Tell me about your diet and what kind of food you eat day to day?

[polarnightcap]

I used to like these features in magazines where women would detail their diets, its am interesting insight and for me was just fun to read so I thought I'd do a version on here if anyone else wants to post?

I'm a vegetarian, have been for 35 years and on a typical day I will eat porridge with fruit for breakfast, toast and humous and or avocado, or tomato or eggs. Lunch is usually soup, pasta with veggies, leftovers from dinner or sometimes a sandwich. I do snack during the day and will have things like nuts, fresh fruit, an oat cake with some cheese or a slice of malt loaf. Dinner is usually Pasta, Dal, Curry, Quiche, A salad with roast veggies, Tofu, Stir fry, baked potato with various toppings, roast veggies and flat breads, veggie pie with roast veg etc. I do tend to make most of my food at home from scratch including most of the bread, pastry, humous and so on but I don't make my own pasta.

I do have a sweet tooth so will have a cup of tea in the evenings after dinner and have something like a bit of dark chocolate or a homemade muffin / scone or my favourite 70% Dark Chocolate Hot Choc from Hotel Chocolat. During the day I drink decaf tea, green or herbal teas and occasionally an Earl grey if I'm having something sweet in the afternoon and lots of water.

I don't drink so at the weekend I'll have cordial with sparkling water or the San Pellegrino classic taste orange ( I don't like artificial sweeteners) and have salted nuts like pistachios, cashews or macadamia nuts. I only have breakfast and dinner on a Sunday so usually have a pudding that day and its normally just a scoop of nice ice cream like pistachio or Turkish delight flavour with a bit of fruit or I'll sometimes make a crumble or rice pudding or something nice from a good bakery if I am passing, this weekend we had some amazing black forest gateau!

Takeaway is not that usual maybe a few times a year and my favourite is Japanese or Indian food. We do eat out more often if we are out at a film or theatre so about once a month and we like to try different places for inspiration.

I think my diet is ok, a bit time consuming and I need to be careful to get enough protein and B12 but as I do eat dairy this isn't usually an issue and my health is good.

I’m the opposite - rarely if ever cook from scratch although DH does if he has the time. I’m a big grazer - crisps and chocolates. Not a fan of take away (can’t remember the last one) but we eat out several times a week, brunch at weekends. Enjoy fruit and veg with fish. Don’t like fizzy drinks but have alcohol at the weekends. Eat way too much bread and cheese but not prepared to compromise on them.

@Parker231 Bread and cheese is very nice, I'd probably eat a lot more of it if I hadn't found an oat cake I love.

I’m currently losing weight (6.5 stone so far!) so I fast and calorie count.

During the week I fast until midday then have a milky coffee with protein powder. Then at 5.30pm-ish I have dinner with DP and DD – I have whatever they have but with reduced or no carbs. So for example, tonight we’re having chicken stir fry and I’m having mine with salad, them with noodles. Yesterday we had goulash and I had mine with jacket sweet potato, them with rice. Tomorrow it’s chicken skewers, me with salad, them with fried potato slices, etc. I cook from scratch every night and usually make something from the Fast 800 recipe books so they’re high protein high good fats low carbs. After dinner, if I’m hungry I’ll have Greek yoghurt and fruit. I usually have a cup of herbal tea in the evening.

On Friday nights and and Saturdays I relax – so I still fast 7pm-midday but Friday evening we’ll have a takeaway and a glass of wine (when I’m not doing Dry January, ugh) or an oven pizza or something. Then Saturday I have “brunch” at midday instead of just coffee – crumpets, or eggs Benedict or a croissant or something. Saturday dinner I usually have whatever I’m cooking for the family, carbs included, but usually it’s rice or flatbread, not chips or anything. Then back to normal on Sunday. If I go out to dinner during the week I try to stick to no or low carbs but mostly I try to only go out to dinner on Fridays.

If I eat what I see as “normally” – breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks only occasionally – I gain weight. If I eat bread more than once a week, I can’t lose weight. I think I’ve probably fucked my metabolism through years of yo-yo dieting but I am where I am and this works for me.

Oh and I used to drink Diet Coke all the time but found it stopped me from losing weight – maybe a PCOS thing – so now I have sparkling water with mine during the week and something like cherry Rubicon or San Pellegrino as a treat at the weekend.

@peachgreen I love coke (full sugar for me) but if I drink it too often if makes me feel awful so I usually have a single can once a month when I make veggie burgers usually on a Friday or Saturday night, rock and roll!

I almost never have breakfast as I'm not hungry in the mornings but always make a latte at home first thing after I get up.

Lunches if I'm in the office are either soup or cous cous as they're easy to prepare there. If I'm at home I'll have eggs, mushrooms, beans or tomatoes on toast or some combination of the above. Sometimes omelettes and sometimes greek yoghurt with fruit.

Dinners are mostly vegetarian. I do eat meat but not a lot of it. Standard meals are jacket potatoes, chilli, pasta bakes, stir frys etc.

I'm trying to lose weight and limit UPFs so I've kicked my diet coke habit and have swapped to kombucha. I've also tried to limit snacking so I'll have some chocolate after dinner once a week.

I do drink alcohol but aim to have more nights of the week that I don't, so at the moment stick to drinking on Friday and Saturday nights only.

We usually have something and toast for breakfast, avocado, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes etc. DH usually has some porridge as well. Sometimes, like today, I can't really do breakfast and will have toast and a hot chocolate or just a bowl of cereal.

Lunch is usually homemade soup, a pasta salad or sandwiches. Soups are usually vegetable based, often with lentils or beans for protein, salads and sandwiches will have chicken or cheese, sometimes fish. Usually with fruit and/or yogurts.

Dinners are all homemade, traditional things like shepherds pie, fish pie, roasts, casseroles, some pasta dishes, very English curries that no one from Asia would recognise as such! All served with an appropriate carb and veg or veggie based meals. I tend to do alternate days of meat, poultry or fish with vegetarian dishes for main meals.

Snacks are fruit, nuts, the odd packet of crisps and homemade scones or muffins. We also have fruit bread sometimes.

I don't drink, DH sometimes has a beer or a glass of wine of an evening. We both drink a lot of tea, not much coffee, and have increased our intake of plain water.

I don't think its too bad, we eat a lot more vegetables than we used to and try and have fruit at least twice a day but its expensive. We have cut down on butter and use more rapeseed and olive oil. We have also switched to lower fat dairy.

Breakfast is usual cereal and a sugary coffee.

Lunch is usually cheese sandwich and crisps, or soup and bread, or bagels and cream cheese and tomato with crisps or a cheese and tomato panini with crisps.

Dinner I do traditional home cooked meals like shepherds pie, stew, sausage and mash, roasts, casserole, pasta dishes, jacket potatoes, lasagne, chilli, fish and chips, pizza etc.
Always have a dessert after dinner like ice cream, cakes, yoghurt, cheesecake etc

Snacks are usually chocolate, biscuits, crisps or, nuts or fruit. I eat 4-5 snacks a day, 2 of which are usually chocolate.

Supper before bed is usually toast and butter.

Drinks are coffee or tea with 2 sugars or squash or lemonade or full sugar Coca Cola.
I don’t drink alcohol apart from special occasions.

I have a McDonald’s 1-2 times a month and occasional meals out.

I think I have quite a fast metabolism because I’m a size 8, but I do sometimes worry what my arteries might be like because I do eat quite a lot of fat, sugar and carbs! I’m not sure I could give any of them up though.

I'm currently in a calorie defect, I'm eating much less than I did previously.
I have the same breakfast most days, banana oat and blueberry pancakes with yoghurt.
Lunch either quiche, smallish portion of curry and rice, or soup and bread or any other leftovers.
Dinner could be lasagne, spaghetti bolognese, sausages and mash, roast dinner, pizza or whatever hello fresh meals we have that week.
I don't regularly drink alcohol, I have a few cups of tea and maybe 1 biscuit after lunch but I've stopped pretty much all snacks as that was my downfall previously. Any snacking would turn into a binge!

@Leftleg I am the opposite I find having a little something stops me going on the rampage later! Your breakfast pancakes sound nice I might look for a recipe!

@Nellieinthebarn I think we are quite similar from the looks of it, My DH sometimes has fish and if we eat out he will have some red meat but as I'm the one cook he's happy to eat veggie most days.

I live off porridge, sandwiches, homemade vegetable soup, things on toast and veggie pasta dishes. I hate cooking!

I am trying to lose weight (2stone down over last year) at the moment. Am trying to focus on lots of different fruit, veg, legumes, grains nuts and seeds, hit 100g of protein a day and try limit carbs to 100g a day.

Breakfast - coffee with milk, kvarg protein yoghurt, blueberrys and a flax, omega 3 nut mix that I add

Lunch - either sourdough with avocado and eggs or a Wholemeal thin bagel with lots of turkey or ham plus tomatoes/cucumber

Dinner - whatever my family is having but smaller or no portion of carbs and try to do a few vegetable sides

Always have a cup of tea and small chocolate bar after dinner

Weekends slightly relaxed - takeaway once or twice a month and typically a glass of wine Fri, sat and sun but I'm trying to knock this on the head as I when I cut it out I do see better losses - I'm plateaud at the moment.

Which oatcakes have you found the best?

I love Stockan's Thick Orkney Oatcakes, they are higher in calories but very satisfying. I will probably try making my own as well at some point but these are really nice with a bit of good cheddar. One of them and a cup of tea can really tide me over!

Best cheeseboard I’ve ever had in my life was at a very posh do in Edinburgh.
Thought you’d say Scottish oatcakes were the best ( as was their cheese, and the chutney) Off to search online.

I'm 7 months pregnant at the moment so diet is a little different from usual - as in I'm eating more! When I'm not pregnant I start my days with a pint of warm water and then eat breakfast at around 11, but I find I need to eat earlier at the moment.

Today is fairly typical and I had:

Rye toast with peanut butter and a piece of shortbread.

Date and nut bar mid morning.

Ryvita with cheese and cucumber and an amazing brownie that my DP brought home for me from a local bakery.

Smoothie made with almond milk, banana, blueberries, flaxseed, prunes, kefir.

Wholegrain pasta with homemade tomato, chilli and veggie sauce, with lettuce, cucumber and avocado salad.

I'm very satisfied today! I'm not veggie but we only eat meat/fish 2 - 3 times a week. We usually have salmon once a week, chicken once a week, and something like spaghetti bolognese once every couple of weeks. We eat lots of lentils in soups and curries.

I don't do diets or cook from scratch, I just make what I fancy and what I fancy is what everyone else gets.

I have to follow a low carb diet for blood sugars.

Breakfast might be paleo granola or Greek yoghurt and berries

Lunch is sometimes soup with low carb bread or a small baked potato with prawn Marie rose or tuna or cheese etc. Sometimes low carb bread with pate or cream cheese. Or salad with meat or fish/seed crackers with cheese.

Dinners might be keto chili with a tiny bit of brown rice/chicken in creamy mushroom sauce with veg/curry etc. Mostly home made as its hard to get low carb ready made things.

Supper is usually a couple of squares of 90% chocolate.

Snacks are usually nuts or apple slices with peanut butter or pork puffs.

Breakfast: proper Greek yoghurt with honey, nuts, raisins, at the moment some of my homemade mincemeat left over from Christmas, sliced banana, just made some stewed apple so that'll be in there tomorrow. One coffee and water or diluted juice after that.

Lunch: I really struggle to know what to make/get for lunches. Leftover dinner from earlier in the week, today for example I had cold roast beef on crackers with potato skins...

Snacks: good quality chocolate or maybe a biscuit

Dinner: try and cook from scratch most nights. Tonight was homemade cauliflower cheese which will also be tomorrow's lunch. I like cooking fish stews with quinoa, cottage pie, bolognese, puy lentil salads, baked fish dishes, with seasonal veg (so Brussel sprouts and cabbage at the moment).

I'm veggie and am an all or nothing kind of eater. Today I had two slices of toast and butter and marmalade and a white coffee for breakfast. I had two decaf lattes and an OJ and cup of tea to drink the rest of the day. For lunch I had a veggie pizza with vegan cheese. For supper I had a cheese wrap and houmous. Bit rubbish on lack of fruit and veggies. Will probably go the other way tomorrow. I had a brownie as a snack mid afternoon.

Always start the day with a mug of tea.
Breakfasts tend to be Greek yoghurt - full fat/raspberries - defrosted and a little homemade granola, this maybe a lunchtime affair as try to fast several days/week.

Lunch - generally veg soup in winter, maybe some cheese or sandwich, salads etc in warmer weather
Dinners - depends if alone or not, tonight was Shakshuka as DD1 here, then made some peanut butter biscuits as a quick sweet treat. Pork casserole last night, moussaka at weekend, sweet potato and spinach dhal tomorrow.
Avoid processed foods and ready meals. rarely have a take away, fish & chips is nicest local option, perhaps 1-2 times a month. Aim for variety of fruit and veg.

Husband has sweet tooth so I enjoy baking a cake for the weekends, puddings etc. we take it in turn to cook main meals too when he is not away with work and generally do Saturday night dinners for family or friends

Thanks everyone, love reading these!

I’m on a low acid diet cos of reflux (acid watcher). V rarely eat out and never get takeaways.
breakfast: usually a smoothie made in nutribullet - will always feature a banana. Toast (homemade wholemealbreadmaker bread) with peanut butter. Or I’ll have porridge w a banana & seeds w some maple syrup.

Lunch: Something like 2 eggs - boiled w toast, smoked salmon, avocado, cucumber.

Dinner: varies a lot but can be marinated chicken thighs in air fryer w veg and mash or a curry w coconut milk. Don’t eat red meat and often cook veggie.

usually have a home-baked muffin/treat at some point in the day. Snack can be nuts, rice cakes, fruit/dried fruit.

I drink water or herbal tea (I miss coffee but not good for reflux!). Don’t drink alcohol atm.