[blackbird]

I think it's time for me to adapt a healthy diet. I've been feeling terrible lately, and I think my terrible diet/sleeping schedule has been the cause of that.

This week, I haven't eaten lunch at all (except today) and went to sleep each night at around 3am. And the common cold hasn't helped me either. Yesterday I went to sleep at around 12am. I woke up today at 7am without an alarm. I felt a lot better today, and I haven't needed my usual afternoon naps.

I think I should continue keeping this procession of good habits, so that I can completely reverse all of my bad ones.

The problem is, I don't cook my own meals, and my parents only give me a small amount of money to buy myself snacks every week.

Yesterday, I went to Whole Foods, and I purchased:
Two 6oz yogurts
Two lbs of grapes
Four Mcintosh apples
One bottle of Chocolate milk. (maybe I shouldn't have bought this)

It cost me about $10, which is pretty high for something that will only last me about 2-3 days.

I want to be able to make my own meals during the weekends. My mom always complains about how I don't cook my own lunches, and I don't really like what she makes for lunch either, so I thought it might be a good idea for me to make my own lunch. It could be difficult though, because I don't want to use any processed foods, or any meat. I am going to college next year, so it would be a great time for me to learn.

So I guess what I really need to ask is: How do I start phasing out all of these processed foods/goods from my diet? I am certainly motivated enough to do it, because they make me feel terrible, but it's a question of cost. For right now, I want to start with just buying my own snacks, and making my own lunches for the weekend. Perhaps as I get better, I might want to make my own lunch + breakfast everyday, since cafeteria food isn't all that great.

A few questions regarding this cooking thing:
1. Should I look up recipes before I buy the vegetables? Or maybe I should buy what is available, and then find out what I can make with it?
2. Am I going to dread this, or will I have fun?
3. Should I focus much on organic or local foods?

Extra notes:
My parents really like eating animal products. Mostly, it is beef, or pork, or chicken. I find this habit very strange, because before they immigrated to the U.S., they ate an intrinsically vegetarian diet, and they didn't have much to eat. Now, more than twenty years later, they have converted to a meat-dominated diet. I thought they would hold vegetables and fresh food in higher esteem, but it seems that the allure of meat has captured them better. Despite the fact that they really love to eat fish and maybe a dish of vegetables a couple of times a week, it definitely is meat abundant.

My math teacher made a very interesting point to me. He said that when he was my age, he would buy a whole pizza pie, and just eat the entire thing. He says he can't do that anymore, because it makes him feel terrible, and also because he doesn't want diabetes (he says both his parents have the disease). Then he told me that eventually I'm going to have to think about eating healthily as well. Does he have a point?

 

[Spareribs]

Your parents have picked up bad eating habits. It is common. I actually know Europeans who have lived in here in USA for a few years and they are over weight. I'm thinking when they lived in Europe, they were thinner which is common for many Europeans.
 
It's not your parent's fault. It's just that we live in a society of junk food. Or sometimes known as the Western Diet (Western pattern diet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) I also call it the meat and potatoes diet. To make things more complex, we are a massive soda drinking society as well. In addition to that, it is very normal to snack in between meals with potato chips, candy bars and all those junk foods that you see everywhere at the gas stations and counter tops. I was at Staples (office supply store) the other day and they had a section of junk food near the cash register. This is supposed to be an office supply store but it is obvious how junk food has become part of the fabric of our culture. According to what I read, this was not like this in the 1960s and 1970s when people were a lot thinner.
 
Learning to cook is crucial IMO. You cannot rely on what other people are making or selling. It may not be easy for some people and you should try to figure out what works best for you. 
 
I will say this. According to health food advocate Michael Pollen, the average American spends 2 hours a day watching TV or on the computer. A healthy meal normally takes about 30 minutes to prepare. 
 
It does take work. I wake up a little extra early many times to prepare my meals. I cannot really recommend what to eat because everyones's tastes buds are different but for me, I eat vegetarian on the week days and meat on the weekends. Sometimes I break the rules a little if someone invites me out to  dinner that day. I also try to avoid pizza because it is high in calories and one slice of pizza cannot fill me up and it is like eating caloric potato chips in a way. If I happen to encounter really good pizza, I may indulge on a rare occasion.
 
Don't worry too much about organic or local foods. Avoid eating too much dried foods because they are compact with calories and don't fill you up. For example nuts, chips, etc... Only in small amounts please.
 
Will you dread this? It depends. For me, I am not really a lover of American food so I do not miss that stupid burger or candy bar. But I realize that most people need to eat that kind of junk food because it is also an addiction. Yes, sugar and fats are addictive and the fast food industry and food corporations know it. I love sugar and fat but I also love the really good versions of it a lot more. So on the weekends or occasional weekday, I will indulge in a really good well made cake or high quality  beef but will snub the generic cheap stuff.
 
In theory, it is possible to eat well and love healthy food. Many people think this is impossible but a lot of the Vietnamese and Mediterranean food is healthy and delicious. Vietnamese people do not normally eat the  Western Diet but they do not feel deprived of good taste. I have never seen a fat Vietnamese person. I love those kinds of foods so I try to mimic that style in my cooking.  
 
My way food is this: Quality over quantity. I try to put a mental block on the junk food that surrounds us. It is kind of like denying my culture and junk food is a part of our modern culture.
 
Put it this way, in the early 20th century, Americans were a lot thinner. It was not easy to find a fast food restaurant or even standard restaurant in many regions and if you wanted a snack, you ate an apple. Every meal was home cooked. Look at the Amish people in America. Have you ever seen a fat young Amish person? They eat the same way how people ate many years ago.
 
If you simply avoid modern corporate foods like our great grand parents and ate more foods from scratch, there will be a difference in the way you feel. In a way, it's not rocket science. The hardest part IMO is to block out our culture of eating which is in our face everywhere we go.
 
 

 

[Spareribs]

I also want to comment that if you are on a low budget, you pretty much should do what the Indian and Chinese immigrants do. They shop at the ethnic grocery stores and buy small amounts of meat and more cheap starches like rice, beans etc... IMO, those budget foods are delicious( I actually love it)  so you could try that style if you are inclined. It does take work though but it could make a difference in your life and the way  you feel. 

 

[GreatDane]

Congrats on wanting to improve your health.

My favorite website for news on this subject:

http://naturalnews.com/index.html

 

[Uncle Erik]

I changed my diet in 2008. Not only do I feel better, I dropped about 110 lbs. I sleep better and have more energy.

Cut out sugar, salt and flour. No soda, no alcohol. Drink mostly water.

Pick up "The Joy of Cooking" because it will teach you the basics. You only need a frying pan, soup pot and a stock pot. Get a paring knife, chef's knife and a steel. Get a couple of Pyrex pans for cooking in the oven. That's about all you need. Get good quality stuff. I have some solid stainless pots, old baking dishes from a thrift store and got Calphalon knives because they're fully-forged and reasonably priced. You can get all this for $100 or less.

Go to farmer's markets and buy what's in season and looks good. Google recipes for it - you'll find something that sounds good.

You will adjust to a new diet, but it will not happen overnight. It took me a couple of months. I used to crave burgers and plenty else bad, but I really love fresh, unprocessed food now. Your cravings will change. Not right away, but they will. For the first three or four months, I'd go out for a chiliburger or similar on Saturdays, when I'd loosen up. But eventually, I stopped wanting them. You will, too. Give it time. If you slip, get back on the horse and keep going.

 

[Elysian]

Like you've already figured out, it's really hard to eat healthy on a budget.  If you need meat, you can get Foster's Farms chicken cheaply at Costco (as low as $0.99/lb).  If you strip off the skin and bake or boil, and use healthy seasonings (not too much salt, ground black pepper, etc.) you can get a lot of protein without too much fat.  Quinoa is probably out of your budget, but brown rice and a good Japanese rice cooker can go a long way.  If you boil the chicken for awhile, you can get a really nice chicken stock.  Rice tastes really good if you cook it in only chicken stock.
 
Be careful with fish.  Most cheap fish is farm raised and is loaded with fat due to the unhealthy corn diet they're fed.  A lot of cheap white fish is even worse for you than lean beef.
 
I've started picking up veggies at farmer's markets.  If you hunt around you can sometimes find a good price.  The darker and more fibrous and leafy the green, the better.  Try to eat produce raw, or only cook/steam lightly.  Produce at Costco and large chain supermarkets goes bad really fast.  Try shopping for produce at Asian supermarkets.  It's generally cheaper and fresher.
 
Try to get up to 30-50g of fiber/day (not the Metamucil (psyllium) or polydextrose junk that does nothing for you, but real fiber like vegetables, flax, etc.).  You'll feel gassy and bloated for a week, but once your body adjusts, you will feel much, much better.
 
Try taking 1-2g of fish oil daily.  It helps a lot with mood and cholesterol: http://www.amazon.com/Kirkland-Signature-Enteric-Coated-softgels/dp/B002RL8FDO
 
Most importantly, cut out as much sugar (particularly refined sugar and artificial sweeteners/sugar alcohols), bad oils (anything that comes from a mammal), fried, processed food, and alcohol as possible.  Fruit juice is as bad for you as soda.  Jamba Juice is also really bad for you.  One of those smoothies has 120g+ sugar, easy.
 
It's really hard to eat healthy all of a sudden, so try to be good 6 days a week, and make one day your splurge day (Fri, Sat, or Sun tend to be good days).  You know you've been good if, after holding to a good diet for several weeks, the idea of eating McDonalds, Burger King, or Dominos will make you feel nauseated.
 
You really, really need to sleep more.  It's hard not to stay up late, but you should try to average 7hrs/day, even if it means taking naps.
 
A 40:30:30 diet is a good place to start (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_diet).  You need to eat fat, but you want to make sure you're eating good, not bad fats.  If you avoid fat altogether, you'll never feel satiated.  Organic is pointless and a waste of money.  Just pay attention to nutrition labels and ingredient lists.
 
Good luck!

 

[sourced]

The easiest way for me to cook vegetables is to stir fry. I don't have to worry about recipes since it's always the same (I don't mind monotony in my food). I have a wok, so I put in peanut oil, add vegetables, add soy sauce, and eat with rice and sriracha sauce (hot sauce). Most solid vegetables work: carrots, broccoli, green pepper, onion, mushrooms, etc. I've been buying vegetables from Sam's Club (like Costco), but it is hard to eat the whole bag before it goes bad, like Elysian said, so I buy one kind at a time. 

 

[RexAeterna]

eating meat is not a bad eating habit....

i think food honestly is the last thing to worry about. it's your sleeping habits and your exercise level that affects you the most i personally think. i think as long as your very active and get proper sleep and even sometimes take cat naps after a workout you be great. think of it in an audio chain, like how the source is the least of your worries. as long as your eating home cook meals and every couple hours snaking on something and including everything in your diet from fats,carbs,vitamins,protein,ect. you be fine. most mistake people make is try to eliminate carbs and fats completely. very bad idea. body needs fats and carbs for energy. about 70% of nutrients you take in gets absorb by your brain and other organs cause they need massive amounts of energy to operate. that's why 1000 calorie diet people also go on makes them feel tired and so forth(especially for men). lack of certain nutrients will drop testosterone levels as well and testosterone is most important hormone in your body especially for men. testosterone helps with sexual desires,muscle mass,fat burning, bone density,organ functions,immune system,brain and heart function,aging,ect. another reason why men as well are less prone to infections and age less compared to women.


i say getting proper sleep and increasing your activity level is best thing to do man. as long as you buy foods you have to cook from scratch and eat plenty of vegetables and fruits included in your diet you be feeling great in no time. also for working out eating habit. most important time to eat lots of food is after your workout and on your days off. why? cause the human body natrually stores away needed energy and vitamins for the body if in need of use. our bodies are very complex and is tuned to be natural survivors cause of our animal instincts we have from long generations of evolution. this whole diet schemes you see advertise all the time is actually pushing our evolution backwards.

 

[pigmode]

Quote:

i say getting proper sleep and increasing your activity level is best thing to do man.

 
You hit upon one of the most neglected aspects of the healthy diet conundrum, and that would be efficient use of the energy we take it.

 

[shrimants]

I changed my diet in 2008. Not only do I feel better, I dropped about 110 lbs. I sleep better and have more energy.
Cut out sugar, salt and flour. No soda, no alcohol. Drink mostly water.
Pick up "The Joy of Cooking" because it will teach you the basics. You only need a frying pan, soup pot and a stock pot. Get a paring knife, chef's knife and a steel. Get a couple of Pyrex pans for cooking in the oven. That's about all you need. Get good quality stuff. I have some solid stainless pots, old baking dishes from a thrift store and got Calphalon knives because they're fully-forged and reasonably priced. You can get all this for $100 or less.
Go to farmer's markets and buy what's in season and looks good. Google recipes for it - you'll find something that sounds good.
You will adjust to a new diet, but it will not happen overnight. It took me a couple of months. I used to crave burgers and plenty else bad, but I really love fresh, unprocessed food now. Your cravings will change. Not right away, but they will. For the first three or four months, I'd go out for a chiliburger or similar on Saturdays, when I'd loosen up. But eventually, I stopped wanting them. You will, too. Give it time. If you slip, get back on the horse and keep going.

how the hell did you drop all that weight?!

I used to be in the army and I would barely sleep 3 hours a day, was super stressed out and lets just say I made terrible decisions regarding ingestion of various products. I would eat basically one proper meal a day and who knows what it was made out of, It was only in advanced training so for all I know it could have been engineered food. Either way, I went from 166 down to 135. I finally got out a year ago and by now i've gained all of that weight back.

I have joy of cooking but at home my parents and I eat a very weird diet. These days we've been having a lot of indian food, digiorno pizza, i make burritos sometimes, we only eat out once a week. Everyone has limitations on what they can and will eat, so most of the recipes in Joy of Cooking are completely worthless until I move out on my own.

My mom used to be a vegetarian before she met my dad but she basically refuses to eat things that arent chicken. My sister has ulcerative colitis so no cheese or corn. I'm at a loss for new recipes to try. Everything I come up with is high starch food.

I wish I could simply put 3 ingredients with a basic meat into a pan and serve that. Thats what gordon ramsey does: concentrate on bringing out the flavor of your main ingredient instead of drowning it in layers of flavors.

 

[blackbird]

Lots of excellent advice here:
That is why I really hate the western diet. It's terrible, and it makes people feel terrible as well.
 
Today, I was taking the train home, and a lady decided to snack on a large bag of Fritos. I must say that was very annoying, but that is the culture of America. It will be difficult not to be tempted, after being weaned off bad foods.
 
My parents actually really like shopping at ethnic stores, especially the asian ones. I think that is where they get most of their fish. But then, that raises the problem about the farm-raised (id est: corn fed) fish. How would I know if the fish was corn fed? Nobody merchant would say so.
 
Thanks Erik, for the advice about getting "The Joy of Cooking." I'll try to get a copy, as it seems like a superb beginner's cookbook, and if anything, a classic.
 
For my own purposes, I have several sources for my food.
1. The farmers market is very close away (about a 20min walk) and it is there 5 days a week. Some of the produce is organic (none of the fruits, oddly enough) but all are local.
 
2. Whole Foods (about 15mins away). They have a great selection of produce, and the variety is big enough so that I haven't seen all of the vegetables they offer. They also have an excellent fruit section, which I like to peruse.
 
3. The local food Co-op (also 15mins away, 2mins away from WF). Very small store, but great selection of produce, all which are local/organic. They supposedly don't sell for-profit, as it is member owned, but I haven't seen the prices. They also have an excellent bulk goods section, for things like Almonds, Cacao nibs, Quinoa, whole wheat flour.
 
4. A Trader Joes: I used to like them for the packaged goods, but they have a very tiny produce section, and the lines are super-long, so I've tried to stop going there.
 
5. Worst Choice: The local supermarket. (5 mins away). They have absolutely NO produce, and NO variety. I live in a pretty terrible neighborhood, so the local markets aren't too great.
 
Since I'm not against walking ~20mins to get better veggies, I should probably check the farmers market first (it's year-round), and then go to the Food coop or WF to finish it off. Anyone have a better idea? 
 
Also, I didn't really get a firm response as to whether I should look up recipes before I buy, or just buy whatever is available and fresh, and then look up recipes later?
 
What about fruit juice? I'm a fan of juice, because the only other option would be soda, and I'm fortunate enough that my parents never bought soda for me to drink.
 
Including my naps, I think I average around 6hrs of sleep a day.

 

[shrimants]

Sleeping 6 hours a day is perfect. Juice is, nowadays, a terrible idea because of the sheer number of preservatives and crap that goes into them. What i've been doing is gteting packets of Crytal Light or some other sort of powdered flavoring for my water. My girlfriend and I are both trying to wean ourselves off of drinking diet soda all the time. In the army, I had switched entirely to blue powerade. That doesnt work too well unless you have sweat a bunch though. Its not good to drink those kinds of drinks regularly because they are meant to replenish lost salts in your blood stream.

I'd say research recipes before you buy. Its very difficult, but once a month, figure out every single thing you will make for a week. Repeat that 1 week menu for that month. When it is the next month, you can pick and choose which recipes you liked, which ones you did not like, etc. That way, you are making exactly 1 trip to the store and getting exactly what you need. It will also teach you to think on your feet about cooking. Lots of times I have to find whatever is left over in the house and throw something together and hope it tastes good.

Buying organic is the best and healthiest option but it is very expensive to do. If you can find a farmers market, that is perfect. Also it is easy to grow many of the main veggies in a personal garden, though not with winter approaching unless you have a greenhouse in your home.

 

[Spareribs]

 
Quote:

 
Also, I didn't really get a firm response as to whether I should look up recipes before I buy, or just buy whatever is available and fresh, and then look up recipes later?
 

A combination of both. There is no real right answer. Only experience will teach you. Keep in mind that many recipes do have errors. Sometimes a recipe will tell you to add a certain amount of liquid but it's actually too much liquid and the dish is drowned out. Or for deserts, it will tell you to add this much of sugar and it's way too sweet. It takes practice to refine your cooking. 
 
Basically, I try to stick to the simplest recipes. I usually avoid recipes that try to look flashy by listing a bunch of unnecessary ingredients. For example I dislike Emeril Lagasses' and even Mario Batali's recipes because they will tell you to add some stuff that really is not needed for the dish thus making it more work for the cook. Many recipes only need just a few ingredients for daily cooking. If you decide to make something special like on Thanksgiving or a holiday, then one of those fancy recipes with 10 ingredients may be appropriate. That is my basic rant about these recipes. 
 
It is common for cooks to follow a recipe and adjust it or edit it to make it more logical. There are some recipes that I love and I will edit it and rewrite it and then e-mail it to myself so it's archived on the Internet. I find that many recipes are distorted. A lot of the basic daily dishes I cook only have about 3 ingredients or so. For example some rice and beans of mine will have some good olive oil and whatever herb is around like chopped fresh oregano or parsley. But like I said, experience will teach you. An Italian grand mom for example never follows a recipe. She just feels her way with the ingredients and basically improvises like a jazz musician and will make the best stew.
 
But by all means, try out a bunch of recipes and eventually, you will refine your skills.
 
Also try dining out once in a while in the city. Sometimes, I will eat out and discover some food combinations that I never knew about. For example, I once ordered a pasta dish with sauteed mushrooms. I never heard of mushrooms and pasta before and the experience taught me that I can add mushrooms to my spaghetti and it's easy. Just fry up a variety of a different species of mushrooms in olive oil and add it to your pasta and garnish with some cheese and some herbs. It's a real good simple dish. My point is, you can learn from dining out just by observing whats on the plate that you never knew of before and then making an approximate imitation at home. A lot of these restaurant dishes are actually simple with just a few ingredients.
 
 
 

 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

This is a great website that lists all the healthy foods/food groups out there, and how to select, store and prepare them. It's been invaluable to myself and my wife.
 
http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php

 

[TheGomdoRi]

Quote:

Sleeping 6 hours a day is perfect. Juice is, nowadays, a terrible idea because of the sheer number of preservatives and crap that goes into them. What i've been doing is gteting packets of Crytal Light or some other sort of powdered flavoring for my water. My girlfriend and I are both trying to wean ourselves off of drinking diet soda all the time. In the army, I had switched entirely to blue powerade. That doesnt work too well unless you have sweat a bunch though. Its not good to drink those kinds of drinks regularly because they are meant to replenish lost salts in your blood stream.
I'd say research recipes before you buy. Its very difficult, but once a month, figure out every single thing you will make for a week. Repeat that 1 week menu for that month. When it is the next month, you can pick and choose which recipes you liked, which ones you did not like, etc. That way, you are making exactly 1 trip to the store and getting exactly what you need. It will also teach you to think on your feet about cooking. Lots of times I have to find whatever is left over in the house and throw something together and hope it tastes good.
Buying organic is the best and healthiest option but it is very expensive to do. If you can find a farmers market, that is perfect. Also it is easy to grow many of the main veggies in a personal garden, though not with winter approaching unless you have a greenhouse in your home.

1. Juice = Not all juice is from concentrate and I'm sure normal/pure juice is better for you than Crystal Light
2. There is a scientific article that my friend showed me where it showed hardly any benefits of eating organic vegetables as opposed to normal vegetables
3. Farmer's markets in my city don't even sell quality stuff and it's more of a gimmick