Tips for Healthy eating please (veggies, pounds, recipes, exercise)

[DressageGirl]

Please post your tips for healthy eating. I really need to get back onto the band wagon after gaining a few pounds over the holidays. These are my issues:

1. I don't like to cook but I don't like to eat processed foods either. Any good and quick recipe sites? I am a member of allrecipes but still end up searching for the same old same old.

2. How do you handle cravings? for me it is typically at night after I have finally settled down to relax.

3. I also want to try eating every 2 hours, like more snacking vs 3 large meals. Any easy ideas for snacking? I tell you what, the people I know that are the skinniest are grazers. They seem to be eating all time vs me who can really put down a large meal but then go hours without eating.

Please feel free to post any other of your favorite tips not for dieting but for making permenant lifestyle changes.

[heavyweight]

Originally Posted by DressageGirl

1. I don't like to cook but I don't like to eat processed foods either. Any good and quick recipe sites? I am a member of allrecipes but still end up searching for the same old same old.

Try Men's Health & other fitness mags. Use the online versions so you don't have to subscribe. Most men like quick easy recipies, and the ones they provide are healthy. Has a shopping list feature also.

Originally Posted by DressageGirl

2. How do you handle cravings? for me it is typically at night after I have finally settled down to relax.

Hot tea, since you've already settled to relax. Make sure you are drinking enough water, about 1 ounce for every 2 pounds you're carrying. If you're eating 3 larger meals a day of course you'll have cravings. Which brings us to your 3rd question.

Originally Posted by DressageGirl

3. I also want to try eating every 2 hours, like more snacking vs 3 large meals. Any easy ideas for snacking? I tell you what, the people I know that are the skinniest are grazers. They seem to be eating all time vs me who can really put down a large meal but then go hours without eating.

Maybe you've already done a bit of research beyond observing people you know, but most fitness mags tout the benefits of eating every 2-3 hours.
Anything available in handfuls is "easy":
fruits (blueberries, grapes, cherries, bananas, an apple...you get the idea)
uncooked nuts - (cooked zaps nutrients & generally involves sodium, sodium retains water)
dried fruits (apricots, dates, etc)
yogurt (watch the sugar)
pre-packaged veggies (carrots, pea pods)
take any meal you'd normally eat and break it into 2 smaller portions (hell, eat half a peanut butter sandwich at 10am and the other half at noon)

Don't overthink it. A lot of this is common sense, right? Once you develop the habits they become 2nd nature. Takes about a month to develop a habit. Doesn't have to be expensive. Buy what's on sale. Good Luck! Let us know how it goes.

[Epularis]

The one thing I did in 2009 to change my entire eating lifestyle was to buy a rice cooker actually. I hated brown rice and got turned onto just getting a cooker that had a brown rice mode for easiness. The flavor is actually totally different which made it easier to eat, but the fact that it only took me 2 minutes versus an hour or more for all the cooking and cleaning was what made it easy for me to prepare most of my own meals which allowed me to be consistent on my diet. Check out www.brownricecookersite.com because not all rice cookers can also cook brown rice.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by DressageGirl

Please post your tips for healthy eating. I really need to get back onto the band wagon after gaining a few pounds over the holidays. These are my issues:

1. I don't like to cook but I don't like to eat processed foods either. Any good and quick recipe sites? I am a member of allrecipes but still end up searching for the same old same old.

Try cookinglight.com instead.

2. How do you handle cravings? for me it is typically at night after I have finally settled down to relax.

If you are an evening snacker it may be easier for you to change what you snack on rather than trying to stop snacking altogether, at least in the short term. Get some baby carrots and some grape tomatoes and snack on those instead, but do not dip them in ranch or sour cream! Or you could grab an apple, an orange, or a cup of diced fruit like cantaloupe (which always makes me feel full) or pineapple.

3. I also want to try eating every 2 hours, like more snacking vs 3 large meals. Any easy ideas for snacking? I tell you what, the people I know that are the skinniest are grazers. They seem to be eating all time vs me who can really put down a large meal but then go hours without eating.

Please feel free to post any other of your favorite tips not for dieting but for making permenant lifestyle changes.

Personally...I do not put myself on a feeding schedule. I eat when hungry. Being hungry is your body's cue saying "feed me." Eating when you're not hungry is, in my mind, asinine. Some people say that grazing all day long keeps your metabolism "revved." So does moving around, so does exercise, so does more lean muscle mass. There is no hard and fast rule saying you must eat all day long, or eat every X number of hours. Find what works for you and follow that. I lost 120+ lbs with no surgery and I do not eat all day long. I have a cup of coffee at 6:30, breakfast at work at 8-8:30, a light snack of dried fruit or a small portion of nuts if I'm hungry between breakfast and lunch, lunch is usually between 12 and 1, and dinner is usually at 7 with a light snack when I get home from work...if I'm hungry, which I am not always! During the week dinner is usually my biggest meal of the day.

[Renaldo5000]

1. Eat healthy natural food. If it is a fruit, vegetable, nut, grain, or lean meat then it is a go. When you have hunger pangs eat a high-fat but healthy snack (avocados, nuts, etc..). If it comes from nature then eat it.

2. Do not eat garbage. If it has sugar, hydrogenated oils, comes in a box, etc.. it is crap. Stop drinking all sugared drinks. That stuff is poison. If man made it then don't eat it.

3. Move every day. Walk for at least 30 minutes.


Pretty simple stuff folks.