Daily Healthy Food? - No one is eating 3 apples and a bag of raisins a day

[Judge Dredd]

Struggling to maintain a realistic, healthy diet long term, and sick of short term "diets". I started to ask healthy people what they eat day-to-day.

I got lots of different answers, but they all broadly fit into the same catagories.

1: Pizza, chips, curry, burgers, eggs, bacon, ready meals. ie. basically what a fat person eats.

But if I mention it in the context of losing weight, I get answers like.
2: An egg and orange juice for breakfast, 3 apples and a bag of raisins during the day. ie. bullshit they think I should eat.
I even remember one amateur athlete giving a speech like option 2, only to then buy a curry. When called on it, he said it was an exception because he was "on a cleanse".

I got an air fryer recently, and a neighbor (and even a nurse) have been selling me on healthy wraps. Including a so called pizza wrap (tomato sauce, cheese, and optionally chicken). A I asked how this is healthy when pizzas are bad for you, and was told "it just is".

So kiwis, what are some healthy foods you could realistically eat day-to-day?

 

[Not A Cat Person]

Just stop eating so much, fatty.

 

[NoReturn]

So kiwis, what are some healthy foods you could realistically eat day-to-day?

Diets are bullshit, you need to change the way you eat forever.
That doesn't mean you can't have delicious things, you just need to be cognizant of how that fits into your overall nutrition and energy expenditure.

Let's dig into your actual case. Are you female? How fat are you? What do you eat normally? Do you have any issues with binging or restricting?

 

[oldTireWater]

A lot of fiber. The bulk of my diet consists of: oatmeal, barley, black beans, pasta, pistachios, and vegetables. I eat other stuff too, but that makes up the great majority of it. You can eat as much of that kind of stuff as you can stomach and you're not going to get fat as long as you're exercising too.

It's not a "diet", it's the way I choose to eat. The real reason it works for me is that I actually enjoy it. I love oatmeal and barley. If I didn't like that shit I probably wouldn't keep doing it year after year. You have to find healthy things that you actually enjoy, or whatever you do will just be temporary.

 

[Powerhouse of the Cell]

Don't over eat your calories.

Simple as that.

 

[Absolutego]

General rule is eat less (no amount of dieting advice will ever beat Calories In, Calories Out, you can lose weight living off McDonald's and gain weight living off salad), but more specifically, I give two bits of advice when people want to lose weight:
-Eat more food that sustains you (high amounts of protein for the calories, carbs with lots of other macronutrients like fiber, iron, etc, i.e. vegetables, not bread/rice)
-Eat less processed food (where they add all sorts of sugar, extra fats, generally inflate the calorie count compared to delivered nutrients)

If you've got an air fryer, get one of those bags of frozen fish fillets (unbreaded, the actual fillets, not fish sticks), and some frozen mixed vegetables. Easiest, fastest healthy weeknight meal this side of heating up meal-prepped dinners. Stick a fillet in @ 400 for 10-12 min, right out of the freezer. Flip halfway through, slather a condiment you like on top (I usually go for around 1/2 Tbsp of mustard or gochujang, depends on the fish), add in a serving of the mixed veggies (also straight from the freezer), finish the other side.

Dieting is a lifestyle change. Drinking a lot of fluids (water, tea are good choices since they're both zero calorie), snack less, move more, it's all part of the process alongside fixing the diet.
Cold/tepid water is the gold standard for fit people, and if you're losing weight, it's literally the only negative calorie thing you can consume (since your body expends calories heating it to body temp)

 

[Stabby_Pencil]

Use this site: https://www.eatthismuch.com/

Might help you, might not.

 

[Chongqing]

Half of the plate should be fruit or vegetables. Use canned vegetables if this sounds too expensive to do.

Air fryer chicken over rice with some plain Greek yogurt on the side to be used as a dipping sauce is great, and can be done so many different ways (the chicken can be braised, steamed, roasted, seasoned differently, and so on). You should try to get your portion of rice down to a half cup if you are trying to lose weight.

Sometimes, instead of chicken, use fish.

Try to avoid red meat as much as you can, like maybe eat it only once a week or less.

Vegetarian dishes with big flavor, like braised tomatoes and eggs, or mapo tofu (or types of braised tofu) are a great way to get ahead in terms of calories and lean protein.

There is a YouTube channel called Zaza in China, and he has a side channel I think called Zaza Eats. He's good at showing how you can throw together a dish of braised tofu, mushrooms and green onions, or a dish of braised chicken wing drumettes. These dishes are exciting to eat even though they are healthy, and give a takeout vibe even though you're losing weight.

Another great idea involves Middle Eastern chicken wraps. Chicken in a pita with some tahini, nonfat yogurt and vegetables feels like fast food. If you want to get crazy, air fry 5 fries and have them with it.

Cooking oils, only use extra virgin olive oil, or canola oil. Vegetable oil is a distant third choice. Don't use any other types of cooking oils. Don't cook with rendered animal fats.

If you drink milk, get nonfat milk.

Aside from milk, and unless it's a glass of juice with breakfast, do not drink calories. Check your juice for "added sugar." Preferably, get juice with 50% less sugar (Trop50 or whatever generic brands). Get sparkling waters and Coke Zero.

If you ever get a craving to binge eat, that's totally fine. Just remember that you can eat unlimited amounts of fruit and vegetables. Try to make that 100% of your binge foods.

The website for the American Heart Association has more good recipes that are healthy.

 

[oldTireWater]

I get that air fryers aren't as unhealthy as deep fryers. However, it may be better to wean yourself off of the desire for rich tasting foods altogether. May be a big ask.

 

[Judge Dredd]

If you've got an air fryer, get one of those bags of frozen fish fillets (unbreaded, the actual fillets, not fish sticks), and some frozen mixed vegetables. Easiest, fastest healthy weeknight meal this side of heating up meal-prepped dinners

I've heard that, but with chicken. It's where that pizza wrap recipe/recommendation comes from.

eg. Breaded is bad, but you take chicken and wrap it in tortia bread it's suddenly healthy? I don't get that.

I mean, great if true. But I don't understand the logic of it.

Dieting is a lifestyle change. Drinking a lot of fluids (water, tea are good choices since they're both zero calorie), snack less, move more, it's all part of the process alongside fixing the diet.

It's not a "diet", it's the way I choose to eat. The real reason it works for me is that I actually enjoy it.

You have to find healthy things that you actually enjoy, or whatever you do will just be temporary.

Which is why I'm looking for long term solutions. It's why I'm against weight loss pills, or becoming a gym addict (3 hours a day of intense workout isn't sustainable. Or maybe it is and I'm just lazy).

It's why the difference in replies (sometimes from the same people) is not something I take seriously any more. Sure, swilling raw eggs and drinking orange juice looks good on Rocky, but my doubts about people doing that day in day out are backed up when I see these people eating deep fried fish fingers, chips, and a whole 12 inch pizza.

I'm drinking a lot more water. Fizzy flavoured water if that counts. I'm eating boiled eggs more often (though it uses up my daily limit on bread pretty quick).

 

[Absolutego]

Which is why I'm looking for long term solutions. It's why I'm against weight loss pills, or becoming a gym addict (3 hours a day of intense workout isn't sustainable. Or maybe it is and I'm just lazy).

Who is telling you you need 3hrs/day intense workouts? It's usually 3hrs/week of intense workouts for a standard Push/Pull/Legs weightlifting routine.

RE: the wrap, the tortilla is probably less calories than an equivalent serving of pizza crust bread would be, which is why they recommend it over that. The pizza wrap you probably saw is considered healthier because it contains substantially less cheese than a slice or two of chicken pizza would have.

 

[Neodanthril]

I was going to send you the link to Liam rosen website which is the gold standard in introduction to fitness, but the website is currently down. Maybe this link will work later

https://liamrosen.com/fitness.html

(3 hours a day of intense workout isn't sustainable.

You are correct, nor is it a good idea in perpetuity. Muscles need rest to grow. A good goal to hit is to exercise three days a week performing a variety of cardiovascular, strength building, and endurance building exercises each day, targeting different muscles every time. Ie Monday you work on legs, Tuesday arms, Wednesday core, as an example. I usually prefer to work out multiple different sectors each but figure out what is best for you

I'm eating boiled eggs more often (though it uses up my daily limit on bread pretty quick).

Are you putting the boiled eggs on bread?

 

[Ass Dan]

I'm the type of person that can easily fall into obsessing about food to a problematic degree if I spend too much time or mental energy thinking about my diet. So my main guideline is prioritizing whole foods and avoiding food products that were created in labs. It's a lot more difficult to overeat if you're eating things like baked sweet potatoes, walnuts, roasted vegetables, pears, full fat cottage cheese, chicken thighs, and eggs. None of these things are "diet" food; they're satisfying and filling and tasty. As a bonus, you're also a lot more likely to meet your fiber and macro/micronutrient requirements by prioritizing whole food.

There are a lot of "protein supplement" type processed foods on the market right now, and I have tried some of them, but the main thing I noticed is that none of them actually satisfy hunger. No one should be eating foods that cause you to still be hungry, or even worse, hungrier, after you eat them.

It's also important to remember that it's not about being perfect. Sometimes you're on a road trip or something, life happens, and convenience store food is your best or only option. Obsessing is not productive.

 

[Chongqing]

So my main guideline is prioritizing whole foods and avoiding food products that were created in labs. It's a lot more difficult to overeat if you're eating things like baked sweet potatoes, walnuts, roasted vegetables, pears, full fat cottage cheese, chicken thighs, and eggs. None of these things are "diet" food; they're satisfying and filling and tasty. As a bonus, you're also a lot more likely to meet your fiber and macro/micronutrient requirements by prioritizing whole food.

Whenever someone pitches "whole foods, real food, not processed stuff," like it's some sort of huge breakthrough, I always wonder, what he hell were people like you eating before?

I honestly can't imagine a whole meal in which whole foods aren't involved.

Would you have hot pockets as the main protein in your dinner, with pretzel crackers on the side?

eg. Breaded is bad, but you take chicken and wrap it in tortia bread it's suddenly healthy? I don't get that.

I mean, great if true. But I don't understand the logic of it.

Bread being the enemy is something you should get out of your head. That's an Oprah Winfrey fad diet for women type of idea. Humanity has not been eating the wrong thing (bread) since the dawn of time.

The breading on chicken within itself is no problem. If you want to bread chicken in flour, eggs, breadcrumbs and corn starch, that's not really unhealthy. If you fry it in one of the three oils we talked about, that's not really unhealthy either.

I would consider homemade chicken parm to be a healthy dish.

If you buy pre-breaded chicken, it was already fried beforehand using some sort of horrible soy oil that your body can't break down and process. The breading itself is probably not the simple ingredients laid out above. So you're introducing a lot of things to your diet that aren't supposed to be there.

It's the same idea with crackers. If you make them at home, you're not introducing weird cooking oils or chemicals into what you will be eating. This is usually the main thing that makes something healthy or unhealthy.

By the way, something to look into is called the Mediterranean diet. It's a lot of different styles of cuisines, but it's all based on vegetables, olive oil, olives, lean meats and so on.

 

[oldTireWater]

Who is telling you you need 3hrs/day intense workouts?

High-performing, swole-assed motherfuckers is who! But yea, sadly your connective tissue aint going to hold up to that. My personal exercise philosophy is "everything is something, but nothing is ever enough."

I believe that having bland tastes helps me personally. I do not crave rich, tasteful food because I am just not in the habit of eating it regularly. I like it when I have it, but it's not something I seek. This makes omitting butter, salt, fat, breading, etc. from the food I eat easy. That's why I'm kind of surprised to hear everyone hyping air-fryers. Just not frying your food is an option too.

I also believe that typically eating alone (my wife doesn't count because she prepares her own meals of cheese and sunflower seeds) helps me, because we are all influenced by what the people around us are doing, like it or not. If I'm eating with someone else and they get a milkshake I will be damned if I don't get one too.

 

[Smashed & Slamed]

I mean my diet is pretty simple. Eat BMR. And hit 160g of protein. So what I do is drink a protein shake in the morning with a pot of yogurt, eat two meals, pork or chicken or fish with some vegetables or starches and have a protein shake for dinner. And with a few calories from working out that lets me have a snack like a chocolate bar or a bag of chips. And it's worked for me for 4 months now. Before that it was just BMR +1/200 kcal with no protein goal and that worked for weight loss not so much for strength gain/maintenance.

 

[Ass Dan]

like it's some sort of huge breakthrough

?????

What about "general guideline" reads as "huge breakthrough" to you? OP asked for advice and I shared what works for me. I'm very glad for you that you have had an unimpeachable relationship with food since the day you were born, that's wonderful. Not all of us have been that fortunate.

 

[Carbiter]

So kiwis, what are some healthy foods you could realistically eat day-to-day?

I'm not a particularly healthy eater, but I do know that you should try and pull from a balanced foodgroup. You may have seen one of these things before:


This is good for what you should try and base your diet or eating habits in general off of. You don't need every meal in this exact way like this, but everyday you should strive to have one of these at one of your daily meals. You need not just proper caloric intake but also nutrition as well. Here are some suggestions:

Spoiler: Fruits

Fruits have a lot of healthy sugars, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber your body can make use of. Many of them are fiber-rich and they help with cholesterol and blood-sugar levels
- Oranges (vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidant)
- Apples (low-calories, high fiber, high water content)
- Bananas (fiber, potassium)
- Avocados (monounsaturated fats, dietary fiber, and vitamins C, E, K)
- Watermelon (high water content, low-calorie)
- Grapes (resveratrol, polyphenols, vitamins C and K, and potassium)
- Blueberries (low-calorie, high fiber)
- Strawberries (high fiber, vitamin C, and antioxidant)

Spoiler: Vegetables

A lot of people do not know how to properly incorporate vegetables into their diet. Part of this is because they have no idea how to properly cook them into something that tastes good or they like. Nevertheless, they are very good for you and you should incorporate them without questions.
- Spinach (iron, fiber, and vitamins C and K)
- Squash (vitamins C and B6 and beta-carotene)
- Carrots (beta-carotene, fiber, potassium, and antioxidants)
- Broccoli (vitamins C and K, fiber, andantioxidants)
- Tomatoes (lycopene, vitamin C, and potassium)
- Green Beans (protein, vitamins C and A, and beneficial minerals)
- Asparagus (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, biotin and vitamin B6, makes your piss smell weird but that's because it cleans your digestive tract)
- Cabbage (vitamin K, B6, and C, Manganese, and fiber)
- Corn (complex carbohydrates, fiber, and essential antioxidants)

Spoiler: Meats

Meats, and especially red-meat, are often maligned by vegans and other "nutritionists" who have alternative reasons to incorporate them into your diet. Most of their research sucks intentionally. Although many people often add bad things to meats such as salts to flavor them, reducing their healthiness and nutritional value dramatically. So keep meat-seasoning to a minimum. They are still exceptionally good for you. Most of their value comes in high protein content
- Steak (protein, Vitamin B12, zinc, and iron)
- Chicken (protein, all nine essential amino acids)
- Pork (protein, all nine essential amino acids, vitamin B1)
- Fish (protein, low-calorie, Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, do not eat raw)
- Lamb (protein, monounsaturated fat)
- Eggs (small amount of almost every nutrient the human body requires, especially choline)

Spoiler: Grains

Grains are carb-heavy things, and you should moderate consumption of this stuff. Runners will often carb-load with these to have as much energy as they can when they get to running. They do also have some nutrients to them which are lower in other food groups. Go for more "wheaty" or "whole-wheat" when picking out what to consume.
- Pasta (complex carbohydrates, manganese)
- Oats (fiber, unsaturated fats, protein)
- Bread (complex carbohydrates, fibre, and B-vitamins)
- Rice (get brown rice, magnesium, B vitamins, and manganese) Other rices except white rice have other nutritional contents, and you might want to look into those as well.

Spoiler: Dairy

Dairy is most known for calcium and protein, and that's true it does have high quantities of those things, but they also have other beneficial nutritional. I don't have too much variety in mind
- Milk (calcium, magnesium, Vitamins B12 and B2, and potassium)
- Yogurt (calcium, protein, and probiotics)
- Cheese (protein, calcium, and Vitamin B12)

Also, exercise more. That's probably not the main driver, but it definitely helps. The human body was naturally conditioned for hunting, and for intelligence, and exercising is a must if you can. 30 minutes a day of weight-lifting or running/jogging will do the trick, so don't feel like you need to be a gym-guru gigachad bodybuilder.

Avoid things like:
- Chips
- Pizza
- Candy
- Anything with artificial sugars because those are not meant for any nutrition
- Alcohol
Or just eat those things on occasion rather than everyday.

There are probably more recommendations people can give outside of those things.

 

[Absolutego]

I believe that having bland tastes helps me personally. I do not crave rich, tasteful food because I am just not in the habit of eating it regularly. I like it when I have it, but it's not something I seek. This makes omitting butter, salt, fat, breading, etc. from the food I eat easy. That's why I'm kind of surprised to hear everyone hyping air-fryers. Just not frying your food is an option too.

I honestly love the air fryer for the fish dinner I recommended above because preheating takes far less time and far less power than it would've taken to preheat an oven, and I don't need any additional oil. And weeknights at home, I'm only cooking for one T_T

 

[Chongqing]

What about "general guideline" reads as "huge breakthrough" to you? OP asked for advice and I shared what works for me. I'm very glad for you that you have had an unimpeachable relationship with food since the day you were born, that's wonderful. Not all of us have been that fortunate.

I haven't always had a great relationship with food. I used to have an unhealthy diet full of red meat that led to health issues. From there I had to learn a lot.

Before I edited my post to make it less rude, I said, "a huge breakthrough as if it needs to be shared." Because this is the most commonly shared food advice that people give. Michael Pollan wrote a book and built a career off of telling people to, "just eat food, don't eat food-like substances."

Your post was full of good advice, I'm not disagreeing with you. But it makes me wonder, what did you eat before that?