Learning to eat healthily support thread

[questionssquestions]

I don't know what the name for this sort of eating is. 'Healthy' means different things to different people. Maybe 'normal', but most people in the UK are overweight, so normal is not ideal either.

Anyway, a lot of us need support in learning how to eat better, so I'm hoping there might be people who want to join this thread. This is not a weight loss thread, it is a healthy eating thread.

We try to:

• Eat 5+ fruit and veg a day
• Eat balanced meals (some starchy foods, fruit, veg, protein, dairy)
• Enjoy treats/desserts/puddings etc.
• Maximise our consumption of unprocessed and minimally processed foods
• Minimise our consumption of ultraprocessed foods
• Try to cook from scratch where we can
• Be mindful of portion sizes
• Build enjoyable exercise into our daily lives

We don't:

• Exclude food groups
• Talk of good/bad foods or being good/bad
• Calorie count, fast, detox, or join weight loss clubs
• Talk about our weight or clothes size

I'm hoping this can be a place for support, sharing of ideas and favourite recipes etc.

I love rice, used to be my staple but Dh doesn't like it so now we eat pasta/potatoes.
No snacks yet, although dinner is feeling like a long way away...

Hi can I join you all please? I'm trying to make long term healthy changes that I can stick to with no good, bad, failure thoughts. Life is busy and I don't prioritise preparing myself nice food, especially at times when I'm eating alone.
I am lucky to have allotment plots so have fresh organic seasonable produce but can lack ideas of what to make or if I have the idea I can lack the motivation. I am also vegetarian with a cheese and wine habit
I saw mention of spray oil. I purchased a bottle from amazon and decant standard oil in. Really good way of controlling quantity of oil used.

Hi @tibni
I had the same problem! When I eat alone I couldn't make myself cook proper food so eat quite a crap. I now make sure I cook at least 1 portion more of meals which can be frozen, and often batch cook to ensure stocked up freezer. Then we can still have a nice meal whenever needed. Just heat it up in a microwave and done.

I also have wine and cheese habit😂 I still keep it, just control portion of cheese better and as I eat less overall, it's not an issue. Hopefully you will find what works for you too.

Envious of your allotment!

Hi @SchrodingersImmigrant yes we are lucky to have the allotments. We got the first plot as an activity for disabled ds but we all love it, so much we took on second plot next to our first.
My diet has got worse working at home with lockdown. I used to make a lunch to take with me, at home with teams meetings seemingly back to back I have started grabbing quick buttery toast and crisps with lumps of cheese. My hours have got longer as a keyworker then at night takeaway becomes too tempting. We looked at a bank statement and delivering take out appears far too often! Simple changes need to be made and better priorities

Hi tibni, I am envious of your allotment, I have a vegetable bed but not enough space!

B: 2 x seeded toast
L: Roast chicken & salad pitta, apple
D: Slow cooked dukkah beef with sweet potato mash (made using one of the veg rich sauces I linked up thread).
S: 4 biscuits

I’m trying to eat more mindfully. Also had quite a nice walk after the rain.

Tibni can you plan your lunch the night before, would that help?

I agree, I love brown rice, it's delicious. But it's expensive & takes 3 times as long to cook. And neither DH or DD will eat it. So I have it as a treat just for me sometimes. (Most of my "treat" foods are actually really healthy. I love salad, lentils, & quinoa. It's just a shame that chocolate isn't as healthy...)

@tibni good job on the allotments!
Agree with pp. Pre plan and prep your lunch. It should help. I found planning really helpful for this.
I know this is trotted out often, but get slowcooker. It's so good for dinners! I absolutely love mine. Food tastes 100x better if the flavours are allowed to develop slow😁 If you have dinner going, it will stop you from ordering.

@SisyphusAndTheRockOfUntidiness
It's really tasty, but yeah. Hefty price tags.
Chocolate is healthy😁 Bit of nice dark chocolate there and there is good for your heart. Not just emotionally. But you have to steer away from the ones with loads of sugar.

@Wildernesstips and @SchrodingersImmigrant you are both spot on, I need to plan ahead. Last week I was away on holiday and this week still off work and difference in food consumed is massive. Even on holiday with meals out and treats I probably ate better overall as I took time to plan and prepare food.
The allotments are great, both for what they produce and the relaxation time. I have to confess about being a little over excited at my cauliflower and aubergine success this year . I have a local fruit and veg box delivered and don't want to drop my slot but at this time of year only buying oranges, lemons, melons etc

I just finished meal planning and getting my weekly shop placed. I always feel a great sense of relief when I get the order done.
Managed to salvage a few plums from the garden, we've inherited a Victoria plum tree, and they are delicious, def worth giving the tree a little TLC. The big job will be digging out the brambles, which I'm not looking forwards to but I don't want to spray around the tree.
B: toast with marmalade
L: basil omelette with tomatoes and toast
D: (when it happens) chicken marinara with pasta
S: made farm cupcakes with dd. The pigs look pretty good, sheep ok and the dogs look terrifying, lol. They taste nice though.

Hi can I join you please. I’m trying to prioritise rating for health and not be ducked into the latest food fad. I’m gluten free and when I first stopped eating gluten my symptoms got 100% better but as I’ve gradually bought more GF processed food some if them have returned do I need to concentrate on eating more unprocessed food. I’m ok when I meal plan but when I’m stressed I reach for the nearest quick answer.

Welcome OntheBrink.

Actually had a meal out this evening, and really enjoyed it without feeling guilty because I eat well most of the time. I had already pre-planned having no alcohol and being the driver.

B: Seeded toast & pb, melon
L: Poached egg, spinach on seeded toast with tomatoes, kiwi
D: Bhaji burger, chips and raspberry frangipani

Also managed 1/2 hour of Feel Good with Fearne on Fiit which is a yoga/flexibility class.

@GlumyGloomer do you cook your plums or eat them raw? Lovely.

I just want to alert everyone to...
Powdered peanut butter😱
2tbsp - 60 cal. Just mix with bit of water and... Peanut butter thing. I've just made some satay marinade with it.
It is, as I understand, peanuts with the oil removed, dried and powdered. So if you are looking for a flavour, this is a good option. I know it's a processed food, but it adds lots of taste for very little. And I don't even like peanut butter😂

Sounds good.

So, this morning felt a bit grim, like I’d had too much salt and sugar - which I did in my meal out. Think when you are more aware of what you are eating, it really stands out after eating unhealthily.

Yeah, I agree. I can feel the not so healthy. I get very bloated. That's easily sorted now luckily.

Hope everyone is doing ok!

Quick fish dinner: fillet of white fish (about 220g), chopped fresh tomatoes, mangetout beans, spinach.

I have really good non sticks pan, so I use no oil.
Season fish with salt and pepper, tiny bit of paprika and pan fry. When you flip it, add garlic around it and in a minute the tomatoes. Rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, tabasco. When fish is done, take it out and add the beans and spinach. Mix all until the beans are hot too (I like them crunchy). Taste, season if needed.
Serve with either lemony rice or quark and chives mashed potato😁
Cheap and cheerful! You can use french beans instead of mangetout.

Rubbish day today, so too many snacks.

B: bagel
L: cheesy chips with mushroom gravey
D: almond chicken curry with wild rice/basmati mix, chapati and steamfresh veg.
One more recipe and I've completed the chicken section in my curry cook book. Been 3 really good recipes so far and the others so so.

Rubbish day today

These happen. I wouldn't worry about it as long as you have more days when you are feeling better😁

Thanks Schrodinger.

Wilderness these plums are super sweet and perfect raw, but most of them have gone over already or been got by insects, so we only got a few. Will try harder next year, dd2 is only 1 at the moment so still needs a lot of supervision in the garden.

Don’t worry about your rubbish day. I’m trying to remember that as it’s not a diet, you can just make the next meal healthier. As you can see, mine wasn’t great either:
Yesterday
B: 2 seeded toast & jam
L: Mushroom soup, small seeded bread
D: Quiche & Salad, 3 glasses wine
S: Tortilla chips, 2 small Kit Kat’s (totally wine fuelled snacking)!

One hour walk.

Had a terrible couple of days but started this morning with yogurt, berries, flaxseed and chopped nuts so hopefully a better day coming up. I need easy GF lunch ideas that Are filling but don’t take long to prepare

Onthebrink sorry to hear that. It must be hard finding GF recipes. Don't feel bad if it doesn't all come together straight away. I know I have days of slipping back into old habits.

Been thinking today about my previous attempts to lose weight, where I only focused on snacks. They were completely unsuccessful, and I'm getting much better results by just really upping the variety of food I eat, and reducing portions.

Onthebrink your breakfast sounds amazing. Could you do salads with a grain pouch for lunch, & add in some fish, chicken or egg? You could probably prepare the same base for a few days but vary the protein or dressing?

Yesterday
B: Avocado on sourdough
L: Mezze board
D: Tomato, basil & mozzarella pasta (mozzarella was out of date), 3 glasses wine
S: tortilla crisps, 2 Kit Kat’s... sigh

Why does wine = snacks for me?

@GlumyGloomer funnily I was talking to my DH about my previous attempts and why I think they were unsuccessfully. Taking aside the fact that my furniture didn't prompt me by making lovely noise when I sat down, I think it was because I went into "too good" override. Well what I thought was good. I bought crapload of diet stuff. Diet crisps, rice cakes, diet dressings, diet this and that. It NEVER satisfied me.

What I do now is that I realised how much better my life is without these. My belly isn't upset anymore (often) and I don't have cravings for stuff. I had bag of crisps downstairs for few days and haven't touched it!

This time around I bought no diet stuff. I too keep predominant GF because it appears I have issues with white flour. I can have rye, but just a bit so lile a slice every couple of days. If I have a pasta dish I play arse music for days 🙄 Instead of all the diet stuff, I started eating a wholesome food. Proper homemade bone broth (helps to calm down digestive track), homemade fermented veggies, tasty full fat yogurt and fruit or cheese and apple or veg as snacks etc. Wholesome food. It satisfies your body and mind. The move took a while and I started on it because of my digestive issues but it works for the weight too. 3 stone down in 4 months. And I do not feel like I am depriving myself. I just have to make sure my food has plenty of flavour.

I can highly recommend into looking into that and dropping the "diet" stuff if you use it. It just seems to make people more peckish from my experience and what i read.

@Onthebrink67 hot or cold? Pasta salad is great thing. Just a bit of pasta, mainly veg and can of tuna or bit of leftover chicken. I love to use yogurt or quark instead of mayo there. Makes it taste "fresher" and lighter.
-Wraps. Get nice GF wrap and just plop stuff you have into it it.
-Chickpea and feta middle eastern style salad with veg.

I usually have just salads for lunch, if you do that, I can highly recommend getting some rocket and cress into it. It makes it much more tastier than just lettuce most places and people do.

Great dressing for chicken salads: yogurt, sriracha sauce, lemon juice, salt, pepper, chives. It also passes as and amazing dipping sauce😁

I've eaten really unhealthily for the past few years. I have put on weight and would like to lose it and become healthy again. What would be a good starter breakfast to make?

Thanks for the ideas @SchrodingersImmigrant and @Wildernesstips. I must make more effort I tend to wait until I’m hungry and then grab the nearest thing. I love chickpeas and roasted vegetables do I think I need to do a big batch of mezze type bits to have with salad leaves etc. Maybe a job for tomorrow. I really agree with avoiding diet food and concentrating on smaller amounts of real food

Get yourself some Sumac. Great salad spice for what you are planning😁

@mummypie17 it depends on you. I have eggs hundred ways. I can't stomach yogurt and fruit in the morning. Sometimes I have overnight oats with fruit, but heat them up before eating.

Today I had 2 scrambled eggs with fried chorizo and tomato with ryvita rye.
Yesterday 2 egg omelette with bacon, tomato and cheese.
1whole egg, 2 eggwhites and a slice of bread when I am really hungry (we know that hungry days). I just crack the eggs in a pan (small one) add herbs and spices and plop the slice of bread on top😁 sometimes I add a spice of chorizo or salami for fun.

I eat lots of eggs now