FORUMS > Gaining Weight Forum Rules

So after being lazy for a while and living mostly off fast food. I've started and exercise routine that seems to be working for me, now the next item on my agenda is healthy eating. I want to go grocery shopping and buy some healthy food. my plan is to buy about a weeks worth and throw all of the junk food away in my home. anyone have any good ideas of what i should buy for the week?

brown rice, potatoes, chicken breasts, tuna, bagged salads, frozen vegetables, plain oatmeal, eggs

thanks there is a start

Timberoo saidbrown rice, potatoes, chicken breasts, tuna, bagged salads, frozen vegetables, plain oatmeal, eggs

taking notes

What do you like to eat? Almost any diet can be made healthy with a few modifications. Wanting to eat healthy is one thing. Actually liking what you eat is a different one, and I am willing to bet you will like healthy food if it tastes good to your palate.

Can you cook? If you do, you can learn to make something delicious from just about anything. If not, learning should be a top priority. Basic cooking classes have become very popular in an age where it is normal to cook an entire meal in a microwave.

To dangle a carrot for you, if you bring a date home to cook for him, you just won the dating game. A date who knows how to cook is a wondrous thing, and the thank you sex all the better.

Of course, have your cruciferous veggies on your list: brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts

Check out the nutrients in these:
Spinach
Romaine lettuce


What Foods are Good for Energy?

Today’s grocery run:
Blueberries, Avocados, Kiwis, Orange juice, Skim milk, Skinless boneless chicken breasts, Sliced turkey breast, Oatmeal, Carrots, Broccoli, Spinach, Green onions, Salsa, Whole wheat tortillas, Brown rice, Eggs, Plain yogurt, Khasi GoLean crunch cereal, Coffee & Honey

I've been trying to buy more veggies and fruits. Always a good thing.

Try sugar peas (the flat pea pods) they are really good to snack on raw. Very yummy. Carrots are also tasty and pretty fast.

Other veggies you can cut up before hand and snack as you want, same goes for fruits. If you slice/cut in advance then you are more likely to eat them as they require little preparation.

For proteins, get a good protein power and mix with milk (or soy milk- these add extra protein, and most all flavors mix well with milk). Sandwich meat may not be the healthiest, but it's easy for us lazy folk.

I have a couple bottles of marinade in the fridge for chicken and beef. After working all day and then going to the gym or training, I cant be bothered cooking sometimes, so on a Sunday night I might marinate some chicken or beef for the next two nights so I can just grill it as soon as I get home. And it keeps it different, so I don't get bored. If you want, you can always make your own marinade.

typical food I eat at the moment (I live in Latin America and have no car, so go every other day). It´s also winter here which changes what´s available

pears
apples
bananas
oranges
lemons
pineapple
tomatoes
zucchini
carrots
avocados
big bag of spinach
green peppers
broccoli
onions
squash
frozen corn
frozen peas (both are as good or better than fresh)
garlic
rocoto, serrano and jalapeño chiles
fresh parsley and cilantro
dried oregano
potatoes
sweet potatoes
a chicken (to be boiled)
steak or beef for stewing
giant can of tuna (impossibly to buy fresh fish near my home)
plain yoghurt
soft cheese
whole rice
pasta
oatmeal
sunflower seed
quinoa
peanuts (I buy other nuts in other countries but here they are SO expensive. Brazil and walnuts are my favorites)
lentils
eggs
brown bread (check no corn syrup)
dark chocolate
red wine (sometimes)
olive oil,
apple vinegar
marmite
green tea
mint tea
I would drink mate and coffee regularly but they make me ill if I do it more than once a month. I drink water, or water with a tablespoon of apple vinegar in it (which I love)

Occasionally
pisco
rum
whisky
a pastry
a small tube of pringles
sugar (only in sugar syrup to make pisco sour and daiquirís. A bag lasts 6 months or more).


That´s basically the outside of the supermarket. It changes with the seasons: I buy what is cheapest when it comes to fruit and vegetables. I also buy differently depending on which country I´m in: some things are surprisingly expensive.


I echo Munchy: Learn to cook. It is the single best thing you can do to improve your eating.

My diet is certainly not underwear-model perfect, but it is sustainable for me. These are my most common grocery store purchases:

Any fresh produce I feel like eating. This typically means:
-cherries
-bananas
-blueberries
-strawberries
-sugar/snow peas
-carrots
-broccoli
-cucumbers
-spinach
-green onions
-other fruits in particular when the mood and prices strike.

Lean proteins:
-boneless, skinless chicken (breast or thigh)
-deli turkey
-tuna (packed in water)
-shrimp (when on sale)
-eggs, or liquid egg whites when those are on sale
-lean ground beef (also when on sale)

Dairy products:
-Skim milk
-law fat cottage cheese
-part skim mozerella
-at least one block of a fattier cheese (not ideal, but I eat it anyway)

Dried goods:
-beans (any variety)
-lentils
-brown rice
-split peas

Canned goods:
-mushrooms
-diced tomatoes (I make chili with the dried goods often)
-non-seasonal fruit packed in juice (not syrup)
-the aforementioned tuna

Frozen vegetables. Most often these will be:
-green beans
-edamame
-spinach
-broccoli
-various mixtures

Spices and condiments:
-minced onion
-garlic
-ginger
-sea salt
-black pepper
-cinnamon
-Italian seasoning
-mustard
-malt vinegar
-lemon juice
-lime juice
-teriyaki sauce (least healthy item in this category)

Other items:
soy milk
canola oil for stir frying
olive oil for anything else needing oil
butter or margarine (just being realist here)
some form of nut (pistachios recently)
100% whole grain bread (often from the day-old discount tray)
high protein pasta (Barilla's Pasta Plus)
[I can only make it a very short time on a low carb eating plan until the craving for bread and pasta is overwhelming. I figure it's better to just make good choices on my pasta and bread than to try to avoid them entirely]

Also, if you're really new to cooking, a couple of cooking items to consider, each of which makes cooking simpler. Let's face it, if you're tired when you walk in the door, it's that much more likely you'll eat a healthy meal if it's either already ready for you, or it requires a minimum of time and effort.

- A crock pot. I use mine at least twice a week. 5 minutes of throwing things into it in the morning yields a hot dinner as soon as I walk in the door. I spent like $30 on a good quality large one that has 4 different cooking times and automatically switches over to "keep warm" once that time has been reached, so I don't have to worry about burning things or the food getting cold. I also tend to make up a large batch of something at once, and then eat the leftovers for lunch that week. Soups, stews, roasts, chicken, pork...anything that you might want to cook slowly and have be extremely tender when it's finished.

- A wok. Stir frys are really fast, and a very easy way to get yourself to eat more fresh vegetables when they're in season. You'll want one that's cast iron, and if you've got gas burners on your stove you want one that has a round bottom. You can get a good quality one for $25ish

- A vegetable/rice steamer. It's easily the healthiest way to cook your veggies, and a steamer makes it very simple and safe. As a tip, you can add spices directly to the water while it's steaming, and end up with garlic broccoli or the like. Again, somewhere between $20 and $30 will get you a good quality steamer that can handle both veggies and rice.

-A Foreman grill, probably something to wait until the Fall to purchase. Having a heated lid and base greatly speeds cooking, and the angled design really does reduce the fat that you consume by a considerable margin. Grilling outdoors is more fun in the summer, but you can use the Foreman indoor all year long.

These are all excellent choices foodwise and you guys have given me a lot of great ideas to add to what I am doing! Thanks!

To the OP: if you are looking at boxed food (cereals, etc.) or anything that is pre-packaged - stay away from high levels of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. (Tip: the ingredients are always listed in order of highest amounts to lowest ... so if sugar is #2 or high up on the list, stay away.)

Read the ingredient labels and educate yourself on what is actually in the food that you are buying. Just because something advertises that it is "healthy" or "trans-fat free" does not mean it's necessarily a good choice for you nutritionally. In fact, it could be quite the opposite.

Fat in the diet within reason is OK - your body needs it daily to help with digestion, among other things -- but it needs to be the right kind of fat. For example: almonds & nuts - good ... ice cream and bratwurst - not very good at all.

Lostboy saidI echo Munchy: Learn to cook. It is the single best thing you can do to improve your eating.

Cooking Healthy: Let us make eating the healthy way convenient, fun and enjoyable with our quick easy recipes and our in-home cooking demonstrations.

syd_hockey_79 saidI have a couple bottles of marinade in the fridge for chicken and beef. After working all day and then going to the gym or training, I cant be bothered cooking sometimes, so on a Sunday night I might marinate some chicken or beef for the next two nights so I can just grill it as soon as I get home. And it keeps it different, so I don't get bored. If you want, you can always make your own marinade.

This marinade of which you speak...

Other posts say to to read the ingredients and this is of vital importance here too. The vast majority of store-bought marinades are loaded with sugar and/or HFCS.

Another idea is to get the value pack boneless skinless chicken breast and marinate them individually in freezer bags and freeze them on your day off. In the morning before work move one from the freezer to the fridge.

For instance slice a lemon, sprinkle one breast with dill, arrange the lemon slices and seal the freezer bag. This one is Lemon Dill Chicken.
Do another with Lemon and fresh ground pepper.
Another with ginger and sesame seeds etc.

Tossing together a meal is fairly easy. I always prefer it to eating out.
Whether it's grilling a piece of chicken, steaming some rice and/or veggies.

Like anything practice and experiment with flavors that you enjoy already.

Some guys have already given decent food list.

Enjoy.

Thanks guys i have went out and gotten a lot of what was said here. Im happy to say that i no longer even crave fast food and when i went out to dinner and had some unhealthy food. it made me feel gross afterwards. even my friends have joined in helping me (4th of july my friend wants to have a cookout and i quote her "oh this is going to be fun, lets play what cody can and cannot eat") but i noticed i havent been eating very much and with the working out been sleeping a lot more

I tend to stick to rather lean meats (lean cuts of beef and chicken, tilapia, scallops, mussels, rabbit) and veggies. Occasionally I will have something less healthy (lamb) but watch the serving size.

I'm also a fan of the "good" fats found in nuts, avocados, and olives. I need a good dose of fat in my diet (otherwise I start to feel funky); I just watch how much I have.

cody98712 saidSo after being lazy for a while and living mostly off fast food. I've started and exercise routine that seems to be working for me, now the next item on my agenda is healthy eating. I want to go grocery shopping and buy some healthy food. my plan is to buy about a weeks worth and throw all of the junk food away in my home. anyone have any good ideas of what i should buy for the week?

Your profile says you're 120, so be sure you're eating healthy, but eating a LOT. If you're only 120 having lived off fast food, I'm guessing you don't eat much.

Oh, and added to the list:

NATURAL peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Super fast and yummy.

Ground turkey

Almonds, raw sunflower seeds and other seeds, nuts and grains to snack on.

Low fat/no fat milk

Frozen vegetables of all kinds. If you don't like to wash and clean veggies, buy em frozen and save yourself a lot of time. Season the way you want.

Diet soda

Low fat mayonaise and cottage cheez.

Whole wheat bread

Avoid anything with trans/hydrogenated fats and high fructose content

Get yourself a George Foreman grill.

THIS THREAD IS AWESOME!! I am inspired by some of your lists... and when I move to Chicago in a couple weeks I'm starting FRESH.

Since you're moving to Chicago try shopping for fruits and veggies at Aldi. it's a German based international company and you can get some great prices on oatmeal, fruits and veggies.

Weekly I buy about 9lb of apples, 2lb of carrots, 1lb of strawberries or grapes, 4 avocados (I usually eat half of one a day) and about 4 to 5lb of fresh brocolli and several bags of fresh spinach and either brown rice or long grain white rice and frozen salmon.

I make a lot of fresh fruit smoothies and use most of the above items to get my 9 to 11 servings of fruits and veggies daily.

At Costco I buy frozen bluberries, eggs in bulk (7.5 dozen is the box) and sometimes split a large container of cherries with my shopping companion since it's too much for me to consume before spoiling.

At Jewel Grocery stores I buy pasteurized egg to mix in my smoothies for protein. It's safe to eat raw and it's flavorless.

I take in 2TBSN of olive oil (cooked with my rice) and mix flax seeds in my protein drinks and eat about 3 to 5 Brazil nuts and about 4 pieces of walnuts daily.