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! :)

Nice bounceback Americas - this is how it works in real life!

Nice one Americas.

Anyone seen Sunday Times Style today? Health section has 'the diet that really works'...basically ours - organic whenever possible, eggs, lots of veg, minimal sugar, avoid white food, eat good fats, dark chocolate and wholegrains.....

That's funny sleep is it the paleo diet? That's basically ours.

I've discovered after hating dark chocolate that I like it, much more than dairy milk crappy stuff. Aldi do very small bars of 70% chocolate also 85% which is good news.

I'm making a massive pot of ratatouille to freeze in portions.

I'm wearing a cardi I haven't been able to wear for FIVE YEARS, yay me

Going to try and make sugar free muffins later, sweetened with banana.

I'm making chutney sweetened with dates. If it turns out ok I'll post the recipe

No, not even paleo, more moderate than that - it says you should only eliminate gluten and dairy if you are intolerant, that some sugar in our diet has always been present (in fruit basically) so it shouldn't be regarded as 'poison' - although it does say no fruit juice due to the huge sugar hit.

Enjoy your cardigan Dame !

Hi everyone, Ive just started reading through the previous thread, but will take me a while yet!

I would like to cut out sugar and processed stuff and have been making some changes but am struggling a bit.

I have something called reactive hypoclycemia, had it since I was a kid but only just diagnosed, my basic advice was too eat low gi, 30% carbs (complex) with every meal with protien along side, but I think it goes deeper than that. I thought I had a pretty good diet, ditched the cakes and biscuits years ago, however chocolate was always my weakness, have cut it out now, may have a small square of 85-90% dark choc every now and then. Its all the HIDDEN sugar which has now become my thing, as I said I thought I ate quite good until I really started paying attention to the label's on things, and boy am I shocked.
I also dont want to eat gluten if I can help it as it definately doesn't agree with me and makes my hypos worse.

changes ive made recently, swapped semi-skimmed milk for full fat, marg swapped for real butter, again didn't realise the nasty's in marg, been eating it for years, swapped the kids sugar packed commerical yogurts for full fat greek yogurt with our own fruit added,

a typical day for me:
B- porridge with flaxseed and blueberries, tea
mid morn- natural/greek yogurt with walnuts and blueberries/strawberries or gluten free oatcakes with hummous.
L- gluten free brown bread sandwich with cheese, tea
snack- this is where I struggle, oatcakes if not already had earlier or yogurt if not already had, sometimes hard boiled eggs if I have time or crisps (used to be tea and biscuits or chocolate)
D- usually chicken and veg or rice or beef mince, gluten free pasta, fish etc

so im struggling with mid afternoon snacks, this is also when im most likely to have a hypo.

im tired all the time and more so in the afternoon I want this too stop and I think lts all down to my diet, lunch is quite difficult to vary as I only get a ten min break to grab something quick so its almost alaways a sandwich, specially as im usually to tired to prepare a salad or something the night before.

I was doing well and my tiredness had shifted to early evening rather than 4pm so there is a change happening, but im getting a bit bored of yogurt, nuts, oatcakes etc, so some ideas would be good.

im very motivated as ive sorta sussed that sugar was causing my acne ive suffered for years, im currently suffering a huge breakout, as I over done the fast food and had some chocolate and cake last week as it was my sons birthday, its soooo hard, I was almost clear with being so good, would cheat occasionally but not be affected so its obviously if I over do it.

also what to do while out? with the nice weather coming we are out more, and there is nothing healthy I can buy out! hence over doing the fast food?!

Hi bizkit, I'm sure there'll be lots of help along soon. I've had a long day but a very quick thought. Is there any merit in thinking about when you have the most energy and capitalising on that to get your afternoon snacks ready. Are you eating your eggs cold? If so could you make them at the same time as your porridge (if you're not using instant). Just an idea.

Hi and welcome bizkit :)

I agree it is scary how much sugar and other stuff makes it into loads of unexpected places. I hate how manipulative packaging can be. I now just try and avoid as much packaging as possible, an ever increasing proportion of what I buy has no need for ingredients lists as they are just one whole food IYSWIM.

I struggle when out and about too. If I'm just on the way somewhere I try to just not eat now, it's a new rule of mine to never eat 'on the go' IYSWIM. More difficult if you're out all day.

Great news that your skin is improving, that's a great incentive. I really want my skin to improve too!

Hi Bizkit. I also struggle with healthy mid-afternoon snacks (Sleep had some great ideas on the last thread) as that's when I traditionally reach for the biscuits. At the moment I am trying to go for a savory snack mid-morning - oatcakes with mackerel pate, or crackers with cream cheese - and then yoghurt with a sprinkle of granola mid-afternoon. Or wholegrain toast with honey - not great, but better than biscuits!

I made brownies at the weekend to use up the mountain of eggs. Not great, BUT, I added raisins and walnuts, and reduced the sugar by 1/3 and replaced with ground almonds. Small steps.....! Dread to think how sweet they would have been with the full quotient of sugar!

Fuzz - like you I try to buy 'real' food rather than ready-made stuff. Even 'bad' stuff like the brownies is more satisfying when I know exactly what's gone into it.

Yesterday I made a homity pie, which DH and I both like for lunch, but added sweet potato and broccoli to the usual potato and cheese. Leftovers for lunch today - yum.

How did the chutney turn out Dame?

I love the idea of adding ground almonds. I made peanut butter squares yesterday - also not brilliant but I'm trying to shift my mindset so that if I want a treat, I make it rather than buy it! I am crap at baking though so it will be quite a challenge. Anyway I also reduced the sugar amount from the recipe and it was fine.

Random question - is anyone else applying the 'clean/unprocessed' method to skincare? I've never really been one for a big skincare routine anyway, but sometimes I look at the huge lists of ingredients and think why am I willing to put all these chemicals on my skin?

Anyway, I'm hoping my skin will improve now that I'm less run down (it got terrible when I got ill), am eating better and getting a bit more exercise. I'm also starting to take vitamin E. But I was thinking of going back to using essential oils and oats/milk in the bath (and Epsom salts which help with pain due to the magnesium) and making salt/sugar scrubs like my mum used to. What do you think?

I meant not brilliant as in health wise. They taste fecking delicious :o

Hi Bizkit, welcome! It sounds like you have made some great changes, glad it's going well. I agree eating healthily on the run is a real challenge. The fast food market is slowly getting better with places like Leon and Chopped and some great options now in Pret/Eat but then you need to be in city centres/big shopping malls to access them still, not so good in places like zoos and playgrounds yet! Often in those cases, unless you bring your own food, which is the best thing to do, then you just have to go with the flow and recognise it's not ideal but also, it's not going to kill you

Some suggestions for you Bizkit...like pretty much everyone, you could probably do with a bit more protein and good fat than you have in the food your list above...so maybe have some eggs/fish for breakfast a few days a week as a change from porridge. With your lunchtime sandwich, maybe switch the filling to chicken and avocado, tuna or tinned or smoked salmon? Stick in some dark leafy greens like spinach or watercress whenever you can too. I'd also take an omega 3 supplement to boost your EFA's. May help with the tiredness and will definitely be good for skin/hair/nails .

Re the afternoon tiredness, you only mention a couple of cups of tea which shouldn't be a problem but often too much caffeine can contribute to tiredness. Maybe experiment with cutting down if this could be an issue. Otherwise I'd be inclined to work with your body, accept that you hit that low point in the afternoon and plan accordingly to eat what you feel gives you that boost - a few pieces of dark chocolate for example...or maybe regard it as a small meal - nut butter spread on a sliced apple is good, (good fat, protein and a nice sugar boost)...or some feta and beetroot drizzled with olive oil, Greek yoghurt with berries and nuts (if not eaten earlier, as you say). Drink some green tea for a slight caffeine buzz and lots of antioxidants. Fuzz white tea is supposed to be great for skin by the way! have you tried it?

Tried it? I've never even heard of it :o

On the beauty products Fuzz, it's a great question - my teacher believes that if you can't eat something then you shouldn't be putting it on your skin, you are after all, 'consuming' it in another way. The market for natural products is growing fast, but it's often expensive. Some people swear by oil pulling in lieu of toothpaste (think there was a thread a while back)...which apart from anything else sounds too time consuming for me..but there are 'natural' toothpastes around and you can use essential oils and kitchen store stuff for other beauty care (if you google I'm sure you'll find some great sites dedicated to all this). As a starting point choose paraben free toiletries, maybe take a look around a decent health food store where they usually have a range of products too .

White tea is basically green tea but the leaves are picked at a younger age...so more antioxidants (hence skin benefits) and less caffeine and a less bitter taste. It's a bit trickier to find but not too hard. Give it a go

I oil pull but it shouldn't be done in place of brushing, it should be done alongside your normal dental routine.

I imagine years ago when fresh water was an issue then people used oil instead, but that's not the case now.

I do it twice a day for 5 mins so not too time consuming. Massive benefits, so worth a go.

Oh someone told me it took 10-15 minutes Dame! I was ...who has time for that! Will look into it

Oh I've heard about oil pulling - I really worry about my receeding gums (I'm only 30!) and generally poor dental health as I'm a grinder and my teeth are tiny and my bite means even just eating and talking my front teeth grind together - and friend mentioned oil pulling to me so thought I'd try it.

On the subject of sugar, another friend posted this the other day which is worth a read - I'd love to try to get my family sugar free. DS and I have mastered a few sugar free muffin recipes (using dates for sweeteners, does that count?!) and I've realised a lot of baking recipes really don't need the amount of sugar the recipe calls for. I'm not sure realistically how you manage to take away all sugar from your DC diet when it comes to cake at birthday parties etc, I'd rather they were able to enjoy things like that occasionally than feel like they were missing out. Generally though I think we can be making a bigger effort, though I do try to bake all "treats" they have they definately somehow manage to get more bad sugary things than they should. Whats' everyone's opinions on naturally occuring sugars like honey and maple syrup? Is it still "bad" for you?!

Did my 57mile ride yesterday which was glorious but I didn't eat enough at the halfway point (timed to go to a friend's DC birthday party) stuffed myself on fruit then had two small slices of pizza but to be honest I should have done it the other way round as my energy took a nosedive after the first 1.5hours on the way home, so ended up eating a protein bar just to get myself home. Then went to a BBQ but had all good and yummy stuff - watermelon and feta salad, veggie kebabs, avocado rocket and quinoa salad, and homemade cheesecake ....undid it all a little bit with 3 amazing cocktails later on but it was a lovely reunion with an old friend and I don't drink a huge amount at the moment so figured it was ok!

Can you post your muffin recipe please? I'm going to use dates tomorrow to sweeten chutney.

I made muffins today-

2 large bananas
1 egg
125 mls water
120 oil
2 cups wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon bicarb
2 1/4 baking powder
1 cup frozen blueberries
Small packet of dark choc chips

Oven-180 degrees for 15-20 mins.

They are nicer in the big muffin cases rather than fairy cake ones.

This makes roughly 18 medium muffins-I'm going to freeze some!

Pull pulling is excellent for receding gums btw!

So impressed with your bike ride! well done you!

OIL

Sleep-you are meant to work your way up to 20 mins but I've been doing it ages and can't get past about 5 mins. I use coconut oil as it tastes delicious!

I didn't have a good food day

Yoghurt and fruit

Baked potato, ratatouille and green salad

Scrambled eggs with tomato

20 million banana muffins

Not enough protein, not having protein makes me binge and feel hungry. It will not be happening tomorrow!

Me either Dame, am away from home, it always goes out of the window a bit then . Just about to have a takeaway curry! Ah well, we are aware of it, tomorrow is another day