Come forward EatBetterers and unite - it's the second happy healthy eating thread!

[fuzzpig]

Here's the previous thread where it all began!

EatBetterers are trying to improve the diets of ourselves and our families. No weighing, restricting, calorie counting etc - just finding joy in nourishing ourselves by making positive changes one step at a time. All welcome! :)

Yes I would expect the nuts are helping due to vitamin E? And selenium is in Brazil nuts. You've reminded me we are out of whole nuts so I'll add them to my order thanks!

Struggling to make the next few days' meal plans as the oven - and as it turns out, the grill :( - are buggered. DD wants to learn how to make bolognese so we will do that tomorrow (complete with heaps of grated veg and red lentils) but can't decide what else to do.

Obviously not sure what food you have in fuzz, but could you make some veg burgers?
We love spinach ones:
2 red onions chopped and fried to soften
I pack of spinach finely chopped
150g grated cheese
4 slices of whole meal bread made into crumbs
2 beaten eggs
A couple of finely chopped chillies
Some plain flour with black pepper to coat

Mix all ingredients except flour together. Shape into 6 burgers and coat with flour. Chill for at least half an hour to let them bind. Dry fry on a not stick pan.
Serve in a bun if you like.
They freeze really well before they have been cooked too.

Oh and thanks for the reply about the nuts

Hello ive just been pointed in thus direction, so just marking my place and off to have a read through.

Hey Rumours! Great minds...

I've been reading about green smoothies (via a link from your blog, Sleepwhenidie). Anyone tried them? I tend to avoid juices and smoothies normally because of the high sugar content, but the green ones sound good. Thought they might be the ideal thing to combat my afternoon slump!

Will try making one this afternoon and report back!

I just had one for breakfast Holmes, bit cheeky to link here but click on Instagram logo on my blog and you'll see it. Delicious .

That looks good! I have (too much) chard growing in my garden, so I was thinking of using some of that, plus maybe some frozen berries, a bit of flax seed and some banana. I don't have any coconut water (and have never tried it) but I was wondering about using some cooled green tea as the liquid element. Also wondering about chucking in some avocado... Rather looking forward to it - bit like a chemistry experiment or a Harry Potter potions lesson !

Hello all. Neeko those burgers sound right up our street. I might make them tonight for tea! I am really rubbish at self care in all aspects as it happens. I have been working my way through the book Sleep recommended. I had already sussed that some of my self sabotage with eating betterer is rebellion. (my mum had conquered an ED so was v strict with food - this makes me realise I cannot be like that with my dc). But now it isn't that. it's more about not wanting to look after myself (I would say not wanting to be happy but I would sound like a teenager and of course you can be happy and not eat well!!)

Hi stilllearnin! Have you tried mindfulness? I find it really helps with that kind of self-sabotaging thoughts. There's an amazing book called The Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert which is really good at explaining why we are so hard on ourselves and helps practise ways of being kind to ourselves. It might sound a bit new-agey but it's written in quite a sensible, down-to-earth way.

Afternoon

Korean pancakes-I make mine using a mix from the Asian supermarket but if you google there are lots of recipes, basically it's flour, corn flour I think, water egg and you add Courgette, spring onions, spinach, prawns, peppers if you want them, chilli if you want it. Mix it all up and fry in a non stick pan. I can't link from my phone, sorry. We all love them, always goes down well.

Food today-yog and fruit and boiled egg.

Tuna, avocado with seeds sprinkled on top and an oat cake.

Spanish chicken with green salad for dinner.

I've been doing mindful breathing 3x a day without fail, it's really helped with mindful eating as well. Thoroughly recommend it and calms the nerves and bp

yum holmes sounds good - the avocado will make it nice and creamy. Let me know how the tea works! That book sounds good, very much in line with my coaching techniques. Will check it out.

I'm going to give those pancakes a go Dame thank you. I am just tucking into tuna, avocado, tomato mixed with a blob of greek yoghurt, piled on rye toast - yummy.

Well I've made the smoothie so that I can have it straight away after the school run. It looked pretty vile, as the berries made it dark sludgy green rather than nice bright green but I had a sip and it's really nice!
Sleepwhenidie - I didn't add the avocado in the end as there was rather a lot of stuff in there already and I thought it might discolour if I left it in the fridge, as avocado does. The green tea has worked well though, I think.

Sorry to bore everyone with my in-depth smoothie talk! Will shut up now.

Loving the smoothie and veggie burger ideas! Today has been a bit meh for me:
breakfast - porridge with raisins & maple syrup
mid-morning - rye bread with cream cheese
lunch - rye toast with mushrooms and cheese, with a tuna, beetroot & cucumber sald
mid-afternoon - so far a handful of almonds & dates. Might have my usual late afternoon yoghurt & granola in a bit, or not today as need to eat fairly early
dinner - spicy pork from freezer with wild rice

We've really got into different wild rice mixes recently - I can't believe how much white rice we used to eat!

I am out all day tomorrow at various meetings & events. Think I'll do a big couscous salad to pack.

My day:
Cheese omelette with wholemeal bread for breakfast

Barley broth and a mozzarella, avocado, tomato and beetroot salad and an apple for lunch.

Green smoothie for snack.

Pork steak with sweet potato and salad for dinner. Maybe some Greek yoghurt after.

I feel like I'll have eaten a lot today, but at least it's all pretty good stuff.

Sleepwhenidie - that guy in the link from your blog who lost all the weight is pretty inspiring. What really appealed to me was the fact that he concentrated on what he should eat rather than what he shouldn't, and didn't vforbid himself anything.

I'm sure the reason diets fail is because we restrict ourselves and therefore feel deprived and lose our enjoyment of food.

I like the idea that instead of berating myself and thinking 'No, I must not eat cake/chocolate etc', instead I can fill myself up with nourishing food safe in the knowledge that I can then allow myself cake if I really want to. But that the desire for junk will probably gradually reduce.

Sorry - long rambly post, but this thread has inspired me!

Hi ladies, mind if I join in?

I'm trying to rid myself of unhealthy eating habits. I put on 3.5 stone when pregnant with my boy and I'm so horrified by my behaviour then that I want to lose it all and never go back there! Before pregnancy I was very fit and active thanks to a warehouse type job. White carbs found me, and my duties completely changed. He's fifteen months now and I still have a stubborn stone to lose.

I'm going to the gym about 4-5 times a week, I've discovered that I can run, and I've ditched white rice, pasta and bread. And white potatoes. I let myself have one or two 'treats' a week because it keeps my resolve the rest of the time, so tonight I will be having a glass of wine and a small pud.

I've been calorie counting but I find it makes me obsessive and miserable - bad combo. I'm also about to chuck my scales for the same reason - I'm a small size 12 and looking to make healthy changes. A number on the scale is so demotivating when you've been sticking to a pitiful number of calories and working out.

So thank you for providing such a supportive place to take about life and food! I've just had salmon for breakfast (surprisingly ok!) and I've rediscovered my love of nettle tea. Not sure I'm ready for green smoothies but well see

Hi Plonkysaurus! My green smoothie was honestly nice! If I'd shut my eyes, I wouldn't really have known it wasn't a normal smoothie (probably because I put too much fruit in it!). It had a big load of fresh greens in though - but I couldn't really taste them. Just had another one for breakfast actually.

I too put lots of weight on when I had my dc, though I had never been exactly slim to start with. It was being diagnosed with dangerously high bp in my last pregnancy, which didn't go away afterwards, that made me decide things had to change. I'm 2.5 stone lighter than I was, but I'd like to lose at least another stone.

Welcome Plonky, sounds like you have made some great changes . Perhaps the key thing for you to focus on now is listening to your hunger so you really eat to the point of satiety and practice stopping? Also allow for the possibility that you are already at your healthy weight (where your body naturally wants to be, rather than a size/weight chosen by your brain )? Make your goal health and fitness and see where that gets you.

I am enjoying green smoothies for breakfast too - something I couldn't have imagined a year ago - it's only a handful of berries, a very small banana and a couple of chunks of pineapple in mine, (along with a huge handful of spinach, chia seeds, coconut oil and, a new addition today, supergreen powder), I don't tend to eat any fruit the rest of the day.

Oh and Holmes, turning the usual thought process about food around is exactly what this is all about - instead of all the 'shouldnts' and good/bad food, give yourself the choice . It's pretty powerful once you really give yourself permission to eat whatever you want but also, by being properly conscious with everything you eat (as opposed to mentally checking out and eating), take responsibility for it.

Thanks ladies.

Pregnancy is a tough one. It completely scuppered my good habits, and by the time the nausea abated enough for me to really want to eat well I'd already gotten into the mindset that the baby wanted a cornetto.

Sleep it'd be lovely if I had found my natural weight but I don't believe I have. At 10st3 I could eat what I wanted (mindfully) and effortlessly maintain. I felt so good all the time. At 11st I've got a higher body fat % than is good, and I'm at the v top of a healthy bmi. But you're spot on with trying to focus on how I feel when eating, and recognising when I'm full.

That will probably get you there then Plonky

at the baby wanting a Cornetto!

The other thing I am humming and hawing about is giving up alcohol. Totally. I rarely drink more than the recommended weekly amount (though I certainly did in my twenties and early thirties) but much as I love beer and wine, it just doesn't agree with me these days. I get very flushed in the face and sleep badly even after one or two.
Are any of you teetotal? It seems like a big step but then again, if it makes me feel not so great, why wouldn't I quit?

I'm tee total,I have been for over thirteen years now so not add a result of this thread. I stopped because after not drinking when I was pregnant I just couldn't get used to that fuzzy feeling the next day. Plus I didn't sleep well either after drinking even half a glass of wine. Don't miss it at all.

Morning all! sleep thanks for the suggestions ref puds - have already implemented a 'no buying shop bought cake' policy this week and have purchased some porridge oats to make flapjacks at the weekend. We had strawberries, blueberries and a dollop of Greek yogurt for pudding on Tuesday which was very successful. Some of the best strawberries I've had in years as well (switched to shopping at Aldi a few months ago and been v impressed by their fruit and veg).

I also substituted half of the mince that I would normally put in our bolognese sauce for 2 x grated courgette and 3 x grated carrots. Not noticed by either DCs or DH .

Liking your blog as well sleep!

Plonky welcome! I feel your pain wrt pregnancy. I put on very little weight with DC1 (HG til 20 weeks and severe heartburn for the rest of it) so the baby weight dropped off within weeks. DC2 was a different matter and it took me a year to lose the extra stone and a half. And to be honest there's a spare tyre round my middle which just won't shift. DC2 helpfully gives it a little prod every so often just to remind me that it's still there

Holmes I've barely touched alcohol for seven years now. TTC, pregnancy and now the meds that I've been on the past year or so don't advise having any. I don't really miss it as I just can't hack the crap feeling the next day (two glasses of wine on the rare occasion that I used to have any give me such a hangover it wasn't worth it).

One thing I did notice though was that it was a key trigger for my acne. It improved immensely when I was TTC DC1 and I wasn't eating or doing anything else differently.