whats your must have meal when dieting?

carlamarie_2

a good friend of mine is having a lifestyle change, healthy eating and dieting in the hope of losing 5 stone.
shes a bit at a loss as to what to eat to keep healthy, whilst having variety in her meals so has asked me to try and come up with ideas for her.

so whats your must have healthy meal?

i should probaly mention that she is currently not working (shes awaiting an op next month) and money is not in abundance atm

sweetilemon

Baked potatoes with beans/ light soft cheese & salad. Chicken tandoori with cous cous & salad. Stir-fry noodles (with noodles, veg, garlic, ginger, soya sauce & left over chicken/pork/beef). Pasta with hm tomato sauce. Wraps with whatever meat, salad or veg i have in. Homemade soups made with veg & stock cube.

Filling meals with high nutrician

chaliepud

I've found the secret for me is to balance my low GI carbs (40-50%) with good lean proteins (30-35%) and good fats (20-30%). I eat three meals a day at regular (ish) times along with healthy snacks in between, eg carrot and pepper sticks with houmous, fruit or nuts and seeds. I'm lucky I don't have a particularly sweet tooth so can generally avoid refined sugars, crisps are harder but I allow myself a bag once a week as a treat.

My bible has been a book called 'Energise You' by Oliver Gray (it's only £5 on Amazon at the mo), I've tried reading self help books in the past and I can never get past the scientific detail but this was recommended in a magazine I read and it's brilliant, to the point and practical, and easy to follow...

lobbyludd

I am currently very overweight so take this with a pinch of salt - BUT when I lost a lot of weight after my children my stand-by emergency soup was as follows:

chicken/whatever meat we had had for sunday roast (I strip/cut up/freeze whatever is left over) OR really cheap prawns.

sliced spring onions/leeks (whichever of these is cheaper/I have in)
lots of sliced peppers
added to a pot with hot water, soy sauce, marigold stock powder and chilli flakes to taste. cook for about 5 mins max.

It's a thin broth, but I love spicy food, and I find this really tasty and filling, quick to make and lots of lovely crunchy veg and has beggar all calories compared to how full it made me feel - plus was generally a cheap meal.

peppers and chiliis are supposed to kick-start your metabolism? but I like them either way.

scaredy_cat

when i am in the right frame of mind, i follow SW as i find it restricts nothing and it's very easy to follow, so full english breakfasts, curry, spag bol, roasts, cottage pie - are all eaten!

one of the best curries i had was sweet potato, carrot and parsnip - absolutely fab!

joedenise

Agree with Scaredy-Cat, have a look at the Slimming World website. They have a 7 day plan for vegetarian and non-vegetarian. There are other websites which also cover these menus, eg Slimming Eats (which is more of a blog with loads of SW recipes) and Minimins (just need to click on the slimming world thread) which has loads of recipes.

Denise

penelopedee_2

Before I start - I am not a carb avoider but if I need to loose a bit of weight I tend to eat normal family meals but swap the spuds or rice or pasta for extra veg. I always eat eggs in the morning (scrambled with a splash of milk and a bit of black pepper) - I have a good frying pan so don't need any fat.

Also I avoid sugar or sweetener as much as I can, even reducing the amount of milk in my tea or coffee.

Lots of homemade soups (without bread) - chuck in some cold meat from the day before to fill them out. Small amount of grated cheese can help to make them feel more filling.

Lunches I find more difficult but white fish is cheap and nice baked in the oven with a few cherry toms. Oven baked chopped peppers, toms, sweet potatoes and carrots are good - can use reduced to clear veg for this and the soup.

The things I find that make me put on weight are processed food and nibbling at sugary things or 'low fat' rubbish products. They just make me want more. Also avoid any drinks with sweetener in them - especially diet drinks.

Can be done really cheaply if you like veg and don't mind a bit of easy cooking. Regular meals and a bit of portion control.

carlamarie_2

thank you all, i shall print this out and pass it on to her.

stepharoo

skinny spaghetti (which is actually just steamed finely shredded white cabbage) and a tomato based sauce. Cheap and cheerful, filling and tasty.

camNolliesMUMMY

Plenty of protein (fist size portion) +plenty of veggies (half the plate) + lower the amount of carbs (fist size portion).
Breakfast I eat porridge but instead of sugar I use sweetener and mix 50% water and 50% milk.
Or weetabix....it's filling or
I have a griddled fry up of two bacon two sausage two poached eggs mushrooms half a tin of tomatoes.
Or an omelette with different vegs
Lunch I try and have soup, I sometimes make my soups from leftovers so that's os. It's surprising how filling soups are! And it's a fact
Fri n sat night I have a treat = a bottle of wine n some choc.
I keep focused because I'm getting to my goal but I also get time off to eat what I want at the weekends but I try not to go nutts lol.

I try n cook meals from scratch, we love cures that are tomato based or water based, if cream is called for I used skimmed milk n a bit of cornflour.
Be adventurous with cooking replace the bad things with good things and you'll still get a great meal.
invest in herbs n spices and make a plan for the week freeze surplus for next weeks meals.
We eat lots of chicken breast here (dh is a bodybuilder and I'm losing weight).
Drink plenty of water!!! Now I don't like water on its own but I fill my dh gym bottle up with squash and keep refilling it in the day....sugar free.
And I try not to eat bread this is a big no no for me and I've switched pasta n rice to brown and eat cous cous.