Changing eating habits.

suki1964 · 30 June 2016 at 1:01PM

I'm glad to see you have posted here and are looking at getting some routine to your life regarding meals

Have you made a start on sleeping?

The advice on setting alarms is a good one, especially as your sleep pattern is so up the wall

Yesterday I had an early appointment in town so was up and out with no time to eat or drink. Around 10am I felt sick with hunger, something unheard of for me as I wouldn't usually face food before 11am so I stopped and had a cooked breakfast and coffee

I had the dentist at 5.30 for an extraction. I knew I wouldn't be fit to eat after so even though I wasn't hungry, I had a sandwich

11pm I was hungry ( and in pain ) so had 2 eggs scrambled

Usually we have our main meal of the day at 6.30pm and hit the nest at 11pm. Usually I'm awake at 7am, and eat around 12pm. My meal at lunchtime depends on how hungry I feel.its usually fish based, sardines or mackerel in a sandwich or with a salad, or kippers and poached egg. Or maybe home made soup and a sandwich or a bowl of a left over pasta dish from the previous night

The thing is I know I have to eat by certain times else I'll be running out of time if that makes sense?

Setting out times to eat is the first step, then looking at what you eat is the second.

Food is energy, some food provides more energy then others. Some foods give instant boosts, others give long slow levels.

I would start by looking at the time you get up and the time you hit the nest. Make your last meal about 4 hours before bedtime and then try to work two eating times, as evenly spaced as possible inbetween those times. They don't have to be called breakfast, lunch and dinner, just meal times.

if you give us an idea of what you do actually like to eat and how well you can cook, we can help with recipes and budgeting

dekaspace · 30 June 2016 at 1:59PM

On one hand I eat pretty much anything but often when I am tired I crave certain foods more (like rice. pasta, potatoes) sometimes on a day when I have eaten something small during the day I crave something sweet in evening like a bar of chocolate as a snack but thats rare.

I find now I cut out sugary drinks (unless I am eating out and they only have like diet pepsi available) I can tolerate a sweet as a snack, before I used to get stomach cramps and dizzy when I ate sweets but no more since I am on sugar free stuff.

I did drink water sometimes but I find I can't keep it in me for long so its a nightmare if I am going otu as have to rush to toilet and since public toilets are rare and normally busy and cuts into time if I have to be somewhere and feels so uncomfortable.
When I buy a takeaway I tend to get a chicken kebab with extra salad in a naan as that fulfils all 3 things that I crave though I end up eating the bread and salad more than the meat and only eat the meat later when hungry.

Though I haven't exactly made a start on sleeping I am rarely in bed after say 3am most nights 1 or 2am and get 8-10 hours sleep rather than at least 10 as before so feel a little better on one hand its just if I have a bad nights sleep even being in bed long hours destroys me all day, normally a bad nights sleep is if rooms too bright more than noise but loud noise from things like traffic is bad too all which affects my energy in day, a bad nights sleep means I don't want to eat at all as too dizzy to care.

GreyQueen · 30 June 2016 at 7:30PM

You might feel better if you synchronise your sleeping and waking patterns as close as possible to the planet's rhythms. Such as going to sleep not long after dark and getting up not long after daybreak. And being sure to get out in the daylight as much as possible so your brain chemistry will react to the day.

Human beings are designed to live in daylight and our hormonal systems, including those which govern appetite, get seriously whacked out if we're not mindful of that.

Could you perhaps do something as simple and economical has boiling half a dozen eggs at once and having them, shelled and ready to eat, in a covered dish in your fridge? This means that you can have a nutitous snack in seconds (1-2 eggs) at a low cost, and it will sustain your energy well for several hours.

You might want to look into the health benefits of low carb, moderate protein and high fat diets. There's lots of info out there about this type of eating, often referred to as paleo or primal.

I'm concerned about how long you're fasting for every day; add in the time from your evening meal to your first meal and it's got to be about 20 hours, hasn't it? That's a bit of a number to put over on your poor metabolism on a regular basis and it's not going to produce happy results. And we should all remember that emotional balance is inexplicably entwined with good nutrition.

And fizz, even if it's branded zero or sugar free or what have you, is garbage and messes with your bones and really isn't the kind of thing any person ought to be consuming.

Good luck and all best wishes for a happier future. GQ xx

Slinky · 30 June 2016 at 7:34PM

OP I would suggest you do some research on low carb eating. Everything you're eating is laden with carbs. A couple of years ago I was very similar - a diet of cereals, bread, toast, pasta and spuds, there were carbs with every meal. The weight was slowly piling on. Then a friend told of the success she had had with a low carb eating plan, we've changed and never looked back. Lots of meat, butter, cheese, full fat yogurt, eggs etc. We use cauliflower 'rice' (blitz cauliflower florets in a blender and microwave) to replace pasta, rice and spuds. The weight has dropped off both myself and OH, my blood pressure as returned to normal, and we both feel so much fitter.

It's the carbs that are the route of your problems IMO.

*Robin* · 1 July 2016 at 9:08AM

GreyQueen wrote: »

And fizz, even if it's branded zero or sugar free or what have you, is garbage and messes with your bones and really isn't the kind of thing any person ought to be consuming.

Agreed.
This toxic fizzy stuff is great for three things: making metal coins shiny, cleaning toilets, and as a pesticide in the garden.

Drinking it in adulthood is likely to store up serious future health issues. Giving it to children should - in my humble opinion - be as illegal as Class A drugs!

dekaspace · 1 July 2016 at 4:12PM

I do like milk, but that in itself would cause problems I would assume.

Now that its mentined I remember eating a lot of yogurts when I was hungry too when younger.

Other things I remember too was I would eat a lot of beetroot, peach slices, kiwis, even pickle in plain bread as it was so cheap when I left home.

Anyway decided to treat myself to 12 pork and apple burgers, and 2.7kg of steak mince and it came to £18.50 and should last me ages but part of me is panicking over spening that much in one go though I can afford it.

Pollycat · 1 July 2016 at 4:18PM

2.7kg of steak mince should do you lots of meals.

What do you plan to cook with it?

dekaspace · 1 July 2016 at 4:36PM

I normally like spaghetti bolognaise but it ends up a chili in my experience as regular mince and tatties often tastes either bland or too salty.

If I can be bothered I make tortillas, basically I like spicy food.

I have loads of muffins in the freezer suppose I can use them for the burgers with some chopped tomato with herbs and chilli sauce. (as in I get some chopped tomatos and add herbs and spice)

MallyGirl · 1 July 2016 at 5:11PM

I can't imagine anything more bland than mince and tatties - we are a spicy food family. Mince pilaff is a good one - and one pot cooking. I use Pataks curry paste but curry powder would be just as easy I am sure.
If I make spag bol for DD's visiting friends it always becomes chilli for us.

HOWMUCH · 1 July 2016 at 6:13PM

Deka you need to freeze your burgers as singles, I would split your mince off into 500g bags. Out of those you should be able to make a lasagne, chilli and a savoury mince or spag Bol. These will held several portions that you can put in the freezer as HM ready meals they can be microwaved from frozen if you forget to get them out. But last night I got curry and chilli out of the freezer and put straight into the fridge. You can get more than 1 meal out at once and decide in which order you eat them.

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Changing eating habits.

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