Eating better

[Mixo]

I'm not particularly invested in recovery for mental health, but to stop so many of my chronic health issues.

I've decided soon to try my best despite my negative environment and people around me to try and eat better. I want to focus on eating dark leafy greens, vegetables, legumes, and probiotic foods like natural yogurts and kefir, etc. I am looking forward to it as I've gained too much weight and I feel extra crappy. I also want to quit drinking coffee.

Anyone else contemplating a nutritional switch?

Only thing is the budget. I have to figure out a way to do it without breaking the bank.

 

[rationalis]

Frozen vegetables and reconstituted dried beans made in a slow cooker are cheap. Under $1 per pound. Target often has their store brand foods on sale.

Also raw vegetables including broccoli and spinach can be expensive per ounce but are very filling.

 

[Mixo]

Frozen vegetables and reconstituted dried beans made in a slow cooker are cheap. Under $1 per pound. Target often has their store brand foods on sale.

Also raw vegetables including broccoli and spinach can be expensive per ounce but are very filling.

Wish there was a target near me. I guess I've gotten spoiled as I prefer to cook fresh veggies. I will have to work on changing this.

 

[rationalis]

I prefer frozen for convenience. I mix beans, vegetables, nuts, a couple kinds of mustards, heat them up and it satisfies me.

 

[Mixo]

I prefer frozen for convenience. I mix beans, vegetables, nuts, a couple kinds of mustards, heat them up and it satisfies me.

Do you steam in a pot? Or go full microwave on them? Dang this is sounding like a nice treat right now. And do you soak the beans before hand? I've never worked with beans before, really except for canned garbanzos.

 

[rationalis]

I soak the beans for maybe six hours and use a little timer on the electrical cord to run the cooker for 7.5 hours and let them cool for four hours. So it takes a long time but the only prep is rinsing the beans before adding to the slow cooker.

I use a crock pot type slow cooker.

I make mostly garbanzo and pinto.

I also make a hummus with garbanzo beans, lemon, minced garlic, and some of the water from the crock pot called aquafaba and mixing it in a food processor. Use it for the broccoli. It is not perfect but only takes a few minutes.

I used to try to cook more but generally spend little time cooking.

 

[Before26]

I'm not particularly invested in recovery for mental health, but to stop so many of my chronic health issues.

I've decided soon to try my best despite my negative environment and people around me to try and eat better. I want to focus on eating dark leafy greens, vegetables, legumes, and probiotic foods like natural yogurts and kefir, etc. I am looking forward to it as I've gained too much weight and I feel extra crappy. I also want to quit drinking coffee.

Anyone else contemplating a nutritional switch?

Only thing is the budget. I have to figure out a way to do it without breaking the bank.

I need to focus on gaining weight to help my health issues and maybe my mental health. I think eating better will give me more energy too.
I love cooking when I have guests but hate cooking when it's just me and I have no energy...

I eat a mostly vegetarian/pescatarian diet so maybe we can share some recipe ideas!

 

[Mixo]

I also make a hummus with garbanzo beans, lemon, minced garlic, and some of the water from the crock pot called aquafaba and mixing it in a food processor. Use it for the broccoli. It is not perfect but only takes a few minutes.

Umm, holy shit that sounds good. You clearly know your way around a food processor. Thank you for the tip.

Here's my offering to you if you like pesto:
- Soak some raw cashews (better if raw), drain them
- Add tons of fresh basil
- Add a clove or two of raw garlic
- Add some dried parmesan (it's pricey so you can leave it out, it'll still be delicious)
- Add in about 4-5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Process in a food processor and you get the most delicious but simple pesto.

 

[Before26]

Umm, holy shit that sounds good. You clearly know your way around a food processor. Thank you for the tip.

Here's my offering to you if you like pesto:
- Soak some raw cashews (better if raw), drain them
- Add tons of fresh basil
- Add a clove or two of raw garlic
- Add some dried parmesan (it's pricey so you can leave it out, it'll still be delicious)
Process in a food processor and you get the most delicious but simple pesto.

YUM
+ sun-dried tomatoes and pasta and some pine nuts

I'm hungry

 

[Mixo]

I need to focus on gaining weight to help my health issues and maybe my mental health. I think eating better will give me more energy too.
I love cooking when I have guests but hate cooking when it's just me and I have no energy...

I eat a mostly vegetarian/pescatarian diet so maybe we can share some recipe ideas!

Sure, that sounds great. I make a great branzino fish. And it's so easy too. You just need a bin of tinfoil, a nice piece of trout that is scaled, salt, some lemon slices, some fresh herbs to your liking (I like basil, dill), wrap it up in foil, and bake for 20 min at 375. If you serve that with a little yellow cous cous, you will be a very happy clam!

YUM
+ sun-dried tomatoes and pasta and some pine nuts

I'm hungry

Hell yeah. Sun dried tomatoes and pesto go together so so well. It's like a match made in heaven, right??

 

[Before26]

Umm, holy shit that sounds good. You clearly know your way around a food processor. Thank you for the tip.

Here's my offering to you if you like pesto:
- Soak some raw cashews (better if raw), drain them
- Add tons of fresh basil
- Add a clove or two of raw garlic
- Add some dried parmesan (it's pricey so you can leave it out, it'll still be delicious)
Process in a food processor and you get the most delicious but simple pesto.

I have written both these recipes down (big fan of sticking things in the oven)! okay my contribution for a healthy recipe idea is Vietnamese summer rolls, prepare the vermicelli noodles, tofu, sliced peppers, sliced cucumber, sliced carrot, and lettuce, and rice paper. Assemble your rice paper rolls with the ingredients, serve with sweet chilli dip! :)

I soak the beans for maybe six hours and use a little timer on the electrical cord to run the cooker for 7.5 hours and let them cool for four hours. So it takes a long time but the only prep is rinsing the beans before adding to the slow cooker.

I use a crock pot type slow cooker.

I make mostly garbanzo and pinto.

I also make a hummus with garbanzo beans, lemon, minced garlic, and some of the water from the crock pot called aquafaba and mixing it in a food processor. Use it for the broccoli. It is not perfect but only takes a few minutes.

I used to try to cook more but generally spend little time cooking.

I need to buy a food processor - not a home staple where I am!

 

[Mixo]

I have written both these recipes down (big fan of sticking things in the oven)! okay my contribution for a healthy recipe idea is Vietnamese summer rolls, prepare the vermicelli noodles, tofu, sliced peppers, sliced cucumber, sliced carrot, and lettuce, and rice paper. Assemble your rice paper rolls with the ingredients, serve with sweet chilli dip! :)

Jeez, this sounds good too. I'm starting to think a healthy eating megathread would be cool for the recovery sub, but I think it would trigger some people with ED issues. Darn. Well I'll just bump this thread every time I come up with something easy, simple, and healthy for us people who don't want to break the bank or are somewhat lazy like me lol.

 

[Before26]

Jeez, this sounds good too. I'm starting to think a healthy eating megathread would be cool for the recovery sub, but I think it would trigger some people with ED issues. Darn. Well I'll just bump this thread every time I come up with something easy, simple, and healthy for us people who don't want to break the bank or are somewhat lazy like me lol.

I think a health eating megathread would be useful but I am happy to just keep returning here. Thanks for starting the thread
It's already been so lovely to share meal ideas as I sometimes feel very uninspired when I'm just cooking for myself!

 

[Mixo]

I think a health eating megathread would be useful but I am happy to just keep returning here. Thanks for starting the thread
It's already been so lovely to share meal ideas as I sometimes feel very uninspired when I'm just cooking for myself!

Me too. Let's keep "meeting" here. I'll post some pics soon for further inspo.

 

[Mixo]

I'm back with a video for some inspo. I picked this video to post because it seemed simple, healthy, and straightforward. Here's a video of a guy explaining how he uses a slowcooker to cook veggies, but he doesn't use beans. I am considering getting a slow cooker. @rationalis what do you think? Would you add the frozen/fresh veggies after soaking and draining the beans for 6 hrs?

 

[Mixo]

Dinner tonight - kept it simple since it's only my second day. Panfried chicken, roasted curry cauliflower, and some roasted veg. A little blander than I would have liked.

 

[Before26]

View attachment 82766

Dinner tonight - kept it simple since it's only my second day. Panfried chicken, roasted curry cauliflower, and some roasted veg. A little blander than I would have liked.

I cooked South African style chicken curry, served with yellow rice and roasted sweet potato this evening! I'm so happy you're eating well too! I need to remember to keep posting my dinners and lunches

 

[Mixo]

I cooked South African style chicken curry, served with yellow rice and roasted sweet potato this evening! I'm so happy you're eating well too! I need to remember to keep posting my dinners and lunches

Wow, that sounds so so good. Yes, please do post a pic sometime if you like. We love our pic inspo. :)

 

[Mixo]

I know this meal probably looks pretty boring. It's turkey meatballs, browned in a fry pan, then baked on top of some onions and broccoli. Veggies just coated in EVOO, salt, pepper, and roasted. I'm trying to avoid grains, dairy, and sugars to heal my gut so sadly, not much flexibility here in terms of additional ingredients. Just posting to possibly motivate others to post their meals and for accountability's sake.

 

[Mixo]

Here is an extremely simple recipe for even the most novice of cooks. It's gluten free, sugar free, but not without flavor. Big plus is that it's extremely flexible so aside from the curry and coconut milk, you can pretty much modify ingredients/proportions to your liking.

Thai Curry Chicken Recipe
- 500 g cubed/chopped chicken breast
- fresh chopped garlic
- fresh chopped ginger
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2 tbsp of fish sauce (optional, as some fish sauces may contain gluten)
- 3 tbsp of curry powder
- 1 small handful of dried kaffir lime leaves (optional)
- 1 can (or 400 mL) of coconut milk
- Half a sliced red bell pepper
- 3 chopped red chilies (or any chilies you like)
- Handful of snap peas or green beans
- 50 g canned bamboo shoots (optional)

Basically you just add each of the listed ingredients in this order into an oiled wok/fry pan and let it go.



Can't wait to try this recipe out, as I have some excess curry powder and keffir lime leaves laying around.

 

[Mixo]

Cheated on my new eating regimen with a bag of chips of all things. Felt nauseated afterwards, so it wasn't quite worth the cheating. Not beating myself up about it, though. Tomorrow's another day.

 

[Bleak]

Yeah I try to eat healthy as much as possible because it's one of the areas where I feel I have control, and I always have some small hope that somehow my nervous system will repair itself if given the right conditions. The stuff we cook is not super fancy or interesting though, lots of chilis, soups, stir fries eaten with brown rice.

 

[Mixo]

Yeah I try to eat healthy as much as possible because it's one of the areas where I feel I have control, and I always have some small hope that somehow my nervous system will repair itself if given the right conditions. The stuff we cook is not super fancy or interesting though, lots of chilis, soups, stir fries eaten with brown rice.

It's boring for those who are probably not on any kind of eating plan that requires any degree of restriction. It's odd, but after just a few days into a protocol, my cravings stop almost entirely and I kind of get used to eating like the only 20 foods on a list I'm allowed to have lol. So your chilis, soups, and stir fries all sound pretty darn good to me. I should be more critical of myself for moments of weakness when I do deviate from my plan, but I don't want to develop an even worse relationship to food, if you know what I mean.

 

[Bleak]

It's boring for those who are probably not on a restrictive diet. It's odd, but after just a few days into a protocol, my cravings stop almost entirely and I kind of get used to eating like the only 20 foods on a list I'm allowed to have lol. So your chilis, soups, and stir fries all sound pretty darn good to me. I should be more critical of myself for moments of weakness when I do deviate from my plan, but I don't want to develop an even worse relationship to food, if you know what I mean.

Yeah I don't think you should be hard on yourself for deviating from a strict regimen. Main thing is eating majority healthy stuff, doesn't hurt to splurge now and then.

 

[Mixo]

Yeah I don't think you should be hard on yourself for deviating from a strict regimen. Main thing is eating majority healthy stuff, doesn't hurt to splurge now and then.

Thanks for the encouragement. Feel free to share any recipe ideas or pictorial inspiration (EXIF stripped, of course) if you ever feel the urge.

 

[Mixo]

Went ahead and tried to make the aforementioned coconut curry recipe and to my surprise, it was..... very satisfactory. My photography skills are lacking so it doesn't look too great here, but this fish coconut curry was a delight. That little finger looking nubbin on the left is a carrot and not a finger, I promise.

 

[gottago222]

I know this meal probably looks pretty boring. It's turkey meatballs, browned in a fry pan, then baked on top of some onions and broccoli. Veggies just coated in EVOO, salt, pepper, and roasted. I'm trying to avoid grains, dairy, and sugars to heal my gut so sadly, not much flexibility here in terms of additional ingredients. Just posting to possibly motivate others to post their meals and for accountability's sake.

if you want to heal your gut high fiber plants are NOT the way to go... fiber tears your gut apart. you need collagen to build up your gut.
try making some bone broth. i can give you a good recipe if your interested. this is coming from someone who healed from anorexia and intense stomach issues

 

[Mixo]

if you want to heal your gut high fiber plants are NOT the way to go... fiber tears your gut apart. you need collagen to build up your gut.
try making some bone broth. i can give you a good recipe if your interested. this is coming from someone who healed from anorexia and intense stomach issues

Just following up on this. I'm making bone broth from tomorrow for the first time. Wish me luck.

Edit: Any tips on storage would help immensely. I don't want to buy a whole case of special jars.

 

[CC123]

lentils

 

[Mixo]

Roasted a chicken tonight, but screwed up right at the end and burnt the thing - yeesh. Ah well, still healthier than me succumbing to a big mac.