But I've been told that a bowl of dry cereal is not breakfast, that a banana is not breakfast, that a Nutri-Grain bar is not breakfast. I tend to agree.
But then, what is breakfast? My father would tell you that it involves sausage patties, fried eggs, and white toast with strawberry jelly (the grape jelly is "airplane glue"). My mother would tell you that breakfast is pancakes and crisp bacon. I know those are the wrong answers, too.
So -- honest question, not defensiveness -- what the hell is breakfast? What should I be eating in the morning? This is a particularly tough question since I don't have the time to prepare anything in the morning... or, more honestly, because I'm not willing to get up early enough to do anything more than grab some shit out of the cupboard.
Also: It may not be evident because, as Soma aptly put it, my diet is so horribly broken. But. I'd like to note that in the past few weeks I have been eating less pasta (though still way too much, I realize). And, when I make it at home, I'm using the whole wheat kind even though it's ungodly expensive compared to the regular stuff (at least in Alaska). I am also snacking a ton less, though that's not evident on the blog, because snack reduction began the instant I decided to photograph everything. I used to graze...and that had to stop, because it would be really embarrassing to post 10 pictures a day of a few chips here, a square of candy bar there...
So keep it coming, kids, because even though these are super small changes that obviously aren't going far enough in changing my totally lame-ass diet, I feel that it's a start. I'm hoping that once I have a real salary and I live in a place where strawberries aren't $9 for a small container that includes at least a few rotten ones, it'll be easier to make better choices.
This reminds me. When Urs went back to California after her visit, she left behind a Time Magazine special issue that explored the American obesity epidemic. It was mostly focused on obese children, but one of the major points was that environmental and economic factors are huge in determining what (and how) we eat. I'm in an environment where there is little access to fresh foods, and my economic situation makes it difficult to justify regularly spending $7/pound for ground turkey instead of $4/pound for ground beef on a regular basis...especially when I could go to Arctic Roadrunner and get a burger AND fries for $7...and when, on top of the ground turkey, I still have to buy all the other ingredients for my meal, plus invest the time to cook.
You see where this is headed. Lots of justifying my crappy choices, yes...but within all of that defensiveness is a little bit of the truth. My environment and my economic situation make changing even more difficult than if I had money and lived in a place where the access to good food isn't as limited. These limitations will be changing soon, and hopefully -- with some encouragement (and razzing) from you guys -- it'll be easier to make the better choices.
Anyway...I have to wrap this up because I am going out to dinner with a friend tonight, before we meet our writers' group. I vow to not order pasta at whatever restaurant we end up at, even though I always order pasta because it's basically the yummiest food ever. So there. That's something, too. One choice at a time, right?
And, of course, unlocking the secret of breakfast. :) As for the day's eating...
Breakfast, 10:30 a.m.
Strawberry Nutri-Grain bar
Lunch, 1:30 p.m.
Blueberry Nutri-Grain bar, applesauce, mandarin oranges,
and Sour Cream & Cheddar Baked Lays.
Dinner, 5:30 p.m.
I didn't get a chance not to eat pasta, because we were
running a bit late and the Mexican place was practically
next door to Tara's house, where we had our meeting. I
had my usual enchilada dinner -- but instead of one beef
and one cheese enchilanda, I had one beef and one
chicken. And, I only ate about 2/3 of the chicken and 1/2 of
the beef...and yes, most of the rice and beans. (Which, in my
opinion, are the best part of going out for Mexican food.)
Snack, 9:15 p.m.
We need to blame my friend Karen for this one. Three of the
four members of our writers' group have birthdays in a 2-week
span, so the non-birthday girl decided to bring presents (books,
of course)...and chocolate cheesecake with chocolate mousse. It
was really good, but too rich even for me...so I had about half
of my piece.
8 comments:
Ok I basically just wrote a book to you on facebook, but I'm going off the assumption that you wanted it. Also, I'm tired and waiting for my dinner to digest before going to bed, so I need to kill time.
Breakfast is a silly little term for anything you eat in the morning. Dry cereal would be fine (it would up your metabolism and most cereals are fortified with lots o' vitamins), except you are eating candy for breakfast. Cinnamon Toast Crunch?? C'mon. You know better. The reason that milk is a good addition is that cereal, even cereal that isn't all sugar, has tons of carbs. I wouldn't call that bad by itself, but that does a number on your insulin response and in turn, gasp, your fat storage. Sugar = not good breakfast (thats also for those of us who like pancakes or doughnuts for breakfast). Even funnier is that if you mix milk in with those carbs, you are adding fat (assuming you don't drink skim) and protein, both of which help your metabolism of sugar and ease your otherwise spiked insulin response.
All of this being said, your first meal of the day would ideally contain: fiber, protein, carbs, and fat. Thats right, all of it. You can easily get this by, say, peanut-butter on whole grain toast, or a whole-grain bagel with cream cheese (I'm not even suggesting the low-fat or fat-free stuff, just don't gorge on it).You can also, for example, make yourself a yogurt-cereal or granola thing in the morning (again, I don't condone fat-free yogurt, but some people do. My arugment is that fat slows digestions and increases your feeling of fullness, thereby actually decreasing total caloric intake throughout the ENTIRE DAY). Eggs are really good, but not as portable (you could make a sandwhich, eggs really take about 2 minutes to fry up). SEE? The possibilities are endless!
I will say that it takes more effort that a nutrigrain bar, but its worth it. Also, oats are awesome whole grains that people forget about, not just in terms of oatmeal, but you can buy whole oat bread, which has lots of fiber.
I do take your point about the budget incredibly seriously though, because I work with poor people, and they are the fattest population. It is undeniably difficult to eat healthfully and cheap all at once. This pisses me off: it is cheaper to eat like shit than it is to eat healthy. Kudos, by the way, on the whole grain noodles.
A few things you can look into, and I have zero experience in Alaska, but sometimes places that sell wholsale, or even markets, you can get much cheaper food at. Fish for example you might be able to come by cheaper than ground beef. Again, I advise going to Rock for some cooking tips. I've gathered that you are rather savvy about using leftovers, so kudos on that as well.
Boring as it may sound, apples, oranges, and bananas are typically cheaper anywhere, while berries are always expensive, even back here in MN. Is there local fare that you haven't yet tried but might be cheaper? Certain root vegetables and tubers grow well in colder climates, maybe you're overlooking some other possibilites. I gather that you're not super adventerous with foods, but your tastes are going to have to change a little. There is no way in hell your diet/health is going to get better without you adding a few things and taking out (in large amounts, but likely not completely) others.
This might be futile, but I was the poorest person I knew in undergrad. I basically survived on beans and rice or spaghetti with added frozen veggies. Very, very little meat. For a few years I completely left the stuff out of my diet. All I'm saying is that meat is not necessary at EVERY meal, and it can save you some money to replace it with beans, lentils, peanut butter, or other plant proten sources. I doubt you're interested in leaving out meat, but let me know if you are. Bean soups are great and very, very cheap.
Although, not appetizing for breakfast :)
According to my nutritionist, breakfast should be some kind of fruit or vegetable, protein, and some carbohydrates. I've found my perfect breakfast, which is whole wheat toast, egg whites, and a banana. Its complete and pretty fast. A banana is part of breakfast, but not a complete one.
My mom has noticed that your diet is low in calcium and high in hidden fats.
Also, Rock mentioned that frozen fruit is better than canned, which inspired me to buy some frozen vegetables. I'm with you on the economics of eating healthy. I'm very lucky to live so close to a Whole Foods and even luckier to be able to afford the food there. I don't have to worry about high fructose corn syrup or if I can have fresh fruits or veggies in my apartment. Last night, I had fresh salmon and tonight, I am having fresh halibut. When the strawberries were in season, I would buy a pint of perfect, huge strawberries almost every night for about $4.
I'm so lazy I just drink Carnation Instant Breakfast. But if I have time I have a bagel and butter or creamcheese.
I do actually like beans, and I also like soup...though you wouldn't know it from looking at this blog, because I don't actually know how to make soup and therefore don't eat it very often. A recipe for bean soup would be great, especially in the winter.
Sig you've inspired me to start a photo catalog of my own eating. I just dont know how you can put everything online so fast and consistantly. you can ask your health coach about breakfast... i used to be one! breakfast ideally includes a protien, carb, and fat. ursula and soma gave you great recommendations! peanut butter is excellent it gives you protien and fat so put it on toast, banans, apples, celery whatever.
When i was a health coach i talked to all kinds of dumbasses. Here are some things i would tell them. the dose is the poison... pb is good but a full cup is not, nutrigrain bars are good but a 4 a day is not. Even water is good but too much can dilute the sodium in your blood and stop the electrical current that keeps your heart beating.. then you die. I use a campfire as an analogy for your metabolism, at night it is burning but in the morning all you have is a bed of coals or ashes so u must put some fuel on the fire to make it burn again. Something is better than nothing. (It is true that an all sugar breakfast of dry cinny toast crunch is going to do bad things to your insulin levels and body's response to fat storage.) Changing your eating patterns is a behavior change and when it comes to behavior change slow and steady wins the race. Today eat breakfast,get comfortable with that as your new behavior. Once your eating breakfast regularily start to try some new things like what soma and urs suggested.
tip for shopping. decide how much time you are going to spend in the store... 20 minutes. spend 10 in the produce dept looking for deals. 5 on the perimiter where more fresh foods are and 5 in the isles where all your pre packaged shitty food is. make a list and make it fast you'll be less likley to put extra junk in your cart... i know these things i used to b real fat. my spelling is bad, i dont use punctuation correctly, and i ramble. i hope we can still b friends.
Sig, delurking to say...
Costco.
Costco Costco Costco!
That's how you get fresh produce in the AK without going bankrupt.
And there are local (Bell's) tomatoes in the stores now... and later in the summer the farmers' markets have tons of carrots and cabbage and herbs and even fruit... and in August the berries get ripe and are free for the taking if you know where to go.
But mostly Costco. Six bell peppers for six bucks (that's a deal here). Four-dollar pineapples. Ten-dollar flats of raspberries. More melons than you can shake a stick at. It's a produce wonderland.
Also, Terra Bella has these sprouted-grain bagels... slap some PB on there and that, my friend, is a breakfast.
Whoops - I accidentally posted this comment on the wrong post.
Urs's suggestion for breakfast is ideal!
---original post---
If your excuse is that it's too expensive to eat healthy, check out this article. 20 of the healthiest foods under $1
http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22145/52070-20-healthiest-foods--1
Also, it's not like a 1000+ calorie Mexican dinner is cheap. You could have easily spent that $5-$8 on a day worth of expensive healthy foods at a grocery store.
I notice you have a lot of (illogical) excuses and justifications for your eating habits. Learning how to take opinions and constructive criticism will be huge on the success of your diet.
My biggest opinion would be to balance you calorie intake over a day. For instance, if a typical day involves you waking up at 11a and going to bed at 1a, have a 300 calorie breakfast at 11a, and eat 4 additional 300 calorie meals every 3 hours. This will train your body to burn calories fast and prevent you from getting hungry or over eating (google it). One of my friends lost 80 pounds doing this.
Along with your high sugar / high saturated fat diet, you’re eating very light breakfasts, and extremely heavy dinners, even right before you sleep. By doing this, your body will get extremely hungry by lunch/dinner, and you'll end up gorging. Not only that, but your body will actually hold on to the calories you eat longer because of this.
As mentioned in the earlier comments, eating a larger breakfast will actually train your body to burn calories more efficiently, and prevent over eating and over hunger later in the day.
Eating a larger breakfast (300 calories) is hard at first. Your body is so used to eating small breakfasts that when you eat a larger breakfast, you'll most likely be really hungry later in the day. It will take a few days for your body to adapt to eating a larger breakfast and additional 300 calories meals every 3 hours, but once your body adapts to this, you'll find that you'll be less hungry later in the day and less likely to crave high calorie foods (cheese pastas, cake, pizzas, late night mac 'n cheese snacking, etc.)
Good luck!
I noticed the same trend with regard to calorie consumption as the day progresses. At the beginning of your posts I always go, "ok, ok, ok, Oh my F-ing god 5 bajillion calories for dinner." Seriously, it wouldn't be so awful if you didn't have such horrible dinners/after dinner snacks. I'm trying to lose my belly too and I have mostly been cutting down on my portions. I still eat lots of things I like, but just eat about half as much. Then again, Ashley usually makes sure my foods are fairly healthy in the first place. Plus, I'm not scared of exercise.
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