Healthy Eating Tips

tommyhayes1989

Hello all,

apologies to Mods if this isn't posted in the correct thread.
I am a 27 y/o male, smoker and I have some poor eating habits. I'd like to get more healthy, as I always feel tired and sluggish. I have never eaten breakfasts, I have two/three cups of tea per day (with sugar), a white roll for lunch, a normal enough dinner (mash, veg, meat) and some biscuits for tea. I know a full overhaul of my diet would be difficult but maybe there are some foods, brands, ideas you could suggest.
For instance I would love to have a healthy breakfast, something that doesn't take an hour to make as I have two small girls in the house.
Some lunch ideas too, and maybe some dinners.
I'll eat mostly anything except tuna and nuts.
Thank you in advance

Tea-a-Maria

The key to maintaining healthy life changes is to take small steps. From what you've posted, your diet could be improved a lot by a few small tweaks. Meat spuds and veg can be a perfectly good dinner. Just make sure to go for lean cuts of meat like steak, chicken and turkey. Load your plate with greens first, then your meat, then your carbs. It's amazing how different your plate looks when you think veg first and leave your spuds until last. In most Irish dinners, the veg is an afterthought on the plate!

In terms of breakfasts, my two go to ones are porridge and eggs. If you can, soak your porridge the night before, makes them lovely and soft in the morning. Mix up the toppings, fruit, seeds, a bit of honey. A favourite of mine in winter is porridge with grated apple, sultanas, pecans and a little bit of maple syrup. Eggs are equally versatile: boiled, fried, poached, scrambled. You can scramble eggs in the microwave to save on clean up. Nice and quick too.

Try and knock the roll on the head for a salad, or if that's too big a change, switch to brown bread and load your sandwich with veg. Think cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, beetroot, grated carrot. Or maybe take in a homemade soup on the side. What food facilities do you have in work? A microwave can make a huge difference, as it lets you bring in leftovers from the night before. Also consider pre packing the components of your sandwich and assembling at lunchtime to prevent soggy sandwiches!

The sugar in tea will really add up over time. Try cutting back to one and then eventually out altogether. I was like you, two spoons in every cups, but now I can't stand sugary tea! Your tastebuds will adapt over time.

Biggest tip I can give you though, is water, water, water. If you have a desk job, get a big bottle and keep it at your desk. Set a goal to drink X amount. I go for 1l between 9am and lunch. I have a litre bottle at my desk so it's easy to keep track. People often mistake hunger for thirst, so if you drink properly, cravings should subside too. You'll feel more alert too.

I find the BBC Good food website great for inspiration. You can filter for healthy recipes and calorie counts and get loads of ideas.

bladespin

tommyhayes1989 wrote: »

I am a 27 y/o male, smoker and I have some poor eating habits. I'd like to get more healthy, as I always feel tired and sluggish.

This more than anything else.

Been there, it's the hardest but offers the biggest benefits.

There are many ways to stop, vapes worked for me.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

syklops

For instance I would love to have a healthy breakfast, something that doesn't take an hour to make as I have two small girls in the house.

OP, not a criticism of you, just an observation of threads like this, people in your position almost always seem to pick their breakfast to 'fix' first. Sometimes its when they don't have one at all, or have what they consider to be unhealthy.

Why don't you have breakfast at the moment? I rarely have breakfast, and its usually because when I get out of bed I don't feel like eating, but by about 11am I will murder some scrambled eggs. Is it because you dont feel like eating, or is it because you dont have time? If you do feel hungry in the morning and are ignoring that to get the kids out, then you need to come up with something quick to have, but I wouldnt force yourself to have breakfast. That said, the smoking could be confusing your system.

Your diet doesnt look terrible. What makes you think your dinners arent healthy?

For lunch I'd recommend swapping the white roll for a chicken salad. Once I swapped rolls for salads, I started to win the everyday battle to stay awake from 3pm to 4pm.

Biggest tip I can give you though, is water, water, water. If you have a desk job, get a big bottle and keep it at your desk. Set a goal to drink X amount. I go for 1l between 9am and lunch. I have a litre bottle at my desk so it's easy to keep track. People often mistake hunger for thirst, so if you drink properly, cravings should subside too. You'll feel more alert too.

Couldnt agree more. There are some days I drink 3 litres of water in the course of the day. Somedays I leave work with a splitting headache and when I go to the loo my pee looks like it would glow in the dark. Then I realize my water bottle from the morning is half full, and hasn't been refilled once yet that day.

Sarah1916

I would agree with the drinking of water being recommended.

Also for breakfasts you cant go wrong with eggs. I boil my eggs the night before and therefore there is no rush in the morning. You could have a bit of fruit with them and it would quick, easy and nutritious.

For lunch I would agree that you should swap the white roll for brown bread or a salad.

I think with these small changes you would notice a huge difference.

Obviously it goes without saying that you should try and give up the cigarettes ASAP.