How do I eat good?

[Kai]

Okay, so I need to start eating breakfast again regularly (and lunch as well). The thing is, most of the foods that people seem to eat for breakfast are A) Way way too filling for morning B) way too elaborate C) greasy (makes me sick in the mornings) or D) sugary (this includes fruit to an extent, and the sort of carbs you find in most breakfast foods). I've got rather hypoglycemic tendencies and too much simple sugars in the morning leads to crash thats worse and earlier than if I just skip breakfast all together. I already drink tea and a full bottle of water (from the tap) every morning.

What would you'all suggest?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

For breakfast I usually eat a bit of tofu or meat lightly sauteed with broccoli. Only takes a few minutes to make.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I do the scrambled egg in a tortilla with salsa or I might throw in a piece of meat if I have it.  As large or small as you want to make it!

[BADGE OF HONOR]

I eat either homemade granola (see my recipe thread) or steel-cut oats.  Anything else makes me hungry as hell after about an hour.

[Kai]

Thank you. You are all confirming what I've been reading


Question: Do you eat the same thing every day for breakfast mostly or do you mix things up quite a bit?


I'm asking these questions honestly because I still don't know how to go about feeding myself properly. I got the healthiness of the food down pretty well, but the whole how much, and when to eat, and what (out of the things I know are healthy) is what I don't know yet.

[BADGE OF HONOR]

Here's a breakdown:

If you're exercising, you want to shoot for 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat so your body doesn't break down muscle tissue.  If you're not exercising, you want 30% protein, 50% carbs, and 20% fat.  To get your total caloric needs for a day, you multiply your weight by about 14 (depending on your level of exercise; there are calculators out there that can account for different levels of activity).  Then you take that total number and split it into your desired percentages.  For protein and carbs you divide by 4 to get grams, for fat you divide by 9.  Then you take your numbers and divide them by however many meals you want to eat in a day and you have the approximate amount of grams of carbs, protein, and fat you want in an average meal.  And then you do a ton of label-reading.  I use http://fitday.com/ to track my food intake because otherwise it's too much of a pain in the ass.

[BADGE OF HONOR]

Oh, and I never track anything I eat on the weekends.  I don't go hog-wild but I just don't worry about it.

[Kai]

thanks badge.

I'm more worried that I'm not getting /enough/ more than anything else. that, and irregularity

My calorie intake per day is a little under what I should be getting per day. I'm 113 lbs, so 1582 Cal/day, and I'm probably getting between 1000 and 1200, somewhere in there, maybe less (definitely less today). That puts me around 500 per meal if I do things right.

This is honestly the best and most straightforward help I've gotten with this ever. Thanks!

[East Coast Hustle]

grits are good for breakfast, and can be used as a vehicle for other savory things such as onions, bacon, cheese, ham, etc if you don't like them with butter and sugar.

also, Bob's Red Mill buckwheat hot cereal is fucking awesome with just a touch of butter and salt.

also, croques madame.

[Kai]

grits are good for breakfast, and can be used as a vehicle for other savory things such as onions, bacon, cheese, ham, etc if you don't like them with butter and sugar.

also, Bob's Red Mill buckwheat hot cereal is fucking awesome with just a touch of butter and salt.

also, croques madame.

Funny about the grits, because down south where I am you can actually GET good grits, or the materials to make them, and find out how to make them right.

For now, I'm just going with a high quality whole oat and multigrain and almond cereal. Much better than the stuff I'd been eating before that, and definitely better than the nothing I've been starving myself from.

[Jasper]

My regular thing is a bowl of oatmeal and yogurt.  Sometimes I spring for deep fried plantains too.

If there is bacon, there is always less of it after breakfast.

[Rumckle]

If I can, depending on my schedule and what time I wake up, I try not to eat breakfast until about an hour or two after I wake up, I find it helps with being hungry throughout the day. (Though I always have a glass of juice when I wake up.)

[BADGE OF HONOR]

Yeah, I've got the same problem as you, Kai.  I'm at about 3/4 of where I should be and have a really pathetic appetite.  You might want to try protein shakes as additional meals if you're like me and have trouble eating that much food.  I have some sort of terrible tasting "chocolate" flavored crap, but blending it with skim milk, a frozen banana and a couple tablespoons of peanut butter helps mask the taste.  I do this either before work if I haven't eaten enough, or after work if I just need to top off my calories for the day.

[Triple Zero]

you gotta try out what you can stomach in the morning. i always breakfast on the same thing, but it slowly changes over the months, cause after a while I get bored with it. but I'm very picky on food in the early morning.

(except greasy/savory stuff, i can always eat that, but I hardly ever take the effort to prepare it, plus it doesnt seem very healthy to me)

suggestions for you, just try em out:

- yogurt (or milk) with oats or granola. is probably the best health wise. slow carbs, proteins. really good start of the day.
- variation on the above is if you cut an apple or other fruit (banana?) into pieces and mix it in
- another variation, sometimes quicker and easier to eat, is if you blend the above into a sludge. try it. you can even prepare a huge amount of it for a couple of days. also you can up the amounts of fruit if you like.
- peanutbutter sandwich and a cup of coffee (this is my current breakfast of choice--Dutch peanutbutter is not sweet, but nearly 95% peanuts if you get the right (cheap) brand. and nuts are really healthy.)
- piece of fruit, like an apple or a banana (hey at least you ate *something*)
- a kiwi!

my favourite breakfast is probably leftover pizza from the day before, but if i understand correctly you won't like it

[LMNO]

I usually start out with a glass of V8 juice, and a multivitamin.

Then, when I get to work, I have a cup of coffee with a low-fat cereal I found that isn't too sweet:



210 calories
5 g protein
46 g carbohydrate (17 g sugars—some of this is from the dried fruit)
.5 g fat (0 g saturated fat)
0 mg cholesterol
5 g fiber
100 mg sodium
Calories from fat: 2 percent

I also add a few tablespoons of dried cranberries.

I usually eat an apple a few hours later, and then lunch.