Reply to Want to make a real change with my horrible eating habits...advice appreciated

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[quote=Anonymous]Hi OP,

00:50 here again.  I re-read your original post, and wanted to offer some suggestions on the cooking-at-home front.  You don't have to be ashamed, it's never too late to learn.  And you don't have to learn a whole bunch of things at once.  Just like tackling bad habits, take just one thing at a time.

With that spirit in mind -- one thing at a time -- here are some changes you can make to have healthier options at home, without having to go to cooking school.

1.  Start buying a few simple, easy fruits.  Have a few apples and oranges around.  Everyone likes them, they're easy to find and easy to eat.  If you don't like oranges, get clementines.  Smaller, easier, and sweeter.  It'll give you something for breakfast or snacking that isn't a processed sweet product.  And get you in the habit of eating natural food.

Take it easy -- you don't have to suddenly develop an appetite for berries or passion fruit.  (The berries will come in time.)  Just start with any fruit you like.

2.  Oatmeal is a great breakfast.  And incredibly easy to cook.  Cook-it-yourself is better than tear-open instant, but even the tear-open instant is better than drive-through or pastries.  Try traditional rolled oats--you just put 1 cup in a pot with 2 cups of water, bring it to a boil, turn the heat down, stir it for a minute, then serve and add some skim milk and something to give it flavor -- bananas, or berries, or a bit of maple syrup, or a bit of sugar.  Don't worry if it boils over on you the first few times.  It does that to everyone, and it's not that hard to clean up until you figure out how to turn it down right when it gets to a boil.  (Steel-cut oats are even better than rolled oats, but don't worry about that for now.  That's the advanced course.)

For days you don't feel like oatmeal, Bob's Red Mill makes a low-fat granola that's crunchy, yummy, and in no way feels like diet food.  Half a cup of that and half a cup of skim milk is a pretty satisfying breakfast by itself.

3.  Low-fat protein is important.  Two of the best and easiest are chicken breast and turkey breast.  They sell roasted turkey breast at the deli counter and it's very easy to slice it thin for sandwiches or slice it thick and heat it up in the micro for dinners.  This is not the thin-sliced lunchmeat turkey, that stuff can be high in sodium (though it's better than the alternative, so if that's easier for you, go for it).  This is real roast turkey, like thanksgiving, already prepared at the grocery store deli counter.  The other thing is to get skinless boneless chicken breasts and figure out a couple of ways of making them that you like.  Two I like are (1) cutting it into bite-size chunks, then stir-frying it with vegetables (broccoli, carrots, summer squash, onions, etc.) in a big skillet at high heat with a little canola oil and a touch of sesame oil for flavor, or (2) put the breasts between plastic wrap, gently pound them flat with a skillet, then pan-fry them in just a bit of oil till they brown a little.  Also, (3) try some cottage cheese.  Doesn't have to be the low-fat or no-fat, you can even do 2%.  If you like it, you've got another great protein source.  You can put berries in it or put it on fruit like peaches.  If you don't like it, oh well, don't sweat it.

4.  For cooking your new protein sources like your chicken stir fry, you'll need one heavy, quality fry pan.  I like cast iron, but if you don't want to get into that, Emerilware makes nice heavy nonstick frypans that you can afford.  (About $20 or $25 each; a 2-set skillet set is on amazon for $39.)  Don't go with cheapo nonsticks -- God knows what those things shed into your food.

5.  This one is huge: get a saucepan with a steamer basket that fits over it, or at the very least a fold-out steamer basket for the bottom of an existing saucepan.  (The second one they sell at any grocery store for less than $6.)  Being able to steam your own vegetables -- broccoli, caulifower, asparagus, and carrots are all super-easy -- gives you the option of a healthy vegetable every night.

6.  During the summertime, zucchini and yellow summer squash are also incredibly easy.  For those, just wash-and-slice, then fry then in your fry pan with a olive oil, canola oil, or even a little butter.  You're allowed a little butter if you're cooking vegetables at home instead of eating out.

7.  Frozen vegetables.  Microwave.

8.  Get either an air-pop popcorn maker, or a microwave popcorn cooker that allows you to make your own popcorn at home.  Popcorn is good for satisfying those snack cravings where you just need to scarf and chew something.  If you make it yourself, it's low- or no-fat, you can control the salt amount and eliminate the chemical flavorings, and it's even got a little fiber to it.  When you've got to have something, it will get you by.

9.  Salsa is the world's greatest condiment.  Low-fat, made of vegetables.  Flavors up anything, without heavier condiments like butter, margarine, mayo, etc.  Always have it around, but don't buy any chips.  I mean none.  Don't have them in the house.

10.  Once you're in the habit, you'll be shopping more and staying in more.  When you shop at the grocery store, try to stick to the outside walls of the store--the produce section, the meat/fish section, the dairy section, and the frozen food section.  Try to stay out of the middle of the store, which is where all the processed food in boxes is (along with the snacks).

11.  That said, there are a few processed foods that can help, and make your life easy.  Veggie burgers and fake veggie sausage patties are protein sources that are incredibly easy (out of the box, into the microwave), low-fat, and better for you than the red-meat alternatives.  Do you like hot dogs?  Keep some chicken or turkey dogs on hand.  They're not ideal, but easy and better than the alternative.  Try to like them on whole wheat bread or without bread; get away from that soft white bun if you can.

12.  Try to get in the habit of drinking tea or coffee, black if possible.  It's a satisfying "treat for me" that isn't soda and has no or few cals.  Just don't put whole milk or half-and-half in it, or too much sugar, and you'll be good.  
Friends I have in recovery swear by having a substitute--thus, most recovering alcoholics I know drink coffee constantly.  Nothing wrong with substituting if the substitute is better for you than the original (in yoru case, soda).

Like I said, one thing at a time.  Don't feel like you have to adopt the list.  But those are a few ways, even if you can't cook a thing right now, that you can get started and spend more meals in your kitchen and fewer of them out at restaurants (evenings) or at the drive-through or pastry counter (mornings).

Hang in there and don't beat yourself up.  Stick with one thing for 3 weeks.  You'll feel better and feel more energy, and be encouraged to try the next thing.  [/quote]

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