Whole food / non processed food ideas please

[Julias21]

I’m 22 and under 7 stone so need to gain weight in a healthy way . Always got bad advice like being told to eat crap to gain weight ! (Never worked for me anyway eating crap , didn’t gain anything) I need to cut down on ultra processed foods so plan on doing a shop tomorrow before gym . What would u recommend ? Healthy foods that will help gain weight !

Have you spoken to your gp? Is there a reason for your low weight? Could you get a dietian referal?
Dd has low weight, dietian advised 5 meals/snacks a day plus at least one milky drink. Lots of potatoes, rice, pasta, meat and vegetables. Creamy puddings such as fruit pudding with custard, rice pudding or good quality ice cream with fruit. It takes a lot of effort we ended up slowly building up the amounts eaten and that helped dd get used to the quantities.
Also advised to take a-z vitamins, vitamin d and calcium because there's a risk if your underweight your not getting enough. Some dietians will prescribe build up drinks but that depends on other aspects of your health too.

Hi @Richardbluebauble , yes been referred, had a dietician before but discharged me cause I gained weight when pregnant ! But now I’m back to my old weight after having a baby . As far as I know , there’s no reason , I’ve just always been slim !

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/managing-your-weight/healthy-ways-to-gain-weight/

How about making your own nut milk? That can be really calories dense and is delicious and healthy imo. Also Buddha bowl type things with loads of avocado, olive oil as dressing, oily fish, eggs and a grain.

I also think you should maybe go back to the GP though if you still cannot gain weight? That doesn't sound right if you're eating a lot and not doing excessive amounts of exercise.

@CynthiaKnicksOn since I’ve had my baby I’ve not really been eating great ! I meant before , I would eat like chocolate , crisps , ultra processed foods etc and went to the gym to lift weights and I put on a little weight ! It seems to be when I try eat healthy foods , the weight drops off me 🤣

One suggestion...

Pan fry chopped onion and cubed pork until soft/browned. Then simmer gently in the pan with a sachet of creamed coconut, halved cherry tomatoes and Tabasco to taste. Serve over brown rice.

That gives you plenty of protein, four of your five fruit&veg a day, and plenty of carbs for slow release energy & lifting weights. You could add a side of steamed brocolli if you want leafy veg.

You need high calorie so things like

• nuts
• eggs, especially the yolks
• avocado
• oils
• full fat dairy (Longley farms cottage cheese is amazing, nothing like any other cottage cheese it is delicious)

Think about things like smoothies/shakes you can load them with fruit and veg so they are more nutritious while also adding in good oils or dairy.

Meals like chicken breast with skin on, broccoli roasted with olive oil and garlic, corn with butter.

thank you guys ! I’m not a fan of nuts . Can anyone suggest things to put into a shake ? Or smoothie ??
I eat loads of eggs but never know what to have with it as an egg on its own isn’t a meal , I’m really bad at this ! 🤣

Also, snack ideas?? Need 3/4 meals a day with snacks , it’s so hard !

Full fat Greek yogurt - great with some honey and seeds

Humous with breadsticks

Small energy/calorie dense foods, so drizzle some olive oil and balsamic vinegar over your tomatoes, make your eggs as omlette with cheese

Dairy. I had a very ill family member who was restricting food but needed calories and we beat/melted butter, milk and cheese into almost everything. For eg, you can make a simple tomato sauce for pasta, but add calories by using pancetta for the base, melting a good few table spoons of soft cheese into it, then adding Parmesan or cheddar at the end.

Thank you !

What about where nuts are present as part of the meal, walnuts or pine nuts in a salad or pesto on pasta?

allnutritious.com/high-calorie-smoothie/

Bananas are good for snacks or you could slice one up to go on porridge or in pancakes.

Porridge is a good way to get high quality nutrient dense food in the morning, you could also make overnight oats.

Porridge with banana and maple syrup use whole milk, you could even add a drizzle of cream.

Apple pie or carrot cake porridge, grate an apple or carrot, squeeze out the juice and add the grated fruit/veg to the oats, add cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger whatever you like and a little brown sugar, milk and microwave for a minute at a time till it's the right consistency.

Overnight oats is just oats, full fat Greek yoghurt and whatever flavours you like, berries, syrup, spices. Leave overnight then give it a good stir and eat cold. Make it in a lidded jar and it's a good portable breakfast to take into work.

Eggs - omelette with mushrooms, peppers, onion, cold cuts or go spicy and have peppers, chilli and hot sauce. Add cheese to both. Or fried with sliced avocado on a nice seeded slice of toast or sourdough.

I'm not sure how low processed you are looking to go? Are you happy to include cheese? It's just great for adding calories!
What about pasta? Processed yes, but not awful. Wholemeal might be better? Carbonara can be quite calorific but you might want to sub out the pancetta if that's too processed.
What about frittata? Roast veg and potatoes in plenty of oil and add cheese if including it in your diet.
Other wise if making things like scrambled egg or omelettes add additional yolks as this is where the calories are!
Avocado is good for adding healthy fats.
I know you said you aren't a fan of nuts but if you grind them to dust they can be pretty undetectable stirred into the sauce of curries etc and pack a punch calorie wise.

I was roughly the same weight at your age. I'm now 7.5 stone approaching my 40s. I tried to put on weight with healthy foods and in the end just gave up and accepted that this is my weight. Just make sure you're eating well, and having good portions. Lots of protein like eggs, tofu, healthy grains, wholefoods, beans and pulses. Milky drinks are always good. Full fat butter and cheese.

@FlabMonsterIsDietingAgain thank u ! Is Greek yoghurt better to use than whole milk with porridge ?? What bread could I get that’s not processed ? @AtleastitsnotMonday I love pasta ! Is whole meal better ??

Fresh pasta from the supermarket has 2 ingredients, semolina and egg so it's about as unprocessed as you can get in a supermarket if that helps make it more appealing.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/307363250

Calorie dense but nutrition dense foods

You dont like nuts but do you like them in things, so a curry with nut butters stirred into them?

Eggs, you can make up calorie dense frittatas with lots of cheese, salmon, cream etc.

Dairy products, also things like hummous, if you make it yourself, lots of oil, lots of chickpeas, mix that into things as an addition, not the sole part of the snack so you're adding calories.

Another vote for Longley Farm full fat cottage cheese. Even then though, its not that high in calories

Any bread that's meant to stay soft is likely to have additives to help it stay that way, so for as low processed as possible you'd be looking at fresh bread from a bakery that makes it on-site, but it will have a very limited shelf life or rye breads that are supposed to be dense www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/258178699

I was advised to add olive oil to DD's food to increase the calories, so cook a normal meal for whole family and she was ten got extra oil and/cheese

When someone I knew was having chemo he was told to eat a lot of cream to gain weight.

Those graze boxes with dried fruit, but I think they do also include nuts.

All bread is 'processed' - otherwise it would be a pile of inedible raw grain with some salt and water. It's really important to distinguish between 'processed' and 'ultra processed'. Cheese, butter, tinned tomatoes, frozen peas - are all processed food because they go through 'a process' before you can eat them. The ability to preserve food through processing is a frickin miracle and the reason most of us are alive today... we would starve without processed food.

A sourdough from a small bakery where they actually bake on the premises instead of heating up is of course going to be less processed than a Warburtons. But baking bread is still a process.

@LaviniasBigBloomers sorry I should’ve said , it’s mostly the ultra processed I’m trying to avoid ! I understand most food is processed .

Ground almonds can be used instead of flour and would also be great added to smoothies / baking / flapjack snacks are very calorie dense. Stir into porridge.

Very high in calories and protein.

So you can make eg a batch of American style pancakes with 50g almonds and 150g self raising flour, 3 eggs and 200ml full fat milk. They'd be a great boost either as breakfast or dessert.

To add to the previous suggestion - if you have something like a Nutribullet (or a Lidl/Aldi knock-off - not expensive and v useful for all sorts of things) those pancakes could be made with whizzed up oats instead of the flour, giving you even more nutritional bang for your buck.

You could whizz up a pack of smoked mackerel with half a tub of cream cheese and lemon juice and seasoning - have on bread, delicious.

Cream-based pasta sauces (esp nice with mushrooms, salmon, but you can also add a slug of cream to any tomato-based sauce too).

Melted butter on all your veg.

Cheese on everything possible (inc soups that already have cream in).

Also agree with pp's suggestions to add ground nuts or nut butter to curries, satay-style. Nuts are extremely calorific.

You could also add a tablespoon of peanut butter to a banana and milk (and cream) smoothie - and you could try freezing it in lolly moulds for dessert.

Avocados, and extra-virgin olive oil drizzled on everything too.

My sister has similar issues to you, and finds it v hard to put on weight - doubly tricky as she's intolerant to dairy!