"What do I eat to get started on a balanced diet?"

[T-Cake]

"What do I eat to get started on a balanced diet?"

It's a question I get a number of times via PM or read even on the boards here. I just answered it for someone in fact!

I thought it might be useful to some of you here who might be curious as to how often you should eat each day and what some ideas of good/easy meals or snacks might be.

Enjoy!!!

*****

General rules include you should be...
1. Eating every 3-4 hours.
2. Eating 5-6 times a day.

What I typically do is this:

Wake at 5am: Workout on empty stomach.

Get to work at 9am: Eat meal 1.

Eat lunch at work at 1pm: Meal 2.

Eat snack when I am done working or on my way home, about 4pm: Meal 3

Eat dinner around 6:30pm: Meal 4.

Eat night-snack at 8:30 or 9pm: Meal 5.

Some days I only manage Meal 1, 2, 3 and a snack at night (meal 4), but mostly it's because I teach and I can't stop class to have a meal (my planning time is the first hour of the school day, so once I start teaching, I have no breaks until it's time to go home). This isn't IDEAL, but it's REALISTIC on some days. Some days, "REALISTIC" will just have to win over "IDEAL" when it comes to eating a balanced diet.

Meal ideas:
Breakfast ideas
* Protein shake
* Eggs/egg whites omellete/scrambled + cheese + lean meat (deli meat is fine)
* Veggies in your eggs if you want
* Whole-grain slice of toast w/ natural peanut butter
* Whole-grain tortilla with the eggs wrapped up in it
* Turkey breakfast sausage (microwavable) or turkey bacon + eggs/cheese (I this in a bowl/scramble kind of meal!)

The idea is to get as much protein for breakfast as possible, trying to overpower the carbs. This will satiate you longer. This rule applies to snacks or mini meals throughout the day as well, though depending on your specific training goals or activity level for that day (or the next day), you may be eating more carbs than protein. Remember, it's all guess-and-check! Try out a variety of methods!

Snack Ideas:
* Nuts (cashews, almonds)
* Natural nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter, etc. -- just make sure the label says NUTS ONLY for ingreidents)
* Chicken breast or lean mean omellete
* Sugar Free pudding cups or Jell-o cups
* String cheese
* Deli meat (like turkey or chicken or even one of those rotisserie chickens w/ the skin removed!) rolled with lowfat or fat-free cheese or veggies or both!
* 1/2 whole-grain pita or 1 whole-grain tortilla sandwich with meat/cheese
* Tuna fish! The flavor pouches from Starkist are AWESOME!
* Cottage cheese (lowfat or fat-free: Light n' Lively brand's "fat free" is the best one -- trust me!)
* Blue-corn organic tortilla chips with salsa!

Lunch Ideas:
* Chicken or turkey burgers (I make a batch of burgers on Sundays for the whole week; just buy ground meat at the store, mix it up with 1 egg (per 2 lbs of meat) and seasoning; form into patties and grill! Also available frozen but a bit pricier. If you use beef, go as lean as possible (sirloin). Ground chicken and ground turkey are relatively cheap for meat ($3 for about 1.25 lbs! About 4 big burgers). Ground turkey BREAST (white meat only) is pricier.
* Instant brown rice or cous cous (buy in the rice/pasta aisle -- cook on Sundays and have 1/2 c rice with one of the burgers! Great!) I cook mine using chicken broth instead of water -- makes it taste better!
* Baked white or sweet potatoes (I like black bean salsa on top of mine! I have this with turkey burgers often too).
* Cottage cheese + applesauce (unsweetened, like "Mott's Sugar Free")
* Fruit or veggie of choice (the darker in color the better, like red grapes are better than green ones, for example).

Dinner Ideas:
* Grilled meat + potatoes (any variety) + veggie of choice (maybe some frozen green beans or frozen broccoli sauteed in a pan with some garlic, soy sauce and turkey bacon!!! )
* Wheat-noodles with marinara sauce (low-sugar or organic if possible) and choice of meat -- add veggies of choice, like sauteed red onion, mushrooms, etc. I buy frozen veggies and keep it on hand in the freezer -- just toss in a handful here and there.
* Whole-wheat tortilla PIZZA -- dish some spaghetti sauce on a tortilla (or two) and top it with some cooked chicken or deli meat (leftovers are fine and remember -- deli TURKEY or CHICKEN is better; no salami, ok?!) or some turkey pepperoni. Lowfat cheese and maybe some sauteed veggies -- it is GOOOOOD!
* For added protein in my pastas and pizzas, I love to add a dollop of fat-free ricotta cheese. It adds some creamy texture and flavor to the dish and for a reasonably high protein count. Tasty!

Those are some of my favorite things. I have a lovely recipe book too that I make meals out of nightly for my family here at home called "Quick Fix Meals" by Food Network's Robin Miller. It is FABULOUS, and VERY waistline friendly!

Fancy food for reasonable eaters (that is, until cheat day arrive! )

Hope that helps some of you!

[NubianBeauty]

WOW! Great post T!

[CK]

sticky!

[mnk]

Can always count on t-cake for informative diet info and a great smile....Love ya Ulter

[Beverly McD.]

Print it out and put in all the school cafeterias, with extra copies sent home to the parents.

Many people truly have NO IDEA what to eat if they can't pick it up at a fast-food retaurant.

Very nice job there T-Cake.

[T-Cake]

Originally Posted by NubianBeauty

WOW! Great post T!

Thanks!!!

Originally Posted by CK

sticky!

Wheee! I love that bear.

Originally Posted by mnk

Can always count on t-cake for informative diet info and a great smile....Love ya Ulter

Aww, thank you I just thought it'd be useful to more than just the person I PMed it to

Originally Posted by Beverly McD.

Print it out and put in all the school cafeterias, with extra copies sent home to the parents.

Many people truly have NO IDEA what to eat if they can't pick it up at a fast-food retaurant.

Very nice job there T-Cake.

GREAT POINT! I never thought of that! Hmm, I wonder how I could finagle the release of that at MY school??? Mailed home newsletter submission, perhaps? I'll think about that, seriously!

Awesome info T....Thank you!

The idea is to get as much protein for breakfast as possible, trying to overpower the carbs. This will satiate you longer. This rule applies to snacks or mini meals throughout the day as well, though depending on your specific training goals or activity level for that day (or the next day), you may be eating more carbs than protein. Remember, it's all guess-and-check! Try out a variety of methods!



This is something I really have to focus on...Thank you!

[T-Cake]

Glad it'll help you to focus on something, GG!

[bigleemurali]

That was an excellent post.

I know that in reality we cannot avoid skipping meals. But skipping meal is not a good habit at all. Having slow digested protein like casein products in the meal before your classroom session can help you on positive nitrogen balance for a longer time.