To think my diet is possibly worse than any other 32 year old's?

[mytartanscarf]

The title makes it sound like I am proud of it and I am not - but I do need help (as gently as you can, for AIBU!) as have never spoken of this before.

By some miracle, my teeth are all good (confirmed by dentist to my shock!) and I am overweight but only marginally - weigh 10 stone 8lbs; I am 5 foot 3 inches.

It's hard to talk about a typical day so to give an idea I'm either hungry or I am not - if I'm not hungry I generally won't eat anything until the evening and it's usually porridge, made with water, and a low cal hot chocolate. I'll generally have a snack sized chocolate bar in the day. Drinks - diet coke by the gallon.

If I AM hungry, I'll eat - sugary cereal, sweets (haribo/wine gums) crisps, chocolate. Maybe a McDonalds or a pie. Drinks - diet coke by the gallon. Sometimes I'll heat some soup up and have it with bread & butter.

I know it's awful and I'm trying to think how things got this bad, I know I have a lot of guilt/strange feelings with food. Also I live on a boat so don't have a fridge or microwave (no room) so shopping has to be done daily and I often don't have time or nowhere to store leftovers. I work a weird job with shifts all over the shop. I'm not veggie in the strictest sense of the word but I do find it hard to disassociate feelings about the animal. I HATE green veg apart from spinach and cabbage, there are other foods I dislike though none spring to mind right now.

I do enjoy fresh fruit, and some veg especially onion, mushroom, sweet potato and carrots.

I think the main problem is lack of organisation with food. I just don't recognise hunger, so when I do want food it's an emotional "want" - like a childhood thing?

I know you can help. Just PLEASE don't yell at me if I can't do something as I'm sure I've missed off some information, but not on purpose!

Can you not fit a 12v fridge if electricity is a problem? Or even a 12v cool box in the cockpit? Under the bunk? In the space under the oven? Under the companionway steps? In the lazarette? There's always space somewhere in a boat, it's just finding it.

OP I grew up without a fridge, and later lived for years without proper facilities while I and DH were building own house in v remote area of Scotland. Even now, we often suffer power cuts when storms/lightning etc damage overhead cables, so have to make do without electricity. But we have found that there is a lot you can do to eat well without fridge/fancy cooker - especially if you live within reach of shops.

Fruit and veg and eggs don't need refrigeration if you can buy them relatively often. Cheese, milk, butter and yoghurt - and salted meat such as bacon - can be kept fresh by evaporation: Place food to be chilled (in waterproof container) in shallow dish containing cold water. Cover with absorbent cloth; butter muslin was traditional - tea towels are a very acceptable modern substitute. Make sure that clean cloth is wet and with edges in dish of cold water. It will slowly soak up more water as the original wetting water evaporates into warmer surrounding air. The physics are explained here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler
Disclaimer: for very young children, old people or people with compromised immune systems, please, PLEASE, follow government guidelines.

Re cooking - think traditional. Either stews, soups etc (a slow cooker that plugs into a normal socket is your friend) or - in complete contrast- very fast: omlettes, pan-fried fish and minute steak, shredded. All you need for these is a single heat source, either an electric ring or a gas-ring of some kind. As inspiration, traditional Chinese cooking is some of the healthiest and tastiest in the world, and was achieved with minimal modern conveniences.

As others have said, what about pre-packed salads or (much better) a lettuce heart or some raw spinach with dressing? I also like strir fried veg of many kinds. Fry, and add soy sauce/garlic/chopped ginger. If you need/want carbs to accompany, then boil a kettle, put some 'instant' egg nodles into a bowl, and wait 5 mins while the rest of your meal is cooking, then drain. Rice cooked in a single pot is also very easy. (Cover pot with thin layer of rice. Add water to cover to one finger-joint above. Simmer gently until all water absorbed.)

I'm afraid I can't help re diet Coke; not my personal cup of tea (as it were). But the advice from others on this thread sounds v sensible. Try to cut back; as with anything else that you really like, giving up is extremely hard work but infinitely worthwhile. Best wishes!

If you are driving a lot is it possible you could get a cool box that plugs into the car lighter ? That could work , and you could buy stuff when out during the day rather than when you have finished and just want to get home .

OP how strong are your food dislikes?

Could you try one vegetable a week for reintroduction? When you say you 'don't like it' is it taste/texture? Just the idea?

It's just green veg really, I'm fine with carrots, sweetcorn, onion, mushroom, sweet potato, butternut squash, parsnips.

I HATE - sprouts, peas, broccoli, green beans, peas.

I'm okay with spinach/cabbage (love red cabbage.)

Try cutting out the diet coke by halving the amount you drink about every three days until you can drop it completely, should be much less painful.

Wrt your lack of 'hunger'. Start by looking into mindful eating - essentially paying proper attention to your food and how it makes you feel. Prepare meals so that they are attractive, sit and eat them slowly and without distractions. This will help you get back in touch with hunger/satiety and what you really enjoy (or indeed dislike) eating. If you are aware enough to recognise when you are responding to something other than physical hunger by eating, try and identify what that need/emotion/trigger is, make a note of it if you can, you may gradually see a pattern emerge and from that consider other ways of dealing with the feelings....you can find outside help with this if you need to.

On actual foodstuff, sachets of pre-cooked lentils or healthy grains and tins of chickpeas or cannellini (or similar) beans are great sources of carbs and protein, Greek yoghurt, bananas, avocados, nut butter, eggs, raw nuts, tinned fish, or pre cooked smoked mackerel/salmon fillets are excellent basics for nutritious meals. Work on including more veg wherever you can.

So you could make a meal from a salmon fillet and a pack/tin of cooked lentils, heated in a pan and with spinach wilted in, season and squeeze some lemon over the lentils/spinach and add a small pot of yoghurt to make it delicious and creamy.

Take a tin of tuna and a tin of cannellini beans, add chopped red onion, cherry tomatoes, avocado and olives (if you like them) and dress with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper-good for two days' lunches.

A pack of healthy grains (quinoa, bulgur and lentils usually), with chopped spring onion, crumbled feta, chopped mint and pomegranate, again with olive oil and lemon juice/seasoning is a delicious salad too (admittedly mor summery).

Any number of frittata/Spanish omelette combos that you could create to incorporate loads of different veg. This should also be good for two days meals if the weather isn't warm (better in cool box or fridge obvs)...

It sounds like you need low GI slow release carbs, at the moment you're getting a huge energy rush from quick release carbs which will leave you feeling hungry and wanting more carbs sooner.

I do (well, did, not so much recently as 2014 was pregnancy & arrival of DD) a lot of camping / hiking / cycling and so I'm reasonably good at preparing food on a trangia or small camping stove with no fridge.

My favourites are

Pasta with sauce - chop an onion & some garlic, fry in oil til soft, add some meat, brown, add a tin of tomatoes, some mixed dried herbs, you're done. Good meat for these purposes is bacon (buy just 2 rashers from the butcher) or you can buy jars of frankfurters and chop those in, or Mattesons smoked sausage which says it needs refrigerating but doesn't.

Pasta with goat cheese and peas - most supermarkets will sell ready-shelled peas in the salad section. Boil the pasta and with 2 minutes left, add the peas, and stir in goat cheese after draining.

Tuna pasta - tin of tuna, tin of sweetcorn, mix up with pasta and mayonnaise. You can buy sachets of mayo which are really useful as they don't need a fridge.

Oatcakes with cheese and veg - brie, camembert, gouda will all live happily outside a fridge for a few days.

Couscous - can be cooked by just adding water. Stir in some harissa paste, chopped cucumber / tomato / chicken (can buy small portions of ready cooked chicken) / rocket.

Quinoa with fried chopped mushroom / courgette / peppers stirred in.

Ready packs of stir fry with noodles.

The Ainsley Harriott range of instant couscous and rice are good too, if you add more veg.

If you really want a burger try making your own - get a small pack of mince from the butcher, mix in an egg, breadcrumbs if you want and mixed herbs, form into patties and grill or fry. They will keep once cooked for 24 hours too, certainly in this weather. You could have one for dinner and then take one to work with you the next day.

Do you eat fish? That seems to be available in smaller portions and often pre cooked e.g. ready to eat salmon or mackerel. Eat with sweet potato mash for a low GI dinner.

I have some more suggestions to increase your nutritional intake -
Yoghurts, can be bought singly and are a good source of calcium. Add some nuts and chopped fruit.
Pasta with tinned tuna, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes etc, with some virgin olive oil
Ratatouille - tinned tomatoes ,peppers, onions ,courgettes.
Any tinned fish can be kept indefinitely.
Also, if you have access to a supermarket with a deli counter they should sell you individual portions of whatever they have. Don't be shy to ask.

OP, you didn't answer my query....

PLEASE CAN I COME AND LIVE WITH YOU ON THE BOAT?

You can get powered coolboxes, so they function as a mini fridge and you can store quite a bit in them. You can also move them around, eg put it on the bed during day, move it onto chair at night, so space shouldn't be an issue.

My parents used to have one which ran on gas rather than electric. I think they bought it from a camping/outdoors shop.

Tinned vegetables are better than no vegetables. Tinned sweetcorn, tinned tomatoes and tinned new potatoes would sll work in an omelette.

The fridge really isn't worth obsessing about. Sure its nice to have but not vital especially if you are not too hung up on meat.

As you live on a boat, can you grow stuff on the roof? Often see it on barges here. If you like spinach and/or lettuce and herbs all of these grow well cut n come again in small pots/shallow trays. Nutritious and delicious and eat only as required.

Yy to keeping some veg such as carrots and potatoes. No fridge required. Goes with anything.

Kedgeree- rice and boiled eggs with tinned chick peas. Dash of garam masala or spice of your choice. Again no fridge required. 1/2 cup rice, 1 egg, small tin chickpeas.

OP, I agree with what everyone's said about cutting back on the diet Coke - I went cold turkey on diet drinks a few years ago, and I found that Neurofen Meltlets (painkillers that taste like sweets!) helped big time with the headaches until they subsided.

As cooking seems to be an issue, have you tried New Covent Garden soups? They're pricey, but all you need to do is heat them up, and the vegetable-based ones are reasonably nutritious. I think you said you have facilities for heating stuff up, and these really are easy, just open a carton, heat it up, and there it is. Eating a few oatcakes with it if you're on a hungry day should avoid the carb spikes that you get with bread and butter.

I've always hated cooking - the endless round of deciding what to buy, storing it, preparing it, washing everything up afterwards and so on just seemed unending when my two DDs were at home. When DD2 left I slumped into a diet pretty much like your hungry days (I never had the non-hungry days) and it does take some effort to get out of. I now exist on things that are easy, lots of which have been suggested on this thread. Good luck!