Struggling with food

Citygirl1

I am really having a hard time with food at the moment as in sticking toa regime and varying my diet. I live alone and work full time. At the moment this is my diet:

Cornflakes for breakfast
Herbalife shake for lunch at work
Light Alpen bars for morning and afternoon breaks at work

Tea consists of: Birds Eye chicken grills and McCain jacket potatoes, M&S breaded fish and chicken, sometimes I make a corned beef hash, sometimes I do chicken breasts in the slow cooker but not very often, pasta bake or jacket potatoes on their own.

I don't suppose my diet is too bad when you think that I used to eat ready meals most of the time but I still wonder if my diet is healthy. I do struggle with what to take for lunches and breaks at work.

elona

You could do with fruit and veg so maybe have some fresh veg that is quick to cook and fruit pots that can be easily grabbed.

PasturesNew

What people like/have access to varies ....

We've a cooking for one thread on the go - and you might spot something in there that grabs you.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5774513

Sometimes you just need to be reminded about something you'd completely forgotten about, that you used to eat .... and there you go, problem solved

moneyistooshorttomention

Seconded - to come on over and join us on the "cooking for one" thread.

Between us we know all about things like:

- feeling cba to cook

- not having enough kitchen space

- having to do a lot of "repeat" eating that families and even couples don't struggle with like we do (ie because our meals often leave most of a packet of food still sitting there in the kitchen to be used-up - whereas a family would have eaten the whole packet)

- less money left for food/Life/etc after bills than someone in a couple would have

etc etc. So we do find it useful to swop notes on the extra issues involved with feeding ourselves.

pollypenny

Try something more satisfying than cornflakes for breakfast. Porridge or even bran flakes, with some fruit, will be more filling and help you stick to healthy eating.

[Deleted User]

yes come on over, just putting food thoughts down is helpful. We all go through CBA days, LO times and RMs but just thinking of a basic meal plan for a day does focus the mind and takes us a step forward to better eating. We are all in different circumstances

moneyistooshorttomention

Thinking on re variations on current diet - it does include a lot of ready meals stuff currently.

I'd also agree it's possible to start with breakfast and make that healthier. Cornflakes is processed food. So maybe porridge instead. One can soak porridge oats overnight in the milk/other liquid used to cook them in and that softens them up and they only take a couple of minutes to cook the next day. Put some fruit/seeds/etc on them and that will be a healthy start to the day.

Overnight oats being another breakfast possibility - with that = you don't even cook the oats. You have them cold and put any other stuff you want with them - fruit/seeds/nuts/etc.

Light Alpen bars - more processed food. You could try having a handful of, say, dried fruit and some nuts instead of that.

Herbalife shake - more processed food. Have a smoothie instead.

McCain jacket potatoes - more processed food. Scrub a potato or two and bake them in the oven (or microwave). Loadsa choice as to what you can have with it - baked beans, cheese, hummus, etc.

Pollycat

Citygirl1 wrote: »

I am really having a hard time with food at the moment as in sticking toa regime and varying my diet. I live alone and work full time. At the moment this is my diet:

Cornflakes for breakfast
Herbalife shake for lunch at work
Light Alpen bars for morning and afternoon breaks at work

Tea consists of: Birds Eye chicken grills and McCain jacket potatoes, M&S breaded fish and chicken, sometimes I make a corned beef hash, sometimes I do chicken breasts in the slow cooker but not very often, pasta bake or jacket potatoes on their own.

I don't suppose my diet is too bad when you think that I used to eat ready meals most of the time but I still wonder if my diet is healthy. I do struggle with what to take for lunches and breaks at work.

Do you have the Herbalife shakes as a means to try to lose weight?
Why not make pasta to take to work for lunches?
Or wraps?
Or salad?

If you had a 'proper' lunch, you might not feel the need to have Alpen bars. Or why not substitute the Alpen for fruit?

I gave you this link to slow cooker recipes:

Pollycat wrote: »

This should give you a good start:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/1332010#Comment_1332010

in this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5733926

NineDeuce

Terrible diet. Boring, uninspiring, limited and with every single ingredient being dictated by a perception of what is needed to be eaten to lose weight.

Eat whatever you want, but just less of. Weight loss is about calories in vs calories out. Although it would be awful nutritionally, you could eat chocolate all day and if you stayed within your calorie limit, then you would lose weight.

When I lost weight, my diet included the odd pizza, burger, English breakfast, whatever, but I just stayed within my limits and did some exercise to facilitate it.

The dreading thought of having a Herbalife shake for my lunch.....

elsien

Take fruit instead of cereal bars for snacks. No idea what a Herbalife shake is, but making a salad or a wrap/sandwich for lunch takes minutes even for those of us who work full time. Or can be prepared the night before. That'd be a start on a healthier eating front.

Citygirl1

Thanks for your replies. I don't have the Herbalife to lose weight, just to give me more protein. I don't like porridge so wouldn't have that for breakfast. Might start having the shakes for breakfast and something else for lunch. What about breaded chicken and fish, is that too processed? M&S breaded food is fresh chicken and fish. Its so easy to put in the oven but not exactly a ready meal.