[Moksha]

Hey guys, i'm trying to kind of shape up my diet a little bit. I'm hoping tohugh that i can get some advice here since it seems like a lot of you guys are semi-experts on the subject.

I'm currently 5'8'' and around 180-185 lbs. My diet is horrible though and i know i can drop the weight that i want (10-20lbs) in time if i really shape it up. i go to JJ classes 5 times a week, and you usually end up rolling for atleast an hour every class. In addition to that, I'm also weight training 6 times a week and training for a marathon by running 2 times a week, adding up to approximently 15-20 miles a week.

I'm a terribly picky eater and that makes up a big part of the problem with my diet. My current diet is awful but somehow i still manage to maintain my current weight without gaining. I think that my major problems are; I'm a bored eater, if im sitting around at home, im usually hungry and tend to snack. I eat wayy to many crappy snacks like bagel bites, lay potato chips, chocolate, etc. My meals are subpar, i usually eat a type of protein(burger,breaded chicken,meatloaf,fish sticks, or hot dogs) with some carbs(pasta, chef boyardee stuff) or something else equally as bad(mozerella sticks, pizza rolls, bagel bites). I'm also in high school, so one of my meals is usually crappy cafeteria food(pizza, burger, chicken) and some snacks(applesauce, baked lays potato chips, cookie). And lastly, i hardly eat any vegtables or fruits. i eat a banana or apple before i workout and thats usually it. On occassion i do have canned corn or green beans with a meal aswell but quite rarely. I also drinks lots of milk and enjoy shredded cheddar cheese as a snack.

If you guys could give me any advice on anthing from a outline of a diet that could work around what i currently eat, some foods i should give a try to that will help out with snacks or during meals, things i should drop from my current diet, or anything really, I'd absolutely appreciate it. If you guys need any more information as well i could do my best to provide it. Thanks guys/gals!

[mickeyford]

Sounds like you are on the American teenager diet. lol

Start by drinking only water as your drinks. It will be hard at first, but nobody can argue that it is the best thing for your body.
You will have to cut out the Bagel Bites and I recommend cutting out all processed foods completely. (stuff like bagel bites and canned pasta meals)
When you want to snack, eat fruit. One thing that may help is if you split up your meals. Instead of eating 3 meals a day, eat 6 smaller ones.
If you can't cook, learn how. You don't have to become the Iron Chef, but it is really beneficial if you can find a few healthy meals you like and learn how to make them yourself. Hope this helps! The biggest thing of all with changing your diet is discipline. A lack of discipline is the reason people fall off their diets.

[scifigal]

Honestly, you already know what to do - you've identified weaknesses.

I'm curious as to what YOU think you should do. What advice would you give yourself?

[parabellum]

Dude, seriously consider learning about the Gracie diet.

Even if you don't buy into all the "food combinations" stuff in the diet, just the switch to a diet mostly comprised of fresh fruits and veggies, the removal of all beverages that aren't water or fresh made juice, and the removal of sugar and processed foods full of preservative garbage will move your health light years forward.

If that isn't to your liking, strongly consider the Paleo Diet. Best book for that is the Primal Blueprint: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/

For example my breakfast today is a slice of wheat bread with fresh made hummus, its freaking delicious, takes 30 seconds to prepare, and gives you a ton of energy.

EDIT: Here, try this out for a few days and see if this doesn't totally change your outlook on eating:

Lunch: Avocado sandwhich.

Take one whole ripe avocado and cut it into pieces. Spread some almond butter two slices of wheat bread (find one with no hydrogenated oils or high fructose anything) and place the avocado strips on top. Add walnuts and sprouts. (you can substitute any nut, and the sprouts are optional but I love them).

Eat that for lunch for a few days, eliminate the snacking and see if you aren't absolutely full of energy about 90-120 minutes after you eat that meal.

That is my lunch almost every day and its incredible.

[waterrob]

I second the vote to learn to do some basic cooking, and get rid of all the processed food. Start taking lunch to school with you, and lean towards fresh meat, fruit, and veggies. If you can not eat anything from a box or can for a week, you will be amazed at how much better you feel. Parabellum's avocado sandwich sounds awesome, and is pretty cheap and easy to make and take with you.

[parabellum]

[georgetteoden]

I have the same "snacky" habit and here are the things I try to keep around the house so that I don't have a choice when I want to mindlessly eat. (I assume you don't have the same level of authority in your house, but I imagine if you asked your parents to help you out by not buying that stuff, or by buying less of it, they'd be willing to help out since it makes them healthier too...) The short version of this very long post? Vegetables and fruits are your friends. Avoid bread products and sugar-added stuff.

When I want salty/crunchy foods, one option is pickles. If you have a sweet tooth, get no-sugar-added pickles. Both have basically zero calories.

Also, I make sweet potato oven fries. Sweet potatoes are super healthy: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2667/2
And very easy-- you need a sweet potato or two (if you're hungry) and a packet of taco seasoning (or garlic salt, lemon pepper, whatever you like.) Preheat your oven to 400. Scrub the potato with a brush, slice it very thin, and put it on your wire cookie cooling racks, set on top of cookie sheets. (If your mom has silicone baking mats aka Silpats, those work better than the cooling racks. Or, you can try parchment paper over the cookie sheets. Only if none of these are available, should you put about a Tbsp of olive oil on a wadded paper towel and rub it evenly across the cookie sheet, just to get a thin layer. But that will burn and maybe stick, so last resort.) Sprinkle your seasoning on each slice (I do rounds like chips, you can do "fries" if they're VERY thin but that's a pain to cut evenly) and cook-- I start with ten minutes, then rotate the cookie sheets top to bottom and front to back. Then I start setting the timer for 2 min intervals and check them religiously. The space between "nicely cooked and crunchy edges" and "smoking black inedible" is about 2 minutes wide and with all the natural sugar in the potatoes, they go from cooked to burned quick. Usually in my oven the whole baking time is around 16-18 min. I don't do this with regular potatoes because they're less nutritious and more like empty calories.

I keep baby carrots and cucumbers around for snacking when I can't afford the calories of a 180-calorie sweet potato or the time to fix it. Another good one is sliced apples with a smear of peanut butter.

Quinoa ("keen-wah") is far far better for you than rice, pasta, and bagels. It cooks as quickly and easily as rice. If you can boil water you can cook quinoa. It's full of protein too.
http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/quinoa-nutrition-facts

Spaghetti squash is a good substitute for pasta.
http://localfoods.about.com/od/preparationtips/tp/How-To-Cook-Spaghetti-Squash.htm

Make a big salad and bring it to school for lunch. If people look at you, tell them you're cutting weight for a jiu jitsu tournament, or that your S&C coach wants you to eat this. Let them ask what S&C is. Then make another at night and eat it before every dinner. Don't add a bunch of s*** like croutons and ranch dressing and cheese either. Instead of lettuce, use half and half baby spinach and sliced-up kale, chop up a bunch of veggies (tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli in tiny bits) and add some nuts (sliced almonds or walnuts are the most nutritious)... make a vinaigrette out of vinegar, water, a little sugar, herbs/salt/pepper, and a smalllllll amount of oil... if you have some fruit add that too (pears, apples, any kinds of berries, all work well in salads.) For your lunch salad, add some shrimp (baby shrimp sold cooked and peeled in bags in the freezer section of the grocery are cheap and easy) or sliced cooked chicken.

Instead of mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower. It's almost the same, I swear to Rickson Gracie. Cut up an entire head of cauli, put it in a pot with water and a little salt-- boil till it's soft. Drain most of the water and mash like it was potatoes. I like it with seasoning salt and that's it. Great for when you're cutting weight but the rest of the family is eating Sunday dinner and you don't want to feel left out.

When I'm craving something sweet and dessert-y, I eat no-sugar-added, lowfat vanilla yogurt, it's like a vanilla pudding. This is also great for breakfast with a banana.

My favorite breakfast is a smoothie. I keep ripe, peeled bananas in a gallon size ziploc in the freezer. I break off a banana, put it in the blender with some frozen fruit (berries, cherries, mango, pineapple all work well). I add a couple heaping tablespoons of the yogurt above, a handful or two of baby spinach or kale, and sometimes some acai powder and/or flax seed meal. Some 50/50 (lower sugar) orange juice and give it a whirl. You won't taste the spinach/kale, it just adds vitamins, fiber and color. You don't need to add sugar or honey because of the sweetness from the juice and yogurt; you definitely don't need ice because your fruit is frozen.

Let me know what you think!

[georgetteoden]

[parabellum]

[waterrob]

[parabellum]

[clinzy]

I grew up eating just like you. My mom never made me eat vegetables. She didn't like them, so she never made my sister or me eat them. I have been paying for this most of my adult life. So, I'm saying everything below from the voice of experience.

With a diet as bad as yours is (sorry, but I'm not going to pull any punches here), you need to try and make one change at a time. If I were you, this is what I'd do. Every two weeks, I'd make a new change.

First two weeks, eliminate any beverage with calories. You can drink water, sparkling water (with no calories), diet soda (no calories), etc. Don't change anything else.

Second two weeks, eliminate bread. Just bread (and breading). Baby steps, here. So now you've got no bread and no beverages with calories.

Third two weeks. eliminate all other grains. No more pasta, no more rice.

Fourth two weeks, eliminate one more thing that's crap in your diet. It could be sugar, or artificial sweeteners, or dairy, or something else that doesn't come from the exterior of the grocery store.

You asked for people to design a meal plan based on what you do eat, but honestly, you can't have a healthy diet based on bagel bites They have to go.

As you're eliminating things, you need to be adding in more fruits, veggies, and good fats. Good fat = avocado, olives, olive oil, coconut oil. You need to eat good meats, not chicken nuggets and fish sticks.

Learning to eat right is a matter of changing your lifestyle, not going on a crash diet. This is a permanent change, not something you're going to do for a few weeks to look good for no gi season. You need to find vegetables that are high in fiber and low in starch/sugar (greens are good, corn is bad) that you can eat and enjoy. If you don't like greens simmered/wilted down (I don't like them this way), find another way to eat them. Kale chips are great. Kale in a salad is also great. You also can't try a vegetable from a can and write it off. Canned asparagus is disgusting. Asparagus grilled with salt, pepper, and lemon is incredible. You get the idea. You have to expand your palate and try new things.

[parabellum]

Also, after the initial detox stage is over for you OP, which should take 3-6 weeks, you may find that your tastes change too.

For example, after about a month without sugary beverages, you may try your old favorite soda and hate it.

These days, anything sweeter than fresh fruit is too much for me.

[waterrob]

Also don't be too hard on yourself if you occasionally stray away from your diet, as long as it is occasional, and not regular. It's pretty easy to get discouraged if you make everything absolute and set in stone. A piece of pizza here and there never killed anyone, but eating a large pepperoni pie every day probably has.

[georgetteoden]

Damn this is all great advice.... I NEED TO TAKE IT! hahaha...

One more thing-- everything in moderation. Except when I'm cutting for a tournament (when I get really really strict) once a week I enjoy a meal where I can relax and enjoy a pizza with friends, or churrascaria with my husband. But the important thing is that you really enjoy the food and the event, and not eat the fatty stuff mindlessly (no more snacking on shredded cheddar cheese!)

When you are in a mindless snack mode (watching TV, reading, etc) then you have to substitute healthy things like fresh veggies so that almost no matter how much you eat, it won't hurt you.

[parabellum]

[clinzy]

[parabellum]

[georgetteoden]

[parabellum]