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.

Me too - I don't need to lose weight but I feel sluggish and tired... and then I eat 'treat' rubbish... and I'm sure that makes me feel worse. At the moment I'm completely bored with food so I'm not even meal planning very well.
Today: toast and fig jam
Toast and nutella snack after dog walk
Lunch: Bag of cheese and onion crisps, apple, Twirl bar, Pannacotta that's in the fridge as the DCs don't like it and it needs eating :-)
Scotch egg after Sainsbury's shop
Supper will be chicken & veg stirfry so that's OK

My food always goes downhill when the weather is bad.

I work from home a lot and my diet during the day recently has been shocking. I want to eat more healthily - I could do with losing a few pounds but am not really much overweight. It is more about the fact I feel sluggish and tired and have been eating when bored.

I do things like buy breakfast biscuits and pastries to have for breakfast once the dc's are away to school. I tried having porridge yesterday but, as I knew, I really don't like it. So I need to find a healthier breakfast option which will fill me up.

Also need to stop snacking on biscuits, somehow things like grapes just don't cut it tho!

I had 2 slimster wholemeal gaps with tuna and sweet corn, bowl of crunchy nuts with banana on top. Am having steak, baby potato salad, egg and salad for dinner. Will have a treat later and have done a 45 main exercise class and 30 main swim so not too bad so far:-)

If you want to eat healthily, not necessarily aiming for weight loss (though it may well happen if you are overweight):

1. Work on eating all of your meals slowly and mindfully - ie- whenever possible, without distractions such as work, laptop, TV. This is really important - digestion starts in the brain and by eating this way you optimise digestion, assimilation and metabolism and get back to being in touch with your appetite, so reducing the chance of overeating.

1. Make as much of your food as possible whole food, ie unprocessed, fresh, and the best quality you can get, whatever it is.

1. Studies have shown that if you start the day with sugar and carbs, that is exactly what you crave all day. Ideally, every meal, but especially breakfast and lunch (at the very least one of these), needs to contain protein and good fat. Good sources of protein: fish, eggs, unprocessed meat, quinoa, full fat Greek yoghurt, nuts and nut butter (unsweetened/salted), protein powder, real cheese (ie not Kraft/Dairylea type). Good sources of fat: high quality oils (olive, coconut, sesame, flax), avocados, nuts and seeds, eggs, oily fish, olives - saturated fat in meat/dairy need not be avoided.

1. Avoid white and processed carbs and sugar - all carbs are not bad though! Eat sweet potatoes, beans, lentils, quinoa, chickpeas, brown or wild rice, wholemeal pasta if you like.

If you stick to the above 80% of the time and really enjoy whatever you fancy occasionally, you should feel so much healthier. Keep a note of any changes - assess your energy levels, hair, skin, mood, sex drive, note anything like headaches or digestive problems just before you change your habits and then a week or two afterwards - I promise you should see an improvement

So far today, have eaten:

3 oatcakes
1 Activia yoghurt (not low fat, know it contains sugar but couldn't face cheese for breakfast)
A small handful of cashews

TBH feel crabby and want chocolate now now now. Made my Son toast with choc spread (only breakfast he will eat, he is full of energy btw) and wanted the same. Youngest DS's birthday today, going out later, making bday cake for him, will try and have a small slice. Am really hoping this will make me feel better as I hate deprivation. Know I need to buy those almonds, will do that when I go out later.

No decent protein or fat in your breakfast octopus, mainly sugar and carbs, that's why you are craving chocolate (and will crack eventually, it's just human nature). Eating healthily is not about deprivation! it's the opposite, nourishing your body well. You shouldn't be hungry! Can you make yourself some eggs now, or what else do you have handy? Brown toast and peanut butter maybe?

Breakfast ideas, any of these with good quality brown bread/toast and butter if you like

Eggs any way you like
Smoked salmon or other fish
Avocado (good with chilli and olive oil and tomatoes on toast)
Full fat Greek yoghurt or porridge made with milk with berries and raw nuts on top, or nut butter stirred into porridge

I think you should ditch all that yoghurt eating!

How about replacing the oatcakes with a couple of boiled eggs for breakfast? Make them how you like them, add lots of ground pepper and eat slowly, enjoying it all.

About a year ago (maybe more now) I switched DP and DS's packed lunches to proper healthy ones (I have been taking healthy lunches into work for years, but for some reason just gave DP and DS a more boring lunch and less healthy)

Now we all have either a big tub of mixed salad(lots of veg basically, not just leaves) with some sort of protein in it too (fish, eggs, prawns, chicken, chickpeas, chunks of nice cheese) or a tub of chicken pasta salad (not much pasta though, mostly veg again like peas, green beans, tomatoes, cucumber, chopped up apple, raisins, peppers and a sprinkling of curry powder and squeeze of lemon juice) or leftover roasted vegetables and roast chicken, or brown rice and vegetable stew (agian leftover form the night before) or a spanish omelette and salad, or wraps stuffed to bursting with loads of veg and a bit of chicken or tuna or cheese.

Basically for lunch I pack mostly vegetables, plus some protein, plus sometimes some carbs (brown rice, pasta, wraps or potato and other veg). We have fruit as well, for our 'sweet' thing.

That keeps us going till supper time.

Although I've put on over a stone in weight since September (purely down to eating shite) I am absolutely sick of thinking about losing weight, trying to calculate the number of calories in a slice of lettuce, thinking that if I do the Shred I'll work off that 4 finger Kitkat that I had at lunchtime and allowing the scales to determine my mood for the day.

It's all bullshit. I know the calorie content of most things in my cupboard but would struggle to tell the nutritional value and that's all wrong I think. So instead of thinking that I need to lose weight, I'm trying to turn this on its head and say I'm going to nourish my body. 3 meals a day, made from scratch or "clean" wherever possible, no snacking on shite in between and nothing after 7pm. I'm trying to cut out bread as it just bloats me, if I am hungry between meals then I'll have fruit/nuts or drink more water as that may well be what's wrong rather than genuine hunger.

I'm just absolutely fucking sick of dieting, reading diet books, buying magazines to read the diet articles, etc. Stop the bloody "diet bus", I'm getting off....

I realise that I've just reiterated what almost everyone is saying on this thread anyway, but needed to rant !

I'm joining you! No matter how much I try and kid myself, I know my diet is crap. I eat too many carbs, I love crisps and don't eat enough fruit, veg or salad. My skin is awful atm which is partially to do with the weather and time of year but I'm sure my diet doesn't help. I know what I should be eating, it's just actually doing it that's the problem. I don't need to lose weight, just eat more healthily and get off my arse and do some exercise.

Sleepwhenidie has some good advice, but are eggs really a source of good fat? Protein, yes, but I didn't think they had fat in.

Agree with CaptainTripps that Belvita and the like are a special kind of shit. Don't eat them!

Belvita are crap...as are most breakfast cereals, biscuits. Fruit, porridge (preferably not instant) and eggs are the best choices for breakfast I think.

Unfortunately hate porridge, eggs and milk. Not sure if I like peanut butter or not, but it sound like it could be the right option. Trying to change my mindset, I think I am one of those people who sees nice food as a treat and I know that with healthy eating I need to break away from the emotional side of eating and see it as fuel. Know that some healthy foods are enjoyable, so need to keep that in mind. Bit gutted about my breakfast, though that oatcakes were the better option and I did have some nuts. Also hate milk, so feel it is important to include soe dairy in my diet.

Likebigbutts, that's exactly the right mindset to adopt. If you eat mindfully (pay attention when you eat, eat when hungry, stop when full) and choose the most nourishing foods for your body, (and move a bit!) your weight should take care of itself, even if occasionally the most 'nourishing' thing for you is a big bowl of creamy pasta, or cake...food is supposed to be enjoyable - not 'simply fuel', no need to take the joy out of it - and sometimes it can be a comfort to eat things that remind us of childhood/feel like a hug . We have to be grown ups most of the time and not make that choice all the time though .

The more nutrient dense food you consciously decide to eat though the more enjoyable those foods become, and they actually become the preferred choice. Most of us are too hooked on the sugar and carbs to appreciate it, but honestly, with practice you realise how much better you feel eating well, regardless of your weight, and the freedom from restricting food, counting calories/points and feeling guilty is immeasurable.

Soft kitty, eggs actually have almost as much fat as protein in them! It's good fat though .

Octopus, you don't have to have milk, or even dairy. I'd try and work on incorporating eggs into your diet somehow though, they are amazing for you. Anything else there that you like? Also remember you don't have to have 'breakfast' foil at breakfast, there's no rule to say you can't have a meal you would equally have at lunchtime for example, though it may seem strange at first!

Foil? Food!

Yeah, ditch the yoghurts, they're full of sugar and not live. Beware of 'Greek style' yoghurts too which aren't live.

You need a big breakfast, get that sorted and you won't crave sugar and want to snack.

You'll have a few days of adjustment probably, you've been used to eating loads of sugar.

Good luck

Im planning on having porridge with half a banana and a wee drizzle of honey, but Im still not hungry yet. Then I think a spanish ommlette for a late lunch.

Can I be that annoying git who says that Activia is probably the sugariest yoghurt on the shelves? Pure marketing. You could try Greek yoghurt with berries?

Every Sunday I make up a massive bowl of tabbouleh.
Bulgar wheat, mixed with tiny tiny pieces of chopped peppers, cucumber, spring onion, half a bunch of mint and an olive oil and lemon juice dressing. I have it during the week.
As a late breakfast, about 10am in a Pitta with some feta. As lunch with some ham or roasted veg. So delicious and versatile.
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Sounds delicious brokentoe...would be great with some feta thrown in too-yum [smile ]

Am also trying to cut down on sugar in my tea/coffee...found that using sugar cubes helps as I am not tempted to sprinkle in more grains if felling tired or low - have gone down from 2 cubes, to one and now I am currently cutting a cube in half for a cup of tea.

It really doesn't take long too adjust to eating less sugar once you get going ime. I've just made the change from sweetened soya milk to un sweetened. By God it was vile but 2 days later I'm not even noticing.

It's honestly lovely Sleep. So filling, so fresh tasting. I use loads and loads of the veg, just chopped into tiny dice.
Though I usually rub out by Thursday lunchtime to switch to my other favourite, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on half a bagel for breakfast, and normally go out for lunch!
But it's a great way to start the day. I eat after I've taken the DC to school and put on a load of washing and washed up etc. DS and I sit down at the table, I eat my tabbouleh and he has some fruit salad or something. I feel as though I've eaten a proper meal, which makes me realise I can easily go til 2 until I have my lunch. Then an early dinner at about 6.30/7.

Just joining, I was eating 'clean' from the 1st January and lost 8lbs in 2 weeks (I have 7 stones to lose sot that is why it was a lot), then a work crisis meant I effectively doubled my workload and increased my working hours. My healthy eating went to pot a huge toblerone every night was not ideal
So back on it on Monday....

My food shop last night was successful. Lots of wholesome, nutritious food. I even meal planned. Like I said, we eat very healthily anyway but some bad habits and lazy shopping had slipped in.

During all my ivf treatments I ate sugar free and incredibly healthily but when it ended badly last time, comfort eating sneaked in.

Had porridge with fresh blueberries for breakfast. Mixed nuts for a snack. Haven't had lunch yet.

Oh and lots of water too.

On the subject of yogurt, I love Greek yogurt with fruit but often add a drizzle of honey. Honey is sugar but is it a 'bad' sugar?