Any tips for a single man to eat healthier?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Something that might appeal to you as a start -

Eat meat and leaves.

Basically, get some beef steak, chicken breast and pork steaks together with a bag of salad leaves and any extra bits of salad you actually like (cherry tomatoes, cucumber, packet of pickled beetroot chunks, spring onions, whatever).

Monday 6.30pm, walk in, dump your stuff and walk to the kitchen. Start heating up your frying pan on a low heat whilst you get a packet of meat out of the fridge. Open it, splosh a small bit of oil over it, add salt and pepper. Turn the heat up on the pan and get a dinner plate from the cupboard. Chuck lump of meat in the pan. Empty more than you think you'd ever have of the leaves (good couple of handfuls) onto your plate, cut chunks of cucumber, halve the tomatoes, bits of spring onion, chuck on top. Put bag of leaves back in fridge with salad veggies. Turn over the steak. Tosh a small bit of salad dressing onto the leaves. Check meat is done. If so, turn heat off and leave it there whilst you pour yourself a drink/open a bottle. Take meat out, quickly cut into bite size lumps. Chuck on top of leaves, along with any meat juices. Total time from walking in to sitting down - about 12 and a half minutes.


Repeat for the next two days with the other types of meat you've bought and the rest of the leaves.

That's nearly half your week sorted. If you like fish, do the same with that (it doesn't take as long to cook). If you're getting a bit bored, try looking at sauces, different dressings, additional veg items (microwaving a bag of broccoli and some new potatoes, perhaps chucking some avocado on the plate if squeezed with lemon juice to stop it browning, is easy enough).

It's low in carbs, lower in fat than a chippy tea and high in iron and other nutrients - and the protein should hep you not feel very hungry. So losing a bit of bulk could come fairly easily, as long as you don't buy lunches from MccyDs or have a supermegadupermassive syrup Latter every day with three flapjacks and a muffin the size of your head.

Grab some more salad and meat on the Thursday night and you've done the other half of the week, leaving one night for a takeaway/roast at a pub/whatever you like.

Breakfasts are easy - cereal if you like it, toast or a roll.

Lunches - well, let's get the hang of cooking at night before you start worrying about batch cooking for days as well. Take it easy on the pork pies, crisps and cake - look for things that have protein and vegetables in them - there's nothing wrong with a sandwich, banana and a yoghurt.




Yes, you can buy frozen, peel your own spuds, etc - you could well end up seeing how much cheaper it is for you to do it yourself and deciding to. But reliably cooking something quick and healthy 6 nights out of 7 is a good start.

Nicki

For salad, my family aren't all that keen, so I usually buy little gem lettuces, a half cucumber, and some tomatoes. These easily keep for a week. Other salad veg like radishes, spring onions and celery will last a fortnight and you can also cook and add frozen sweet corn or peas to spruce things up.

I also some have quick and easy things I make when I can't be bothered to cook. My current favourites are eggs. I like 2 poached eggs on toast, or an omelette with spinach and cheese served with a salad.

buythedip

Years ago the guy I shared a flat with worked shifts and wanted to change his eating habits.

He bought a fairly straightforward cookbook (a BBC one I think), and would simply worked his way through dishes that had <10 ingredients, sounded tasty and has no special cooking techniques/ingredients. He would then portion up and either freeze or use for work.

Once he had these base dishes down he found it easy to expand his repertoire.

Oh, and eat a better breakfast than toast. You'll be hungry by 10am with almost no nutrients in the bank. Oats, a handful of nuts and raisins, spoon of yoghurt and a cup of milk is cheap and super nutritious.

VfM4meplse

suki1964 wrote: »

If you had seen the programme on Thursday about what fast food done to the health of a young fit male, you would be rushing to the kitchen, cook book in hand and be quite happy to have a sink full of dishes

Is this "The Truth About Obesity"? I don't understand why I can't find it on iPlayer

suki1964

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Is this "The Truth About Obesity"? I don't understand why I can't find it on iPlayer

No it was a programme about processed food. The name of the series has gone, but it was 7:30pm on ITV. ~dipsatches maybe???