Rate my diet!

Glowing

Hi there,

I'm just back from a trip to South America, and after 2 months of gorging 400gm steaks, its about time I got my diet-act together! I find it easier not to snack when I have a food-routine (if you know what I mean!), and I'd appreciate if you could advise me if I'm missing anything major. I wouldn't mind loosing a pound or two either, but I'm not looking for a massive amount of weight loss, just really to stay healthy.

Okay - here goes:

Breakfast - Homemade museuli - oats/barley/dried fruit/sunflower and pumkin seeds. Alternate with Soy and Low fat dairy milk. Green tea.

11am - Apple

Lunch time - Wholegrain sandwich with scraping of low fat mayonaise, alfalfa, turkey or ham, tomato, and sometimes cheese.
Green tea.

3pm - Banana

Dinner - Brown pasta, brown rice, or potatoes, with veg stirfry, or boglenaise (how the hell do you spell that), or panfried salmon, etc ... nothing too unhealthy here I think.

The weekends I usually eat a bit more and allow myself a meal out or eggs on toast for breakfast etc. During the week, there might be the odd biscuit or chocolate - or my weakness, Tesco Creme Caramels.

I'm most concerned with breakfast, I've heard Museuli can be fattening? Or does that only go for the Kellogs-suger is the second ingredient-stuff?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

EileenG

Don't be so afraid of eggs and fat in general. I'd say you'd be a lot better off having a couple of eggs for breakfast than your muesli which, yes, can be extremely fattening. High carb, often high fat too, and way more calories than most people realise. Try weighing your average portion, I bet you'll get a shock.

Overall, I suspect you need more protein and definitely more fat in your diet. Processed fats are the evil ones, saturated fats that you get in eggs and red meat will raise your testosterone levels, boost your immune system and strenghten your bones.

rubadub

This is 35g of museli, I think most "portions" on packs are quoted as 40g.

I used to eat up to 1000kcal in a single bowl of museli.

Glowing

Thanks for the reply and advice Eileen.

Whats the easiest way to boost your protein intake? (don't say tuna for breakfast!) I can't really have eggs for breakfast, but I do eat the odd omlette during the week.

Where is the fat in homemade muesli? Is it the oats or barley or seeds?

Glowing

rubadub wrote: »

This is 35g of museli, I think most "portions" on packs are quoted as 40g.

I used to eat up to 1000kcal in a single bowl of museli.

Either thats a huge bowl, or I can be prepared to starve every morning!

Khannie

EileenG wrote: »

saturated fats that you get in eggs and red meat will raise your testosterone levels, boost your immune system and strenghten your bones.

Never knew that saturated fats had benefits. That's my "one thing" for today.

OP: Your diet looks.....OK to me. I'd add more protein alright. Maybe make those in between meal snacks more of a mini-meal.

If you're trying to lose weight, porridge is a good substitute for museli IMO. If I'm not trying to lose weight I'll go with museli for breakfast (delicious and nutritious. Healthy fats. Proteins. etc.). If I am trying to lose weight, porridge.

Like some others, I'd add whey to my porridge to up its protein content / balance out the carbs, but it's not essential by any means.

Khannie

Glowing wrote: »

Whats the easiest way to boost your protein intake? (don't say tuna for breakfast!) I can't really have eggs for breakfast, but I do eat the odd omlette during the week.

I use whey. I used to eat a lot of chicken but got sick of it. I add whey to lots of stuff now (porridge, pancakes, shakes on their own, etc.). Chicken and Tuna are easy ways to increase your protein intake too.

Egg whites are loaded with protein. If you're making an omellete make it with two whole eggs and two egg whites. That kind of thing.

Glowing wrote: »

Where is the fat in homemade muesli? Is it the oats or barley or seeds?

Seeds.

No harm in having some fats from seeds. Quite the opposite. It's really very good for you. You just need to be aware of portion sizes (electronic scales are great for this). I allow 60g for a portion of museli at a minimum though. Rubadubs pic really brings it home.

cozmik

rubadub wrote: »

I used to eat up to 1000kcal in a single bowl of museli.

That's roughly 300g of muesli! you must have been aware you were having more than a serving.


btw cottage chesse is another good source of protein.

cozmik

Khannie wrote: »

I allow 60g for a portion of museli at a minimum though. Rubadubs pic really brings it home.

60g is good

You have to remember that although it might not look like much in the bowl it is surprisingly filling.

jam_mac_jam

museli is not fattening if you dont eat too much, weigh out your portion size and see if it is too much about 50g is what I would eat. It is very filling so may stop you eating later. Seeds are very good for you and I dont really see why fat from seeds is bad while those from red meat is goodi dont know where people are getting this information from. You also need fibre in your diet so not all carbs are the evil.

I would try and eat porridge instead or alternative days, its much better for you and will fill you up for the whole day. You also dont seem to eating a lot of veg, I would increase the amount you are having for lunch, a salad maybe instead of or with the sandwich.

"red meat will raise your testosterone levels", what???? Red meat will also raise what is sticking to your colon. Eat lean meats, eggs and fish, I dont know where the logic of eating red meat all the time is good for you has come from.

Glowing

Thanks Jam_mac_jam (great name)

I eat a lot of veg with my dinner - usually 3 different sorts. I will go with the porridge option though on alternate days, sounds like a good happy medium.

Are there any specific advantages to using Soy milk/rice milk rather than milk milk? I had a feeling I was drinking too much milk which is why I introduced the Soy (milk with dinner, the odd latte, and I flood my breakie with milk)

Thanks

EileenG

Depending on the muesli, some of it may have been roasted in oil. Granola always has added oils. The fats from any nuts or seeds are good for you, don't worry abou them.

Cottage cheese, or low fat cream cheese are both good protein sources. I add them to sugar-free jelly for a high protein dessert (blend the cottage cheese first with a little water until it's smooth).

They did a study where they fed older people diets with the same cals, but one had high sat fats/cholesterol and the other was low, then made them do weight training for three months. At the end of the study, the high sat fat group had made far more muscle and strength gains than the other group. And their blood was still fine.

I'm not a fan of soy milk. A study in New York found that three portions of soy a week reduced sperm counts by 40%.

Glowing

My muesli is homemade - I just mix porridge oats, with bran, and barley. And those seeds and some dried fruit. It is quite heavy however, and when I weighed 60gms of it, I was quite surprised!!! I must have been eating 2 or 3 times that easily!! :eek: - anyway, it was because of the sugar content of most shop bought muesli's that I decided to make mine.

I love cottage cheese!

Surprised to hear about the Soy milk, it is always marketed as a better option than dairy - just as well I'm a girl then eh?

g'em

Glowing wrote: »

Surprised to hear about the Soy milk, it is always marketed as a better option than dairy - just as well I'm a girl then eh?

Real soy (soy beans or foods with unrefined soy like miso and tempeh) has a number of benefits for women thanks to soy protein and its isoflavones. But the soy products we see on the shelves are often so highly processed that they've lost much of their nutritional benefits; akin to white bread having lost a lot of its goodness from being so highly refined.

jam_mac_jam

EileenG wrote: »

Depending on the muesli, some of it may have been roasted in oil. Granola always has added oils. The fats from any nuts or seeds are good for you, don't worry abou them.

Cottage cheese, or low fat cream cheese are both good protein sources. I add them to sugar-free jelly for a high protein dessert (blend the cottage cheese first with a little water until it's smooth).

They did a study where they fed older people diets with the same cals, but one had high sat fats/cholesterol and the other was low, then made them do weight training for three months. At the end of the study, the high sat fat group had made far more muscle and strength gains than the other group. And their blood was still fine.

I'm not a fan of soy milk. A study in New York found that three portions of soy a week reduced sperm counts by 40%.

Do you mind asking where you are getting this information? I find these "studies" a little hard to believe esp. about soy milk. Strange that there are so many Japanese people really if soy has such an effect, 40% that sounds huge.

Anyway you can find studies for food that will back up either side of an arguement I would be a bit slow to base my diet on one study where you dont know what vested interests carried it out.

GusSmith

Sounds like a great diet to me

Best of Luck:o

Khannie

Glowing wrote: »

when I weighed 60gms of it, I was quite surprised!!!

Did you use an electronic scales? Just out of interest.

Glowing wrote:

it was because of the sugar content of most shop bought muesli's that I decided to make mine.

Been making my own recently. A lot of the sugar in store bought ones comes from the added fruit though (which is fine because it's released fairly slowly). I don't have any to hand, but I think Hi-8 has 20% odd sugar, but this is all from fruit and I'd consider it a really good museli.

Glowing wrote:

Surprised to hear about the Soy milk, it is always marketed as a better option than dairy - just as well I'm a girl then eh?

I lol'd.

EileenG

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

Do you mind asking where you are getting this information? I find these "studies" a little hard to believe esp. about soy milk. Strange that there are so many Japanese people really if soy has such an effect, 40% that sounds huge.

Anyway you can find studies for food that will back up either side of an arguement I would be a bit slow to base my diet on one study where you dont know what vested interests carried it out.

The fat/cholesterol one was conducted at the Texas University college of medicine.

The soy one was done in New York, on businessmen. I don't know so much of the details on that one, but I've heard of other studies which show that soy is not that good. The Japanese eat soy as edamame, or miso, not soy milk or other fake foods.

Glowing

Khannie wrote: »

Did you use an electronic scales? Just out of interest.

Yes!