Healthy eating for the new year - suggestions

[octathlon]

Hello all,
I am resolving to eat healthier this year and hopefully also lose some of this extra weight that I've put on the last couple of years. This includes

1) avoiding the candy dish that our boss has outside his office! I have recurring episodes of staying away from it for a month or two, then relapsing and eating it again. I even feel the negative effects of eating it right afterwards, but I still have trouble resisting the temptation. So that's the first challenge.

2) I want to eat plenty of protein at breakfast. I've noticed that I feel better and my blood sugar doesn't plummet as long as I remember to do this. Even just a piece of bread with big spoonful of peanut butter on it works. The problem is finding some convenient (minimally ovo-lacto) vegetarian protein-rich foods to eat for breakfast, since I don't have time or desire to cook in the morning and I don't want peanut butter every morning. I'm thinking some kind of "cook-ahead and freeze" stuff that I could heat up in the microwave, or something I could eat cold. Doesn't have to be what is normally considered "breakfast" food. Same thing with lunch at work, I eat too many frozen dinners or canned soup or go out too much for my lunches. I'd like to make some healthy food on the weekends and freeze into individual meals to take with me.

I've been looking online and I have some ideas but I'd love to hear your suggestions (other than tofu please). What is your usual fare? Basically I want to change from eating so much processed/junk/convenience foods like granola bars and snack stuff, to eating mostly healthy stuff. Less bread and rice would probably be a good idea. I'm not very creative so I guess I need some "meal plan" ideas. When I get home from work I'm usually really tired and don't feel like cooking anything. Usually I just have a bowl of cereal or sometimes a sandwich or just toast. Of course, maybe if I start eating better I'll have more energy.

[Kim O'Hara]

Hi, Octathlon,
My solution for breakfast is muesli with yoghurt and - if there is any around - fresh fruit (bananas are particularly good because they are filling and easy to slice up).
If you buy muesli ready-made, avoid the 'toasted' varieties. They are nearly always over-sweetened, as well as being tough to chew.
Best, of course, to make up your own mixture ever couple of weeks. That way you can boost the protein content as much as you want with lots of chopped nuts and sunflower and sesame seeds, and you will know it isn't loaded with sugar. If you believe in the 'complementary protein' idea (I'm not sure that I do), you can balance your proteins too.

Good luck!

Kim

[alan]

I start the day with a whey protein shake with some coconut oil. (You could use coconut milk and some freshly ground flax). This gets my through my morning exercise period.
For proper breakfast I'll have a 2 egg, cheese and broccoli omelette with a slice of sprouted whole grain bread.
Other meals are some variations of curry. I buy the base from Tastybite.com. Cheap, prepackaged and healthy. I add lots of steamed broccoli and some chicken.
I'll also do a dish of tomato sauce and olive oil with parmesan and, of course, broccoli.
All easy, all healthy, all delish.
Other good habits are: eat a few walnuts or cashews instead of that damn candy. Or better yet tell your boss he is doing no one any favors by poisoning his work force. You might also want to look into coconut oil, which is the best thing you can add to your diet. And, of course, as I say to everyone: start doing Yoga. I promise you will feel better!
Here are some links.
http://tastybite.com/
http://www.foodforlife.com/our-products/sprouted-grain

[octathlon]

@Kim,
Thanks for those ideas. I have done the yogurt on cereal thing for breakfast and it does work for me, blood sugar-wise. I'm not crazy about yogurt but once or twice a week for breakfast is doable. Adding nuts to the mix, also a good idea.

@Alan,
Those suggestions are new ideas to me and I'll check them out. Looks like the Tasty Bite stuff is only available in my area at Costco, which is one of those membership places. I might check the health food store and see if they have it. Protein shakes are another good idea for breakfast. Can it be made the night before so I can just grab it in the morning? Can you be more specific on the recipe? I'm not familiar with the ingredients you mention like whey protein. I'm sure they would have that at the health food store. I get glutamine powder there which I need, but to be honest whenever I've considered buying groceries there I look at the prices and change my mind. I'm willing to pay more, but they are just mind-bogglingly sky high! The vitamins and supplements are not unreasonable, though. Thanks for the ideas.

[alan]

http://www.vitacost.com:80/Jarrow-Formulas-Whey-Protein
It takes about 23 seconds to mix. If you don't have that much time in the morning, you could just go to bed 23 seconds earlier, therefore creating the time you need.
[url][/url] http://tastybite.com/
If you are in the US they will ship orders over $65 for free. No need to go to Costco.

You do not need to take glutamine independently. Save your money and get the whole food in the form of non-denatured whey. I've done the research for you. Now it is up to you.

Oh, and did I mention Yoga?

[octathlon]

It takes about 23 seconds to mix. If you don't have that much time in the morning, you could just go to bed 23 seconds earlier.

Thanks!

[MJS]

What are some of your favorite foods? I may be able to give you some recipes or tips if you want

[m0rl0ck]

I usually have a rice cake with either peanut butter or cream cheese and 3 peices of fruit (one of which is always a banana) for breakfast.

Beans and rice or lentils and rice is usually dinner. With either a salad or some cut up raw veggies.

[Annapurna]

Octhathlon, very good, that you have healthy plans for 2011!

May you also have the energy and willpower to see it through!

Octhathlon, I can imagine that it is very hard to resist this candy. Try to resist, however, and reward yourself with something else if you get a craving.

This could be sweet little nothings in the fruit sector.

In the summer, bring cherries and strawberries to work, in the winter physalis, kiwis and tangerines.
(Make sure the peels from oranges and tangerines are not treated with poisonous wax. )

As a breakfast, I only eat fresh fruit, either with yoghurt or without.

Recently, I drink Roibos tea, and eat oranges or apples until lunch whenever i'm hungry. .

Before each lunch, I eat raw veggies and fruit, in other words, a salad. It fílls the stomach, is low calry, and high in fivers and vitamins.

You can easily prepare this before work, by chopping a bit of green lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers etc, and take it in a tupperbox with you to work. Just add a bit of salt...it's great and refreshing.

Many of my friends do it just like that. They bring strawberries to work, etc.

If you're not used to raw food, you should slowly increase your intake.

You should change to whole grain toast, bread and rice, or with rice, parboiled.
This will also keep you full longer and your bloodsugar stable. Your bloddsugar will become unstable after eating sweets.

So, the general advice is:

More fruit and veggies, and lots of it raw. 5 times a day something raw, -and you have done a lot to stay healthy and get your vitamins and fibers. And lose weight.

Healthy food can be "fast food" too, because it is prepared so quickly:


I

Orange-banana-yoghurt melissa.jpg (197.57 KiB) Viewed 926 times

This is a fast healthy snack.

Whole grain roll, tomatoes, feta cheese, grilled with fresh herbs for the original meditearrean flavour.

healthy snack S.jpg (68.3 KiB) Viewed 923 times

[PeterB]

Just exercise your own common sense Octhathlon. You actually dont need anyone to tell you what to eat.

[octathlon]

Thanks Morlock and Anna! Anna, I love fruit and I do take some to work every day. I don't plan to reduce the amount of fruit I eat, but I need to increase protein. So far it sounds like yogurt is a popular choice. Thanks for your encouragement.
Peter, it's nice to see you again. You're right, I don't need anyone to tell me what to eat, I've managed to feed myself all these years. What I am working on is more of a strategy to improve my eating habits and I'm interested to hear what my fellow dhamma-wheelers eat throughout the day, which I hope will inspire me.
Maybe what I really want is just to be able to go buy a 40-pound bag of "people food", like you do with dog food, that is nutritionally balanced, that you can just munch on when hungry. In a few different flavors for variety of course.

[Annapurna]

You're welccome.

Are you sure you don't eat enough protein, O,?

Are you perhaps a Vegan or Vegetarian?

Or do you eat meat?

Eggs? Cheese? Well you eat yoghurt, so I guess diary products are welcome...

But just generally speaking, many people fear a lack of protein, whilst actually, most of us are fully supplied, and even get too much of it.



Metta

[octathlon]

Hi Anna,

Yes, I'm sure, talking about breakfast specifically. Like I said in my first post, I can tell a big difference in how well I feel when I eat more protein for breakfast, usually peanut butter. If I just eat fruit, bread or cereal, I get hungry and tired much sooner. It might be related to the fact that when I was younger I had a lot of trouble with hypoglycemia. No, I'm not against dairy, I just don't like yogurt and stuff like that very much, that's all.

[alan]

Common sense rarely works when it comes to diet.

[Annapurna]

Hi Anna,

Yes, I'm sure, talking about breakfast specifically. Like I said in my first post, I can tell a big difference in how well I feel when I eat more protein for breakfast, usually peanut butter. If I just eat fruit, bread or cereal, I get hungry and tired much sooner. It might be related to the fact that when I was younger I had a lot of trouble with hypoglycemia. No, I'm not against dairy, I just don't like yogurt and stuff like that very much, that's all.

Hi, Octhathlon,

I am fully sympathetic with you here because I have had a tendency to hypoglycemia myself.

The low blood sugar can easily be avoided by a diet that dioesn't contain sugar and short chained carbohydrates such as white flour bread.

Sweets are poison for you!

If you eat sweets, they will cause your pancreas to hastily pour insuline into your blood, to get rid of the hihg bloodsugar level asap, and usuallly, you then go down below what's comfortable.

No candy from the boss! Don't buy any too!

But try to munch on some cherries and strawberries or a tangerine, when you feel a bit hungry.

The fruit sugar will get you out of the low, but not produce an insuline overreaction.

Try to supplement B Vitamins, preferrably in yeast that is rich in chrome.

This is really effective and helped me a lot.

Do you eat just one breakast in the morning, and try to hold out until lunch?

It's perfectly ok to nibble on a bit of something, and you will get much relief if you allow yourself a second small breakfast as soon as you get hungry.

Just an orange or a few grapes will quickly help you.

But candy will be bad then.

Why not try a whole grain toast, spread some philadelphia on top, and a hardboilded egg in slices, or some cold turkey in slices?

That should be fine until 11, and then you can eat an orange, or whatever you like.

And drink enough...

[ground]

"In the same way, I tell you, is the nutriment of physical food to be regarded. When physical food is comprehended, passion for the five strings of sensuality is comprehended. When passion for the five strings of sensuality is comprehended, there is no fetter bound by which a disciple of the noble ones would come back again to this world.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

Kind regards

[PeterB]

"In the same way, I tell you, is the nutriment of physical food to be regarded. When physical food is comprehended, passion for the five strings of sensuality is comprehended. When passion for the five strings of sensuality is comprehended, there is no fetter bound by which a disciple of the noble ones would come back again to this world.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

Kind regards

Very apropos. And I would suggest equally applicable to both gluttony and the current fad for health food narcisissm.
There is a a Woody Allen film called Sleeper. The Allen character has been in suspended animation for 100 years. When he is revived he announces that he must go and find his friends. " But all your friends will be dead " he is told..
He wails " but they all ate organic brown rice ! ".

[alan]

Concern with diet equated to narcissism? You've lost me there, PeterB.

[octathlon]

So, short of overcoming the fetters and reaching enlightenment, any other suggestions? That is a good way to look at food, I agree. I understand that instruction but I've never really understood the other analogies in the sutta.

Regarding "very apropos", not according to my intention for the thread. I believe I'm somewhere "between" gluttony and health food-obsession, and my question wasn't about how to overcome food craving. I meant to ask for some advice as to practical or easy ways to get more protein into my breakfasts and lunches for work, from those who might be kindly disposed to offer it. The comment about the candy dish was probably a distraction from my main intent for the thread, and should have been left out. Thank you to those who responded.