Bit of help needed

Right - I am on a pretty ****ty high fat / carb diet and am getting a bit heavy for my (and the gfs!) liking.

ApeX has been telling me of low carb diets and while I don't think I will be start off with such a restricted diet as him, I would like to start.

I can't really cook but am willing to learn and I am much more of an eat-to-live person so plain and bland food is fine for me.

Can anyone post up some advice for what to eat for dinners?

Two things; I hate soup and general liquidy food, so I am not a fan of smoothies. My breakfast is normally Weet-a-bix, is that ok?



I get lunch in town and have recently started to get some form of wholemeal / ham combinations.

Cheers,

Z

Faith

Weetabix is fine in the morning, although I find it doesn't keep me going that long. If you have a (healthy) snack at about 11 though, you should be fine.

For dinners, look through the thread in Cooking & Recipes called "What I had for dinner last night". There's great ideas and recipes in there.

Off the top of my head, stir fries are healthy and easy to make. You can make large batches of things and freeze them, like Shepherd's Pie, lasagne and bolognaise mix. If yo want recipes for any of those, just let me know.

Other things could be egg-fried (brown) rice with lots of veg and maybe some chicken; homemade curry; a roast chicken would keep you going for a while, have it with potatoes and veg.

Try and get your hands on a cookery book, like Delia's "How to Cook". That's great for beginners.

Edit: I realise all the above are fairly high carb, so if you want to go low-carb, they might not be great...

Cool - ApeX has been giving me some good advice, however at this stage I just want to cut down on the deep fried food and get a more balanced diet.

ApeXaviour

Don't listen to me I'm weird. Carbs are fine for most people, just refined ones are bad. That's sugar, excessive potatoes/chips, white rice, white bread etc. And once other carbs are not eaten to extent as to replace vegetables and protein sources from your diet. i.e keep it nice and varied.

As faith says stir frys are bloody great. Quick, scarily easy and healthy. Get your pick of chinese/indian sauce (sharwoods curry pastes, or amoy sauces are great). Chop and fry some meat in some regular olive oil. Add a bit of soy sauce/chili/garlic if you like. Then when the meat looks cooked add vegetables (bell peppers, scallions, onions are great here, but feel free to add anythin else your heart desires: broccoli, radish, carrot, cauliflower, pineapple, haricots, mange tout, pak choi). Stirfrys are great mediums for experimenting and personal taste. Add sauce and voila, takes less than 15 mins. You can get cashews from aldi for very cheap, they add a lovely flavour.
I suppose you could boil up some noodles/rice too if you wanted.

Try stay away from vegetable oil/sun flower oil. Olive oil is great, so are nuts (but not peanuts so much).

EileenG

As cereals go, Weetabix is one of the better ones. Porridge is even better. For low carb, eggs are a classic breakfast, but if you are eating carbs, then the morning is the best time to do it.

The simplest way to go low carb is to take whatever you eat in your lunchtime sandwich and have the same filling but on a big green salad. Eat your normal dinner, but replace the spuds/rice/pasta with a big pile of green vegetables. And of course, no sweets or biscuits. Try a pic 'n mix portion of cheese, or a small bag of nuts instead.

I'm with you on the smoothies. I believe in eating my calories, not drinking them.