Looking for diet advice please?

Wanderer2010

Hi people, I am looking to change my diet as currently it contains too many processed carbs (white bread, sugary drinks, chocolate and sausage rolls) and Im carrying about an extra 2 and a half stone in weight. I walk briskly about 5 times a week and cycle a few miles twice a week as well but my diet is my downfall, I think my body has become so used to the sugar and crap that I get very bad cravings after a day or two of trying to cut them out and I go back to square one!

I would like a bit of advice on how I could replace the carbs with healthier food which is also tasty. I have a simple taste but I do like lean meats like turkey and chicken, wraps, fruit smoothies, not great on vegetables and I find pasta a bit plain.

Any suggestions on new foods I could try, I am completely open to new things and I may even grow to like it, because at present my high carb diet is leaving me feeling very sluggish, fatty and depressed. Any advice would be grateful ta.:)

cabb8ge

Reduce the bread and cut out sausage roles, eat lot of the meat you like. Not like veg? Have to eat it to be good for you, lettuce not taste too bad, eat that, celery cold maybe and carrots. It seem to me you know what you need to do, no easy way

Stheno

What about protein?

Do you eat much eggs, cheese, milk, yoghurt? To top up the meat you take in?

Mr Simpson

Some people wont agree with me, but I've nearly completely cut out carbs, I take in abiut 20g of carbs a day, with about 150-200g of protein, I've lost about 2 stone, another 3 to go

Feelgood

MarkMc wrote: »

Some people wont agree with me, but I've nearly completely cut out carbs, I take in abiut 20g of carbs a day, with about 150-200g of protein, I've lost about 2 stone, another 3 to go

I've also done this recently and lost a lot of weight. Paleo type diets are very good but difficult to get started on particularly if you love your carbs.

Wanderer2010

Stheno wrote: »

What about protein?

Do you eat much eggs, cheese, milk, yoghurt? To top up the meat you take in?

Hi. Yes I do eat lots of cheese (usually in wraps or as a spread), milk in cereal and youghurt 3 times a week. My main weakness is the white carbs like bread and coke and crisps and choc. If i took them out my diet would mostly consist of lean meats like chicken and turkey, dairy like cheese and milk and unrefined carbs like brown bread or brown rice. When i tried to go cold turkey on the coke (1.5 litres a day!) I got terrible mood swings and headaches so Im more looking for what foods I could replace them with instead of just cutting them out and having no alternative!

Stench Blossoms

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Hi. Yes I do eat lots of cheese (usually in wraps or as a spread), milk in cereal and youghurt 3 times a week. My main weakness is the white carbs like bread and coke and crisps and choc. If i took them out my diet would mostly consist of lean meats like chicken and turkey, dairy like cheese and milk and unrefined carbs like brown bread or brown rice. When i tried to go cold turkey on the coke (1.5 litres a day!) I got terrible mood swings and headaches so Im more looking for what foods I could replace them with instead of just cutting them out and having no alternative!

Then stop eating them. Or reduce them.

Have you read the stickies?

Here's a good way to start.

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs and some rashers
Lunch: Homemade chicken salad
Dinner: steak/salmon/chicken/pork + carrots, broccoli, cauliflower
Snack: Greek yogurt or nuts.

Mr. CooL ICE

As someone else said, you know what you have to do but just have difficulty doing it. If you like raisins, I would recommend carrying around a packet or two. If you get a craving, eat a packet and there might be just enough sugar in them to satisfy your cravings.

This is the packet I'm talking about. You can get a bag of 18 mini raisin boxes for €3-4, but you really are paying for the packaging here. A normal size bag from the baking aisle is just as good and much cheaper, but not so convenient to carry around.

Glitter

You'll have to cut most of the stuff you mention out eventually to reach your goals but if you are looking for baby steps try the following:

Coke: Switch to diet coke (you'll still get the caffeine which might ease the cravings / headaches), or black coffee with no sugar. In time, if you still need a fizz-hit try putting a small dash of fresh lime juice in a pint glass with sparkling mineral water. Plain water is king though.

Chocolate: Switch to the 70%+ dark stuff. You can buy big bars of it in Aldi / Lidl that aren't too expensive. Try to cut back to 2 squares of this a day at first, instead of whatever you normally eat, then ease down to one. You can't as eat much dark chocolate in one sitting but it really satisfies the sugar cravings (I find).

Crisps: Somewhere on the paleo thread is a great recipe for kale crisps. Try making those for yourself.

The white bread just has to go, or be reserved for very, very special treats.
After a couple of months without it you will actually find it makes you feel revolting if you start eating it again in any kind of quantity.

Best of luck!