[Blackwheel]

So I'm not happy with my diet.
I'm not overweight; actually, I might be slightly under.
I feel a general lack of energy that is due to my diet and exercise habits.
In addition to exercising more, I want to start being my own nutritionist,
to start eating better. Where do I begin?
I was thinking stir fry might be an easy and healthy dish to start.

[Sleepy Head]

it's not all that complicated.

slowly cut junk foods and snacks from your diet. things like fast food, soft drinks (soda), sweets, desserts, chips, etc

you'll feel better in no time

[bucketofshrimp]

If you feel like eating sweet food or junk food, eat fresh fruit. Fresh mangos are really good and will satisfy your sweet tooth/cravings.
You should start running everyday. It may take a while but you will feel better and you'll have more energy due the Cardiovascular activities.

[HyoMonkys]

One thing I've found to deal with sweets cravings is granola, yogurt, all fruit smoothies.
As for more healthy things, if you don't want to make things, there are all natural and organic frozen
foods that are actually quite good. If you plan on making things, find sources of protein for every meal,
make sure every meal you eat has a good amount of protein (this isn't always meat), include veggies and
fruits as often as possible. Carbs help gain weight if eaten too often, generally if you want to work out, have
carbs before and after your workout.

[IPK]

See,i know trick.

Buy some vegetables like blue tomatoes,potatoes,and that green gourd(if that's even a thing in English) thing,place in oven and bake for a while. It is quick ecofag food you want.

Maybe some chicken white meat/chicken breast on a bit of water/oil in a pan and fry it to go along your veggie goodness.

[Kalibos]

lots of water

[KStyleAzure]

Is money an issue or do you not care? Because really, good healthy food kind of does follow the "expensive = quality" thing. Which isn't to say you can't find reasonably priced stuff, but I'm just saying.
Some general tips,
Do you live near anywhere that holds farmer market events? If so, those places are excellent places to find fresh produce on the cheap, plus you get in a lot of exercise while you browse the shops.
If you're into rice, don't buy any of the bleached white kind. Go for long-grain colorful rices since those ones usually are the ones with actual nutritional value.
As was already suggested before, chicken breast is an excellent meat that's cheap and healthy. Plus it's relatively easy to cook. Don't get any brands that say they're already seasoned or breaded or whatnot, those just introduce massive quantities of sodium and fat whatever into an otherwise great choice.
Relating to the above, stock up on spices. Spices are an easy way to add flavor to a meal at relatively low cost to the overall healthiness (as long as you don't go overboard).
Write down your daily caloric intake. Figure out how many calories you should have on a daily basis, and try to meet that mark consistently. Results may vary, but I find that actually taking the time to do this helps me keep everything in line and not undershoot or go over.

[Zareox7]

If you like eggs and fresh stuff, I put olive oil in a pan with some fresh garlic and mushrooms and a little bit of onions and cook it till they're, uhh well cooked. Then throw some diced tomato and fresh spinach and throw some herbs in there, I like to do oregano, basil and some mint and cook that till it mixes then pour some beaten egg over top of it and scramble it all with some cheese (I usually do cheddar). When it's done, put it on a plate and sprinkle Parmesan cheese. Tada delish

Edited:

It will give you energy and make you feel good about yourself. Plus it's got healthy shit like spinach.

[Raidyr]

Can't say much for food, but echoing an above poster, cutting out soda and replacing it with water was singlehandedly the best thing I've ever done personally.
Used to chug the stuff down morning day and night and realized it probably isn't the best thing to be doing so I switched to water and it's been great.

[laylay]

You really get used to drinking water too, at first I could hardly drink it, now I find myself drinking water without noticing.

[Cam00]

Stir fries are nice and easy, plus cheap and quick to make, which is ideal for a student like me. If anyone wants any recipes, send me a PM, I can usually make a stir fry for about £1, which takes about 10 mins to make, 5 mins if you pre cook the meat.

[Loen]

As said before, cut out junk food from 90% of your diet. Having it once every other day won't hurt, but any more will not only obviously affect your dieting, but make you more susceptible to cravings.

It isn't really necessary to follow any specific diet, just make sure you're eating a good variety of all the necessary food groups, and what you're eating actually has nutritive value relative to the number of calories. Be sure to track your calories, and read up the general nutrition information for a variety of foodstuffs; eventually it'll get to where you can simply eye-ball a meal and gauge the caloric content. http://www.eatthismuch.com/ is a pretty good site for not only meal ideas and recipes, but for determining nutritive requirements.

If you're at a fairly normal amount of bodyfat and not looking to get leaner, then you should just eat a maintenance caloric requirement.

[misterdoo01]

Cut junk food, eat less (if you want to lose weight), drink more water, substitute any food you normally eat with healthier alternatives if at all possible. The solutions to eating better are fairly straight forward, actually going through with it is the challenging part, and something I still struggle with greatly.

[Croft]

A good thing to do is to ''reward'' and treat yourself to something a bit more unhealthy every once in a while when you diet, it helps you stay motivated. But if you want a fizzy drink as a treat, then get the diet version, if you want chocolate, get the sugar free.

Taking the slightly healthier alternatives is the better option!

And eat a lot of fast digesting foods ( fruits, veggies etc). The go through your system quickly and doesn't make you look bigger and more bloated like meat and dairy does. Meat can actually get stuck in your digestive system for weeks, which is sort of nasty.

A lot of veggies and fruit+ water+ a treat evey once in a while+ lean meat etc= good diet.

[The Aussie]

I hate the word diet. To me diet means "Eat healthy, get sick of it and eventually cave in and gouge on junk food". What you want is a healthy lifestyle.

I'm a perfect weight, i eat moderate amounts of junkfood, my metabolism is the same as anyone else. Sound weird? Not really. Heres how to do this
1)Cut out soda.
i switched to cola, best decision ever. I can't drink regular now without become jumpy and uncomfortable. It also tastes like shit. Diet sodas and water is pretty much all i drink, remember the juices often have a high sugar content, try to avoid those.
2)Learn to love healthy foods.
Diets often fail because people shove down unappetizing "Health" foods. Many healthy foods can be a delicious as junk food. I fucking love fruit and veg. I eat Bok Choy, Carrots and cauliflower pretty much every dinner. Rice & pasta are awesome too. If you hate rice, add stock to the rice when cooking it and it tastes much better.
3)Cut your fucking portion sizes.
Eating a salad isn't going to be healthy if you eat a fucking kilo of it. Do you know why french people are so healthy in comparison to Americans, when the cuisine of both cultures is lathered in oils, fats, and lipids? Remember when you were a kid and your parents wouldn't give you dessert unless your cleaned your plate? You have been mentally conditioned to eat until you are done, not until you're full. The french eat until they're full, not done.
4)Exercise motherfucker.
Diet does nothing if you sit on your ass watching animoo all day. Pick up a sport, run every day, get a gym membership. Do something, and do it consistently. Me? I Row. Tues-Thus-Sun. With one land training session a week. Keeps me fit and healthy. Do something with a friend if you don't want to do it alone. Just do something.

[Biotoxsin]

Slow cooking is very easy and you can do a lot of healthy things with it, look for some recipes

e.g. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2010...as-recipe.html - Look how easy this is to do, just set and forget

[Loen]

I would advise against exercising every day; Unless you gradually condition yourself over months into that amount of physical activity, and have an actual reason for being that active (e.g. skill improvement), you'll just wear yourself the fuck out. You build strength and endurance after exercise, while resting.

3-5 times a week is more than enough.

[Iwantmycumbak]

DO NOT get diet or low calorie soda, as instead of sugar, it's all chemicals that are even worse.
ever notice everyone drinking diet is fat and not getting thinner because of it?

[Ninja Duck]

I heard steamers are pretty good to make your own easy meals. I've heard of a lot of people steaming their vegetables like carrots to go along with steamed chicken and sausages. The food is still cooked and you don't lose any of the healthy benefits it has.

Also use this: http://www.eatthismuch.com/

Calculate the calories you should be eating each day on their website and it'll generate new meals each time you hit the button.

[Loen]

Iwantmycumbak posted:

DO NOT get diet or low calorie soda, as instead of sugar, it's all chemicals that are even worse.
ever notice everyone drinking diet is fat and not getting thinner because of it?

Correlation doesn't mean causation. Usually people who drink diet soda not only don't account for other problems in their diet, but might feel more motivated to eat more under the pretense that drinking diet soda alone will cause them to lose weight:

Fowler is quick to note that a study of this kind does not prove that diet soda causes obesity. More likely, she says, it shows that something linked to diet soda drinking is also linked to obesity.

"One possible part of the explanation is that people who see they are beginning to gain weight may be more likely to switch from regular to diet soda," Fowler suggests. "But despite their switching, their weight may continue to grow for other reasons. So diet soft-drink use is a marker for overweight and obesity."

Why? Nutrition expert Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, puts it in a nutshell.

"You have to look at what's on your plate, not just what's in your glass," Bonci tells WebMD.

People often mistake diet drinks for diets, says Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and nutrition consultant to college and professional sports teams and to the Pittsburgh Ballet.

"A lot of people say, 'I am drinking a diet soft drink because that is better for me. But soft drinks by themselves are not the root of America's obesity problem," she says. "You can't go into a fast-food restaurant and say, 'Oh, it's OK because I had diet soda.' If you don't do anything else but switch to a diet soft drink, you are not going to lose weight."

By itself, you literally cannot get fat off of diet soda, its calorie content is far too low relative to the amount of liquid you would have to consume.

As for "chemicals"? I'd like to see some citation on that.

[KStyleAzure]

Loen posted:

As for "chemicals"? I'd like to see some citation on that.

I always love when people throw this word around because technically almost everything is chemicals.

[oakman26]

probs cause the people who drink diet soda are trying to avoid sugar, meaning they have too much, meaning that they could be unhealthy.
thats like saying people who take weightloss stuff are fat.