In need of a Diet Guardian Angel!!

I am leaving for 15 months travel soon to the other side of the world in 2 months and i want to correct my terrible eating habits. I have several excuses why i need help with this.

• I have poor will power sometimes. I genuinely forget that i am trying to eat healthy, probably because i'm in the habit of not doing it and sometimes i'll remember AFTER i have eaten crap.
• I am a very inexperienced cook and ready meals is my easiest option
• Finally, i am nightshift so i find this really wrecks my sleeping patterns although it does make me an antisocial hermit (very little boozing).

I usually find i'm pretty good while working but my days off are when i struggle as i have too much time on my hands. On my working days i do around 15k steps according to my pedometer and its quite physical.

I generally work from 8pm to 6am and will sleep 7am to 3pm. i know this is not enough sleep but its very hard to do so with the light and heat.

If anyone is looking for a project, i am your man. A 28 year old, 5 ft 10 16st man so in need of some serious changes!

Thanks for reading

niamh4626

Well, you need to WANT to change your lifestyle!!

You will definatly get tons of support here, I can vouch for that. You must set your mind to it. Plus, i'm no great cook myself but cutting up a few chicken pieces and some veg and throwing into a frying pan to cook is not overly exerting but is damn tasty and then you can put whatever kind of sauce with it you like, soy sauce (only a little though I find too much is overpowering) jamie oliver firey tomato and chillie sauce etc etc etc!!!!!! I like spicy myself and I always ad a clove of garlic and a bit of ginger, delish if I do say so myself!!!!!:D

Best of luck, stay positive and dont forget, a LITTLE of what you fancy is not bad........

EileenG

Actually, you are getting as much sleep as most of us. Not many people get more than 8 hours and often it's a lot less.

For what it's worth, a good way to clean up your diet is to stick to real food. Eat whatever is fresh and in season, and avoid anything processed. Try to avoid sugar and white flour, and you'll automatically cut out massive amounts of junk.

Don't think in terms of low fat, low carb or anything like that. Aim to eat lots of good quality, fresh, natural food. Eat when you are hungry and (very important) stop eating when you are not hungry. If in doubt, wait for half an hour to see if you are really hungry. If so, eat.

Plan to eat lots of green veg. Forget the food pyramid with all the rice and bread and pasta. If you have a lot of weigh to lose, make green veg the bottom part of your food pyramid. Fill half your plate with veg or salad at every meal. Aim for five portions a day of green, leafy or salad veg. Fruit and root veg is on top of that.

Don't be afraid of eggs or red meat, they've got lots of good stuff for keeping you healthy. Oily fish is brilliant. Nuts and seeds make good snacks - if you are hungry.

corkcomp

hi OP, my advice (as always!!) is not to go overboard with cutting out good / wholegrain carbs - just watch portion sizes.

You should completely cut out the following - white flour products inc pasta, bread, cakes etc .. Any breakfast cereal except porridge, allbran or weetabix ... Processed meat (e.g sausages, cheap sliced meats etc) and anything with transfats ...

You dont really need to be a good cook to eat well .. you could have porridge for breakfast or scrambled egg (2 mins in microwave!) - fruit and a lot of vegetables dont need any cooking ... Tuna is a great source of protein and you can use it straight from the tin .... On and on the sleep bit .. Eileen is right - most of us would be delighted to get that much sleep every day ... When i was working night shifts I could never manage any more than 6 hours of daytime sleep on a good day

best of luck