I need to sort my eating habits out - any advice please?

[Jemster]

Since having dc 2, 2 years ago my eating habits have become bad. I have cereal or toast breakfast, a light lunch, sandwich or similar and then tea with dh not until about 7.30pm.

I seem to be hungry all the time and have cravings for biscuits, chocolates, sweets which obviously never fill me up. I have had a difficult couple of years and take a low dose antidepressant - could this have something to do with it. If I'm feeling stressed which is quite often I just reach for the bad stuff as a kind of treat/comfort food.
I never used to eat cakes or biscuits and even now I'm not sure I really love them, I just find them comforting and easy to grab & eat.

I often feel really tired mid afternoon and I'm sure this is to do with me not eating a proper lunch. I work until 1.00pm and then have to rush to get dc & ds and sometimes just don't get time to have a decent lunch.

I am not too overweight but I can see the pounds creeping on around my tummy and I have hardly any clothes that fit properly now. My skin is worse than its ever been. I need to do something different but find it hard to motivate myself.

Does anyone else feel like this and do you have any advice please?

It sounds as if you are eating mainly carbs up until dinnertime every day - the principal effect of this will be to make you crave even more of the same because a)sugar/carbs do that an)you haven't given your body any proper nourishment so you are quite understandably getting hunger signals. Keep in mind that pretty much the only purpose starchy carbs serve your body is to provide a burst of energy - if you don't immediately go and exercise to use that energy it ends up stored as fat and your body gets very little nutritional benefit compared to what it gets from other types of food. Also, if you are lacking in good fat and protein, your skin, hair, energy levels and mood will suffer sooner or later - those macronutrients, unlike the carbs, are essential for health.

Prioritise protein and (preferably good) fat at breakfast and lunch. Ditch the cereal. Great choices would be eggs or fish. Have wholegrain or granary bread if you want, if you want toast then have some nut butter on it (or mashed avocado, or sardines, or cream cheese and smoked salmon). Full fat Greek yoghurt with berries and some raw nuts is good too.

At lunch have a big salad or hearty soup with some beans/lentils/chickpeas/quinoa in and some chicken, fish or cheese )ie good protein. At dinner I'd try and stay away from the white carbs too - have sweet potato, lentils, beans, chickpeas, brown or wild rice....dress salads and veg with cold pressed oils.

Snack on things like raw nuts, fresh fruit and veg, houmous, olives, dark chocolate, hard boiled egg, guacamole.

There's a thread in Food - eating better where we are trying to eat this way - not dieting but enjoying delicious and nutritios meals. Lots of ideas for recipes and support for staying mindful . Come and take a look.

You need to step away frim the sugar and high carb stuff - it is addictive and makes you feel crap. As soon as you eat some it just makes you want more - vicious circle.
It is hard at first, but even after just a few days the cravings begin to disappear, then it becomes much easier.

Thank you both for your replies, it's interesting what you say and makes sense. I think because I'm always rushing around I just grab whatever's easiest to eat and usually it's not very healthy!
I have looked at the link to the food thread and will have a proper read of this to get some ideas. I do need to make changes as I'm feeling rubbish.