& Food: Just got back from seeing nurse..I must change my habits 8-(

[ROSEgarden]

I am way way overweight, my mum is too(we dont live together its just nurse knows her o we discussed us both), she has diabetes and i was concerned so have been checked today..i dont have it..however, its basically a given that if i carry on as i am, i will turn into my mum..
have been and bought certain vitamins today (she also has osteoarthritis(sp) )and nurse has given me booklets on health and invited me to go back in couple of weeks to see her so she can have a longer talk with me.
She weighed me and said right now shes not botherd what i wiegh, just that it comes down next time>.

So........myself and my dp eat total crap, my dd eats much better but still some of the stuff we eat, my mindees(im a cm, eat well like my daughter, plenty of fresh fruit/veg/chciken etc etc).but i want to steer away from ready meals now which clog up my freezer, i dont have lots of cash and even less spare time, but i am prepared to start making more of an effort with our food.
thing is my dd is used to more processed food how do i get her(shes 4 almost 5) onto eating plainer/less crappy foods?...she does like plain pasta and seems to eat much healthier at school, but im thinking fish(no crumb/batter) and the like and also does anyone have any ideas for easy quick things i can make for us as a family that are tasty and not like dieting?

Any help at all will be really appreciated as i cant do this for me or my dd any longer

Healthy food doesn't have to mean plain food

You can have some lovely healthy sauces with pasta.

Rice & chicken with vegetables, peppers, carrots etc... lovely With a healthy curry sauce on the side.

Fresh foods are much nicer & becuase they take time to prepare you will be more inclined to eat them & enjoy them.

ROSEgarden,
there are lots of quick tasty things you can make and believe me in the long run buying fresh food works out cheaper than processed.
I too am overweight and I have made the decision to do something about it, not by dieting but by changing my lifestyle. My actual meals are healthy but I pick all day and that is my problem.
If I were you i would get yourself a couple of basic cookbooks or buy a magazine like BBc Goodfood which has good family meals which are tasty, healthy and a lot of them are quick and easy.
If you can, try and make meals ahead, maybe at the weekend, then you can freeze them and use them as you need to.
Good Luck

well i cooked fresh chicken last night, with plain pasta carrots and onions, but bunged on a chassauer sauce..that cant be good, and it tasted awful too..so seeing as i like sauces on food, is there somewhere i can get quick to make healthier ones, or just buy the low fat versions?

well i love chiili's i made one last week with lean beef mince, onion, beans, kidney beans and then a tin of chilli sauce(no hot chilli, kind of sacuy sauce) and had that with new pots...would that be any good, health wise??

A good sauce with pasta would be:

Tin of tomatoes, sieved & heated with onions (sauteed off) and green pepper, herbs & mushrooms. Lovely & healthy & you can add some bacon pieces to it if you want and pour over pasta.

that sounds lovely!, i do like tomato sauces at moment, but what about more creamier version?, i know they aren't as good, but if i could make one myself i could make it better than shop bought?

My favourite dieting/treat dish at the moment is to spread a bare tsp of red pesto (lower calorie than green) on a small chicken breast (skinless and boneless), top with a few basil leaves and then wrap in some parma ham (unbelievably low calorie for maximum flavour). bake in the oven for 20-25 mins at 180/200degree and serve with small portion of new potatoes and lots of green veg/salad.

sonds very nice..ill have a list as long as my arm when i go shopping

i do howveer go more for potato/pasta, but dp and dd like chicken, i generally eat one or two little peices and mainly eat the rice/pots/pasta and the sauce!

thanks Hanaflower, will look on there...i do like pasata,t hat what i add(that or tinned toms) to my chilli's..would passata(in a jar) or tinned toms be healthier for us????

Do you have a slow cooker?
I find the temptation to reach for the ready made sauces comes at about 5 pm when I have no idea what to cook for dinner!

With a slow cooker you can cook chillis, bolognese, stews, casseroles - put ingredients in in the morning, and let it cook! Because it cooks slowly the flavours develop, so a few herbs and spices can make really tasty sauces.

i dont..but i like the sound of that, but does it need to be on all day? as im in and out all time on school runs, so wouldnt leave oven/hob on?

They are great- they are just like an electric cooking pot (!) Argos have some here-www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?pp=20&s=Price%3A+Low+-+High&storeId=10001&catalogId =1500000701&langId=-1&q=SLOW+COOKER&x=17&y=9

the £7 seems a bargain.

i got one for about £11 last year and it's great

not £7, about £8.50- still a bargain!

hmm, i like the idea of those..so(me being dim) are they safe to leave on when i pop out on school run(1hr approx)

hi Rosegarden, you mentioned changing your eating habits which is great.. but could you all excercise more as a family?

yeah dinner in brakfast hours might put me off..but then thats a good thing!, ill eat less!

MumRum, yes, we need excersize too, my dd and dp are naturally slim, she bounces around all day, dp ad i do very little(although i walk, i do 6 trips to and from school each day(3, there and back)..but last year when on slimming world, i started walking to farther away groups and walking faster..ive started that again this week, walked into town and back yesterday(about 45 mins fast walking) and today an extra school run(dd wanted me to go to mass with them) then i walked to docs(to get this info), thats about another 45 mins each way...i felt fantastic doing it..i have baby mindee tomorrow so when we drop nursery mindee off think we'll go for brik walk to park or a playgroup!..other than that, cant afford a gym membership, so other alternatives happily heard..we do go either swimming(dd plays, dp swims, i save dd from drowning, so no swimming) or walking in park, but thats it!

as hanaflower said, you can leave them on all day, which is what I do as I'm often popping out to school, post office, etc.
I usually put something together mid morning, and it's ready by dinner-time.

Did the slimming world group not give you any ideas for sauces?

There's a slimming world thread on the eating healthy boards You could ask there for some advice too

good for you Rosegarden.. fast walking is really good for you.. better than jogging apparently..

Good for you for trying to change things now!

There are loads of meals that are full of flavour without being high fat/high sugar/processed. It just takes a bit of getting used to changing the way you cook and shop.

Spag bol is easy, use lean mince, drain the fat off and use tinned tomatoes (or passata but tinned toms much cheaper) and add lots of herbs, chopped onions, muchrooms, carrot, pepper etc for added flavour. Also a good way of having extra veggies without really noticing. And SO much nicer than jars like Dolmio (and much cheaper too!)

You can also do chilli, stews, casseroles, pasta dishes, veg stir fries, jacket potatoes with beans, tuna, leftover chilli/spag bol sauce.

When I was a student I had a fab cookbook called Grub on a Grant - it's old but still available and has some great easy recipes, that are also healthy.

Slow cookers also are brilliant and safe to elave on all day. You can bung in cheaper cuts of meat (cooking for so long makes them more tender) and loads of veg and some fluid and just leave it, then by dinnertime you've got dinner all ready in one pot.

Apart from healthy eating the other side of the coin is exercise - walking, swimming, dancing are all good. You can rent exercise videos and DVDs from the library - cheaper than buying them and as you only have them a month you can't get bored

Good luck!

New updated Grub on a Grant book here