Tips on adding more fruit and veg to diet

Wanderer2010

Hi people, so first off I better say that I haven't had a single piece of fruit or veg for the past 10 months, and even before that was only in smoothie form. My diet basically consists of white bread sandwiches or just smeared with peanut buuter/cheese spread, crisps, burgers, sausage rolls, chocolate and pizza, plus a fried breakfast 3 times a week.

Typical daily diet would be white toast for breakfast, sausage and pudding mid morning, a white roll or wrap covered in mayo and chicken for lunch, snacks of chocolate, dinner is usually takeaway of chips and battered sausages or a curry/more white rolls. 90% of my liquid comes from Red Bull. I love the stuff, the odd time I will have cider, only a few cups of water during the week.

Needless to say my health isnt the best, my doctor said I have about 3 stone to shed and I also am showing signs of high blood pressure, I havent got my blood sugars checked im too scared! I want to start adding more fruit and veg to my diet in a phased way, say start with 2 bowls of soup etc a week and start from there.

Any ideas on ways to incorporate fruit and veg for my diet as snacks or meals? And what foods would be best to start with? Thank you.

Magenta

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Any ideas on ways to incorporate fruit and veg for my diet as snacks or meals? And what foods would be best to start with? Thank you.

I'm not being funny, but.... just buy some fruit and veg and start eating it every day? What's so hard about it? It literally is that simple. You don't need a page of instructions to eat an apple as a snack.

cson

JFDI

Slydice

Similar to what has been said. Buy loads of fruit and veg and fresh meat.

Don't buy peanut buuter/cheese spread, crisps, burgers, sausage rolls, chocolate and pizza.

If it ain't there... :-)

mickman

Actually nearly got sick when I read your diet

Day Lewin

Thumbs up to soup. Even a can of it, say chicken vegetable etc. just to get used to it.

Then learn to make soup (its easy really)

Also if you really can't face a lump of fruit, fruit salad is simple to make too.

Or get a vegetarian dish from your favourite Indian or Chinese takeaway.

FINALLY just buy the damn fruit and eat it - grapes are nice - instead of mid-morning snacks.
Cook the vegetables and drain well and add some tasty butter or garlic etc to make it pleasing to your palate.

You will feel a million times better within a week.

PS Don't forget to drink plenty of water to absorb the extra fibre.

Vomit

Packet of frozen veg from the supermarket - fill up a generous bowlful, 4mins in the microwave, a spoon of pasta sauce on top for flavour... there ya go. All your daily veg requirement in one meal and it all takes about 15mins from preparation to finished eating!

Plus, it will keep you feeling full for a while.

Mr. CooL ICE

mickman wrote: »

Actually nearly got sick when I read your diet

No you didn't

Funtrepreneur

Don't buy the rubbish food. If it's not there you cant eat it. Replace with healthier alternatives. Have a bad day once a week as reward for doing so well the rest of the week. But don't over do it. It's a lifestyle change you need. You will need will power.

GaGa21

Another easy change is to switch all your bread intake to wholemeal bread for added fibre. Also use low fat spread instead of butter and light mayonnaise-little things like this will be easier for you to do.

Alf Veedersane

GaGa21 wrote: »

Also use low fat spread instead of butter

Down with this sort of thing

Alf Veedersane

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Hi people, so first off I better say that I haven't had a single piece of fruit or veg for the past 10 months, and even before that was only in smoothie form. My diet basically consists of white bread sandwiches or just smeared with peanut buuter/cheese spread, crisps, burgers, sausage rolls, chocolate and pizza, plus a fried breakfast 3 times a week.

Typical daily diet would be white toast for breakfast, sausage and pudding mid morning, a white roll or wrap covered in mayo and chicken for lunch, snacks of chocolate, dinner is usually takeaway of chips and battered sausages or a curry/more white rolls. 90% of my liquid comes from Red Bull. I love the stuff, the odd time I will have cider, only a few cups of water during the week.

Needless to say my health isnt the best, my doctor said I have about 3 stone to shed and I also am showing signs of high blood pressure, I havent got my blood sugars checked im too scared! I want to start adding more fruit and veg to my diet in a phased way, say start with 2 bowls of soup etc a week and start from there.

Any ideas on ways to incorporate fruit and veg for my diet as snacks or meals? And what foods would be best to start with? Thank you.

You don't need to incorporate anything into your diet.

You need to overhaul your diet with fruit and veg being involved.

Read the nutrition stickies from start to finish and take it from there.

coffee_cake

Yeah you're well past "incorporating" anything and 2 bowls of processed veg soup a week isn't going to do much.
Stop drinking red bull!!! Drink loads of water. hate it at first, you'll adapt.
Look up recipes on how to cook veg properly - not boiling the bejaysus out of all of it -, buy bags of frozen veg that are lightly flavoured, eat fruit.

coffee_cake

I thought most of your drink intake was coke and you did eat healthy sometimes?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057327962

catgalway

What about fruit with yogurt for morning or lunch..fresh &/or frozen berries from supermarket defrosted overnight..popcorn for snacking on...& really just pick what sounds good from all post & make your own food plan from it.Good luck

hfallada

Buy fruit that is easy to eat eg apples, oranges, grapefruit, pears, plums, grapes. All you have to do is wash/peel them and eat. There is no work needed. Eat them instead of eating a snack.

Dont buy wholegrain processed bread as its healthier. Its like saying light cigarettes are healthier than non-light version cigarettes. Processed bread is ****. Buy soda style bread. Its the best bread you can buy as its the wholegrain and not part of it like cheaper breads.

Only have homemade soup. Or the more expensive fresh soups from supermarket fridges. Tinned soup or packet soup is full of sugar, salt and little vegetable.

Also introduce fruit and veg slowly. Dont change your diet over night completely, as you will curve the old foods. But if you gradually switch you are more likely to like the new food. Also stop buying the ****ty unhealthy food. If you have a fridge full of fruit and veg, but no junk. If you are hunger you are going to have to eat food and veg. Aldi and Lidl are the best for fruit and veg. Its cheap and super fresh. The same cant be said for other supermarkets

irish_goat

1. Purchase fruit
2. Put fruit in mouth
3. Chew fruit
4. Swallow fruit
5. Repeat when hungry

Will try and post up instructions for vegetables later.

2dizzylizzie

To be perfectly honest your "phased" approach will only be holy hell on you. If you want to do this, do it like a band aid. Rip it the F**k off. Chuck out all the junk, like all of it now. Fast for a day or two using only water and maybe some soup if you get weak to give your system time to calm down and clear out a bit… Then just start eating all veggies - soup is a great way to get tonnes of veg into you, lots of stir-frys - again loads of veg. Roast veg is like the nicest thing on earth, just chop up some tomatoes, courgette, red onions, peppers, sweet potato, butternut squash - shake some cracked black pepper over them, a pinch of salt and a glug of olive oil and throw them in the oven for 30mins at 200*C. Utter nommzzz.

The thing about the food you are eating now is it actually causes serious mad cravings and and changes how your taste buds work. If you flat out stop eating it for a few weeks and just eat veg, meat and some healthier carbs like rice and potatoes with a limited amount of fruit (fruit is very high in sugar so you have to be careful you don't just replace one sugar with another) your taste buds will change (like actually physically change according to the latest studies) and veg and meat will taste better and more flavoursome.

GaGa21

Alf Veedersane wrote:

Down with this sort of thing

Obviously, but it will be hard for him to make big changes at first. Baby steps initially for the weight loss and then he can focus on health/nutrition long term.

mickman

Nicolas Cage wrote: »

No you didn't

Yes I did

Alf Veedersane

GaGa21 wrote: »

Obviously, but it will be hard for him to make big changes at first. Baby steps initially for the weight loss and then he can focus on health/nutrition long term.

I didn't mean that.

I meant the suggestion of using low fat spread instead of butter.

'Low fat' doesn't mean it's better for you.

sheesh

try bananas first, it is a good time of the year for oranges.

Jesus but you'd want to do something major too as your diet is complete crap.

It won't kill you but will make **** of you body as you grow older. your pancreas your heart and you back will eventually give out.

start going for half an hour walk every day.

Wanderer2010

Thanks for the suggestions guys, when I looked back on my daily diet it looks really bad hardly any nutrition but I'm just so used to it by now I don't even taste anything else, particularly the sausage rolls! I'm going to take some of the tips here but I imagine it will take weeks to adjust.

Alf Veedersane

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions guys, when I looked back on my daily diet it looks really bad hardly any nutrition but I'm just so used to it by now I don't even taste anything else, particularly the sausage rolls! I'm going to take some of the tips here but I imagine it will take weeks to adjust.

Do read the nutrition stickies.

Start ditching the processed food. The less that has been done to it since it was killed/picked, the better.

Cook your own food. Meat and veg are a good start.

Stop buying rubbish like sausage rolls and takeaways. Not every day or week anyway.

Preparation will really help you to avoid the chipper - having something good that you've made waiting at home will put you off takeaways.

Anyway, the stickies have all that so read away and it won't seem as daunting when you know what's what.

papu

Keep track of what you're doing one way or another , keeping a food diary , or giving yourself a tick on a calendar for each day you stick to your diet might be good in the start , you'll feel guilty having a takeaway or bad foods as you'll have to write them down , or ruin a streak of good days.

Weigh yourself and take progress pics , anytime you feel cravings look back on the progress you've made and look forward to continuing it into the future!

Besht of luck!

GaGa21

Wanderer2010 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions guys, when I looked back on my daily diet it looks really bad hardly any nutrition but I'm just so used to it by now I don't even taste anything else, particularly the sausage rolls! I'm going to take some of the tips here but I imagine it will take weeks to adjust.

You can do it. It takes 28 days to break a habit so just keep persevering! Oh and happy new year! Hope you have a healthy 2015 :-)

IrlMonk

Make your own bread....
It takes me 10mins every day and that's including clean-up, and i have beautiful soda bread for the day.
Oven baked....
Can't beat it.
Message me for secret recipe