To ask your advice on eating more healthily?

[WagathaChristieMystery]

Hi all,

I’ve been trying to eat more healthily, and just wondered if the below meal plan sounds reasonable to you?

Mainly trying to improve my fruit and veg intake, and eat a bit less meat and replace it with vets as my fruit/veg intake is pretty rubbish normally! Thanks!

Breakfast: Greek yoghurt with porridge oats, berries and banana (or some variation of yoghurt, porridge and fruit, or poached eggs on toast)

Lunch: vegetable soup; leftovers from previous night’s dinner; if I’m in the office, I sometimes buy food like a rice box from a nearby restaurant e.g. black bean or chicken rice box, with brown rice

Dinner: roast veg and chicken traybake; vegetarian shepherd’s pie; chilli con carne; might have a piece of fruit or yoghurt after dinner, or some chocolate

Also try to drink lots of water during and in between meals. Trying to aim for having a couple of ‘treat days’ per week, where I eat what I want, and then eating like the above the rest of the time.

Just bumping in case anyone has anything to add - would be keen to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

I think that sounds lovely and healthy and more importantly realistic.

People are too strict sometimes with themselves which means they crash, burn and give up.

Factoring in treats and treat days been it's more likely to be a long term plan that you follow.

Thank you easy! Really appreciate it :) I’ve been meaning to overhaul my diet for a while now, and I think the only way I’ll be able to stick to it is to make it sustainable, so it’s really helpful to hear it seems realistic and achievable.

I am not keen on terms like "treat days" and "cheat days" because they just don't work for me. I call it sometimes days😂
Mainly because implying that food is either treat or bad didn't really fo good things for my relationship with food. So I went with "sometimes".

Agree eith pp. It looks good and sustainable.
Add fish into the diet. Especially fatty fish with skin on is great! Plus fosh really lends itself to dishes with lots of nice veg

Sounds really good! I also go to the store and wander in the fruit and veg section and buy something new that looks good to keep my interest. Also frozen fruit for pudding is a winner

Thanks all! And @InCheesusWeTrust, I’m totally with you - I’m sure you can all tell I’m new to this, as I’m finding the terminology as I go haha. I think ‘sometimes’ days is the way to go!

I meal plan which helps a lot, and include fish/seafood every week.

Keep an eye on portion size too - you may find yours have crept up over the years.

How big a change is this for you?

It works for some, it doesn't for others😁 you eill find what suits you.

Cheap fish can be tinned like sardines or mackerel. Really healthy.

Is this for health or weight loss? Because health doesn't mean weightloss😂 as I found out while getting fat on healthy food😂

Very true, Cheesus! I’ll do a bit of experimenting with this, and then hopefully I’ll find my own way eventually. Meal planning is also a very good idea - thank you, LadyGardener.

It’s for health and weight loss. I’m quite short, so every pound shows 🤣 I’m not overweight yet, but am getting there!

And in terms of health reasons, a close relative has recently been diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. Through sheer force of will, and eating a similar diet to the one I’ve posted here, they’ve now reversed it, so they’re no longer pre-diabetic. That gave me a bit of a wake-up call, and made me think I should be a bit more mindful about making sure I’m a healthy weight.

I’ve also realised I haven’t ever really paid close attention to my diet 😳 I don’t overeat or overdo it on snacks or junk food - it’s more that I don’t really pay attention to whether I eat a balanced diet. I’m trying to try this meal plan out to see how I feel with eating a more balanced diet where I actually think about I’m eating a bit more!

I love food and cooking though, so I want to make sure I’m eating delicious food - but just the right kind of food and in moderation! If anyone has any delicious recipes to share, please do post them here!

I would add in to literally count your fruit/veg portions for the day - I actually found it useful to weigh stuff at first (iirc 80g is one ‘portion’) to get an idea of how much you need. It’s surprisingly easy to hit 4 portions by lunchtime with the addition of a chunk of cucumber/carrot/tomato here or there.

If I’m feeling lazy then having a ready meal but adding one of those steam packs of veg works well too.

This is the type of food that we eat all the time. We do eat some meat, but lots of our meals have beans, chickpeas or lentils in them along with lots of veg. I made moussaka the other day, but I used half lentils and half lamb to make it a bit healthier. You can make delicious vegetable lasagnas and curries. Chana masala is tasty and cheap. I also love making Thai curries and adding loads of veg. Tagines with loads of veggies are also a good, quick option.

I get my recipes from different sources, but here are some of my favourites which you should be able to find online:

Ottolenghi's red lentil and coconut soup (Ottolenghi simple).
Chana masala (Madhur Jaffrey) - doesn't have to be spicy.
Vegetable Biryani (Cook with Manali) - I up the proportion of vegetables.
Black bean chilli
Afghan kidney bean curry
Carrot, cumin & kidney bean burgers (A Girl Called Jack)
Breakfast Bhaji (Rick Stein's India)
Saag Paneer (Rick Stein's India)
Chinese Egg + Tomatoes (The Woks of Life)
Bucatini alle Melanzane (Gennaro's Family Italian)
Loaded veggie nachos (Cookieandkate.com)
Spinach macaroni cheese (I add hatch chilli flakes and defrosted frozen spinach to make it extra tasty)
Vegetarian yaki soba (Just One Cookbook)
Golden veggie shepherd's pie (BBC Good Food)

Thanks so much Nellie and anderson - your tips are great!