[Closed] What (healthy) food should I eat? (diet content)

Just "ticking" so I can keep an eye on this as I'd also like to trim my paunch. I reckon the amount of bread I eat in sandwiches is not helping so suggestions for alternatives that are easy to prepare would be great

Sounds like you eat ok, maybe it's portion size instead? Keep an eye on that especially on days without excercise.

Ham sandwiches are fine, but on days when you're not riding try cutting out the bread for lunch and having a Tupperware box full of veg and then sandwich meats or tinned fish on their own with it. Get plenty of water in, keep an eye on the sugar going into teas and coffee and make sure you have a no added sugar breakfast cereal.

I would recommend dropping the starchy carbs and cereal.

Cut out or reduce potato, bread, pasta etc.

You do realise what you have started with this thread? It won't end well!

iDiet is worth a try. The one from STW not the other one published online.

May I be the first to offer to take your money for a personalised diet whilst having no intention of delivering it?

3 pieces of fruit during the day, yogurt, sandwiches

Lose the sandwiches; cutting bread out of your diet is a great first step.

you could try myfitnesspal.com? log all your meals/calories, and then youll see exactly how much youre consuming per day? whatever it averages out at, knock it down a couple of hundred per day til you see the weight drop.

very effective for keeping an eye on what youre eating/drinking.

chicken is your friend. 8)

Portion Control get some scales - first big step, most meals are way above what you need and think you do. The calorie log will help. Plan your meals have something always there for when your willpower is crap.

Cut out all the fizzy drinks and if your serious the beer too.

the word diet is wrong, it implies temporary, something you will eventually stop and this is the failing.

You need to cut the crap out the your food intake, less carbs might be good but not all, look at what is in the sandwiches - cheese? spread? mayo?

If you want to get rid permanently of the belly fat then you need to change from doing weights and do core exercise and do it 2 or 3 times a week. also, keep up all your other activities.

finally dont expect overnight success, these things take time, making it a habit is essential if you are serious.

the word diet is wrong, it implies temporary

Not really. But he is asking for long term food eating (aka diet) changes, not a quick fix.

If you want to get rid permanently of the belly fat then you need to change from doing weights and do core exercise and do it 2 or 3 times a week

You can't target belly fat with specific exercises. Not possible.

I should have mentioned - take away food is a weakness, usually have one a week, occasionally two, chinese or indian, and a fair bit of it. That really needs to go, and become a fortnightly, or monthly treat I guess!

One problem for me is that the oh isn't very adventurous when it comes to food, strange for a farmers daughter really, so have to factor that in, although packed lunch not affected.

I eat (and like) pretty bland cereal - all bran, weetabix, cheerios etc, never really checked added sugar, but stay away from anything obvious like honey nut versions.

Mainly drink water (2-3 pints a day), and maybe 1/2 of pint a milk a day. No fizzy drinks generally, and maybe only 2-3 pints of lager/cider weekly (at most).

Don't drink tea or coffee.

I have tried one of those calorie tracker apps, but found it a right faff, and it shouldn't be [i]that[/i] hard, should it?

Portion control is a good one, I guess you can train yourself to eat less and feel full on smaller portions over time?

I do eat a lot of eggs, usually poached or in an omlette, guess I'll have to eat more.......

I get a couple of bags of Baby Spinach, a few packs of fresh beetroot and one of those four packs of tuna and make up a salad each morning with various guest appearances from whatevers lurking in the fridge.

That sees me through Mon-Thu, Friday lunch I leave to fate.

If you want to get rid permanently of the belly fat then you need to change from doing weights and do core exercise and do it 2 or 3 times a week.

weights, cardio, core, do whatever training you want to do. diet is the key so less calories consumed will be the key.

EDIT:

I have tried one of those calorie tracker apps, but found it a right faff, and it shouldn't be that hard, should it?

You can't target belly fat with specific exercises. Not possible.

I agree the appraoch needs to be holistic, a combination of better foods, less calorific foods and good exercise regime. Muscle weighs much more than fat, strengthening core and not doing weighted gym sets will help as part of a holistic approach.

Muscle weighs much more than fat, strengthening core and not doing weighted gym sets will help as part of a holistic approach.

+1 on chicken being your friend instead of cheese/ham

Snack on/drink stuff that has zero/low cals (water/carrots/celery etc)

Check your portion sizes - stuff like myfitnesspal allows you to calculate cal value based on weight.

Restrict bread/pasta

I am just sat with a whole roast chicken in front of me.

nom nom nom nom.........chicken is your friend... 8)

I'm not that worried about losing weight for the sake of it, just the wrong sort of bulk I want rid of, I'm 6ft, broad shouldered and have always been 'well built', played football/rugby, cycled sporadically, and reasonably muscly, mainly in legs/shoulders.

I'm no weightlifter, and don't have aspirations of being a body builder, just need a good, balanced exercise regime, and healthy, sustainable diet.

I found my fitness pal to be pretty pish if you make food from scratch. Frinstance, I've just made a big batch of tomato sauce for portioning off into the freezer, and I have no clue what measurements of each I have out in, apart from a tin of tomato and a carton of passata. The rest, garlic, basil, salt, sugar etc is just all added by taste. Pretty impossible to measure what's in it, unless you start faffing about measuring all ingredients and portion sizes.

Seems a lot easier if you eat ready prepared stuff, which I generally don't.

I should have mentioned - take away food is a weakness, usually have one a week, occasionally two,

Takeaways don't have to be a huge binge btw.

you dont accidentally start adding muscle (and hence weight) by lifting a few weights

Depends on the person.

Drop the takeaways. Salad instead of sandwiches. No cheese. Chew food for longer. Don't eat after 6pm.

If only I could take my own advice!

Where are you "snacking" on 3 peices of fruit a day out of interest?

I think that it's a big part of why people are over weight, loads of people think they need to have a snack in the morning and afternoon. Really you don't

What she said.

- molgrips, snack free since 7am.

I've heard good things about this

[url= https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/calorie-counter-by-fatsecret/id347184248?mt=8 ]Fat Secret[/url]

Available for Android too. As has already been mentioned, you need to get your head around portion sizes and where the calories are hiding- it'll blow your mind when you find out how many calories are in things like oil (olive or otherwise) and how easy it is to avoid them.

The fruit, is normally part of my lunch, normally an apple & a clementine say, and I usually have a banana around 10-11am.

Change your exercise. More interval training, sprints, short bursts, and bodyweight exercises or weights, if you want to lose fat.

Lose the bread and cereal, more protein and fat, and watch sugar intake (including fruit) so perhaps switch fruit yogurts (sugary) for natural yogurt. If you are like me a fruit addict, go for lower carb ones like citrus, berries, or kiwi fruit, and add a few nuts or a piece of cheese to slow the absorption of the energy. And obviously, don't snack unless you're hungry, but if you're hungry, you should eat, IMO. I don't subscribe to deprivation diet mentality, willpower will get you so far but eventually most people crack and binge and that becomes an unhealthy cycle.

I also got a fitbit which helps me track how many steps I take a day and has encouraged me to do more incidental daily activity (more walking, using stairs etc).

Drop the fruit replace it with Veg.

Try cous-cous or quinoa as a carb or just have salad, nuts and chicken or fish.

I've found it's best to cut out anything remotely tasty or interesting, and substitute it for tasteless boring stuff that you feed your average rabbit on.
Maybe I should trademark that diet?
"The Eat All You Like But It Must Be Tasteless And Miserable Diet"

I tried cutting out the heavy food ,peanut butter sandwiches etc just for one day.
It made me really ill. Took me 2 days of non stop troughing to get back up to speed.
Not sure why im such a delicate flower but feed me or face the consequences.

Go vegan. Watch the weight drop off you. No really.

[i]Drop the fruit replace it with Veg[/i]

Just stop snacking. don't replace one snack with a different one!

breakfast, lunch, tea. simple.

I've managed to lose about 3kg from about August to December last year just by cutting out breakfast and snacking between meals. I realised I'm never hungry as soon as I wake up and don't get peckish till mid-morning but was still having breakfast. I cut out breakfast and had a mid-morning small Latte/cappuccino (about 50 calories) to get me through to lunchtime then have a normal lunch. On day's where the mid-morning munchies were not curbed by a milky coffee then a banana/apple/soreen snack bar, something of that nature was enough to get me through, especially in light of the fact I usually do a spin / abs blast or circuits class at lunchtimes so didn't want to get too hungry.

Not sure how many calories i'm having a day, maybe 1500 or so, so its no rocket science, i'm just eating less calories.

The only downside to this is that I do find i'm hungrier at tea time so end up having a bigger tea, but i eat tea early - about 5:30pm so there is a good 16hrs to 18hrs or so before I eat again, 8hrs of that i'm asleep. But i've now found that my stomach has shrunk so i'm actually eating less at tea time too. Still got about 100,000 calories round my belly to go at though!

I've dropped off the wagon over and since Christmas and into the New Year, so my weight plateau'd, but got back onion the last 2 weeks and have dropped almost a further 1kg straight away.

Apparently you feel full sooner if you eat slowly. Try that with your evening meal.

Simple:

Breakfast: something with eggs/protein;
lunch: tupperware tub with chopped up chorizo, baby sweetcorn, sugar snap peas, mange tout, salad leaves dressed with olive oil/balsamic;
tea: meal from Hairy Dieters book.

Started as I mean to go on last night, in the gym.

Lasagne for dinner.

No breakfast this morning (wasn't hungry), so a glass of milk only.

Lunch consists of tuna, boiled eggs, cucumber, lettuce, green pepper, small amount of balsamic.

Have got a banana in case I get hungry.

We'll see how it goes...........

Use my fitnesspal as above. Swap everything you can to whole grains/whole wheat, give up beer, eat vegetables and go heavy on proteins

Hairy dieters book is a great help also, even if you just get to "see" what goes in your food (ie I use less sugar in the Bircher muesli than recommended) and can adjust accordingly.

Blueberrys are ace.

That and intervals have lost me 16lbs.

[i]Have got a banana in case I get hungry.[/i]

Sorry to go on, but no...that's why you've got 2 stone to loose. Get used to the feeling of being hungry, it won't kill you, promise. Amazed by the fact that people can't accept a teeny bit of discomfort in their lives to get what they want

Emsz if only that was true. Don't know if im a special case but I do need to eat at least every 2 hours.
I can just feel the life drain out of me and my eyes turn red.
Luckily I'm not overweight and my brother us exactly the same.

So. You get up every 2 hours in the middle of the night to eat? It's sort of a bit pathetic to think that you "need" to eat every 2 hours.

Sorry to go on, but no...that's why you've got 2 stone to [b]loose[/b]. Get used to the feeling of being hungry, it won't kill you, promise. Amazed by the fact that people can't accept a teeny bit of discomfort in their lives to get what they want

[img] [/img]

God, you're like my dad 🙄

No I am not. Now tidy your room, or no TV for you.

Jamie, I'm doing a sort of smirky-half smile at you.

I'm in a mood today, can't figure out why.

I do need to eat at least every 2 hours.
I can just feel the life drain out of me and my eyes turn red.

I used to be similar. It can be changed. The reason you feel like that is down to various hormones afaik.

Haven't touched the banana so far.........

Personal experience has shown me that an apple in the morning and a banana in the afternoon doesn't make me fat, it's what I pile on the plate at breakfast lunch and dinner. YMMV.

FWIW boiled eggs, 2 off, keep me fine till 13:00 I do usually have a slice of wholemeal toast though with it, just doesn't seem right without.

So. You get up every 2 hours in the middle of the night to eat? It's sort of a bit pathetic to think that you "need" to eat every 2 hours.

If it's not harming anybody, what's it to you?

If it's not harming anybody, what's it to you?

[img] [/img]

Molgrips ,tell more. Did you get better on your own or help from the docs?
According to my doctor " im just one of those people."

Lol Jamie, that did get my tentacles out....just annoys me the number of people on here who judge people for their eating habits, that whole attaching morals to food thing.

"Good" equals eating less, counting calories, depriving self, being hungry means you are self controlled, have willpower etc.

"Bad" equals responding to your body's hunger instead of mastering it with your mind, people who eat when they feel like eating are lazy, undisciplined, and have no self control, can't put up with a bit of discomfort, etc.

I realise that most people who have this mindset won't change it, but it is exactly that mindset that drives people to eating disorders and a poor relationship with food and their bodies.

A recent IBD diagnosis has made me change the food I eat for the better. No bread of any shape or form and nothing cooked in fat. Try not to have any refined sugar.

Boiled eggs or gluten free porridge for breakfast.
Home made chicken salad or mackeral/other fish for lunch or baked potato & tuna.
Supper usually involves poultry and mashed potatoes or wholegrain rice.
Lots and lots of streamed veg.
Kale,Spinach & lemon smoothies (sounds rank but isn't bad).
Seeds, berries and nuts to graze on.
Homemade Paleo recipe muffins and flapfack for snacking.

Sounds like cack but its not bad at all.

the number of people on here who judge people for their eating habits, that whole attaching morals to food thing.

This, lots, and lots, and lots, and lots.

Food should just be food, tasty stuff you eat to stay alive, not the root of all evil.

For that we already have money.

core - Member
Started as I mean to go on last night, in the gym.

Lasagne for dinner.

No breakfast this morning (wasn't hungry), so a glass of milk only.

Lunch consists of tuna, boiled eggs, cucumber, lettuce, green pepper, small amount of balsamic.

Have got a banana in case I get hungry.

We'll see how it goes...........

Lasagne with all that pasta isn't great

If there is any meal not to skip its breakfast

Avoid milk if you can

Lay off the bananas unless its during or immediately after exercise

You could make life a lot easier for yourself eating he things that will help you lose fat

Molgrips ,tell more. Did you get better on your own or help from the docs?

Well I wouldn't call it 'getting better', just an adjustment of how my body fuels itself. As I understand it, some people have more of a tendency to fuel themselves with stored glycogen(carbs) rather than fat. So you do light exercise or even nothing, you use up your stores and then this is a trigger for hunger, so you want more high GI things, this releases insulin which in turn inhibits fat burning so you burn carbs and it continues.

It may help to work on your fat burning. I iDieted and also used the 45 minute rule. Don't have anything high GI (or preferably anything at all) for as long as possible before a ride - so for example ride without breakfast ideally or ride after work without having had anything since lunchtime - and don't have any carbs until 45 mins of your ride has elapsed. This gets your fat burning pathway going, apparently.

I noticed a dramatic change with both of these things, and also base training. Aged 25 or so I used to be on my knees with hunger in the morning, and I'd clock-watch for 12 to come around so I could go and eat. Now I forget entirely and have to rush out at 2.30pm otherwise the shops have sold all the lunch stuff.

Myfitnesspal app is great for making you think about actually what you eat, whilst I wouldn't take the calorie counts as gospel (especially for cv activities) it at least gives you a bench mark to aim for, if the weight loss isn't working then increase the calorie deficit further. I find if I keep a decent record of my training then the food part follows suit, You'll know if the engine needs more fuel, if you're recording it then its a prompt not to feed it rubbish. And like MikeWW said above, don't skip breakfast - Your body hasn't eaten since teatime the previous day, don't make it wait any longer...

Rice, and spaghetti would be the best choice, a bit of chicken won't heart as well.

If there is any meal not to skip its breakfast

Skip whatever meal you feel like.

Don't believe the breakfast-is-the-most-important-meal hype. It's just another mealtime. So what if you haven't eaten since the day before? If you feel fine without it, crack on.

Homemade Paleo recipe muffins and flapfack for snacking.

Assuming that's flapjack, how do you make that without refined sugar?
Would be interested in a recipe.

Homemade Paleo recipe muffins and flapfack for snacking.

My advice would be not to try and simulate the crap. Just find recipes that work without the crap.

Don't search for sweet options, just wean yourself off sweet stuff. Don't ask 'what can I eat for desert?' just don't eat desert.

Wasn't looking for desert, don't really eat it myself. But might be an interesting food option for long days out.

On the bike?

You can and probably should be eating carbs on the bike. Just not for the first 45 mins 🙂

mrmonkfinger - Member
If there is any meal not to skip its breakfast
Skip whatever meal you feel like.

Don't believe the breakfast-is-the-most-important-meal hype. It's just another mealtime. So what if you haven't eaten since the day before? If you feel fine without it, crack on.

Really? Based on anything or did you just make it up?

Anything you eat, even low GI food, stimulates insulin production. Insulin inhibits fat burning and encourages your body to use glycogen stores aka 'burning carbs'.

When you haven't eaten for 8-10 hours your insulin levels are stable and low so you should be burning fat nicely. If you eat breakfast then the insulin spike can make you hungry later. If you don't eat breakfast, you can often go on for quite a while without it - burning fat all the while.

My sister doesn't eat breakfast for this reason, and I've noticed the same effect myself. And lots of other people have said this too.

My sister doesn't eat breakfast for this reason, and I've noticed the same effect myself. And lots of other people have said this too.

May I counter?

My brother has never eaten breakfast for his entire life and has always been overweight.

About three years ago he started eating breakfast and hasn't changed his lifestyle in any other way - still drinks loads, still eats curries etc.

He is now bordering on skinny.

Interestingly, he also stopped smoking around the same time he started eating breakfast and that is meant to make you put weight on as your appetite increases.

Go figure as they say.

I'm sorry everyone, but I feel the urge to agree with molgrips. Maybe I'm a bit hungry...

The whole 'don't miss meals' thing is intricately linked with societal expectations regarding food, and the 'don't miss breakfast' thing is another example.

What if you work at night? When is 'breakfast'? Why eat if you aren't hungry?

We have managed to separate the idea of eating from the need to eat, and consequently eat when we aren't hungry, eat too much and so on.

He is now bordering on skinny.

I must say that is rather surprising, no idea what could be going on there. It has always been said that statistically people who don't eat breakfast have more incidence of being overweight than those who do, but that's a correlation rather than a causation, I think.

It may well be that usually people who don't eat breakfast aren't hungry til lunch, but then overcompensate the rest of the day once they've started eating. Perhaps this is what your brother experienced?

However, my point about breakfast was that it can start you feeling hungry mid morning if you eat it, where you might not be hungry if you don't. What happens after that is another thing 🙂

I really have no idea why it has happened and neither does he - he does cook for himself now (used to live with our mum until she died) but he eats [b]very[/b] well (single, owns his own house etc) so he often gets fillet steaks, fancy meal deals etc and really enjoys food - and *NEVER* misses an opportunity to go for a curry.

Curries arne't necessarily bad either.

Skip the gluten (grains/flour) and up your protein and fat (nuts, avacodo, meat)

Higher fat diets have been shown to provide more meaningfull weight loss results - as long as you stay off the carb rich grains

Paleo makes a good deal of sense, but don't go the cult paleo route...
concepts from atkins (low GI), paleo (hunter gatherer) and gluten free should be effective as the fats should help curb your hunger cravings.

I'm no expert, and I recognise that each individual has to find a healthy eating plan that works for them.. one that doesn't fit you, wont stick and you'll ultimately fail.

I'm still battling the sugar cravings but feeling much better inside right now having drastically reduced bread/pasta/flour.

Curries arne't necessarily bad either.

Miss out the rice or naan and have pakora and popadoms instead and its very idiet friendly. So was my lunch today. Working on site so last night I made some falafels and tamarind dip. Fantastic and quick.

Really? Based on anything or did you just make it up?

The thing is, the advice to eat breakfast sort of originated with cereal/grain farmers associations (well, chicken/dairy farmers as well, "go to work on an egg" etc) - about as vested an interest as you can get.

Mind you, I don't disagree with eating breakfast - personally, I find it essential for concentration and generally feeling normal up until meal number two which comes three hours later. But, that's coming from a mental perspective rather than physical. Also, I wake up hungry and the first thing I really want to do is eat - other people don't.

There aren't, to the best of my knowledge, any studies that conclusively prove the act of having some of your daily calories within an hour of getting up makes any difference to body weight/fat. Sure, its a correlation to people who are lighter/thinner, but not a causative thing. As molgrips said.

OTOH plenty studies that show kids are, in the morning, better behaved, concentrate better, etc. etc. when they have eaten breakfast.

Eat breakfast if you like. Just don't kid yourself it makes a blind bit of difference to weight.

I used to be almost crippled with hunger first thing in the morning when I was 18 or so. Now I don't mind either way. What made the most difference was being at uni and having to roll out of bed and onto the bus in 5 mins... My body just adapted.

From what I've read: the paleo approach to breakfast is to either have something protein-rich within 30 minutes of waking, or skip it altogether.

The modern approach is to have something carby and sugary and covered in milk, with more sugar sprinkled on top. Then feel hungry again a couple of hours later. And get fat.

A good reason for breakfast is if you are unlikely to get an opportunity to eat well between then and lunch, and if you can't keep a lid on the impulse to eat something,anything.

Count myself in this camp, and a couple of eggs dampens this right down so on the whole I eat less and better for that period than if I skip it.

I usually skip it if cycling in though and eat when I get in (else I'm in no fit state for 25Km/300m climbing home come 17:00)

Part of the iD*** thing (and in the 4HourBody book too) was training yourself to 'run' on fat.

When I was doing it, I did long rides with no breakfast (other than black coffee), then just water to drink for the first hour of the ride, before switching to diluted (50:50) apple juice with a small amount of carbs eaten hourly (I had a mini pork pie). This seemed to work really well for me.

Modern breakfasts suck.

Eggs are good (don't believe the cholesterol hype).

Equally, a chicken salad works very well but most folk are socially conditioned away from eating "a normal meal" at breakfast time.

training yourself to 'run' on fat

wouldn't doing long endurance cardio at any time of day achieve this?

this only really affects what you burn during exercise, fat is already the fuel source when you're just sitting around in an office.