To ask you to comment on my meal plan for the week (health-wise)?

[oatmilkicedchai]

Hello MNers,

This week I have planned to eat:

Breakfasts

• Porridge with a handful of frozen cherries, couple of squares of dark choc and chia seeds x 3
• 3 scrambled eggs with a side of two figs and a chopped banana x 4

Lunches

• watermelon, feta, mint, avocado, cucumber, lime, and sunflower seed salad, with small drizzle of olive oil x 4
• omelette with leek, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes, with small scoop of kimchi x 3

Dinners

• salmon filet, broccoli and chickpeas x 2
• veggie (shop bought) gyoza with soy sauce and a side of kimchi x 1
• veggie sausages, chips, and beans (not the healthiest but there we are!) x 2
• tuna, sweetcorn, mayonnaise whole wheat pasta x 2

Snacks: mostly fruit, sometimes kefir or nuts
Drinks: water only: 2-3 litres per day

For context, I am not ordinarily so wanky about trying to eat especially well but I am coming out of a period of quite serious clinical depression and would like to use food as part of my recovery.

Any and all suggestions as to how this can be made healthier (cleaner) would be gratefully appreciated! NB I do eat meat but prefer not to do so at home.

It all sounds lovely to me. I'd just say watch your portion sizes with nuts as snacks, although they are very healthy they are high in good fats which makes them high in calories (this may not be a massive concern.for you though)

Thank you :)

Yes portion size deffo something I am trying to keep in mind - especially with things like nuts!

I am wanky ordinarily😁
I would add kefir and a vit d in a morning. I found vit d essential to my moods. Kefir is good for digestive. Don't buy the pricey one in supermarkets, look at their polish sections if they have one. Half the price, bigger bottle🤷🏻
If you get kimchi which has to be chilled, it's also great. But that's not that often in regular shops.

Otherwise it's a good balance! You got bit of everything. It's fine not to eat only "healthy food". It's the balance which is important.

That looks like a lot of eggs to me. I mean, eggs are great, but depending how many you have in an omelette then I make that 15-18 eggs per week.

Have a look at www.nutritionfacts.org its really good for evidence based info on food. You can search on topics that you are interested in like foods that help depression etc.

Re your food I would lose the eggs, they are really unhealthy and best avoided.

Eggs are not unhealthy 😐
They are source of many vitamins, mimerals and protein. Unless you have some underlying health issues, eggs are absolutely part of healthy diet.
Ok maybe not 18, but they are.

Eggs are great if you are a baby chick, but not good for humans. Too much cholesterol.

nutritionfacts.org/video/who-says-eggs-arent-healthy-or-safe/

haha 🤣

Ah yes - already take a Vit D supplement in the AM - and will consider having the kefir then too. thank you!

Yes I have been thinking the same thing to be honest... I accidentally ordered a few too many so wanted to use them up. Will ditch the lunch time ones.

www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/are-eggs-risky-for-heart-health

This looks to be a great resource - thank you for sharing!

Do you mind me asking @TheLittleRedDragon - are you vegan?

Re your food I would lose the eggs, they are really unhealthy and best avoided.

Eggs are very healthy as they are one of the least processed foods you can get! They are also full of nutrients and healthy oils such as omega 3. Obviously if you are going to live on a diet of egg yolk then they would have cholesterol but to call them unhealthy is nonsense.

Are you trying to lose weight? If not I’d add more carbs, eg some brown rice with the gyoza or wholewheat bread with the omelette.

That salad sounds awesome - I might pinch that recipe.

Try and take a walk somewhere green everyday if you can. Good luck with your recovery.

Also a quick Google tells us the type of cholesterol found in egg yolks does not have a significant impact on blood cholesterol compared to saturated fats.

Keep the eggs, OP.

I think your plan sounds very balanced and healthy.

Hi @oatmilkicedchai mostly vegan/plant based food (treat cheese at xmas, the odd prawns. And when eating out I go with fish) apart from that I try to avoid all meat and dairy as per the excellent dr Gregors advive (he wrote the book how not to die and set up the nutrition facts site)

Yeah eggs being unhealthy or bad for cholesterol was debunked decades ago. There's literally a line about it in a classic Simpsons episode.

This is going to be the dullest response you get, but just be careful you don’t end up leading yourself into a funny relationship with food. Clean eating is not a real concept but as a self describer it can be a mask for problematic relationships with food.

see a dietician or dietician who is also a nutritionist?

Beyond that the watermelon salad doesn’t sound v filling, and I think generally you are low on fibre, I know there is still much worshipping of protein, but fibre also fills you up and is v good for your innards.

That sounds so yummy, thanks for the ideas esp watermelon and feta!! Agree about adding some carbs to some of the dinners, rice or sweet potato /new potatoes to bulk them out.

I think it sounds ok on fibre. Porridge, lots of veg including broccoli, fruit

That all sounds quite delicious to me!

With snacks, sticking to the more savoury/higher protein/higher (good) fats - so the nuts rather than fruit - would perhaps keep your blood sugar levels more stable, which could help with your mood as well.

💐

Are the leeks in the omlette or on the side? If in it do they need pre cooking?

I was going to say similar to @Luredbyapomegranate. I've tried to manage my mental health with food before and it did not end well and just generated a whole new set of issues.

Less fruit more veg. Otherwise sounds yummy!

I work in mental health, you might want to look up the anti inflammatory diet and reducing depression(inflammation within the brain has been found in people with depression), I’d probably add some more protein in some of your meals and some wholegrain grains in others.
is there a reason it’s so repetitive throughout the week?

I get that a quick Google search might have come up with this, but I have found dr Gregors info to be highly convincing, please look over his videos. His best selling book how not to die, is a real eye opener. Read a bit of the blurb on the organisation nutritionfacts.org/about/

I found it useful anyway, hope you do too. OP.