To ask for your help with eating normally?

[Foodnewbie]

I have name changed for this as it’s rather embarrassing.

I have always had a bad relationship with food and have never really known how to eat healthily. My diet has been awful and it’s almost always been junk/unhealthy high carb, high sugar. It would be embarrassing to write down what I ate in a day let alone a week. Rarely eat fruit or veg and not really sure I know what ‘healthy’ looks like.

A medication I now have to take has loss of appetite as a side effect so I’m not feeling the need to eat barely at all. This is very strange for me but I want to use it as my chance to get healthy and lose weight.

My question is, would anyone be willing to share what a healthy day of food might look like? I’m thinking I would like to eat something three times a day that will actually do my body good rather than taste nice for 30 seconds and fill me with empty calories.

I’d like to reduce carbs if possible.

AIBU to ask for your help with what normal, healthy eating looks like?

I’m sure some will be thinking I shouldn’t be asking as people are not qualified dietitians etc but I’d just like to hear what ‘normal’ looks like so I can start making changes.

All suggestions welcome.

Well done OP for taking positive steps for yourself. I'm no dietician and not by any means perfect (I could eat the worlds annual production of hula hoops in a sitting given the chance) but in the main I think eat pretty healthily day to day. An example day for me would be;

Breakfast : Plain yogurt with a handful of granola and pomegranate seeds

Lunch : Soup and a bread roll OR a ham salad wrap

Dinner : A piece of salmon with steamed vegetables OR a vegan chilli with boiled rice OR a pasta dish that includes veg (being careful with portion size and generosity of cheese) OR a chicken & roast vegetable tray bake.

Snacks : Almonds / apples / chocolate covered rice cakes / small pots of ready-made Hartleys jelly

I’d keep I to simple, you don’t want anything too overwhelming or you won’t stick with it.
I don’t go either porridge with fresh fruit added or if you don’t want the carbs scrambled eggs with grilled tomatoes and mushrooms. Definitely try and get at least one portion of fruit and veg.
For lunch a fresh veg based soup, maybe with a slice of wholegrain bread.
For dinner either fish or chicken with veg or a veg based dish such as vegetable and bean chilli, sweet potato and chickpea curry, stirfry with chicken, beef or cashews. If you add carbs like rice then whole grain is better.

Unprocessed foods, wholegrain, fruit and veg. Even tomato pasta sauces have added sugar. You can buy plates which show portion size and ratio of carb:protein:veg to help reeducate your eye.

Breakfast toast x 2 rounds or porridge & fruit
Lunch salmon with salad (I also have a small bread roll- but I love carbs) or soup
Dinner quorn steak and steamed veggies, an omelette, or pasta, rice and tuna. I can’t stick to diets, I’d rather have the food I love but smaller portions.
Green smoothies, fruit and carrots with houmous, ru it’s topped with cucumber and tomatoes (which I love) and nuts as snacks.
My downfalls are crisps, chips and chocolate & wine so I try not to eat those during the week. My diet probably isn’t the most healthy! But I love my treats, I just want to maintain my weight not lose it. I try and drink lots of water and partake in a fair bit of exercise. Emphasis on the try!

*Ryvita!

Well done OP.

The key is to avoid processed foods and sugars. Most takeaways etc have hidden sugars and they aren't always labelled as sugar (fructose, glucose etc), even things that are marketed as healthy foods, so be aware and avoid if you can.

Also better to eat brown rice rather then white.

I normally have omelette for breakfast, lentils beans or salad for lunch. Protein (eg chicken, salmon, tofu) and veg or salad for dinner.

I'd really recommend the fast 800 books for simple, healthy recipes and you can easily go over the 800 if you don't want to lose weight.

I know it is a pet hate of MN but I love bread and my breakfast is usually two slices of wholemeal toast with butter and some form of protein like eggs, cheese or ham. Lunch at the moment (in winter) is a large bowl of veg stew or veg and chicken stew. Dinner is usually a portion of lasagna, big chicken salad or more stew.

I love adding cheese to soups / stews so not as healthy as it sounds 😋

Eggs for breakfast, scrambled or omelette, then you can add different veg for variety.

Homemade soup for lunch, broth based rather than cream or tomato.

Meat or cheese or fish with salad or veg for dinner.

2-3L water a day.

Portion controlled nuts or seeds, or yoghurt for snacks.

Mine is-

2 wheetabix with blueberries or raspberries.

Wrap, soup or salad

Something with just veg, not potatoes although may once or twice week a sweet potato. Once a week pasta.

Snacks only if needed, grapes, nuts or banana

These are all good ideas!

I need to start planning some meals.

I overhauled my diet last November. I was very overweight, and lived off processed junk. We’re vegetarian which I think helps, I think my diet is pretty decent now (not perfect but it’s working with regards to weight loss and I feel much Healthier-better skin, sleeping better, never hungry anymore). I drink 2-3L water a day, nothing else.

B: Eggs, grilled mushrooms&tomato, spinach and hummus. At the weekends when I have more time something like poached eggs on wholemeal toast with avacado or I add a veggie sausage to the normal breakfast. I usually try to avoid carbs at breakfast and go heavy on the protein. I can’t stand oats/yoghurt/granola which a lot people swear by.

L: Soup or ryvita crisp breads (with either marmite, soft cheese or guacamole on) with a side salad with whatever is in the fridge when I’m making it-usually lettuce, tomato, cauliflower (I cook it with paprika or chilli powder), courgette, sweetcorn and carrot. Sometimes a large salad with tofu in a sauce or a bagel with cream cheese or tomato and avacado and salad. I should try to add more protein at lunch really.

D: Homemade lasagne/chilli/stew/curry (all veggie, no fake meat just pulses/vegetables and homemade sauces). cauliflower rice and a protein sometimes with a homemade pasta sauce-I make a 7 veg, tomato flavoured one once a month and freeze it in individual portions. whole meal pasta and the same sauce. Homemade chips/wedges and veggie sausages/burgers. Soup with ryvita to dip. Always have 3 portions of veg with dinner, usually green veg.

One piece of fruit a day as a snack if I fancy it. I like the fibre one bars but limit them to the weekend with a nice coffee (syrups and all). Always have a takeaway on a sat and a two course roast on a Sunday! I skip breakfast those days though and have an earlier lunch to compensate.

thebloodsugardiet.com/the-low-carb-plan/

Breakfast:
Mashed avocado on wholemeal or multigrain bread with a fried egg (minimal oil to fry it, not shallow fried!). Or scrambled eggs with things like mushrooms or chopped spring onions.
Or something like this

Lunch:
Soup. Depending on what's in it you probably won't need bread. For example this chorizo & chickpea soup

Dinner:
A salmon fillet sprinkled in Cajun seasoning with roasted veg (courgette, red peppers, red onions, garlic), and potato wedges if you fancy. It's very easy and nutritious (although watch the salt content in the seasoning).

Oh, and I recommend BBC Good Food for inspiration as there are loads of great recipes there.

I try to add as much veg into things as I can. So pasta bake would have carrots, sweetcorn, mushrooms, peppers and a tin of tomatoes.
Same with curries, I add sweet potatoes, carrots, mushrooms.
I now cook most of my meals from scratch, once you've got the confidence to do a few meals this way, it's easy to swap ready made sauces for homemade. Start with something like spag bol.
It's taken 20 years to get to this point, I work full time and have two fussy kids, so it can be tricky. We have takeaways and supermarket pizza on the days we don't want to cook.
Good luck

Bowl of cereal for breakfast. A banana mid morning. Sandwich /egg or beans on toast for lunch and a bowl of cut up fruit after lunch. Occasional mid afternoon treat like biscuits or slice of cake but not every day and I'm trying to be good at the moment! For dinner things like pasta and sauce, rice and curry, potatoes and fish with a side of veg or salad. Lots of water and cups of tea throughout the day.

Every instinct in me wants to just eat rubbish all day every day. I am not excited by any food except junk food and I often say that if they could make chocolate bars that contained all the essential nutrients I needed I'd happily live off chocolate!

I start the day with a big bowl of porridge - just oats and milk. I add one spoonful of single cream on serving. It keeps me going for hours, buzzing with energy. In summer I often switch to unsweetened muesli or bircher muesli.

The only problem is that you might not feel hungry at lunchtime and be tempted to skip lunch so that you're suddenly starving mid-afternoon and reaching for the biscuits. It's important to have something at lunchtime, perhaps a bit late, even if it's just a load of salad items, veg (raw or cooked) or nuts.

Look for low GI foods: better for you and keep you feeling fuller longer.

Just have as many vegetables as you can manage, and then the other parts of your meal have food in its most natural state as possible. Eg potatoes not chips, but I'd have mash over waffles. Anything you can make yourself. I cut down the carbs I used to have, and loaded with more veg. So instead of a stir fry with loads of rice I have more veg in it. Cut out snacks as well.

A typical day for me will be
Delay breakfast for as long as I can leave it as I know I've got more willpower in the morning.
Breakfast is full ft creamy Greek yogurt with home me granola (I make massive batches and it freezes really well) and fresh fruit or rains. I only have a ramekin not a cereal bowl as Greek yoghurt is fatty so really rich and satisfying and filling.

Lunch might be a small home made sausage roll and a big salad (again I make loads and cook from frozen) or a soup with some kind of left overs, or courgette and feta fritters, or a vegetable omlette.

Dinner is just anything, as long as it's a lot of veg, and not many carbs. So I'll still have a curry but not much bread and I'll put some cauliflower and peas in it. Or creamy pasta but I'll put a load of green veg and salmon in it, with only a small amount of pasta.

I love food and cooking. Trying out new recipes is keeping me sane at the moment.
We eat mainly vegan. I think it's important to avoid labelling food good/bad healthy/unhealthy- it's just food, and it's your overall diet that's healthy or unhealthy. You can eat chocolate (pizza, cake, whatever your favourite food is) every single day and lose weight and be healthy if you want to. Balance is the thing.
Today I had eggs for breakfast - scrambled with added veg (tomato, spinach, peppers and butter beans) to make them more filling. Often I have porridge with soy milk but I happily have cereal if I'm in a rush. Personally I need to eat two or three times the portion size on the box or I get hungry and eat biscuits.
Lunch is maybe homemade soup (veg of some kind, always with brown bread), beans or eggs on toast, sandwiches or leftovers. I might have yoghurt or fruit after lunch.
Dinner is something random from a recipe book. Today was a roast. Yesterday was veg and tofu stir fry. Tomorrow might be tofu curry or bean chilli. As someone else has said bbc good food is brilliant and full of good ideas.
We always have cake on the go. I love baking and make something at least every couple of days.
You mentioned about going low carb - don't go too low - you need carbs for energy. If you go too high on say protein then your body will just turn the (expensive and less nice tasting) protein sources into carbs anyway, so you may as well enjoy the carbs.
It's really important that you make long term changes that you can see yourself sticking to for the rest of your life. Don't do something mad like saying no more dessert or sugar or potatoes or bread or whatever if that's your absolute favourite. Just have less of it.

A typical day for me is overnight oats/ Greek yogurt and fruit/ omelette/ for breakfast. Sometimes I will have a piece of fruit mid morning. Lunch is either chicken and roasted veg/ soup/ big salad/ eggs or beans on toast. Dinner will be curry and rice/ roast dinner/ stir fry/ salmon and veg etc.
I almost always make everything from scratch and I usually will have a small amount of chocolate/ ice cream/ sweets around 4 times a week as well. Occasional takeaway (maybe once a month).

Nhs eat well guide is quite good.

www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/

A few ideas that have helped me:

• I would say definitely meal plan and shop for what you have planned without putting extras in the trolley
• The My Fitness Plan app is good for getting an idea of what foods are high in calories
• Make the calories you do eat count so that you are eating foods that do your body some good
• When you look at your plate most of it should be taken by fruit/veg/beans/pulses with some protein and a small amount of carbs
• Weigh everything to make sure you aren't eating more than you think
• Mediterranean diet is worth looking into for health benefits whilst also losing weight

Hope this is of some use, has worked for me.

I make up a snack bowl to eat through the day to avoid turning to high fat/salt/sugar options. Usually includes green and black olives, pickled cucumber, melon cubes, carrot sticks, black and green grapes, baby tomatoes, mini corns, strawberries etc. If it ends up being my lunch I add a babybel or hummous and seeds. Good way to get some fruit and veg, lots of raw food. I don't feel guilty eating it either.

I am writing a shopping list of things to buy!

One of the things I’ve found most helpful is to eat a decent lunch so you’re not picking at food all afternoon; I also try at dinner to make half my portion/ plate veg and a a quarter protein and quarter carbs.
I also buy the little fun size chocolate bars so if I want something sweet after dinner then I’ve got something little to have