134 replies to this topic

[Padme]

Hey Everybody!

 

 

Here's a place to post anything related to healthy eating: tips, photos of your healthy food, questions, support, food logs and your journey with healthy eating.

 

If you post a tip, I'll add it to the master post! 

 

Please remember to be respectful of others, we all have different diets and different things that work for us! On that note though, posting outwardly unhealthy things is not appreciated. 

 

Personally, I try to eat about 80% healthy at least. I feel my best when I'm eating mostly raw food (usually until 4 pm). I'll share more in later posts and leave this for mainly tips & the like.

 

Unhealthy food examples:

 

Spoiler

  

              Grape float ice cream cone  & Perogy Pizza

 

Healthy Eating picture examples:

 

Spoiler

 

Roasted cauliflower, zucchini and potatoes

 quinoa, steamed veggies and cucumber with homemade tzatziki

pan seared scallops with cauliflower puree

 

chia seed pudding with strawberries, banana and slivered almonds

 

Tips:

 

- Drink water! Staying hydrated is important. If you find this difficult, try carrying around a water bottle and put cut cucumber, strawberry or lemon inside to give it a kick!

 

- Eat veggies! Try to have some vegetables/greens at every meal! 

 

- Eat Breakfast! If you eat breakfast it helps regulate your eating throughout the day! (This can be tough because if you don't normally eat breakfast it might make you feel unwell at first. Try to form a habit of it.)

 

- Meal prep, this isn't popular with everybody but some people swear by it!

 

- Portion control can be important! It's okay to eat a little but sometimes not a lot!

 

- Have a cheat day/cheat meal. Don't completely cut yourself off from the things you love!

 

- Log your foods (you can post that here!) it helps keep you accountable!

 

- Eat at regular times! It helps your body tell you when it's hungry and when you're just snacking because you're bored or emotional!

 

- Don't starve yourself! It's important to eat! If you don't eat your body can't function! It is so so important to fuel your body with goodness!

 

 

 

** This is a really good place to post if you are planning on taking part in the Biggest Loser contest but all people are totally welcome   **

Edited by Padme, 26 April 2015 - 10:02 PM.

[Outsider]

Those potatoes      

[Shannon]

Dat sneaky Canadian flag at the end

Yayayay so glad this is up! Thanks for doing this!

Guess I'll start. Didn't get to eat much today but I did make homemade, broiled chicken wings for dinner. Love finding healthier versions of my guilty pleasure foods. Had some celery sticks and low fat bleu cheese dressing along with it. Planning to eat all 3 meals tomorrow so I'll be sure to take pictures.

[Prisca]

Transitioning from a relatively unhealthy diet to a healthy one can be overwhelming. I LOVE food! (I have had two 'food' themed parties in my life lol). I love all things salty, fatty, and sugary! It has been a huge battle for me to try and maintain a balanced diet as it meant cutting out some of the things that i love (like brownies). Having struggled so much to find something that consistently works for me, the best motivator in my food journey have been- 

 

- setting achievable goals

- allowing myself time to take things slow

- rewards

 

Let me elaborate a tiny bit on my experience with these things...

 

Setting Achievable Goals-

For me, eating salads each day was not an achievable goal. I simple dislike salad. Instead i would just eat the french fries and get mad at myself later for it lol. I recently changed my goal to- eat 2 servings of greens and other fruits and vegetables throughout the day. Since i don't like 'greens' i mix them (spinach) into my fruit smoothies, and eat cooked veggies with dinner. The outcome may not be perfection, but i can be proud that my body is still getting that gross greeny goodness that it needs, and i don't feel a lot of pressure to add anything super new to my existing routine (now i just try to eat my burger without fries )

 

Take it Slow-

The first thing i did when i decided to take healthy eating seriously was write a log (I used 'myfitnesspal' on the iphone at first, now i use a pencil and paper lol). I logged the things that i ate and was quickly able to see how horrible my daily food intake was. After going through a season of beating up on myself over my poor food choices and placing the app into a nice 'rejects' folder on my phone, i decided to try again with a different strategy. Now, i go through my day, looking at my goals and continuing to log my food. At first, i was not even close to making my food log look awesome and healthy lol, but each day i was able to work just a little bit harder, identify my areas of strength and weakness and making small adjustments to eat better and stay comfortable, without changing everything all at once. 

It would have looked something like this (for example)-

Breakfast- Cheerios with whole milk

Breakfast- Cheerios with 2% milk

Breakfast- Granola (cinnamon and apple) with 2% milk

Breakfast- Granola (cinnamon and apple) with yogurt

^^ I would use up the whole milk, then replace it with 2% milk at my next purchase etc... the whole process took between a couple of weeks and a month.

 

Rewards-

I am all about treats and rewards. A reward for me used to be- eat a salad, you get 3 chocolate bars lol. I like rewards, so find them very easy to delegate. My problem was, the ratio of 1:3 kind of undid anything healthy i was accomplishing. Rather than just eliminate 2 of my chocolate bars (because then i just don't feel as though 1 chocolate bar is a good enough reward lol), i took the process gradually. I would include my treats into the log and aim to reduce the treat count slowly so that i still felt rewarded, but wasn't out of control. As time went by (over the period of a couple of months) i found it easier to avoid the candy isle of the grocery store, or to at least buy less from it. My personal recommendation is- take it slow. Sugar cravings are real and you don't have to 'cold turkey' it to achieve your health goals. This is all based on rewards that are junk food. Obviously you should use whichever reward system works for you. I now reward myself

 

Anywhooooo.. I just wanted to share a little bit of my own journey here, since it is a healthy eating thread and all. I hope some of you can relate. I am still on my journey, and am yet to reach my 'big goal' (y'know, perfection), but i am pretty happy with how things are coming along. My diet is perfect and my advice is personal, so take it with a grain of salt.

[jinq]

Reduce saturated fats, eliminate unnatural trans fats, reduce sugar and sodium intake.

 

Also, fasting when you don't need to use a lot of energy.

[Unmata]

In the summer I blend frozen fruit in the food processor with a splash of kefir or a heaping spoon of greek yogurt. Instant frozen yogurt that I can feel good about giving as a treat to my toddler because theres no sugar or dyes or artificial crap. 

[shrouded]

I just ate a banana, a kiwi, four strawberries, and an egg. Good morning friends

 

5 crackers + 1 slice of havarti cheese <3 @Padme

 

One Oreo :|

 

Baked salmon with lemon, pepper, and garlic with kale/spinach greens with avocado, tomato, and chard. Sorry my camera sucks.

 

Spoiler

Edited by rwmurrayVT, 28 April 2015 - 05:00 PM.

[Trichomes]

For breakfast, I had a slice of light whole grain toast topped with (~1/4) avocado and a fried egg.

[Swar]

I'm gonna try some kale chips later, I'll tell how it goes.

[NapisaurusRex]

For breakfast, I had a slice of light whole grain toast topped with (~1/4) avocado and a fried egg.

This is what I'm going to eat for lunch, only with GF bread.

[shrouded]

I'm gonna try some kale chips later, I'll tell how it goes.

 

How much kale have you eaten before? Raw kale has a very interesting crunch to it that I enjoy. The chips are usually pleasant, but it depends entirely on the seasoning. 

[majestictuna]

Yogurt and granola.

Makes me so happy.

[Shannon]

So, yesterday's meals:

2 fried eggs over a bed of quinoa, topped with half an avocado and some sriracha.

Homemade chicken wings - broiled, not fried - and a bunch of celery.


So far, today:

Sandwich on sourdough with mozzarella, San Marzano tomatoes (SO FRESH), baby spinach, sliced ham, and balsamic vinegar reduction.

Planning on chicken enchiladas for dinner with corn tortillas, verde sauce, a little bit of cheese, and some bell peppers.

[Swar]

How much kale have you eaten before? Raw kale has a very interesting crunch to it that I enjoy. The chips are usually pleasant, but it depends entirely on the seasoning.

I usually eat braised kale. This time we're gonna use only salt as seasoning, but we might try different stuff next time.

[shrouded]

I usually eat braised kale. This time we're gonna use only salt as seasoning, but we might try different stuff next time.

 

That should be good. There are a few good recipes out there I'm just editing my first post with what I've eaten for that day. 

[majestictuna]

Chipotle Lime Grilled Shrimp Salad for dinner tonight. Crossing my fingers I don't overcook the shrimp, I usually leave the cooking to the man of the house cause he's a food whore.

[Padme]

Damn everyones food looks so good!

 

@Swarley I've made kale chips lots they're soooo good! I also like spinach chips little olive oil and some salt & cracked black pepper is my fave. So basic but delicious 

 

 

Just eating a cup of pasta with a chopped tomato on top atm

[Trichomes]

I wish I liked kale, but I just can't get over the texture on my tongue. I hate it raw, it's not much better cooked, and kale chips are alright, but nothing special. It's got to be the texture that I don't like because I love spinach, chard, collards, and pretty much all other leafy greens.

[Padme]

I wish I liked kale, but I just can't get over the texture on my tongue. I hate it raw, it's not much better cooked, and kale chips are alright, but nothing special. It's got to be the texture that I don't like because I love spinach, chard, collards, and pretty much all other leafy greens.

 

I have to get into a routine of eating them. After I eat them regularly for weeks I get used to it. It certainly isn't my favourite but i do like the chips. I prefer arugula raw

[Shannon]

I have to get into a routine of eating them. After I eat them regularly for weeks I get used to it. It certainly isn't my favourite but i do like the chips. I prefer arugula raw

Looove arugula. It has such a nice bite to it. Tastes great with just about any Italian food. <3

[Shane]

Thinly sliced carrots. I am in love.

[shrouded]

Day 2:

 

Lend an ear to public radio with an toast, egg, strawberries, banana, kiwi, and cantaloupe. In the background you can see bae's favorite syrup.

 

Peanut butter and jam sandwich on multigrain bread with a banana. 

 

Kale/spinach salad with havarti cheese and tomato. 

 

Annie's honey graham cracker rabbits

 

Spoiler

Edited by rwmurrayVT, 29 April 2015 - 04:53 PM.

[pancakeface]

For breakfast, I had a slice of light whole grain toast topped with (~1/4) avocado and a fried egg.

 

My all time favorite breakfast.

 

 

Day 2:

 

Lend an ear to public radio with an toast, egg, strawberries, banana, kiwi, and cantaloupe. In the background you can see bae's favorite syrup.

 

Spoiler

GASP. You don't peel your kiwi?

[shrouded]

My all time favorite breakfast.

 

 

GASP. You don't peel your kiwi?

 

No... I usually eat half the skin too. 

[Trichomes]

I have to get into a routine of eating them. After I eat them regularly for weeks I get used to it. It certainly isn't my favourite but i do like the chips. I prefer arugula raw

 

Mmm I like arugula too, especially with balsamic vinegar, either in salads or sandwiches.

 

My all time favorite breakfast.

 

It was pretty satisfying! I don't like runny egg yolks, though, so mine was a little dry/bland. Next time I'll probably add a bit of cheese or sriracha or something.