4 ms·

its exhausting to do that. Im switching my diet up a little to bit to reduce cholesterol and some liver enzyme thing lately and Im starting to get tired of thin

by tayo42 4y ago

its exhausting to do that. Im switching my diet up a little to bit to reduce cholesterol and some liver enzyme thing lately and Im starting to get tired of thinking so much before every meal and shopping trip. wish it was easier to not fall in to unhealthy traps. so many labels, and so much meal planning.

micromacrofoot 4y ago
What worked for me was starting simply. I started with one meal that I got really good at making, and then introduced another (and when I make it I make plenty extra to cover later laziness). I know roughly how many calories it is, so I barely have to think about anymore.
- wccrawford 4y ago
  >I know roughly how many calories it is, so I barely have to think about anymore. This is key for me. My wife loves variety and so she struggles with counting calories. I prefer simple and known-to-be-delicious, and so I know about how much each of my meals is going to affect me. I came to hate calorie counting pretty quickly, and with that I came to hate eating out, because it's the hardest to count. And I'm not yet convinced that I've ever actually counted enough calories for any meal when eating out. There's so much self-deception involved, both my own and the people who are supposedly reporting the calories, both officially and unofficially.
  - pbhjpbhj 4y ago
    >My wife loves variety and so she struggles with counting calories. // I can't be bothered with all that, intermediate fasting (ie having a limited window of time in which you allow yourself to eat) seems to be a great workaround that leads to calorie restriction with less of the fuss.
wswope 4y ago
IME, the trick to healthy long-term eating is to mix and match from a common palette of healthy foods/meals you enjoy. After a few months, you’ll know the macros in everything without having to check labels, and the shopping/meal prep becomes easy because you know the right ratios of the things you buy and you’ve cooked them many times before. If a reframing might help, consider it an investment in yourself that pays off for life.
jeffrallen 4y ago
If you have had the luxury to learn to cook with simple ingredients, you'd not need to read labels. Here's a shopping list for three meals, see if you can guess what they are? 1 kg apples, 1 kg other fruit in season, White unsweetened yogurt, Unsweetened granola, Garlic, 1 can diced tomato (no salt, no sweetener, just tomatoes), 1 onion, Olive oil, 150 gr dry pasta (bonus points for "integral pasta" -- don't know the translation, "pasta integrale" in Italian), Baby spinach leaves, Cherry tomatoes, Risotto rice, White wine, Broth in powder, Butter Buon appetito.
- jrootabega 4y ago
  Meal 1: 1/2 cup of pasta with vegetables, 8 oz. of white wine Meal 2: Half of the white wine Meal 3: Everything else, other half of the white wine
  - jeffrallen 4y ago
    I'm coming over to your house! Party on, dude!
- meristem 4y ago
  Integrale = whole-grain
- tayo42 4y ago
  I think Id be way under my daily protein needs with this. I think the butter and pasta need to be avoided. Saturated fats and the carbs.
  - jeffrallen 4y ago
    The last step of cooking risotto is to add an acorn sized bit of butter. It helps the gloss and texture. Good (for you) food needs to be good for your eyes and tongue too! For protein, tomorrow buy a can of chickpeas, one of tomatoes, some spices and some basmati and make "chana masala".
- jodrellblank 4y ago
hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
I've hit this before as well, and have come to the conclusion that, at least for me, detailed meal planning is not sustainable in the long run. This is one reason why I think that dieting advice that is simple and straightforward has the most success. Some examples: 1. Cut out all sugar-sweetened beverages. This is a pretty easy rule to follow, and even if you find yourself missing a soda or something, my recommendation is to buy something like unsweetened iced tea and then add a couple sugar cubes - you'll be likely to add much less sugar than if you buy sweetened tea. 2. Cut out any refined carbohydrates. This was certainly harder for me, but since the rule is so simple and easy to follow, whenever I got hungry for carbs I had to make due with fruits or vegetables, so I ended up eating a lot fewer calories in any case, got more of other nutrients, and eventually just got "bored" with trying to find a snack and stopped eating until my next mealtime.
- tayo42 4y ago
  carbs is actually where im struggling the most. I defaulted to just making sides of white rice with everything for so long. I at least switched to brown rice, quinoa and couscous to make it a little easier but learning new sides to go with proteins is tedious. I struggle with feeling full too.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
    This is just what worked for me, but if you're struggling with feeling full, don't cut out starchy vegetables: potatoes, sweet potatoes, and legumes (things like lentils, black or pinto beans, butter beans, peas, etc.) satisfied my carb cravings, and I found I was still eating fewer calories because those carbs are much less "snackable", and they have a ton more fiber. That is, it's trivially easy to snack on chips, pretzels, cereal or bread, but I'm not just going to grab a sweet potato and start chomping.
- speedyapoc 4y ago
  With respect to #1, I'd like to make a shameless plug for "Zevia". As someone that would drink 1-2 cans of soda per day, this has been a game changer.

by tayo42 4y ago

micromacrofoot 4y ago

What worked for me was starting simply. I started with one meal that I got really good at making, and then introduced another (and when I make it I make plenty extra to cover later laziness). I know roughly how many calories it is, so I barely have to think about anymore.

wccrawford 4y ago
>I know roughly how many calories it is, so I barely have to think about anymore. This is key for me. My wife loves variety and so she struggles with counting calories. I prefer simple and known-to-be-delicious, and so I know about how much each of my meals is going to affect me. I came to hate calorie counting pretty quickly, and with that I came to hate eating out, because it's the hardest to count. And I'm not yet convinced that I've ever actually counted enough calories for any meal when eating out. There's so much self-deception involved, both my own and the people who are supposedly reporting the calories, both officially and unofficially.
- pbhjpbhj 4y ago
  >My wife loves variety and so she struggles with counting calories. // I can't be bothered with all that, intermediate fasting (ie having a limited window of time in which you allow yourself to eat) seems to be a great workaround that leads to calorie restriction with less of the fuss.

wswope 4y ago

IME, the trick to healthy long-term eating is to mix and match from a common palette of healthy foods/meals you enjoy. After a few months, you’ll know the macros in everything without having to check labels, and the shopping/meal prep becomes easy because you know the right ratios of the things you buy and you’ve cooked them many times before. If a reframing might help, consider it an investment in yourself that pays off for life.

jeffrallen 4y ago

If you have had the luxury to learn to cook with simple ingredients, you'd not need to read labels. Here's a shopping list for three meals, see if you can guess what they are? 1 kg apples, 1 kg other fruit in season, White unsweetened yogurt, Unsweetened granola, Garlic, 1 can diced tomato (no salt, no sweetener, just tomatoes), 1 onion, Olive oil, 150 gr dry pasta (bonus points for "integral pasta" -- don't know the translation, "pasta integrale" in Italian), Baby spinach leaves, Cherry tomatoes, Risotto rice, White wine, Broth in powder, Butter Buon appetito.

jrootabega 4y ago
Meal 1: 1/2 cup of pasta with vegetables, 8 oz. of white wine Meal 2: Half of the white wine Meal 3: Everything else, other half of the white wine
- jeffrallen 4y ago
  I'm coming over to your house! Party on, dude!
meristem 4y ago
Integrale = whole-grain
tayo42 4y ago
I think Id be way under my daily protein needs with this. I think the butter and pasta need to be avoided. Saturated fats and the carbs.
- jeffrallen 4y ago
  The last step of cooking risotto is to add an acorn sized bit of butter. It helps the gloss and texture. Good (for you) food needs to be good for your eyes and tongue too! For protein, tomorrow buy a can of chickpeas, one of tomatoes, some spices and some basmati and make "chana masala".
jodrellblank 4y ago

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago

I've hit this before as well, and have come to the conclusion that, at least for me, detailed meal planning is not sustainable in the long run. This is one reason why I think that dieting advice that is simple and straightforward has the most success. Some examples: 1. Cut out all sugar-sweetened beverages. This is a pretty easy rule to follow, and even if you find yourself missing a soda or something, my recommendation is to buy something like unsweetened iced tea and then add a couple sugar cubes - you'll be likely to add much less sugar than if you buy sweetened tea. 2. Cut out any refined carbohydrates. This was certainly harder for me, but since the rule is so simple and easy to follow, whenever I got hungry for carbs I had to make due with fruits or vegetables, so I ended up eating a lot fewer calories in any case, got more of other nutrients, and eventually just got "bored" with trying to find a snack and stopped eating until my next mealtime.

tayo42 4y ago
carbs is actually where im struggling the most. I defaulted to just making sides of white rice with everything for so long. I at least switched to brown rice, quinoa and couscous to make it a little easier but learning new sides to go with proteins is tedious. I struggle with feeling full too.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
  This is just what worked for me, but if you're struggling with feeling full, don't cut out starchy vegetables: potatoes, sweet potatoes, and legumes (things like lentils, black or pinto beans, butter beans, peas, etc.) satisfied my carb cravings, and I found I was still eating fewer calories because those carbs are much less "snackable", and they have a ton more fiber. That is, it's trivially easy to snack on chips, pretzels, cereal or bread, but I'm not just going to grab a sweet potato and start chomping.
speedyapoc 4y ago
With respect to #1, I'd like to make a shameless plug for "Zevia". As someone that would drink 1-2 cans of soda per day, this has been a game changer.