I Need Your Help To Eat Healthy, Please. - Diet & Nutrition Message Board

doglover · 08-23-2005, 09:07 PM

I have a so-so diet. When I cook or my wife is out of town, I eat pretty healthy. I typically eat grilled chicken, and vegetables for dinner and yogurt and fruit for lunch. For breakfast, I eat a high fiber cereal with skim milk.

My wife and I both work stressful jobs and by the time we get homw, we do not feel like cooking.

What I am hoping to find is some meals that are healthy, but easy to make.

Do you have a favorite? Please share it.

Thanks so much in advance.

girlygirl11 · 08-23-2005, 09:54 PM

Off the top of my head, a nicoise salad is easy and yummy and healthy..
Precook 3-4 eggs by hardboiling them, and you can keep em in the fridge. You could also precook green beans by steaming or blanching them, small baby/new potatos (or a large one, just cut it up in the end) cooked any way you like (I boil them) and wash the lettuce.

Then, to assemble, add in black olives (any way you like, canned), anchovies and a can of tuna. Make up an oil and vinegar dressing with black pepper and salt (or use a premixed salad dressing of your choice), toss all the ingredients and split into 2 plates and serve.

Another tip to save some time: prewash and cut all veggies and fruits when you buy them or on the weekend. Then all you have to do is steam or blanch them, grill them or you can eat them raw (or toss them into a salad, a dressing, etc). For meat/fish, you can prepare them on a weekend (ie/trim visible fat, season) and place them cuts into a ziploc bag with some salad dressing or a marinade, and freeze it like that. Then, the night before that meal, take out a bag and let it thaw out in the fridge. At dinner, all you have to do is grill or bake, make up a salad (or grill/steam some veggies), buy some fresh bread (or bake one of those 10 min baguettes) and you're set.

Frozen and prepackaged food has also come a long way- meats and veggies and starches (rice, pasta, etc) can be found in lots of diff places in the supermarket..There are tons of frozen fish and meats (not breaded, but marinated, cut up, made into kabobs, seasoned, etc), veggies (fresh is always better though!), and even a lot of the 'instant' rice or pasta mixes aren't bad. Lots of stores also have a deli counter where there is premade food such as salads, veggies, meats, etc..

AllysHeart · 08-24-2005, 09:37 AM

When we get home late or need a good meal in a rush, we like to eat turkey burgers. They can be purchased frozen, or you can buy fresh ground turkey breast and make a couple of fresh patties. Otherwise, regular ground turkey has 7% fat, if it is not the breast.

You can sautee onions, green peppers, mushrooms to serve with the turkey burgers. They can be eaten with or without a bun. Serve with a slice of Swiss cheese, or your favorite cheese, melted slightly over the warm turkey burger, spread mustard, if desired. If you have fresh lettuce, you can add one or two lettuce leaves. Cut an avacado in slices and serve with sliced tomato and green or black olives, or mash your avacado and add chopped tomato and a dash of red or green Tabasco sauce and garlic powder for guacamole. You can eat a handful of corn chips with your sandwich and garnishes.

This is delicious and very satisfying!

Treat yourself to some cantaloupe or grapes for dessert!

HTH

sumi · 08-24-2005, 09:57 AM

Girlygirl11- Great suggestions. Personally I take two or three hours on the weekend and prepare my whole week worth of food and freeze it. For example, I make meatloaf with 95% fat free turkey cook it and freeze it. The night before I thaw it then when I get home I make some mashed potatos and a salad and I'm done.
I am a vegetarian but my hubby is not so it's easier for me to prepare my meals on the weekend.
I go to the farmers market on Saturday and get tons of fruit and veggies. When I get home I wash everything and prepare my menu.
Soups and stews are easy, so is a slow cooker. Stir Fry is big in our household. I usually stir fry veggies and set aside my meal and then add some beef or chicken or pork in for my hubby. Veggie burgers are good too.
You can grill chicken and then throw a salad together. Also marinating is easy and healthy. I usually take pork chops and marinate them in red wine overnight with salt, pepper and oregano and then put them on the George Foreman (indoor grill) for ten minutes. Very lean and healthy.
Add some steamed veggies or salad and you have a meal.
Another suggestion is to cook enough so that you can have one serving that evening and freeze the other serving for next week.
It take some preperation but when you get into the habit you don't even realise youre doing it.

StenoLady1 · 08-24-2005, 10:17 AM

This is my new favorite! The only part I don't love is I actually take a package of boneless, skinless chicken breast to the butcher and have him grind it for me while I shop. It takes extra time, and the butcher sometimes gives me a hard time, but the ground chicken they offer has more saturated fat and calories than ground beef.

I also sometimes make this on the weekends and double it. I use a big pot with a lid to cook it instead of a skillet, and I freeze individual dinner and lunch portions for upcoming weeks.

Fiesta Skillet Spaghetti

1/2 tsp olive oil
1 lb ground chicken breast, skinless
1/2 c onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 c bell peppers, chopped
15 ozs tomato sauce
4 c water
1 env taco seasoning mix
8 ozs thin spaghetti, uncooked
1/2 c fat-free cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat oil in a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add chicken, onions, and bell peppers. Cook until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender. Add garlic and stir, but do not allow garlic to brown. Stir in water, tomato sauce and taco seasoning mix. Bring to a boil. Add the uncooked spaghetti. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until spaghetti is tender, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese.

6 servings; 290 Calories; 2g Fat; 23g Protein; 38g Carbohydrate; 44mg Cholesterol; 899mg Sodium

Hope you enjoy