Eating Well - Those Fruit and Vegetables

[Guest_1055]

​​Hello

I have chosen to start up this thread in hope it will help those who need or want to eat better. Personally I have issues with comfort eating, that is you turn to a certain food, because you think it will help you feel better. This food may be ice cream, biscuits, fatty take aways, sugary drinks, potato chips etc and my big one.........chocolate.

If you take a real deep look, these foods actually don't help us feel better at all.

I have tried removing some of these food items from my diet. But have found I can do it for a few days, then fall back into the old habits.

When you are feeling depressed and unmotivated, it is a challenge to eat the foods that you know will benefit your body and mind. Because sometimes you just don't care enough about yourself. Well that is my personal experience. And if you are the one that prepares food in your household that is more of a challenge. Again that is my experience.

And for those who go through episodes of anxiety, you may have no or little appetite at all.

So anyway what I have been thinking about is taking baby steps to better health. One of those steps is to :

Eat more vegetables and fruit

So I guess this thread is for anyone really. A place to share hints, advice and encouragement regarding the consumption of vegetables and fruits. One could use this thread like a food diary to report the vegetables that they have eaten that day. Thus helping each other be accountable. Helpful books, websites, vegetable gardening tips. And even recipe ideas. But I am thinking only one step at a time. So only focus on the vegetables and fruits for now. And see how that goes. I have looked at the whole "eating healthy" big picture, and to be honest , I felt overwhelmed by it. So I figured as long as we are moving in the right direction towards better health for our body, emotions and mental health..........well that has to be good.

Here we go then!

Much love to all

Shelley

[Guest_1055]

Hi all

I am challenging myself to eat more leafy greens . And only one day at a time. So a baby step. Today I made a fresh juice which had baby spinach in it. I couldn't really taste the spinach. And because the pears were a good price in Woolworths, I used these as well. The juice was pretty yummy. This is the recipe if you would like to make it.

2 almost ripe pears

1 peeled carrot

2 handfuls of baby spinach

Made 350 mls

PS. I am not sure if all juicers juice spinach.

Hugs if you like them

Shell

[Lost_Girl]

Hi Shell,

Terrific thread!

Something that motivates me to make the right choices is being able to see the effect the food has. There is a terrific free site and app called myfitnesspal. You can add in there the food that you eat during the day.

If you are reaching for something like a biscuit instead of an apple, you can pop both things in the myfitnesspal site and see the impact to calories and health. The site will do all the work for you including telling you when you have had too much salt or protein for example. It keeps track of a daily total for anyone interested in weigh loss as well as healthy eating.

When you add your vegetables in you may also be surprised at the differences between different types.

Today I had a nice salad sandwich for lunch with carrot, tomato, lettuce and ham. I had carrot, peas and corn with my dinner of salmon cakes which also had vegetables hidden in them.

I was just about to eat comfort chocolate but this thread has motivated me out of it tonight. A heartfelt thank you. I am going to have low fat yoghurt and fresh strawberries instead.

[Guest_1055]

Hey dear Carol...

I just have returned from checking out the website myfitnesspal.

I ended up signing up. There is heaps of stuff on there isn't there? And it looks fun. I even came across a forum on emotional eating that had a beautiful image of fruit and vegetables. Thank you for sharing about the website.

And good on you for eating all the vegetables today. Even the hidden ones in the salmon cakes. That is a good idea. Do your children know that the veges are hidden like that?

Many hugs

Shell xx

PS. I hope you feel better soon Carol.

[Guest_1055]

I have managed to have the same juice every day with the leafy greens of baby spinach, carrot and pear. One thing I have noticed is the skin on my face looks healthier and clearer. I think I have a bit more energy, but I wouldn't say this is a lot improved as yet. I haven't noticed any changes in emotional or mental health. But I haven't been doing this for long.....so I will keep going including more leafy greens. Oh I had several cravings for hot take away chips. But I just boiled some new potatoes with the skin on. And topped it with cheese. This satisfied that particular craving. ​

[Lost_Girl]

Great work Shell. I am not sure I could do greens in a drink but I like eating them with just a bit of balsamic vinegar drizzled over.

My problem is that hubby is always too tired to put the effort into salad and I am just a bit useless at the moment to do it myself. Your thread got me thinking though and I have a work around. I have bought tins of chunky vegetable soup so I am having that whenever the meal hubby is making is too unhealthy. The soup fills me up too. Now I just need to cut down on the bread and butter I like with it. It is a start.

My kids will not touch fish cakes of any sort. Funnily they don't like salad but if we have tacos they will happily add and eat carrot, tomato and avocado..go figure.

You're doing great Shell, well done!

[lookingforme]

Hey guys,

This is a great thread, thanks for starting it. I too have problems with eating. I almost never have an appetite. If there wasn't someone to ask me what I'm eating I probably wouldn't eat. Last year, I decided to do a lifestyle change, and I had to eat to accommodate the exercise I putting my body through. But, for the past three months, I've felt the depression kick in, and the only thing I wanted to eat was chocolate, and I'm pretty sure for 3 weeks, it was the only thing I have eaten.

Last week, I started the healthier version of life again. It has been absolutely hard. Motivation, ugh. What does it even mean right? I have used my lack of appetite to essentially eat the same clean meals over and over (one good thing at least...).

But, when it comes to doing the healthier thing, you guys are actually on the money.

I am fortunate enough to own a nutribullet, and I blitsz things, so that I can skull all the nutrients down without having to eat.

Breakfast, berry smoothie with a banana, oats and almond milk.

For all the fruits you want, fruit juice! I even got my mom on this because she doesn't eat enough, she works too hard. If I could drink all my meals, I would. There is someone working on it actually...

But soups are great too, all the nutrients from the veggies, and you can make bucket loads.

A good alternative, for the chocolate, is to have the 70% cocoa dark choc. I have been eating, as a snack in the middle of the day, a digestive biscuit, a piece of dark choc, and some low fat yoghurt. If I want more choc, I get rid of the yoghurt.

Myfitnesspal helps a lot with calculating the calories.

I did come up with a recipe for cookies that are great snacks too, for when we're ready.

It is also important to drink a lot of water. It may help to put some citrus in the water, like lemons or limes, and add some mint so it becomes flavoured, might be more of an incentive to drink.

You are both doing great 🙂

PS-I hope you don't mind me butting in, the topic caught my eye as I was thinking if I should eat or not

[Lost_Girl]

Hey lookingforme,

I'm really glad you joined in! Same goes for anyone else reading, the more the merrier and I'm sure Shell will agree so please join in.

I really envy you the nutribullet. I have a problem with needing to feel full. However I have been actively working on portion sizes and have cut them back a lot. A lot of the time this involves me eating half of what hubby serves or leaving some things on the plate like a side serve of pasta and just eating the meat and veg.

My biggest problem is chocolate. I can leave lollies cakes and icecream but chocolate I find very hard to resist. We have had a lot of milk chocolate in the house since easter. I need to get back on track and get dark choc instead as you say lookingfirme. I like the dark choc and it's better for depression (says my psych), and I eat less of it because it's rich. I have a problem where I use chocolate like a medicine. If I am hurting really bad physically from my chronic pain, I allow myself to eat it to mske myself feel better. I convince myself I deserve it even though I should be saying to myself that I deserve better than that. I haven't worked out how to change this thinking yet. Even though I know the right thing to do, doing it seems so much harder.

Sweet strawberries and grapes with a bit of yoghurt is helping a bit.

Any tips?

[lookingforme]

Hi Lost Girl,

I get you about chocolate, wholeheartedly. My old psychologist told me that it's okay to indulge myself on the days where I feel bad, it's a part of being kind to myself, but I think I can take it to extremes, that she may call harmful essentially. What I have done, because I know I can't get rid of chocolate as part of my diet, is I eat the dark stuff (and your psych is right, increases serotonin apparently; the feel good chemical), during the week, and once a week, I eat the milk chocolate, guilt free. One day worth of all those calories is okay, because I know I get out and put some exercise effort in and I eat clean the other 6 days. I think your biggest hurdle is having that Easter stuff left over, because if it is there, it is harder to avoid. Maybe get hubby to hide it somewhere and ration it out on a Saturday? Definitely have the dark chocolate at home as an option. I know grapes are supposed to satisfy the cravings that chocolate gives, so you're doing well to start.

As for feeling full, definitely fill out your plate with fiber, and eat veggies that are low in GI, like sweet potato. And you can substitute that plate of white pasta for wholemeal pasta, which takes longer to process in the stomach. Portion control is good, it is great that you are aware of it, but you don't have to forego all the carbs, those are good for you. Also, add a couple of snacks during the day, like nuts with the dark chocolate, or some raw veggies like baby carrots or cucumber? Got some fiber in there. Drinking water also helps you feel full. I certainly wouldn't down a liter at a time but, drink it constantly. And chew on some chewing gum, for some reason that helps me with cravings...

[lookingforme]

I forgot to add, I brush my teeth fairly soon after dinner so, mentally, I know I shouldn't eat any more.