Disgusting diet

[Disgracefuldiet]

My diet and lifestyle disgusts me but I've no idea where to start when it comes to changing it.

I have a one year old DC who is starting to pay attention to the food I eat and I don't want my DC following in my footsteps. It's also getting to the stage where we need to think about DC just eating what we are eating whereas currently DC has baby food pouches like Ella's Kitchen. Tbh, I'm not comfortable with DC eating the food we eat unless we seriously rethink our diet.

Just not sure where to start or how to make those changes.

A typical day for me includes:

No breakfast. Usually cave mid morning and snack on some chocolate and crisps.

Lunch, again usually nothing and might cave mid afternoon and eat more chocolate and crisps. Though occasionally I'll have chicken or tuna pasta. Heavy on the mayo. No veg included.

Dinner will be something like spaghetti Carbonara with about a ton of cheese and cheesy garlic bread. Or sausage egg and chips. Lots of mayo. Or lasagne and Garlic bread. Again hold the veg. Lots of cheese. Dinners always consist of meat, lots of carbs, the white variety, cheese if I can incorporate it somehow or mayo and 99% of the time 0 veggies.

I dont particularly like vegetables (or fruit) so always forget to do veg with dinner for DH because it just doesnt even enter my thought process.

Then dinner will usually be followed by more chocolate.

Drinks consist of 1.5 litres if caffeinated sugary, fizzy energy drinks and about 300ml of water before bed.

It's disgusting I know but I don't even know where to begin changing things but i desperately want to for my whole family.

Argh, bloody phone - I had included paragraphs there. How annoying.

I sometimes skip meals when I'm busy and then end up eating rubbish, so I get what you're doing but it sounds like you are doing it every day and well done for realising that needs to change. For breakfast, why don't you try a breakfast bar/biscuit type thing (like belvita, or I think there is a porridge oats one too). Try to have a glass of fruit juice too, maybe smooth orange juice. This should help keep your blood sugar up and reduce the amount you snack.

For lunch a sandwich would be good, and maybe some yoghurt? Why don't you buy the low-sugar kids ones that are smooth if you don't like fruity lumps. Your LO would like them too :)

As for dinner - do you have a blender? You could make a really smooth pasta sauce, or a soup with lots of veg in but no lumps.

Well done for facing this op: don't skip meals is my big advice. Have weetabix or porridge for breakfast with semi skimmed milk and a small banana.
Make a big rice salad for lunch- you can buy the microwave bags to make this less arduous and they do nice ones like brown rice, quinoa and pumpkin seed. Throw in a bit of of cheese like mozzarella or feta and some beetroot- beetroot is really sweet and chopped up small is nice with cheese.

Don't deprive yourself of snacks: in the afternoon have the big rice cakes with peanut butter or the ones with a light coating of dark chocolate.
Then simple easy meals in the evening like pasta bakes, jacket potato and beans - things your toddler will like and are easy to prepare. Good luck: I have had to change my eating radically in recent times and it's getting easier

I would say get some private blood screening - you can it all via the post with thriva

I did and found a few deficiencies and high cholesterol - it was enough to make me completely change my diet and lifestyle for my health and stop being... sorry but like a reluctant child with regard to veg etc

Now I sleep amazingly and feel actually alive and awake instead of sluggish with a head full of cotton wool/brain fog amongst other benefits

long road though - it doesn't happen overnight. stick with it

seriously though get tested, it could be just the kick you need.

Also, I agree with PP that small changes are the way forward. You could try meal planning, so you can map out each day and make sure you're getting variety. When you're busy or feeling unmotivated it's so easy to reach for bread, eg toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, burger for dinner, and before you know it you've basically ate bread all day and feel rubbish.

I read something that said nobody dislikes vegetables...they just haven't found any they like YET.

Sweetcorn is a great start.

Try a new vegetable every week...sooner or later something else will stick...you can do it with your child at the same time.

I basically only like sweet vegetables...so I like sweetcorn, sweet potato, parsnip and beetroot. I have yet to find anything green that I really like apart from avocado...which is cheating tbh. But I'm still looking!

for sausage egg and chips, don't fry the egg in oil, or you could scramble or poach instead

I actually saw a thing on TV about food myths - and scrambling is the worst for calories and fat because the egg soaks up all the oil/butter.

Poaching is best but frying in oil isn't that bad because it doesn't soak up the oil.

OP I think you could treat yourself like a fussy veg refusing toddler. Do the whole trying a new veg/fruit ever day thing. Try a large variety raw and cooked. Go for small amounts and no drama if you don't like them.

Try and open yourself up to some new flavors and textures.

blue I do mine in the microwave and only add milk! no butter or oil in mine, though I appreciate they do taste better with, but I only started eating them when trying to lose baby weight hence the no fat!

I also face the same struggle as you OP, although I've found some things that work for me:

• Smoothies - to get rid of textures I don't like
• Veg soups - similar reason
• Homemade tomato sauce for pasta: I usually make this out of tomato passata, garlic, dried basil, salt, pepper so getting more than just tomato out of it!
• Vegetable stock - you can make this easily yourself out of boiling veggies (and donate the veggies to husband or child after if you don't like the texture!), and then either use in a risotto or just have the stock as a broth afterwards. It'll get you some nutrients!
• Jam/peanut butter on toast for breakfast (better than no fruit/veg!)

Make a rule for yourself that you eat whenever your child eats. That way you don't skip out on meals, and you'll be less inclined to binge on chocolate and crisps.

Make an effort to try and give your child raw fruit/vegetables - this is good for her, and people are generally looking after others better than themselves. Then you get to eat the leftovers and get some vitamins in the process!

I'd caution against feeding your child from food packs. Make a batch and freeze. Then alternate between the stuff you've frozen and packaged food.

For you, I'd say meal planning with save you a lot of time money and effort.

And agree with the poster above that you should make veg the main part of your meal. Stir fry is the best and easiest.

Casseroles are easy to cook in a batch

Baked potatoes with chicken breast

Just thought of something... I do like cucumber and watermelon, I'd forgotten about those, though I havent had them for years because reaching for chocolate is easier.

I much prefer carrots raw!

I absolutely adore crunchy sunpat peanut butter on toast, though I probably put far too much on and use white bread.

Also like jam on toast but again always use white bread and I like the jam smooth

Have you tried peanut butter on apple? It's one of my favourite snacks (although I can appreciate doesn't sound great).

Another weird favourite of mine is dates and dark chocolate.

Basically find something you like (chocolate/peanut butter) and rather than cut it out, find something 'healthy' to pair it with that you enjoy.

I love cucumbers and watermelon too.

How about cucumbers with humous as a snack?
Watermelon as a refreshing summer treat? (Especially if you keep it in the back of the fridge where it's ice cold and cools you down during heatwaves!)

You can make lollypops out of orange juice (or any fruit juice really) with minimal effort. Again, it's an easy snack with the sugar you crave, but a healthier version of it.

Try swapping pop/fizzy drinks with fruit/veg juice instead.

Small changes that don't drastically change your eating habits and don't make you feel like you're "going without" but are still an improvement is the way to go

BlueSkiesLies

I saw that too, when you fry an egg it isn't porous so doesn't soak up the oil.

Is there a reason you don't have breakfast or lunch? I would start by eating actual meals, then slowly improving the veg content of those meals. Eat when your DC eats, sit at that table and have breakfast, lunch and dinner.

OP are you a "little changes" or a "Big Bang" type person?

I mean, could you (for example) aim to eat 1 piece of fruit today; two next week etc.

Or do you work better by emptying the cupboards entirely and not even going down the biscuit aisle at all (spoken from experience, I once found myself in the bread section and actually ran out of it!)

Find the method that suits you before you start.

You say you "cave", are you trying to not eat during the day or do you dislike eating, don't know what to have so fall back on the usual?
I'd make the first step to decide to enjoy breakfast and/or lunch. Pick something you like, it doesn't have to be a typical breakfast food.
Lunch, again plan to have chicken, make it tasty with spices or whatever you like. Decide to decrease some of the mayo on some of the days. Have a few crisps with lunch if you want and enjoy them.
Changing your mindset might help reduce some of the things you don't like about your diet. Try something new a couple of times a week. Don't tell yourself you're not the kind of person that eats x, you're limiting your options and you haven't even tried them!
This is a great time to be adventurous as you can discover new flavours & textures together with your DC. It can be daunting trying new foods so get messy with fruit & veg - squeeze, roll, lick, smell, whatever, make it a game!
Do you like pizza? That's what we used to help get a family member to try new things. Make the tomato sauce and you can even include veg in that either chopped small or whizz it up if that's your preference. Then divide the toppings so you have your favourite side and an experimental side! Plenty of cheese helps
Jamie Oliver has a 7 veg tomato sauce recipe that might work for this or just have it with pasta. As you like raw carrot try adding grated raw carrot some of your meals. I like it sprinkled over a tomato pasta with grated cheese or in sandwiches.

I'm not sure what method would suit me best or what type of person I am but I know I lack willpower and I have an obsessive and addictive personality.

I was going to say if we have chocolate, etc. In the house then I'll eat it but that's not strictly true.

I have a bag of chocolate that I keep handy to pick from and have after dinner but usually, I'm so full from dinner, I don't often dig into it. Maybe if I'm reading a book or watching a film I might have a small amount but my real bad habits and snacking happens during the day. I'll eat so much crap during the day I'm often not hungry at dinner time.

But I'll make excuses, either I have my hands full with DS so grab chocolate or crisps to keep me going during the day until dinner or I'm at work and snacking almost constantly at my desk unless very very busy and if very very busy, again, I'll grab a quick bar of chocolate in between.

Hmm, I dont know really.

I love and hate food both equally. I was overweight as a teenager (still am) and had major body confidence issues, I hated myself and how I felt and it would make me cry and then to cheer myself up I'd put my favourite TV show on and hermit myself for the entire 6 week summer holiday and I'd eat a six pack of ice creams a day, a whole bag of jam donuts, chocolates, crisps, popcorn, fizzy drinks, etc. And I just couldnt break the cycle.

I started working and went on a diet, but again, I took it to the extreme, just like I do with everything else. I love football so used that as my inspiration, I'd play a lot by myself in the garden and I'd survive on half a tin of tuna and half a tin of baked beans with an egg mixed in a day. That was literally all I ate and I lost quite a bit of weight but couldn't keep up with only eating that so I started eating normally again but was so worried about putting the weight back on, I'd make myself sick after meals or I'd massively binge on chocolate and then throw it back up just so I could enjoy the taste but not have to worry about the consequences.

I eventually cut the cycle but just ended up being fat old me again making terrible dietary choices and damaging my health.

Most children like cucumber and carrot sticks with hummus.I also like hummus on bread with sliced cucumber or grated carrots,good packed lunch.
Try making carrot soup,nothing fancy and only takes as long as it takes to soften the carrots.Throw some corriander in if you're feeling fancy,again my DD likes this at about 1yr.If you have some things you both like it's easier otherwise you find you're eating her leftovers and snacking.
Slowly cut down your carbonated drinks,this may take s while because of the caffeine.
Don't buy chocolates or Crisps, it's easier to resist at the checkout than at home.Buy some as a treat on a Saturday and eat it in one go.Get low fat mayo and carry on enjoying that.
Don't get hung up on what type of bread you're eating just make the little things first.
Btw do you like coleslaw, mayo and raw veg?

OP you're inspiring even just reaching out and recognising the problem

I actually think this is one of the first really realistic threads I have read in ages. Well done OP for your honesty. I think more people eat badly than would care to admit, especially on here. I would try adding veg to your sauces where you can. If you can I would also try and model behaviours for your DC so eating breakfast and lunch, even if it is just small amount.

Think about what you feel hungry...it's because your body needs food. By which I mean protein, good fat, veg, a certain amount of carbs. It doesn't need chocolate, sugary drinks etc. That's not to say that those things should be banned, but try and aim to give your body what it needs before you eat the stuff it doesn't.

By skipping proper meals you are going to 'cave' because you are so hungry you are past the point of making sensible decisions about what to eat and you are driven to grab the easiest source of energy - sugar in some form. And then you set yourself up for a vicious circle of sugar highs and lows and your body has no rhythm to the day in terms of eating. So in terms of making changes, start with breakfast - anything as long as it has some protein and ideally some good fat. So eggs, peanut butter on toast, greek yoghurt with fruit are all good. Just focus on that for a week or two until is starts to feel normal. Then find a new change - same rule for lunch perhaps/add to the amount of veg you eat/half the amount of fizzy drinks for one week, then half it again and keep going. Do the step you feel is manageable, however small, then move on to the next once it feels normal. Play the long game.

How about a new typical day:

Breakfast: don't skip it and try to have some toast made with whole grain bread or some healthy cereal e.g. bran flakes, weetabix or porridge.

Lunch: chicken or tuna pasta but with some veg. I know you don't like veg but if you're strict with including it maybe you'll get used to it? Maybe there's some veg you haven't tried yet that you might like? Frozen veg is good if you don't like prep. Do you like eggs? Scrambled eggs on toast is healthy, as is a jacket potato.

Dinner: Carbonara or whatever else you usually make but with veg instead of garlic bread.

Healthy snacks for in between meals: nuts, avocado, fruit (although I know you say you don't like it), healthy cereal bars, baked beans on toast, small amounts of cheese.

Ban fizzy drinks - by cutting down gradually if need be. Save them for when you're out for a meal and stick to water, you'll feel tons better if you persevere with this.

I know all my suggestions might seem drastic but you could start slowly and just make one or 2 at a time. All the best op

Sorry - that should have said why you feel hungry