Healthy, Clean Eating

[Anya_K]

Hi Everyone! 

I was just wondering what tips/advice or even plans you can recommend for eating healthy. 

I just want to start out by saying I live in an expensive city (London), where it's very easy to stay out all day (meaning it's very easy to avoid cooking). I don't usually keep track of what I buy for groceries, but I'd really like to have a somewhat long-term "schedule/plan" of what to eat. I love salads/fruits/etc. and I've noticed it's usually cheaper to buy healthier foods, but I have a huge sweet tooth and unfortunately I can't really afford to go pay a personal trainer a couple hundred pounds every month. 

I'm not a professional body builder or anything, but I know that getting slim and toned is only partially due to your workout routine, while the other part comes from cleaning up your diet. 

I don't mind changing this, and I'm not looking for a fad diet, but if anyone has a helpful eating plan (for example if you try to cut down on certain things and eat more of certain things during the first month, then move on to the second, etc. I would love to know!) I'm very structured, and while some people might be wary of setting too rigid of a schedule for just starting out, I really do need some stricter rules for myself. 

All help appreciated! 

[OCDOC]

If you live in London, don't eat anything Charles Dickens wouldn't recognize. 🙂 (Or at least stuff that didn't naturally exist back then..eg avocado was around and is awesome...CD may never have seen it!)

Easy on the sweets and starchy stuff if you want to lose weight, but the 'Dickens Rule' works well.

Good luck!

[SunsetRunner]

Change food habits gradually, allow to have a treat when desired to prevent binge eating. When eating natural foods overall, your body starts craving the foods the nature provides and eventually not even wanting junk foods anymore.. which are also mostly higher in calories, having added sugar.. not leaving as satisfied and wanting more from. Even when not really being hungry.

[Anya_K]

Ha! That's an interesting way to think of it. I've never heard of that before, but thanks for the advice. I'll keep that in mind as I'm shopping. 

[Anya_K]

Thank you for the tip! I have been changing gradually..It just helps me to have a plan.

[Dominique]

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@Anya_K wrote:

I know that getting slim and toned is only partially due to your workout routine, while the other part comes from cleaning up your diet. 

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You are right that shedding off extra fat is more about nutrition, less about exercising (maybe something like 80%-20%). In @Anya_K, you described yourself as a former athlete, so you probably have a good idea of what’s involved on the exercising side. I just wanted to comment on the eating side: no food, no matter how "clean" and "healthy", will make you lean, just like no food, no matter how "junky" and "unhealthy", will make you fat. It’s primarily about how much of it you eat, in relation to what you expend. A lot of "healthy" items (avocados, nuts, olive oil etc.) are high in calories and therefore easy to over-eat. That being said, it doesn’t mean you should make substitutions from unhealthy to healthy, for instance drink plain water instead of soda etc.

Btw, I noticed from your profile you do not wear your Fitbit every day:

For me, a lot of the value of my Fitbit is in telling me how much I burn each day (as this provides me with clues on how much I can eat), which is why I’m wearing it 24/7.

[Nomad92]

If you don't have time to cook, then take time to cook.

Living in a capital city is by far not an excuse !

If you want to go 100% healthy, don't use any salt anymore, since most foods already include a natural amount of minerals such as salt.

Cut down on sugar or don't use it anymore at all. ( also fruits have a natural amount of it ).

Don't overuse butter and oil, if you use oil, try coconut oils/ fats or good olive oils.

Avoid fizzy drinks, switch to water.

Try to avoid eating meat everyday, cut it down to twice or once a week, buying a nice salmon fillet or a good steak.

Watch out when it comes to carbohydrates such as rice,noodles,potatoes and bread. Cut down on it and pick dark bread instead of the standard bread  only, which could be difficult to find in London, since dark bread is not common in the UK, at least not the proper dark bread you can find in Sweden,Norway,Finnland,Germany,Danmark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_bread

Try to cook stuff by yourself, green vegetables, stocks foods such as potatoes, tomatoes etc.

When it comes to fitness, fitness doesn't have to cost anything. You can go for a run by yourself, you can also do some calisthenics without a gym or a personal trainer. All you need to do is to surf on YouTube and google, to find videos and guides that explain you what and how to do it.

It really isn't nuclear physics, it's pretty simple to live healthy, especially in a capital city with a huge amount of all kind of shops and markets.

PS: At the end of the day, cooking is far cheaper than eating out all the time. I personally could not even afford to eat out everyday + my expectations of food are way too high to eat junk-food and 2 slices of sandwich for £ 2 - £ 4 everyday. Nah, thanks.

Good luck to you 🙂 If you should have any more questions, don't hesitate to message me.

[Dominique]

@Nomad92: the diet you suggest sounds very restrictive: it’s "don’t", "avoid", "watch out" etc. In an ideal world, we would all be eating broccoli, spinach and other leafy veggies, chicken breast, tuna fish and other sources of lean protein, avocados, nuts and other sources of healthy fat and drink water, tea and other non-sugary drinks. And everybody would be super-lean and super-fit. However, in real life, many people like French fries, a juicy T-bone steak, a tasty pizza, a glass of good wine, a delicious ice-cream etc. If you eliminate all or most of the items you enjoy, it’s quite likely you won’t adhere to your diet and will binge at some point. So it’s usually a better idea (and more sustainable) to keep the "unhealty" items you like, but eat them in moderation and within your calorie allotment: you won’t get fat if you eat at maintenance or at a deficit, even if your diet includes unhealthy items.

[Nomad92]

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@Dominique wrote:

@Nomad92: the diet you suggest sounds very restrictive: it’s "don’t", "avoid", "watch out" etc. In an ideal world, we would all be eating broccoli, spinach and other leafy veggies, chicken breast, tuna fish and other sources of lean protein, avocados, nuts and other sources of healthy fat and drink water, tea and other non-sugary drinks. And everybody would be super-lean and super-fit. However, in real life, many people like French fries, a juicy T-bone steak, a tasty pizza, a glass of good wine, a delicious ice-cream etc. If you eliminate all or most of the items you enjoy, it’s quite likely you won’t adhere to your diet and will binge at some point. So it’s usually a better idea (and more sustainable) to keep the "unhealty" items you like, but eat them in moderation and within your calorie allotment: you won’t get fat if you eat at maintenance or at a deficit, even if your diet includes unhealthy items.

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It's my fault then, I wasn't trying to express it as restrictive at all. With " watch out " and " avoid " I was more referring to getting around it if possible.

I totally agree on the point, everything is alright if you don't overdue on it. Everything in moderation.

My text was more for someone who does not know anything about diets, since the OP claimed she would hardly cook for herself, I expected someone who always eats out, goes for Fish & Chips and Pizza. I guess the lack of information in this thread forced me to come up with what I would call an " Emergency-list ".

But please note, I am not only talking about getting fat, I am talking about health in general, it is proven that someone who cuts down or even completely avoids things like burgers, chips & empty carbs, has a healthier body ( no fat-liver, good kidneys, no digesting issues etc ).

I personally love to eat a good T-bone steak from time to time, some nice fried potatoes and a glass of wine to go with it, this actually is healthy.

My idea is: If you can make something healthier, then do it. Do you like burgers and fries and some ketchup? GO for it, but try to switch the fries with country-potatoes, the ketchup with self-made tomatoes ketchup ( concentrate or mashed tomatoes with some salts and sugar ).

At the end of the day, everyone has decide for him/herself what to sacrifice for a healthy lifestyle and what not. But as demotivating as it might sound to some people, if you want to be super lean, and if you want to cross the street with an adonis-body, you HAVE TO live on a very restricted diet. A restricted diet doesn't have to be bad or boring or disgusting. I live on a very strict diet, but I always try to go healthy, this starts when I do shopping and choose the steak I am going to eat, or the bread I am going to use, or the sauces I am going to add. An informed and health and fitness educated mind will pick the right ingredients and make the right decision, this is what we call a strict diet. I like it, and I don't fell like I had to sacrifice a lot. I guess I am lucky because I was never in to burgers and fastfood too much, I am more the Sushi eating kind of guy who is happy with a salmon fillet and some rice.

Cheers. And thanks for pointing it out.

[Dominique]

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@Nomad92 wrote:

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But as demotivating as it might sound to some people, if you want to be super lean, and if you want to cross the street with an adonis-body, you HAVE TO live on a very restricted diet.

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Very true. This is described in this post on the "cost" of getting lean. 

[MyLabAmber]

I found that by keeping a food journal (or even just logging your food in the Fitbit app) has made me much more accountable on what I'm eating.  Now I get frustrated when the app tells me that I'm over my calorie intake for the day!  

[DerrickS]

@Anya_K I live in San Francisco and eating healthy here can also be very expensive ($10 smoothies are a thing?!!?!?!?)

What I've found really effective for eating healthy is to make it as easy as possible. For instance, my typical breakfast consists of: steel-cut oatmeal, maple syrup,  and whatever fruit I have in the fridge for breakfast. There's a bowl and spoon for dishes that need to be cleaned and I can get ready for work while the water boils.

My New Year's resolution has been to pack my lunch for work at least 3 of the 5 days of the workweek. What has worked for me is that I've bought three or four tubberware containers that all have the same exact lid and then I cook bulk dinners the night before and eat the same meal for lunch the next day. 

In response to the aforementioned $10 smoothie, I've also have made it a habit to make my own smoothies at home. What I like about making smoothies at home is that:

1) It's super cheap to do. I make a point of buying mostly frozen fruit for my smoothies which is both cheaper and will last longer than unfrozen fruit. For the fruit that isn't frozen, I also make sure that it works with oatmeal for breakfasts like apples, blueberries, or bananas. 

2) The flavor of fruit can mask a lot of other flavors so it's really easy to sneak in a handful of spinach or other veggies that can be hard to eat raw. For instance I don't really like kale, but one of my go-to smoothies is kale based since kale doesn't really have a strong flavor.

I also think that making the switch from eating processed foods to unprocessed foods whenever possible is a hard mindset change to make, but has a ton of health benefits. It's definitely easier said than done sometimes.

[Anya_K]

Hi Derrick, 

Thanks so much for your reply! 

Keeping it simple is some good advice. I've noticed that buying the basics (fruits/veggies) tends to be less expensive, so I've definitely been trying to do this more. 

I've never tried meal prepping myself (at most if I cook something for dinner, it usually lasts long enough for lunch the next day and that's it). Would you recommend trying to do bulk cooking (for example: on a Sunday)?

[DerrickS]

@Anya_K I don't necessarily have a meal prep day, the approach that works best for me is that I try to cook dinner with the intention of having leftovers. 

 
I think that a good question to ask yourself is what's your goal. If it's to gain muscle or lose weight, having a meal prep day can be a great option. From what I've seen, meal prep helps a lot of people be aware of what and how much food they are eating, which takes a lot of the guesswork out of it.

For me, my goals are to eat less processed food and save money, which is why the leftover approach is perfect for me. I think once you know exactly what your goal is, it becomes easier to find a system or approach to food that works for you.

[Nick_87]

Hi Anya,

I work in London also and agree that it is incredibily easy to eat out all the time.  While great fun it can hinder progress with hidden calories lurking in so called 'healthy options' in restaurants.  I gradually started to prepare food on the Sunday using my trusty gas BBQ and now have meals for the whole week.

Another option I tried for awhile are the fully prepared meals from Musclefood, which give you food with the right balance of protein/carbs/fats and in sensible portions.  I smashed this for a good while before needing a change but I still have some in the freezer! 

http://www.musclefood.com/meals.html

Hope the above helps!

Nick

[Anya_K]

Thanks for the input Derrick!

My goal is to lose a bit of weight and tone down a bit. The only thing that makes me hesitant about the meal prep for the whole week is that I have a ridiculously small kitchen, so I would only be able to cook for a day or two in advance at most. 

[Anya_K]

Thanks Nick!

I'll definitely check out the link. 

[WholeJourney]

I know you're getting a lot of info from a lot of people, but I have made some changes that are working for me. 🙂

I stock up on frozen vegetables and fruit because I can find cheap brands, and I can cook/defrost what I need as I go. I've stopped drinking soda and I drink only water or seltzer water. I buy the 12-can refrigerator packs and I go throuigh them fairly quickly, especially in the hot weather.

I also try to balance each meal so I have the right portion of carbs/healthy greens or veg/proteins.

This plus exercising more has given me the push I need towards better health. Good luck to you!

[Delboy-Dubai]

I had to go through a radical change due to my lifestyle and dietary conditions. I recently had a stroke and was also diagnosed with Diabetes so the lifestyle change had to happen. I watch what I eat now but believe you me diet change is not as difficult as it sounds. Look at the http://www.diabetes.co.uk/ website and navigate to the food and recipes sections. Here there are loads of quick and simple recipes and you will be seriosuly amazed at what you can actually eat. Even though you may not be diabetic this recipe and food section is amazing.

Hope this helps

regards

Delboy-Dubai