Help me get my diet right, it's a mess!

[twoisplenty]

My health has been poor for around 5 months. My diet has been terrible, mostly bread, and absolutely no fruit or veg until the last 2 weeks or so. ALso, my calorie intake has been very poor too. (Please don't judge my diet, my mental health has been and continues to be very bad too, I have been hanging around the Mental Health boards). I don't drink enough either.

The last two weeks have been much better and I have eaten more quantity, but still focussing on bread.

So, my circulation is bad, I feel cold all of the time, and my fingers and toes go numb really quickly, Raynaud's I think.

I get tired really quickly. My skin is dry.

I would like to kick start my diet, to get some nutrients in, seeing as my body must be rather depleted by now. But which foods are best? I am vegetarian btw.

Yes Riven, roll on Jan 4th!! I have read your posts on dd epilepsy - I really hope things are starting to improve. My ds epilepsy is also bad (time of year??) so I am an constant alert.

I have an iron tonic, but I must remember to take it!! I shall do so right now before I forget.

I guess fruit could be "fast food" eg a banana.

I need foods that boost my circulation, and keep me warm.

More dishes with olive oil to help your skin?

There's a yummy lentil lasagne I found on MN ages ago which I am actually cooking now (it's simmering), I will post the recipe later for you.

Risottos, my fave is avocado and walnut.

Veggie toad in the hole.

Filling salads, grilled peppers, goats cheese with leaves, pine nuts, ciabatta etc (whatever is in the cupboard really). You can do olive oil / balsamic vinegar dressings.

Home made macaroni cheese with broccoli.

Home made pizza, I use the flour mix packs and top with mushed up tomatoes, budget mozarella is fine, chopped green peppers, olices and capers.

Home made blueberry muffins, use frozen blueberries as they keep their vits, taste better and are cheaper. Sainsburys often has 3 bags for £5.

Mumsnet cheesy flapjacks (on the recipe pages), the oats & carrot are good for you.

I always take vitamins too.

Thanks Riven and Meglet - yes, I'll move in with you too Meglet!

I have to go now but will be back later so thanks again. Riven, I like the suggestion to do this together. Will discuss later!

Lentil lasange (from another MN thread yonks ago, but I only have a print out so can't link to it)

Pint of cheese sauce this is delias I make it a day or so in advance. Easier than I used to think it was, melt butter, add flour, add milk, cheese and stir. Mine is always a bit lumpy but it doesn't matter for lasagne
Dried lasagne sheets
1 large onion, 2 cloves garlic
1 large courgette
1 pepper
couple of handfuls of mushrooms
2 mugfuls of green or brown lentils (I use a couple of tins of canned ones)
Italian herbs (oregano / basil)
Passata (sainsburys organic one is actually cheaper than the non-organic)
splash of red wine (leftovers can be frozen)
pinch of sugar
salt & pepper to taste
half mugful of frozen sweetcorn
extra cheese to sprinkle over

-Chop & fry onion & garlic in olive oil
-add choppped veg (courgette, pepper, mushrooms) and fry briefly
-add lentils and cover with passata
-add a tbsp of dried herbs, generous splash of red wine and pinch of sugar
-allow to simmer, reduce and thicken ( I usually leave it for 15 mins)
-add frozen sweetcorn and allow to heat through for 5 mins

set oven to 190 degrees

use a wide, deep oven dish and layer it, bolognaise, pasta strips, cheese sauce, bolognaise pasta strips cheese sauce etc with a sprinkle of cheese on top.

Cooks in about 25 mins.

Freezes really well too.

Fruit smoothies are a good way of increasing vitamins etc. and are quick and easy to consume. But they take an effort to make, unless you buy the carton Innocent stuff which is expensive

Grapefruit, or fruit compote (lovely if made warm and spicy) make a nice breakfast

Porridge is nutritious and filling and warming and you can add fruit to it.

I have dried fruits - apricots, cranberries etc and nuts as snack foods during the day.

A warm milky drink, will warm and boost your calories, horlicks or ovaltine.

When I was ill and had to keep my calories up, I was given Build Up drinks - a kind of milkshake you can get at the chemist, I think its about 400 calories. I was also told by hospital to try to drink a glass of fruit juice and a glass of milk each day.

Thank you everyone. Well yesterday I was so cold by the afternoon, despite our house being warm, that I had to have a bath. I was frozen and my fingers and one or two toes were white and numb. I just can't seem to keep warm.

I have had a quick look at supplements in a book a have. It suggests ginger and gingko biloba for improved circulation. And evening primrose oil. I did take some iron tonic yesterday.

I think the most important thing at the moment is to drink. I hardly drink. I must have thick soupy blood by now! Drinking would really help everything I think. So today's plan is to drink every hour (and spend the rest of the time on the loo...!)

Thank you Meglet for the recipe. I will try that, it sounds lovely for everyone in the house.

Inmylittlehead - I used to love fruit smoothies so next week I plan to get some nice fruit from the supermarket and give it a go. That should help a lot.

KurriKurri, unfortunately I hate milkshakes, but if I add something nutritious (like what?) to the smoothies I plan to make, that might do it. I did feel very proud that I made porridge yesterday, my dd likes it, so I tried some and it was ok. I will do that again.

I am full of plans, but I really need to try and get on with it. Perhaps I could visit a supermarket today... or I won't get there until Wednesday.

Riven, today I will have:

porridge
fruit mid morning
erm, don't know what for main meals!
Keep off the bread and brioche!
drink, drink, drink, drink, drink!
Iron tonic

How about you?

spatone is another gentle iron tonic; basically a sachet of iron enriched spring water. Tastes slightly metallic if taken aline, but i put mine into orange juice (better uptake of iron with the vitaminc anyway).

Can you get that from the chemist onestep?

yes - bigger Boots etc and independent pharmacies. I've also seen it in supermarkets. Recomended dose is 1 daily, but to start yourself off, take 2 daily for a couple of weeks. It's very gentle and won't give you constipation or anything !

Meglet how do you do macaroni and brocolli cheese? That sounds lovely x

Yes, I have taken Spatone for years and it is brilliant. I take one sachet every morning with orange juice. It costs £7.14 for 28 sachets. I notice if i haven't taken it for a few days.

Don't know if you can hold of Saturday's The Times but there was a huge feature in it about eating well, with some suggestions.

Can't write it all her, but the upshot was to make sure you have protein, crbs and a small amount of fat for every meal.

So brekkie would be porridge, dried fruit, smoothies, yoghurt, eggs, - not all of them!
Lunch would be a homemade soup with lentils./beans ( the protein bit), or humous, omlettes, jacket spuds, baked beans, salad.

Dinner would be lean meat or fish, veggies, roasted veggies and feta cheese...loads of different ideas.

mummytopebs I just make up normal batch of macaroni cheese, although I try to do it with creme fraiche and garlic , then add some cooked broccoli, mix it up a bit then bake in the oven. Its nothing fancy, it looks more appetising with some veg in though. It freezes well too.

Right then, I will definitely get some Spatone.

Round of applause for me!!! Yesterday I had porridge, then pasta and tomato/lentil sauce (home made). For tea I roasted some root veg then put breadcrumbs and cheese on top as a sort of crumble. Oh and I added some kidney beans. Really nice actually. My dh made toad in the hole for him and dc, and they are definitely not interested in my concoctions, but you never know, it might rub off on them in the end.

And this morning...fruit and I squeezed two oranges. I'm so proud!

Thank yo purplepony, I can't think of anyone I know who would have that newspaper, I wonder if they publish it online, I shall have to look. But it sounds just right for me to try - all of the things you list are things I like.

I am starting to get motivated, now that I have actually broken my bread/brioche pattern. Food is actually quite tasty!

Still freezing cold though. My hands are cold and I only got out of the bath half an hour ago.

this is a VERY good book about what your body needs to tackle poor health

two, do you exercise? Even if you go out for a walk in the cold, it really does warm you up for the rest of the day

I suppose it was bound to happen in the end...EXERCISE!!!! Err, no. But actually, I was thinking that it would really help. I was only thinking about running up and down the stairs, and doing sit ups. Will that do?

Something where you really work up a sweat is best

two - have you seen the mumsnet marathon page? You don't have to do a marathon - it's more aimed at people getting from 0-5km over the next three months.

It's just that I've the zeal of the converted - I started up running last year (from zero) and it's so good for me - it has health benefits of course, but the main thing for me is that it so calms me down and stops me stressing and makes me sleep better.

That lentil lasagne looks lovely... yum

two- I did look online first and couldn't see it- as i was about to post you the link.

It's actually called How Not to get Fat- but it's not a diet. The guy who wrote it is called IAN MARBER- and I think there is a book too- maybe google Amazon?

I was quite pleased as yesterday my "diet" fell right into the suggestions-porridge and 2 dried figs chopped up for breckie; few almonds and raisins mid morning; lentil and carrot soup ( homemade and dead easy) lunch; dinner- roast veg with a tiny bit bacon thrown in, and wholewheat pasta. Apple.