitamins and fiber thrown in.
 
enoch150 said:
Cholesterol is good for you.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/mercola/mercola91.1.html

Fat is good for you, too. Powerbars are not good for you, but I eat them anyway.

The only things I make any effort at all to limit are sugar, salt, and iron.
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Most things are good for you in moderation or in combination with other foods that negate negative effects ;)

That was sort of my point; you will always find someone to tell you something is "bad." Fat is essential to one's diet. Without any fat whatsoever, you'd not do very well at all. Cholesterol can be good for you in certain quantities, and of course there are different kinds of cholesterol. I could have added that most seafood is tainted these days. It's another "in moderation" food.

Anyhow, I replied more to add to the OP that none of this will matter much if the problem is more one of lifestyle (stress, lack of exercise) so don't discount that.
 
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