Nutrition

[Samantha16]

I'm looking into being healthier, but I don't even know where to start!

I found I consume too much bread, milk, pasta, cheese. And have too much junk food because it's fast and inexpensive. (I can't cook).

 

It's hard to cut it out though.

 

My breakfast (on most work days): a piece of brown toast in the morning with a slice of cheese, a pasta lean cuisine or sandwich for lunch, whatever I want for supper, then a glass of milk before bed.

 

I cut out pepsi. I drink water. But any ideas to get a practical and well rounded diet where I can cut out the bread and pasta?

 

I find it's all about junk food because it's cheap and fast. And I'm sorry, I'll eat raw vegies but they're so boring!!

 

Maybe I'm being selfish and lazy, I just wish someone could plan out my meals for me everyday. (And cook them too). Otherwise it's junk food.

 

Any ideas would be great. Anything about nutrition.

[wideawake]

You'll find a wealth of info here:

 

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=13

 

 

Good luck.

[bluechocolate]

And if you're trying to be healthy then definitely cut out the junk food & as much convenience food as you can. Even the stuff that is "good for you" has been processed and altered.

 

I used to buy prepared salad greens - all different kinds of herbs & salad leaves, washed & in a bag. All you needed was dressing. What could be wrong with that? Then I discovered that it's all washed in chlorine & water, 20 times the strength of what's in a swimming pool, & they still find e-coli on some of it!

[Samantha16]

I know, that makes me so worried. Everything seems bad. You have to resort to a health food store and buy everything organic. I'm just guessing that.

I've cut out the junk. For snacks I bought baked chips/baked tostitos, and quaker spuds. I try to stay away from anything fried.

But by cutting out the junk food or prosessed, boxed foods, it seems like there's nothing to eat. Me and my boyfriend end up eating chicken salads, and quaker spuds. There's nothing to eat!!!! Carrots, celery sticks and apples...how exciting.

I end up being even more hungry!!

[bluechocolate]

There are loads of dishes you could make that wouldn't take up much time & would probably be better than the snacks you're buying.

 

Go and buy some cook books & look for ones for quick meals or single people (not that you're single, but they tend to be quick & deal with smaller quantities). You could even do stuff like make a big pot of curry on the weekend & eat it through the week, just boiling up some rice when you need it. Same thing with soup or chilli-con-carne, rice & beans, stews, etc.... You could make two of three different of these when you're feeling adventurous and freeze them in portion sizes so you're not eating the same meal all week.

 

I used to have a hard time with food living alone & being single because I never cooked, ever! I once had an apartment for 6 months where the stove was never turned on! Since I started living with my partner, who can only "cook" fish fingers, I've discovered that I can cook, that I enjoy cooking and that it's not that hard (and we still get take-aways 2 or 3 times a month).

[Matilda]

Bread is fine, as long as you are eating whole wheat/grain bread that is high in fiber. Pasta is also okay too, although not too much. Low fat cheese and low fat milk is good too.

 

I recently did the South Beach Diet and lost 10 lbs. I really think it is a nutritionally sound way of eating even if you don't need to lose weight. There is an emphasis on eating more protein and less carbs. Carbs are okay though, as long as they are the right kind of carbs.

 

It sounds like you need to learn a little basic cooking too. I don't really like to cook either, but it is very easy and quick to bake or broil, fish or chicken and steam some vegetables. There are lots of good recipe sites on the internet that can give you ideas. Try allrecipes.com or cookinglight.com.

[wideawake]

Or just get hard-core and eat nothing but cottage cheese and tuna for a month.

[Samantha16]

Cottege cheese and tuna....Are you joking? I know nothing about nutrition so if it works, I'm in. I can be hardcore. I assume you're joking though.

 

I was just looking at sites for healthy eating and it's so confusing!!

Good carbs, bad carbs, good fats, bad fats, sugars, protien, iron, dairy, correct portions, serving per day, calories per day. blah blah blah....

 

Just tell me what the heak to eat!!

 

Then everybody disagrees with everybody else. I hear atkins diet, cabbage soup diet, then people say that's bad, people say dieting is bad!!

 

I look at recipies and haven't even heard of half the ingredients they're talking about!

 

Screw it...i'm sticking to pizza and french fries. No worries in that department! (The Correct portion in the fast food department--eat till you're full. )

[wideawake]

Pizza and fries is about as bad as it gets...

 

High saturated fats, and high glycemic carbs. Basically you spike the hell out of your insulin load and then drive all that fat into both muscle and adipose tissue.

 

You'll get fatter, feel like crap and be well on your way to diabetes.

 

No I wasn't kidding about Cottage Cheese and Tuna.

 

Here's why:

 

Cottage Cheese has a very good protein profile being mostly composed of very slow digesting proteins. It also has a very low glycemic carb in the way of lactose (note: if you're lactose intollerant, or have probs with dairy, this isn't your gig...)

 

Tuna has even better protein/amino profiles and it has no carbs and healthy fats.

 

So if you could....eat those two as much as you can stand and it's a nice step in the right direction.

 

I actually ate NOTHING but cottage cheese and tuna for one full month when I needed to get ripped up for beach week. (this is some years ago....).

 

Worked like a charm.

[moimeme]

Get yourself a subscription to Cooking Light magazine - or pick it up in your grocery store. Most of the recipes are easy, the pictures are gorgeous, and the whole magazine is geared to food that's delicious and healthy.

 

In fact, you can do searches for recipes online at http://food.cookinglight.com/cooking/recipefinder.dyn?action=advanceSearch

 

or browse their collection at http://food.cookinglight.com/cooking/recipefinder.dyn?action=categoryBrowse

 

Then hit Google and enter 'healthy eating'. You'll find a lot of good sites; just stay away from fads. Here's one for starters (good site, not fad)

 

http://www.healthyeating.net/HE_1.HTM