Help, I need to eat better

[Skib]

Isn't it awful that we have to do a "diet thread" this time of the year - every year? We are all adults and understand calories, health risk and healthy eating. Yet those with plumpatious tendencies keep finding ourselves in the same seam bulging place every few years! I am a absolute fool, and a weak willed one at that. There are some (complicated) psychological reasons behind the weight piling on, but I should have been able to counter them.

You are too hard on yourself, Selside. We are genetically geared to maximise our food intake - most animals are. And we go for fat and salt as they used to be scarce in our natural diet. And according to a TV documentary I saw we go for a balance of sweet and fat -
Long ago I read how the Mind Works by Stephen Pinter.

Also there is the seasonal variation - we need more calories to keep warm in winter , or to stock up before winter hibernation ( food shortage through Lent till the new crops come through). So it is in our genes to binge over Christmas. I have eaten masses and it shows on the scales. Just ten days of eating!

Given half a chance, ponies will eat themselves into laminitis and humans into heart and cancer problems. Moreover we cant give up the addiction, as we can give up smoking, because if we dont eat enough we can also get anorexia and die from that too. But the first thing to do is to stop blaming yourself for being human. I myself am convinced that Myfitness pal and keeping a rigorous diary of ones energy intake and output is the way to tackle it. And permanently, not just for a few months.

There is actually (observed in my daughter) an incentive to put weight back on again after a diet as by going to weight watchers one gets attention and rewards - One acquires a serious problem that is taken seriously. One is applauded for solving it - and then relapses.

 

[Mary Poppins]

I have mums kit I borrowed, still sat here but once I knew what was going on I stopped using it. When my sugars drop that low its about an hour after eating, so totally opposite to diabetes, my body seems over reactive to or to be over producing insulin in these situations, I have no clue really and the doctors aren't interested so hopefully it's nothing, none the less that crashing feeling is horrible. Fear of it happening was a contributer to my bad eating habits, I never went anywhere without a packets of biscuits and sarnie for ages until I figured out the link between my jab and sugars preceeding a crash.

We see the top metabolic consultant at Great Ormond Street hospital and he is always saying that there is so much that isn't known and/or understood about metabolism and the links with blood sugar. Every so often they see a serious case (like my son's) and they simply do not know what is wrong with him. There are a whole spectrum of disorders that go un-noticed and in my experience GPs or even local hospital consultants are not familiar with them.

What does help significantly with my son is making sure that he eats on a very regular basis (every 2 hours throughout the day) and that he eats predominately low GI foods. See this link: https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/GIDiet.pdf

If you are finding that your blood sugar is dropping significantly after about an hour of eating, is it possible that you are eating too many high GI foods and that you are not eating frequently enough? If my son eats low GI foods every 2 hours he can still have sweets etc. in moderation. But if he has a whole day eating badly this throws his blood sugar all over the place and he often ends being sick. It's a balancing act between letting him be a child (especially at Christmas) and maintaining his health. As I type this I am cooking him brown pasta for lunch.

 

[PePo]

Have you looked at Deliciously Ella Jessey?

I came across her when I got diagnosed with allergies to dairy and a milder intolerance to gluten - which was complicated further by the fact I'm a vegetarian and didn't actually like all that many vegetables ...!

I grant you, she advocates a plant based diet, but it would be easy enough to alter to include meat if you want. But it's all about eating nutritionally and well, well.

I'm also the worst cook alive. After causing a kitchen fire making beans on toast once, it's a bit of a running joke I'm allowed to do 3 things in the kitchen: make a cup of tea, unpack the grocceries and wash up

Essentially, thanks to Deliciously Ella's recipes I'm not only still alive but eating better than ever, liking vegetables and feeling FAR better than ever with more energy and have gone from a size 12-14 to a size 8-10 without feeling like I'm dieting. People panic far less when I'm in the kitchen now too

Obviously, my circumstances are a little different to most people's and if I'm honest, having to cut all dairy and most gluten can be a pain, but, I'd still reccomend Delicioysly Ella to people regardless

 

[Jessey]

Oo that sounds very interesting, I shall toddle off and look it up

 

[PePo]

www.deliciouslyella.com is her website, which has a lot of recipes on it - I know she's got a book out, as I bought it when I first heard of her. I think, she writes articles for The Telegraph too, so it might be worth looking there too

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Just to add that if you are eating mainly veg, it's not that much of a problem to eat carbs too. For example our last night's dinner was pasta - we have about 75g each - with a sauce of oven roasted tomatoes, wilted rocket and spinach, and two tablespoonful of low fat creme fraiche. Very easy to cook and totally delicious. Sometimes we crumble crispy bacon on the top - a little goes a long way...

I'm attaching a link to a website full of good veggie recipes. Some of them are a bit cheffy but they are full of good ideas. http://www.thekitchn.com/the-kitchn...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[LindaAd]

I took the easy route: just cut out sugary foods, sweets and crisps (my downfall!); cut down alcohol from a glass or two with nearly every meal to a half-glass occasionally and ate less of everything at meals. Breakfast of muesli with fruit, no milk, generally keeps me going till lunchtime or longer. I lost about two stone (14 lbs) and I've kept it off, even through Christmas with the children in the Canary Isles. Reading food labels is very helpful - knowing something that feels like a small snack is often equivalent in calories, sugar or salt, to about a quarter of your recommended daily allowance, is a great help. I also drink lots and lots of water.

 

[MrA]

I'm cooking my first ever proper meal for my boyfriend on Friday. I'm going to attempt to do prawn paella! Sounds fairly easy but I may be wrong. My resolution for next week is to cook him dinner more! I want to attempt some sort of pie as well but not sure if I'm skilled enough for that!!

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

@Ale Pies are really easy. The easiest kind is a puff pastry topped pie. Just make the filling of your choice - with a nice rich sauce - put it in the pie dish, cut a piece of pre rolled puff pastry to fit, glaze with milk or egg and stick in the oven.

Filo pies are a healthier option, happy to talk you through those if you like. We are just about to have our second stab at my awesome once a year left over goose filo pie with sausage and wild mushrooms... scrumptious!

 

[OwnedbyChanter]

@Jessey I train every day 4 of those sessions are 1 hour long which includes foam roller (as I am injury prone) and stretches. works out between 20-30 cardio then a weights session this is also mixed with keeping the heat rate going. It is very HITT based but the results are impressive.

I am rubbish with food but I know my phys

 

[MrA]

Thanks @Jane&Ziggy ! Think I will go for the easier puff pastry top to start with. I was hoping to make some sort of chicken and veg filling and go from there. Thanks for the tips, no idea you have to glaze the pastry for example!

 

[mystiquemalaika]

@Pete's Mum I want to have a complete revamp of my diet for a few reasons and have been feeling hopeless as to what to try and you have just got me excited about food and healthy eating for the first time in years sharing deliciously ella.ive just ordered both her books (pre order on amazon for her 2nd) and ordered a spiralizer ! Off shopping tomorrow. Thank you so much!

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

@Ale it's not essential to glaze the pastry but it looks ever so much nicer. Chicken goes brilliantly with leeks and mushrooms (both sautéed to begin with in a little butter), and if you can't be bothered to or don't know how to make a flour-based sauce, then one of those little gel stock cubes, a splash of wine and a couple of spoonfuls of low fat creme fraiche will do the trick!

 

[horseandgoatmom]

I go thru the different grocery stores now looking for something tasty and different!
I am getting much more into eating more vege and I am adding a bit more of a plain cooked vege
to Items and its not diluting the nice taste of the item but is cutting the calories a bit .
I am finding a lot of really really yummy vege items for sure

I use the slow cooker a lot and make a big pot full with lots and lots of vege and freeze some.
I add bran to thngs as I can as well.

I have not cut out sweets but have cut down to allowing a little bit of a sweet a day.

What newforest said on what you drink is so true .
There can be so many calories in things like soda etc.

I am not a soda drinker thank goodness.

I have lost a little weight slowly and can feel a difference but I don't feel deprived.

I had never heard of Quorn but looked it up and guess a lot of stores around here have it.
I will have to check that out some of the food pictured really looked yummy.

For me having a big variety of things and trying new things has been keeping me satisfied.

 

[MrA]

Thanks @Jane&Ziggy think I will have to look up a dairy free filling for my pie. I don't like mushrooms or leeks sadly and can't be using any butter or milk or anything. I was hoping to just do a sort of chicken, veg and gravy thing but I'm not sure what that will end up like

 

[Jessey]

@horseandgoatmom you can literally switch out quorn for meat in most dishes, I've had a few friends (mostly men) give me stick for being veggie, but they never even realised the chilli, spaghetti sauce etc that I'd made with quorn and served them wasn't meat its flavorless on its own but in flavorful sauce its good

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

OK, dairy free, I would use a nice big red onion and sauté it in your preferred oil. Add a carrot chopped how you like it (I like half moons, my OH prefers cubes!) and I thoroughly recommend some celeriac if you like celery flavour. Once the veg are nice and soft, add a tablespoon of flour -spelt flour has the least gluten - and stir till the flour has cooked a little. Then add any herbs you like and nice strong chicken stock. Stir until nice and creamy. If you are using raw chicken you can add it with the stock and simmer until done; if the chicken is cooked, stir in at the end when the sauce has thickened.

 

[horseandgoatmom]

That is too cute they did not even know!!

I found some in the Grocery store various things sausage patty - bacon - etc but the
actual calories were not much different it seemed than to just eat a pc of bacon???
and wow it was very expensive.

 

[MrA]

Last night I cooked prawn paella, was really nice and 2 portions of veg. Then we had tinned peaches for pudding.

Tonight I made chicken pasta and veg. I cheated and used a pre made sauce but did everything else and it was 3 portions of veg!! Had jelly for pudding yum.

Doesn't seem very impressive but I normally have a sandwich and biscuits/sweets for dinner so nice to eat normal food and must be more nutritious!

 

[Jessey]

On the 1St I had banana pancakes in the morning, 53g carbs just for 2 bananas
Then 2 wholemeal tortillas with loads of spinach, rocket and a sprinkling of cheese, another 59g
For dinner I had broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, peppers, onion and spinach with a tomato and chilli sauce and another 25g
But lots of good stuff so not bad for me at least. Yesterday was a dive, mum brought picnic lunch of sandwiches, pasta and cheesecake, yum yum but bad. Then I went out with a friend for dinner and the only place we knew how to get to was Frankie and Bennies, major carb blow out there back on it today though.