Thread for those who are trying to eat "better"

[Octopus37]

Following on from yesterdays thread "Do I eat too much", which I posted on, I was unsurprising told that what I eat is crap. Have been feeling pretty crap the last few weeks, not enough energy low libido, sluggish, wound up, down - so have decided to see if changing my eating habits can shift things a bit. I'm not overweigh 5ft5, 8st6lbs, (slightly on the heavy side for me), but would be pleased if I did loose a few pounds, trying not to make weight the focus. Have decided to take a vitamin pill with iron every day, last year had v low ferratin levels so had to take iron tablets for a while. I'm not promising to do well every day and cut out sugar completely as I feel that I would be destined to fail. However, I am going to try to I improve. Today have eaten:
1 pack of Belvita biscuits
1 Actvia extra creamy yoghurt
1 large apple
1 Danone (high protein yoghurt)
3 Oatcakes
Some cashew nuts
I am planning on sweet chilli chicken & rice (ready meal cause of money diet) with some stir fried veg for tea and plan to eat some red grapes afterwards. Also may have some sort of a treat on school run. Also aim is to replace the Belvita biscuits with oatcakes for breakfast and maybe eat them with some cheese. Know I'm not doing perfectly but I am making an effort. Buddies welcome.

I ended up having gammon and salad, stuffed now, yum!

I made noodle soup last night. It was lovely. And really filling. We've got loads left!

I didn't really follow a particular recipe, just started off with a base of spring onion, garlic, ginger and chilli, then add stock and a huge pile of veg. I did tinned sweetcorn, Savoy cabbage, red pepper. Added roast chicken from yesterday, and rice noodles right at the end.

While it was cooking I prepared some more of the 'base' ingredients and have frozen it in a couple of freezer bags, so next time I want to make stir fry the fiddly bit has already been done :)

I haven't been too bad with the overeating but I've not really eaten healthily since my last post.
I was at a friends most of the day yesterday so ended up eating whatever was laid out which included crisps, garlic bread, cake and grapes.
I didn't eat much for dinner so ended up eating a lot this morning.
Toast and raspberry jam early morning before I went out. Then porridge when I got back as I thought I'd try to get back to healthy eating and then I had a bagel with dh. I just can't seem to say no. I didn't really want to eat it but just did as it was there.

I thought I'd post here, bore you with my rubbish attempt, see it in writing and give myself a kick up the arse!

I am going to in laws for dinner tonight so I really don't need to eat anything until then. I've got soup and fruit if I need to eat, otherwise I'm just going to try to keep busy and drink lots of water.

I was so hungry at work this morning! Had granary toast with cherry 'jam' for breakfast. I say 'jam' - it's made by a company called St Dalfour, they do really nice preserves that are sweetened with grape juice.

I've really gone off the idea of cereal now, I think it's the milk. TMI but I have had IBS type symptoms for the last couple of years :( but have totally buried my head in the sand about it (while dealing with the other less embarrassing illnesses) and I have started to get an idea of the things that make it worse - I am naturally becoming less keen on them!

The toast didn't keep me full for long though. We've agreed to buy 2 dozen eggs with each weekly shop instead of 1, as we are both having eggs for breakfast on my days off. I would have to get up a lot earlier (I struggle with this due to fatigue/pain/dizziness) to have them on work days though.

Frugal I don't drink milk either and have porridge with almond or hazelnut milk. if you soak porridge oats the night before, it takes no time to cook.
Most cereals are rubbish so its probably better to find something else anyway!

Yes I'm happy to be eating less cereal and would like to wean the DCs off it too really but that will take time!

Dairy in general doesn't seem to be a problem - just the combination of sugary (especially chocolatey) cereal with lots of milk doesn't seem to agree with me. I'm fine using milk/butter in cooking, and cheese is fine too.

We had fish and chips for lunch BUT I had half a portion that I shared with ds and ended up throwing most of the chips away as I was....wait for it.... FULL!

Will have salad later to balance it out a bit

I need to up my water intake, not drinking enough atm.

Oh I wanted to ask about periods too if I may?!

Do you all get more food cravings/hunger when you're on/due?

I do. It's not as bad as it used to be though since I generally improved eating. The 'due' bit of my cycle seems to be lasting ages at the moment - I was about a week late this month and felt slightly PMSish the whole time.

Anyway I don't want to see it as a green light to eat a load of crap but it's quite tempting sometimes! I'm trying not to let cravings overrule my head anymore.

Woohoo! :o

I need to drink more water too. I actually really love water so it's not a strain to drink it, I just forget to really.

This month the sugar cravings and snapiness were virtually non existent, massive improvement!

I forget about water too. Think I'll full a bottle and leave it on the side to remind myself.

God yes Frugal In an odd way my appetite goes during my period, or a couple of days before, as in I don't get physically hungry, but I could eat my way through the biscuit aisle in a supermarket without pausing. Definite sugar cravings. Chocolate, biscuits, bread, crisps...

I haven't been avoiding sugar long enough to see how I am during pmt week. Watch this space.

That's good to hear Dame I am terribly prone to mood swings during that time. My anxiety can be bad then too. Hoping all this healthy eating and no refined sugar will have a positive effect on it.

Putting water into a bottle really helps you remember to drink. I like seeing how much I've had so far.

Just sprinkled linseed over Greek yog and fruit, quite nice! I got it from Aldi, megga cheap!

Done another food shop. Couldn't resist a few 'treat' things yes I am blaming period but otherwise mostly veg and fruit and ingredients for yummy meals.

I've been getting stuff I haven't cooked with for years (eg lemongrass, coconut milk etc) which is bringing it home just how unenthusiastic we've been recently :( still can't blame myself too much, circumstances haven't exactly given themselves to spending hours in the kitchen. Trying to be positive about the changes but actually it just feels like we are getting to where we already should be rather than making progress IYSWIM. Sorry just being moody blame period again

Periods are crap

I had spag bol for dinner with a huge green salad. probably 1/4 of the amount of pasta and sauce I'd normally eat pretty appalled at the amount I used to eatI'm not hungry at all doing this, I'm amazed.

Frugal-don't be disheartened, sounds like you're doing brilliantly.

Tell me about your plans for lemon grass and coconut milk....

Not entirely sure but as I've already got lime, ginger, chilli etc probably some other kind of soupy thing or a sort of Thai curry. Not very authentic but I just want to enjoy the simple flavours before I start adding in more stuff.

The noodle soup I made the other day was great but I definitely under seasoned it, I'll be bolder next time :)

Wasn't too bad over the weekend. Ate a healthy breakfast on Saturday then banana bread later, then a superfood salad with Salmon, some nuts, a pret fruit goodness bar. Although did also drink two pints and eat chicken and chips. Today, breakfast wasn't good, had Jordans Oat & Chocolate cereal at my friends house, two pieces of my normal toast with healthy peanut butter for lunch. Did a roast for dinner, roast pots, chicken, carrots, broccoli and did fruit crumble (made mix myself) with custard for afters. I like to think that most of what I have eaten has some goodness in it. Weight has stayed the same but trying not to focus on that.

Hi everyone it sounds like you are all doing really well. I hope the illnesses are better. Loving the adventurous cooking! I'm carb loading over here and it's not very healthy porridge with seeds and a boiled egg for breakfast yesterday - the good part - then half my ds's enormous hotdog and a few fries at lunch, a hot chocolate, vin chad and coffee up the mountain. Goats cheese salad and red wine at dinner. My tummy's not v happy! It's interesting, if nothing else, to see how eating so differently makes me feel.

Octopus your diet is so much better than that ' do I eat too much' post a couple of weeks ago. Definitely don't focus on weight, you don't need to lose any and I think what is more likely for you is as you eat more protein, your body composition will change slightly and you may put on a little muscle. This will actually make you weigh more but if you monitor your measurements and clothes fit, you will be smaller. A common thing if you are a bit protein deficient .

I ate quite well for most of last week and felt much better for it. Then at work on Friday I had quiche and buns left after a client meeting, Saturday night I had a Chinese, last night I had reheated leftover Chinese . Been eating more fruit though, so that's good.

Everyone's doing so well that I feel like I really need to up my game. Back on it this week.

I'm going to throw some snacky food away. I would not normally do this - I'd normally just eat it anyway even if I wasn't enjoying it. But I tried some crisps that were hanging around and found I've gone right off them, and some fudge I've tried which is not as nice as it looked. I'm not going to eat cubes of basically sugar just for the sake of it!

Actually I might take them into work, I'll stick them on the staff room table.

I had no protein for lunch, just veg soup. I'm starving now and dreaming of steak

Need to go shopping tomorrow and stock up!

Thanks sleep for the positive support, don't feel as if I am doing too badly. Today:

2 pieces of toast with sugar free peanut butter
2 pieces of toast with lemon and coriander humus
Some melon
Some (ok I admit it quite a bit of) homemade fruit flapjack

Planning on doing soup tonight from leftovers from roast with noodles in it. May have some bread with this, possibly some cheese on toast.

Right fellow EatBetterers! (Can that be our new name BTW? :o)

I need your wonderful advice and ideas please to help me plan. We've been plodding along quite well lately by sort of half planning meals (so having a few set ideas for throughout the week and some random stuff to improvise on other days) BUT... DH has been offered a job. It's full time. And it starts on Monday

So I think we will need to plan properly if I am to have any hope of managing, particularly as I find food preparation quite hard at times due to my health. But I absolutely DO NOT want this to lead to more reliance on convenience foods - I just need to be organised!

That in itself shows how much our diet has improved. In the past I've been pleased for an excuse to stock up on easy food but now I just don't want it. I have finally started seeing how it affects my/DCs' wellbeing so I don't want to lose sight of that.