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How do!

Figured we’re overdue a food thread. But this time, as part of my acceptance of middle age and needing to be reasonably sensible, it’s about healthier dishes.

I’m a fairly dab hand in the kitchen, but prefer stuff that’s fairly quick to cook and don’t require a whole load of prep.

Example? Tonight I made Shakshuka for my dinner.

1 Onion, 1 Red (Bell) Pepper, sliced fairly thin. Spices are cumin seeds, smoked paprika and garlic (sliced or crushed, don’t matter), tin of chopped tomatoes, two fresh eggs. Sweat off the Onions in a frying pan with some Olive Oil, with some cumin seeds. Once starting to soften, bung in the pepper, season with desired amount of smoked paprika. Once that’s all mingled and peppers softened, in with the toms. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Crack in two eggs, then bung the pan into a preheated oven (180c) and bake for 10 minutes, or until the eggs are just set. Serve immediately with perhaps some Sourdough Bread.

Quick, easy, minimal mucking around and washing up.

I also tend to keep a stock of Ramen for my lunches, as again they’re quick and easy. Also good for getting more veg into my idiot face hole.

Any other suggestions?

I plan on starting to eating healthier tomorrow.

Been looking at the nutrition info for the ready meals in my fridge (Asda’s Bistro range).

And I think, provided I’m strict on snacks and not telling myself fibs, I should be able to hover around 2,000 a day without any particular adjustment to what I normally have.

Sadly, out will go the Skin On Chips in Beef Dripping. But to be replaced with Skin On air fryer chips. So adjusting, not sacrificing.\

Also, no double pud. Those I stick to a single serving. Except for the Sticky Toffee Pudding, which comes in a single tray and doesn’t reheat well. But even there, I just match that to a low fat, low calorie main and it balances out.

Will get some fresh veggies in for snacking though. Half the time it’s just my teeth are bored, so something crunch like celery, a fresh tomato or some fruit will help there. Also means more nutrients.

 Ahtman wrote:
I plan on starting to eating healthier tomorrow.

Excellent plan.

There is a fool-proof plan. Give your money to an insane member of your family who is on a health kick, and say, "buy me what I should be eating."

And now every time you open the refrigerator or cabinet, you will lose the urge to eat.

Weight loss guaranteed!

Had a couple of Tuna Sandwiches for lunch. Should’ve checked the calorie per slice on bread. I mean, yikes.

In future, I’ll be swapping to healthier wholemeal, and just having the one sandwich.

But I’m still on course for around 2,000 today. Planned my dinner out, and that’s coming to around 1,500.

If anyone’s at all interested? All from Asda’s Bistro Range.

2 Scotch Eggs (sell by is today, otherwise I’d have just had the one) @ 295 per egg

Green Vegetable Medley with herb butter @ 94

Aberdeen Angus Steak Pie (250g) @ 704.

So actually closer to 1,400 and is a pretty filling dinner. Wee bit high on the fats and that, but still a smidge under Daily Recommended.

So that’s 1,900 for the day. If I finish off the Profiteroles (295 cal) I’ll be over my intended intake, but not dramatically. And it’s that or they go off, whilst still being a good bit under daily recommended calories.

I was diagnosed as diabetic a few weeks back so am trying to rework my diet around that. Discovered I can't stand tofu in any form...

My wife's been using an app called Nutracheck. It's pretty good, and although a subscription it's not too painful - sure we paid something like £30 for the year. It's more UK oriented than things like MyFitnessPal - basically any UK supermarket food, you can scan the barcode and it will tell you everything in it. Track everything you eat, and it'll give you calories, fat content, salt content, and so on...

That’s a pretty decent idea! Will see how I get on manually planning, and keep that in mind.

beast_gts wrote:
I was diagnosed as diabetic a few weeks back so am trying to rework my diet around that. Discovered I can't stand tofu in any form...

Try Kale. Makes tofu seem amazing.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
How do!

Figured we’re overdue a food thread. But this time, as part of my acceptance of middle age and needing to be reasonably sensible, it’s about healthier dishes.

I’m a fairly dab hand in the kitchen, but prefer stuff that’s fairly quick to cook and don’t require a whole load of prep.

I'm a fan of enriched salads

Lettuce seasoned with tomato, chickpeas, sesame, bacon, chicken... Remember you can eat any amount of colored veg and any amount of animal as long as you don't put carbs on it.

And as long as you don’t go crazy with the dressing

I do enjoy a salad, so that helps. And carbs aren’t inherently bad - you just need to be aware of say, just how many calories a single slice of bread has. Because it’s 112 for my Warburtons “Toastie” White Loaf. Which is a staggering amount for ultimately, not a lot of food.

How much of that comes from sugars and additives I don’t currently know. But I have noticed wholemeal (at least Hovis) is a lesser, but still surprisingly high, 98 calories per slice. Wholemeal of course comes with the added benefit of better fibre content.

Compare to a Cup of cooked Brown Rice at 218 calories, and I’d be happier scoffing that down.

Just remember to give your regiment time. You didn't add a bunch of weight overnight. It'll take time to remove it too.

True that. Currently struggling having pulled both my calves, so change in diet is having to do the, aha, lifting for the next few days. I’m more or less fine once I’m up and about, but man I’m bandy like a Cowboy for the first few steps!

But it’s genuinely not too bad. Snacks are now fresh fruit and veg, so knocking out calories and increasing nutrients. Dinners are still pretty satisfying overall.

What I will need to watch is my salt intake. Not like a hawk, but just be a bit more aware of what’s already in the fresh ready meals I’m having.

This is going to sound like a joke, but my roommate has a sure fire and bizarre way of not snacking. He has ZERO ready to eat meals. There is nothing in his cupboard or refrigerator that can be picked up and immediately eaten. Everything must be prepared.

He said he has lost 24 pounds since making this one lifestyle change.

His snacking was killing him, he tells me.

That definitely helps. In the UK, we had (have?) a show called Secret Eaters, which followed people trying to lose weight, and then showed them what they’re actually eating in a day.

Some folk were utterly delusional of course, but for others? It was the “biscuit here, bag of crisps there” rapidly adding up.

Hence as someone who does enjoy a snack, I’ve swapped out the “naughty” food for, thus far, Celery ribs (for that crunchy, salty experience) and Apples, for the sweet hot,

Bonus is it’s actually cheaper!

I was also recently introduced to the concept of empty calories. Which refers to foods with little to no nutritional value, but which can be calorie dense. And when you’re watching your calories, it does make sense to get your dailies as efficiently as possible.

The good news for us Brits is that our cup of tea is, until the milk and sugar, essentially calorie free. So we don’t have to give up all that’s worth living for. Just swap to semi-skimmed, and reduce or cut out the sugar.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
This is going to sound like a joke

I've done something similar as I tend to graze (and have issues with portion control). I can get away with shopping every day, but it complicates meal planning.

My ready meals are “freshly made” ones. Decent quality infredients, loads of taste and, provided I’m not having three of them a day? Genuinely not terrible for calories.

Tonight for instance is Beef Stew and Dumplings, with honeyed carrots. Stew is 944 calories (shame about the salt content), the Carrots 260 calories. And other than said salt? All under my daily recommended.

Have a single portion Lemon Cheesecake for pudding, and that’s another 376 calories.

So well under 2,000. Which is nice.

I just counted my caloric intake for yesterday and I was sitting at 1154.

I haven't found things to replace the crap I was eating.

And most of the juices I drink are low cal no sugar, or sugar free.

My low sugar oatmeal for breakfast. A smoothie or fruit for lunch and my dinner last night was homemade Chicken broth. And that was the big meal of my day.

What I’m finding difficult is those RDA’s. The calories aren’t terribly tricky, even if home made stuff is more of a guesstimate. But cutting down Saturated Fats? That’ll be the next step.

Not removing entirely, as I’m already relegated to Decaff Tea (migraines), and I don’t want to kill all of life’s little joys.

I will need careful around beer. Whilst I only drink about once a week, five or six pints quickly rack up the calories.

Oh. I'm 95% teetotaler. I was a bartender for a giant chunk of my life... And Bartending will either drive you to death by alcohol poisoning or a life of forever being the designated driver...

So I have a drink for toasts and celebrating great events, and not much else.

I used to drink a lot. Like, 10 pints (proper Imperial Pints, mind. Not your wussy Freedom Pints ) a night, most nights.

Thankfully, that turned out to be a Boredom thing, and not a dependency, and moving towns to be closer to friends reduced the social call of the pub. And the rest of the cutting right down was purely for health reasons.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I used to drink a lot. Like, 10 pints (proper Imperial Pints, mind. Not your wussy Freedom Pints ) a night, most nights.

Thankfully, that turned out to be a Boredom thing, and not a dependency, and moving towns to be closer to friends reduced the social call of the pub. And the rest of the cutting right down was purely for health reasons.

Stateside we call those Irish Pints.

Sadly, the Germans have us beat in the beer glass category.

I think for me the biggest problem is portion control, I'll cook healthy meals but then eat too much of them!

Bread is a kicker too, who doesn't love a soft floury roll, toast, doorstep sarnie etc. It's hard to make them treats rather than an everyday indulgence.

Yeah, staple foods not being great is a real kicker!

If my understanding is correct, part of the issue, particularly with White Bread, is it’s so heavily processed it’s Simple Carbs, quickly and readily broken down into sugars and energy by the body. And so, it doesn’t make you feel full up for terribly long, or use as many calories in breaking them down.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, can anyone point me to a reliable, sane source for food nutrition education?

Only I’ve been around the interwebs, conspirasphere and woosphere long enough as a horrified observer to know there’s a lot of nonsense out there.

Not you, Avocado. Nothing that’s ripe should be slimy. Get in the bin you Hipster Driven Devil Testicle.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
That’s 950 down me neck, as super hungry. Fresh tortellini and spicy tomato sauce did the trick.

Cheesecake will have to wait until tomorrow.

A buddy of mine gave me the book:

Twinkie, Deconstructed
My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats

By Steve Ettlinger

You will start reading every label of everything you eat and immediately not be hungry for those food products ever again.

What would probably really benefit me would be some easy healthy lunches to take to work. I am in the office every day - I get one free meal a week in the office restaurant/canteen, and the rest of the time I tend to take a packed lunch of sandwich, crisps, choc bar, fruit, yoghurt. Except for the sandwich, basically all just stuff I can stick in a box without any prep involved. I could do with going a bit healthier but am struggling for inspiration...

Depends what your goals are.

I’m looking to shed weight, and am doing so by calorie counting, trying to come in under 2,500 a day consistently, and matching that with increased activity such as gym and floor exercise at home.

If you’re just trying to cut down on The Tasty Crap?

Healthier crisps exist. Snack-a-jacks have an amazing, if mouth melting, Salt & Vinegar. Baked crisps have less fat. If you don’t mind wholemeal bread, that makes for a more nutritious and slightly less calorie dense sandwich. Choccie bars can be swapped out for say, a Tracker bar. Still sweet, but much less chocolate and sugar. Yogurt can be healthy, but you’d need to check your brands and that.

A big saver can be using a sweetener in your cuppa, or even going sugar and sweetener free.

I eat a lot of seafood, because I like it and the Omega 3 oils are good for the heart. Baked catfish with some cajun seasoning can be a delicious easy meal or you can add vegetables and/or cook it in parchment with a sauce if you want to go more extravagant. Fish/shellfish stews, steamed clams, baked oysters are some other options, with fried fish an occasional treat.

For breakfast the Chinese style stir fried scrambled eggs and tomatoes is tasty and a lot more healthy than sausage or bacon if/when your schedule permits cooking a big breakfast.

For snacks, tinned sardines, flavored edamame and walnuts are good choices with protein, omega 3 and fiber, and less of the carbs and saturated fat you might get from other snacks.

Potassium has many health benefits, particularly for the kidneys and it is difficult to get the recommended amounts of it into your diet. 5-10 servings of potassium rich foods or 1/3 a bottle of pills per day! While you don't want to eat a lot of processed foods The low sodium V8 has a ton of potassium and some other nutrients.

Organ meats like beef liver and chicken hearts have lots of nutrients and relatively few calories. These can be an acquired taste and might be a hard sell if cooking for others! Liver in sausages and spreads is another option.

Anti inflammatories are great if you are working out and still quite good for you if you aren't. You can use turmeric as a spice (Indian food often uses it) or take it as a supplement. You can also bathe with epsom salts.

Drink a lot of water, roughly 1 ounce per 1/2 pound of weight, and more if you are being active. And use some moderation. Eating mostly seafood or animal organs can create other problems.

The bodybuilding.com forum used to be a great place for information on health and fitness but it was recently shut down. Not sure what other communities that are out there that are not a hell of bots or people trying to sell you some product or themselves.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
.

Not you, Avocado. Nothing that’s ripe should be slimy. Get in the bin you Hipster Driven Devil Testicle.

Haha I forced myself to eat avocadoes enough times that I like them now. It helped that when I was living abroad they came smooth and buttery off the tree!

Tomato juice is the other one I keep seeing recommended, especially for men. It's so gloopy when you drink it though.

Remember, pure calorie counting works in a calorimeter, not in a living body. You have hormones and gak. You need to be mindful of your blood sugar especially.