What about your eating habits?

Couldn't agree with you more. 6 or 8 packages of those fils me right up. ;D

 

When I'm cooking for me, rice and veggies has always been the easiest meal because I can make a much smaller portion and not worry about leftovers, but now that I'm cooking for Doc and I, I will start cooking a lot more "complex" meals.

I am guessing once a week, we'll have pot roast and mashed potatoes. I am guessing that will be my big cheating night each week because it's one of his favorite meals and yet, one of the most unhealthy meals of all time.

 

I know what you mean about the soda thing. It's still a struggle to choose diet cola over regular especially in the instance of diet coke which has little taste as opposed to diet pepsi.

 

spup, damn, you're domestic.

21, interesting note on the diet soda and the studies. I'm a diet soda fiend, so I can deal with the taste. Usually after 8, I shut off the spigots to anything that has caffeine in it, so it's caffeine-free Diet Pepsi, caffeine-free Sierra Mist, caffeine-free Slice One (mixed berry flavor is pretty good actually), etc. I still try to get in a reasonable amount of water, but maybe I need to go the all-water route.

The past couple nights I've been cooking something protein-laden on the George Foreman before work (a piece of chicken or steak or fish I get from the butcher at the grocery store), then adding in a bowl of Easy Mac, not really thinking about all the carbs in that Easy Mac. I'm at the point where I have to stop at the store every day to do semi-healthy grocery shopping, otherwise I'd be tempted to buy a bunch of frozen food and just eat all that crap.

 

I always drink diet soda. Then I hear from coworkers that they'd rather be fat then drink some chemical that caused someone to get cancer. I have no problems with diet soda, except I did drink a regular coke (after having 4 or 5 diet cokes throughout the day) Saturday to get me through the last of the 18 games we were broadcasting and I could definitely taste the difference. I had never noticed it before, but it's definitely there.

 

As the board's other vocal vegetarian, I'd like to echo Ragu. Carbs aren't bad for you. Too many calories are. Low-carb diets work because they lower the number of calories you ingest.

Now granted I quit eating meat because I wanted to lose weight. It's not for everybody, and protein powder is among the fouler things on the planet, which is why I still eat dairy -- simply so I don't have to ingest protein powder.

All the pasta/bread/rice/cereal that I eat is whole wheat or some other whole grain. I cannot stress the importance of reading food labels enough. You'll be shocked at how little nutritional value for the number of calories a lot of the food we eat has.

Even though I currently am not trying to lose weight, I still carefully monitor my overall caloric intake. No more than 1200 calories a day. I have a very slow metabolism, so more than that and I start gaining weight.

I also write down everything I eat and how many calories are in it to keep track of how much I'm taking in.

Again, this is what works for me. It's not for everyone.

 

Ehh, I just grew up in a house where my mom worked, then came home and cooked.  Doc grew up in a house where one of his parents cooked every night.  We usually went out on Friday nights before the high school football games (it's REALLY important around here to attend them) and for our birthdays.  When my sister and I both got into college, when we came home, my parents would make every meal except Sunday mornings after church.  We'd eat chinese then and sleep the rest of the day, but one of the things my parents said once my sister left for Germany and I moved several hours away was that they eat out far more often, now, but they don't eat fast food.  They eat at Applebees and get something healthy on the menu.

I just believe in cooking.  I'm a food network junkie and own far too many cookbooks for someone my age.

 

21:

Great, great point about the Ramen noodles. I see people on this board talk about not being able to afford anything to eat except Ramen noodles. Look at the nutrition information - those things are totally salt. Eating pasta in reasonable amounts with marinara sauce is just as fast, just about as cheap, and much better for you.

 

Boneless BBQ chicken wings from KFC rule.

 

About the carbs (see Ragu & sportschick above):

It works for you because you can differentiate between good and bad carbs...fruits and vegetables are carbs, whole grains are carbs, lots of healthy foods are carbs. We can't live without them...your brain can't function, your body needs the fuel.

It's like the olive oil trap: people think it's 'good' oil, because it certain health benefits that other oils lack. Well, a little bit has health benefits...a lot will just make you fat). Same with carbs. If you eat the right kind, in moderation, with exercise, early in the day, you're great. Eat the wrong kind and sit on the couch all day....fat.

As for the diet soda---I gotta find a link to the research on this. It most definitely will make you crave more sugar, aside from its chemical equivalency to windex.

 

When you've eaten what you want when you want your entire life, it's difficult to break the cycle and begin to eat healthily.

Right now, 15 minutes after a 75-minute gym workout, I'm eating a baby spinach salad from the supermarket with 2 hard-boiled eggs, a good chunk of fresh tuna, a few tortellinis and lots of tomatoes and fat-free Italian dressing. It's pretty filling.

Bottom line, you have to be dedicated to the cause. You can't work out hard and then go eat McDonalds. I haven't touched fast food in 7 months. I eat Chinese buffet every so often, but only one trip through the line. I've cut down on desserts by about 90 percent. I eat a lot of salads and fruits and vegetables.

Since Feb. 21 I've lost 40 pounds. A lot of it is because I work out 5 or 6 days a week. But the biggest reason is I dedicated myself to eating much much better. You can do it, too. How badly do you want to do it, though?


Edit: I eat very little carbs. Which sucks because I love mashed potatoes like radical Islamists love jihad.