Am I fooling myself that this is a good diet???

mectavba

OK, im a 24 y/o male, working 9-5 job. I play GAA and go to the gym regular enough too.

During the week:

Breakfast- Either a bowl of cornflakes and milk or scrambled egg, some smoked salmon and 2 small hashbrowns.
Mid morning- Coffee
Lunch- I bring a lunchbox of a meal i have cooked the night before, either pasta with tuna in a tomato sauce with a combo of some of the following: courgette, onion, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn, aubergine or else I will do a stir fry chicken or beef with similar veg to above and basmati rice.
Dinner time (usually after 7)- I get a wrap and then make up a salad of tuna, light mayo, sweetcorn, pepper, scallion, gerkin, beetroot, tomato and usually put some pesto in too.

Throughout the day I would have a 2 cups of tea (have a choc biscuit with one usually), I also drink plenty of water...have a 750 ml bottle on my desk that gets filled up regularly. Weekends, I never really pig out or anything but might treat myself to a pizza the odd time. Not drinking alcohol for January, but usually would have good few on a fri or a sat, then maybe just a couple on the other.

Also, plan on starting to take a protein supplement in the next couple of weeks...once on the morning and once after training.

Any tips on how I could improve or anything glaringly bad?

Stella777

Overall looks quite good to me.

Maybe you could replace the cornflakes with something like porridge, which is more nutritious.

Sounds like you could do with a few more fresh, green, leafy vegetables as well as some fresh fruit.

Smoked salmon is not something I would have every day because of the nitrates. Most smoked foods contain them and they are not good. It also has lots of extra sodium.

in fact, the only thing that stands out to me is that you might be getting too much sodium in general. Gherkins, canned tuna, jarred petso, canned or packaged beetroot and pizza etc.. usually are full of it.

I wouldn't get in the habit of binge drinking every weekend if I were you. (not 100% sure what you mean by "a good few.")

corkcomp

yeah the diet is alright, not great. if you are physically active it is ok(ish). swap to porridge and fruit for breakfast and swap the wrap in the evening for meat or fish and lots of veg like brocolli, cabbage, carrots, turnip, etc

metamorphosis

I would echo what corkcomp said. If you are active the diet is just okish. Swap the cornflakes for plain shredded wheat/weetabix or porridge or unsweetended muesli. All kellogg/nestle cereals are rubbish. There is more salt in a RDA bowl of cornflakes than a packet of walkers ready salted crisps.

Wrap again is just plain white flour - rubbish. If you must have a wrap/ bread type meal then maybe swap it out for its fiberous counterpart like wholemeal.

Its much better than most peoples diets but if ya want to improve , ditch the cereal and white flour.

mloc

mectavba wrote: »

OK, im a 24 y/o male, working 9-5 job. I play GAA and go to the gym regular enough too.

Are you looking to alter your weight? How serious are you about your sport?

mectavba

Thanks a million for the replies...

Just re the above poster...IM not trying to make any massive changes to my weight...still feeling the effects of indulging over xmas but that will sort itself out after a few weeks training. Im just looking for a healthy diet to maintain myself during the year.

I note what people are saying re cornflakes, really is just a convenience factor ( i know its a bad excuse). I really cant stomach porridge...might try the muesli or weetabix. I prefer having a couple of eggs for breakfast (depends if i get up early enough though!) i know the hash browns arent good and i wouldnt have the smoked salmon that often really. Was thiking of just having the eggs with wholegrain brown bread toast, but is it a good idea to have eggs everyday at breakfast?

I thought the wraps were actually healthy enough..but im going to try have more of a fish/meat and veg/salad combination at dinner time.

Another thing I eat when i get around to preparing it is cous cous with roasted veg...any views on the nutrition value of cous cous (or lack of?)

Thanks

Stella777

couscous is really just very small pasta. Its ingredients and nutritional values are quite similar. It's not a whole grain, even though it kind of looks like it would be. You might be able to find couscous made with whole wheat, I'm not sure.

A better option would be quinoa or bulgar wheat. They cook up much the same way as couscous, are easy to make quickly and healthier.

Hazel2011

Hi
Try to keep away from white Bread helps, as it can give you a bloated tummy . Always try go for Brown whole grain carbs when you can.