This was the best forum I could find to post this in. I'm a 21 year old male from Michigan and would like to have more energy and keep my body in good shape. The food I generally eat
Daily: A bowl of cereal such as frosted cheerios, raisin bran, frosted flakes, or honey bunches of oats with skim milk.
A YOPLAIT! yogurt either an original or thick and creamy.
A carrot/celery stick, some grapes or a banana, an apple or an orange.
A couple graham crackers with peanut butter/ or a wheat toast.

Throughout the week I usually have:
About 3 meals of eggs, maybe once a week with bacon.
usually about 1 or 2 meals of a meat like chicken or meatballs, often microwaved.
the rest of the food tends to be candy or frozen dinners like hot pockets.

Nearly the only thing I drink is bottled water, maybe once in a while a glass of orange juice from a random grocery store.

Keep in mind that I have pretty much no knowledge of cooking anything, the only thing I've ever cooked were eggs and canned soup. So the more simple the preparations the better.

As long as I'm eating healthy I don't really care what the food tastes like because I feel being healthy is more important than enjoying what I am eating.

wrote:
>I'm a 21 year old
>male from Michigan and would like to have more energy and keep my body
>in good shape. The food I generally eat
>Daily: A bowl of cereal such as frosted cheerios, raisin bran, frosted
>flakes, or honey bunches of oats with skim milk.
>A YOPLAIT! yogurt either an original or thick and creamy.
>A carrot/celery stick, some grapes or a banana, an apple or an orange.
>A couple graham crackers with peanut butter/ or a wheat toast.

If you feel you have too little energy eating that way, it could be because
you're eating too many carbs and your blood sugar is spiking, then diving.
Cereal, sugary yogurt, fruit, Graham crackers, wheat toast and sweet vegetables
such as carrots might be driving your insulin production system crazy. After
two weeks eliminating all refined carbs including starches, sugars and fruits,
you can begin to reincorporate high fiber grains, fruits and even occasional
sugar into a low-carb base. Atkins gets around to this by the Ongoing Weight
Loss phase, while South Beach starts reintroducing carbs by Phase 2. Try South
Beach or Atkins as alternatives.

>Throughout the week I usually have:
>About 3 meals of eggs, maybe once a week with bacon.

That sounds good.

>usually about 1 or 2 meals of a meat like chicken or meatballs, often
>microwaved.

Those meals probably contain many more additives and preservatives than you
think; they're also probably higher in sodium than what you could easily
prepare at home.

>the rest of the food tends to be candy or frozen dinners like hot
>pockets.

Sounds like you've got too much processed food going on there.

>Nearly the only thing I drink is bottled water, maybe once in a while a
>glass of orange juice from a random grocery store.

Pasturized juice with added sugar, the kind you get at random grocery stores.
It's honestly no wonder you're feeling sluggish. In a nutshell, you're probably
eating more carbs than your body can metabolize. Have you had your fasting
glucose levels taken? If you're hungry every couple of hours, it's very likely
that your high-carb diet is doing you in.

>Keep in mind that I have pretty much no knowledge of cooking anything,
>the only thing I've ever cooked were eggs and canned soup. So the more
>simple the preparations the better.

Buy some cookbooks or borrow some from libraries. There are more recipes online
than you could ever catalogue, let alone prepare. Basically, cooking can be
reduced to a few variables: main ingredient, seasonings, liquid, oil, vessel
and heat. Depending on the main ingredient, it might be better to braze or
saute it, bake or broil, poach or fry. The nature of the main ingredient and
the desired outcome determine how it is to be cooked. You don't fry roasts or
brisket because their flesh takes long, slow brazing to tenderize. Chicken
breasts are best cooked for as short a time as possible over as low a heat as
possible. Beans can be boiled and transferred to a crockpot to stew for six to
eight hours. Most any vegetable can be deliciously roasted at 450 degrees for
about half an hour, brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper. In baking, exact
measurements and resting times can make cakes poof or serve as door stoppers.
Any vegetable that you can chew raw can be put into a salad. Anything can be
simmered with water and aromatic herbs to make soup. Most grains plump up in
boiling water. Fish never takes long to cook, regardless of method. If you like
melted cheese, cover any casserole with it and bake it uncovered for its last
twenty minutes. Blend all marinade ingredients together before applying them to
meat, fish or poultry, so that you don't have seasonings unevenly distributed.
Melted sugar or artificial sweeteners can burn you, so watch out when they
begin to boil. Rinse out your cutting boards when they've been used for meat.
Don't leave any food sitting at room temperature for long. These are the
basics.

>As long as I'm eating healthy I don't really care what the food tastes
>like because I feel being healthy is more important than enjoying what
>I am eating.

That's part of why you're asking these questions in the first place. You eat
junk foods with allegedly healthy labels. Most of your diet consists of
processed foods with so few inherent nutrients that they have to be vitamin
enriched. If it ain't got enough vitamins in its natural state, leave it for
pigs. Eat foods whose main ingredients are the fodos themselves. If you want
chicke, eat chicken rather than some dish where chicken is tenth in a long
artificial ingredients list. Want cereal? Make your own granola or steel cut
oats in a rice cooker. Get into bread making or find a real bakery. Otherwise,
ditch supermarket bread because of its lack of nutrients. Eat brown rice
instead of white, whole wheat pasta instead of white. Save potatoes for special
occasions. Squeeze your own orange juice. Best of all, take any vegetables and
fruits on hand, add two cups of water and blend for a tasty, nutritious
breakfast every morning.

Orlando

FFF wrote:
>
> This was the best forum I could find to post this in. I'm a 21 year old
> male from Michigan and would like to have more energy and keep my body
> in good shape. The food I generally eat
> Daily: A bowl of cereal such as frosted cheerios, raisin bran, frosted
> flakes, or honey bunches of oats with skim milk.
> A YOPLAIT! yogurt either an original or thick and creamy.
> A carrot/celery stick, some grapes or a banana, an apple or an orange.
> A couple graham crackers with peanut butter/ or a wheat toast.

Not nearly enough taurine, too many nutritionally inactive vitamin B-12
analogs, extreme omega-6/omega-3 imbalance -- no, this is surely
not a healthful diet. You need to return the diet of ancient Man.
The diet of Man today is much different from that of ancient Man.
As a whole, we eat much more meat than did ancient Man, and we eat
different parts of the animal.

Virtually all meat we eat is striated muscle tissue, the type of
muscle in the arms or legs which does the running and heavy lifting.
But there are three types of muscle: striated, smooth, and cardiac.
Most people eat _no_ smooth or cardiac muscle in their diet.

Ancient Man ate not only all three types of muscle, but organ meats
and skin as well. Eating only striated muscle might make sense for
an athelete like a runner or weight lifter, but for the average person
this is a diet far different from that of your ancient ancestors.

In addition to eating whole animal meat, it is also important to
eat mature animal meat. Virtually all meat sold in supermarkets is
from young animals, only a year or two old. It costs too much money
to keep the animals alive until maturity. The flesh of these young
animals is packed with the hormones and enzymes of young growing
animals, which is great if you're going to feed it to children,
but can be highly stressful to feed to an adult. Too many people
continue the eating habits they learned as children into adulthood,
where it causes many of the problems associated with middle-age.

But there is one meat which combines all three types of muscle tissue
plus various organs and is made from mature animals, retired dairy
cattle which have already given birth and produced life-giving milk.
This meat is bologna (pronounced ba-LO-ney), and is widely available
at fine delicatessens and meat markets.

Unfortunately, there is a conspiracy among the big drug companies
to suppress this information. They know they would be put out of
business tomorrow if everybody were eating bologna for health.

Just in posting this to the net, I'm taking a chance that they might
send out a hit man to kill me. So you'd better save a copy of this
file because you might never see it again!

On Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:26:02 +0000, FFFF wrote:

> This was the best forum I could find to post this in. I'm a 21 year old
> male from Michigan and would like to have more energy and keep my body
> in good shape. The food I generally eat Daily: A bowl of cereal such as
> frosted cheerios, raisin bran, frosted flakes, or honey bunches of oats
> with skim milk. A YOPLAIT! yogurt either an original or thick and
> creamy. A carrot/celery stick, some grapes or a banana, an apple or an
> orange. A couple graham crackers with peanut butter/ or a wheat toast.
>
> Throughout the week I usually have:
> About 3 meals of eggs, maybe once a week with bacon. usually about 1 or
> 2 meals of a meat like chicken or meatballs, often microwaved.
> the rest of the food tends to be candy or frozen dinners like hot
> pockets.
>
> Nearly the only thing I drink is bottled water, maybe once in a while a
> glass of orange juice from a random grocery store.
>
> Keep in mind that I have pretty much no knowledge of cooking anything,
> the only thing I've ever cooked were eggs and canned soup. So the more
> simple the preparations the better.
>


Those cereals mentioned need to go. Instead, try rolled oats - they take
a little longer to prepare, but much tastier (if done right) and a LOT
healthier. Also a lot cheaper. If you must have a sweetener, perhaps some
honey, preferably raw honey (if that's not a crime in the U.S).

The candy or frozen dinners like hot pockets also need to go.

If anything comes in a cardboard box and has a long shelf life, chances
are it too should be thrown out.

Since energy seems to be a priority, investigate Maca powder, raw Cacao
beans or powder and bee pollen.

You could make the first meal of the day a smoothie with these items,
perhaps add some fruit, which will certainly give you a boost. With the
Maca powder in particular, you should notice a noticeable improvement the
longer you use it.

You may also benefit from cutting down carbohydrate intake, especially
the white death AKA sugar.

Wheat and other grains containing gluten may -just may - also make you
feel sluggish. If you're not sure if you're sensitive to gluten, this may
also be well worth investigating. More people are sensitive to gluten
than they realise.

> As long as I'm eating healthy I don't really care what the food tastes
> like because I feel being healthy is more important than enjoying what I
> am eating.

In the long term, you /will/ care what it tastes like...
You need to investigate what works for you, including what tastes good to
you, stuff you can continue indefinitely without a struggle. By the looks
of it, cutting back on sugar will be your biggest hurdle.

Good luck.

On Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:47:09 -0800, Mark Thorson wrote:

> d in supermarkets is from young
> animals, only a year or two old. It costs too much money to keep the
> animals alive until maturity. The flesh of these young animals is
> packed

I'm surprised you didnt suggest he eat high meat <G>.

In article >,
FFFF > wrote:

> This was the best forum I could find to post this in. I'm a 21 year old
> male from Michigan and would like to have more energy and keep my body
> in good shape. The food I generally eat
> Daily: A bowl of cereal such as frosted cheerios, raisin bran, frosted
> flakes, or honey bunches of oats with skim milk.
> A YOPLAIT! yogurt either an original or thick and creamy.
> A carrot/celery stick, some grapes or a banana, an apple or an orange.
> A couple graham crackers with peanut butter/ or a wheat toast.
>
> Throughout the week I usually have:
> About 3 meals of eggs, maybe once a week with bacon.
> usually about 1 or 2 meals of a meat like chicken or meatballs, often
> microwaved.
> the rest of the food tends to be candy or frozen dinners like hot
> pockets.
>
> Nearly the only thing I drink is bottled water, maybe once in a while a
> glass of orange juice from a random grocery store.
>
> Keep in mind that I have pretty much no knowledge of cooking anything,
> the only thing I've ever cooked were eggs and canned soup. So the more
> simple the preparations the better.
>
> As long as I'm eating healthy I don't really care what the food tastes
> like because I feel being healthy is more important than enjoying what
> I am eating.

Sign up for http://www.sparkpeople.com for lots of info on eating
healthy foods.

On Feb 9, 5:26*pm, FFFF > wrote:
> This was the best forum I could find to post this in. *I'm a 21 year old
> male from Michigan and would like to have more energy and keep my body
> in good shape. *The food I generally eat *
> Daily: A bowl of cereal such as frosted cheerios, raisin bran, frosted
> flakes, or honey bunches of oats with skim milk.
> A YOPLAIT! yogurt either an original or thick and creamy.
> A carrot/celery stick, some grapes or a banana, an apple or an orange.
> A couple graham crackers with peanut butter/ or a wheat toast.
>
> Throughout the week I usually have:
> About 3 meals of eggs, maybe once a week with bacon.
> usually about 1 or 2 meals of a meat like chicken or meatballs, often
> microwaved.
> the rest of the food tends to be candy or frozen dinners like hot
> pockets.
>
> Nearly the only thing I drink is bottled water, maybe once in a while a
> glass of orange juice from a random grocery store.
>
> Keep in mind that I have pretty much no knowledge of cooking anything,
> the only thing I've ever cooked were eggs and canned soup. So the more
> simple the preparations the better. *

You should learn to cook. Chicks dig it. The first meal cooked for
me by
the man who has been my husband for 20 years was:

Caesar salad
Garlic bread
Blackened fish (orange roughy)
Steamed broccoli

I recommend the Betty Crocker cookbook, or the Better Homes and
Gardens
cookbook. If you go to Border's, I bet there's someone who could
point you
at a beginner's cookbook.

> As long as I'm eating healthy I don't really care what the food tastes
> like because I feel being healthy is more important than enjoying what
> I am eating.

I think if you were eating a greater variety of foods, you would take
more
pleasure in it.

Several other posters have recommended extreme changes in your eating
habits. I think if you made some small changes you could see a lot of
improvement, especially at your age.

I agree you should stop eating such sugary cereal. Try plain Cheerios
with a
banana and milk, but no added sugar.

Make sure you have vegetables at lunch and dinner every day. The more
different colors of
food you eat, the better. Green, orange, red, purple. And I don't
mean
Swee-Tarts. Lettuce, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, purple cabbage, and
so on.
Go ahead and get the bags of salad or pre-shredded cabbage. Frozen
vegetables
are easy and often nutritionally superior to fresh (especially here in
Michigan, especially
this time of year). Just nuke 'em and eat 'em.

In the aisle of the grocery store where the rice is, there's all kinds
of boxes of
Near East grain products. Some of them just need to have hot water
poured over
them and sit for 5 minutes. Once you're figured out what you like,
you can figure
out how to make them from scratch because like most convenience foods
they
cost a lot of money for what you get.

Buy fresh meat. Practially any boneless meat (beef, chicken, pork,
fish) can be
salted & peppered and thrown into a hot frying pan with a little oil.
Turn it when
it's brown on the first side and cook it through. You can make a
little slice in it
to see if it's done. Or you can fry in bacon grease (assuming you're
making
your own bacon and not going out for it). Save the bacon grease in a
clean jar
in the fridge and use it when you want a little smoky goodness.

Extra-virgin olive oil is tasty and you can use it to add flavor to
your pan-fried meat.

If you don't have much time on weekdays, get started with cooking for
yourself
on weekends.

Cindy Hamilton

The first thing you should do is get rid of sugary cereal, such as frosted flakes. Replace with Kashi or other high fiber cereal. Also, choose non fay yogurt. The little things make a huge difference.

On Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:39:56 +0000, AnthonyS11 wrote:

> 'Jeßus[_11_ Wrote:
>> ;1268597']On Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:47:09 -0800, Mark Thorson wrote: -
>> d in supermarkets is from young
>> animals, only a year or two old. It costs too much money to keep the
>> animals alive until maturity. The flesh of these young animals is
>> packed-
>>
>> I'm surprised you didnt suggest he eat high meat G.
>
>
> The first thing you should do is get rid of sugary cereal, such as
> frosted flakes. Replace with Kashi or other high fiber cereal.

He may well be better off removing some or all grains, let alone 'cereal'.

> Also,
> choose non fay yogurt. The little things make a huge difference.


What benefit would low fat yoghurt have over normal untainted yoghurt?

Okay for breakfast I should make a fruit smoothie and add some maca powder. Then midday I'll have a bowl of rolled oats and some veggies/salad. With the rolled oats should I use water or can I use milk?

On the 4 days a week I don't have an egg meal, one of them I will probably eat out at a restaurant. The 3 other days I should cook some fresh meat on the stove top or oven? Can I get acceptable meat from a grocery store like Meijer or should I shop for it somewhere else?

Considering these meals should I pick certain snacks to balance anything that is lacking? Someone mentioned a nonfat live culture yogurt.

I honestly don't know if the statement saying that bologna is extremely healthy is a joke or not, most of the sites I look at say it is not good for you.

Jeßus wrote:

> Have you heard of moderation? Just because a person dismisses the
> hysteria over 'fat', doesnt mean they also believe you should also eat
> "all the fat you want".

Fat means flavour, and low fat products are usually higher in sugars. I
opt for small amounts of the high fat and full flavour.

On Feb 9, 5:26*pm, FFFF > wrote:
> This was the best forum I could find to post this in. *I'm a 21 year old
> male from Michigan and would like to have more energy and keep my body
> in good shape. *The food I generally eat *
> Daily: A bowl of cereal such as frosted cheerios, raisin bran, frosted
> flakes, or honey bunches of oats with skim milk.
> A YOPLAIT! yogurt either an original or thick and creamy.
> A carrot/celery stick, some grapes or a banana, an apple or an orange.
> A couple graham crackers with peanut butter/ or a wheat toast.
>
> Throughout the week I usually have:
> About 3 meals of eggs, maybe once a week with bacon.
> usually about 1 or 2 meals of a meat like chicken or meatballs, often
> microwaved.
> the rest of the food tends to be candy or frozen dinners like hot
> pockets.
>
> Nearly the only thing I drink is bottled water, maybe once in a while a
> glass of orange juice from a random grocery store.
>
> Keep in mind that I have pretty much no knowledge of cooking anything,
> the only thing I've ever cooked were eggs and canned soup. So the more
> simple the preparations the better. *
>
> As long as I'm eating healthy I don't really care what the food tastes
> like because I feel being healthy is more important than enjoying what
> I am eating.

The best way to make healthy changes in your diet is to keep a food
journal of everything you eat for a week.

Look at the list (like you have done here) and find one or two things
that you think would be good to get rid of (say, half the candy, lower
sugar cereal, something with lower fat content than the Hot Pockets).
Replace it with a couple of servings of vegetables, ones you like and
willingly eat. You could keep some carrots or celery on hand to cut
up and nibble on when you feel like grabbing some candy. There are
lots of fresh or frozen veggies at the store (even canned if you have
no refrigeration available) that can be heated up in the same
microwave you heat your other foods. Most have instructions on the
package. Read them and you'll find they are simple to follow.

I've started making myself a big salad to take to work daily. 3 or 4
different veggies and lettuce, some olives and a little dressing, and
it's a nice filling snack. If you crave the sweetness, top it with a
handful of raisins or craisens or some other dried fruits and nuts.

As for the dinner type stuff, stroll down the supermarket frozen food
aisle and see what else there is available. I'm partial to Lean
Cuisine, which seems to have pretty healthy meals and last time I
bought them, took 7-8 minutes to cook in the nuke.

Read the nutrition labels on the packages. Look for low or no
cholesterol and saturated fats, less than 30% of the calories in the
whole meal should be from total fats.

Make one or two changes every week or two. Don't try to change
everything at once. Some people can do it, but it can be tough going.

This is the basic method I used, cutting out my beloved potato chips
the first couple of weeks, subbing fruit and salads for those times
when I wanted a crunch and something salty. Added a few pretzels when
I found I really craved the carbs around 3.

Good luck!
maxine in ri

FFFF said...

>
> This was the best forum I could find to post this in. I'm a 21 year old
> male from Michigan and would like to have more energy and keep my body
> in good shape. The food I generally eat
> Daily: A bowl of cereal such as frosted cheerios, raisin bran, frosted
> flakes, or honey bunches of oats with skim milk.
> A YOPLAIT! yogurt either an original or thick and creamy.
> A carrot/celery stick, some grapes or a banana, an apple or an orange.
> A couple graham crackers with peanut butter/ or a wheat toast.
>
> Throughout the week I usually have:
> About 3 meals of eggs, maybe once a week with bacon.
> usually about 1 or 2 meals of a meat like chicken or meatballs, often
> microwaved.
> the rest of the food tends to be candy or frozen dinners like hot
> pockets.
>
> Nearly the only thing I drink is bottled water, maybe once in a while a
> glass of orange juice from a random grocery store.
>
> Keep in mind that I have pretty much no knowledge of cooking anything,
> the only thing I've ever cooked were eggs and canned soup. So the more
> simple the preparations the better.
>
> As long as I'm eating healthy I don't really care what the food tastes
> like because I feel being healthy is more important than enjoying what
> I am eating.


OK... my turn to add 2¢.

* I'd cut out the sugar'd cereals in favor of their plain counterparts.
* Cut out high fructose corn syrup products. It's genetically designed to
trick the brain into thinking that you're still hungry, when you've
actually overeaten.
* Cut way down on the salt, or at best don't exceed your daily requirement.
* Don't drink sodas!
* Don't drink caffeine!
* Eat fake ("Eggbeaters").
* Eat whole grain breads (watch out for HFCS).
* Look out for hydrogenated "anykindof" oils in the ingredients. THe main
source of trans fats.
* Don't eat fast foods.
* Get a diet software program, "DietPower" comes to mind, and meticulously
record every atom (calorie Very useful for tracking any vitamin
deficiencies that can be supplemented, with your doctor's approval of
course.
* Preference your daily fat intake: Mono, then Poly then Sat grams.
* Get a food scale and follow food label portion sizes!
* Eat less processed in favor of fresh foods.
* Snack on stuff like celery and bell peppers. They're hard to chew and
your jaw will hurt some, causing a loss of interest in eating constantly.
* Eat a good breakfast and less of lunch and dinner. Fuel up for the day
and your body will thank you.
* Switch out real mayo for miracle whip free and switch over to fat free
milk.
* Snack on natural crispbread with hummus dip (or pesto) or something
similar.
* Bake, instead of fry.
* Don't 100% ("Total" breakfast cereal) or multivitamin all at breakfast.
No point in OD'ing vitamins the rest of the day.

That's it for now.

Best,

Andy

On Feb 10, 5:55*pm, FFFF > wrote:
> Okay for breakfast I should make a fruit smoothie and add some maca
> powder. *Then midday I'll have a bowl of rolled oats and some
> veggies/salad. *With the rolled oats should I use water or can I use
> milk? *

I'd use milk. The protein will do you good.

> On the 4 days a week I don't have an egg meal, one of them I will
> probably eat out at a restaurant. The 3 other days I should cook some
> fresh meat on the stove top or oven? *Can I get acceptable meat from a
> grocery store like Meijer or should I shop for it somewhere else?

Meijer isn't bad, but watch that you don't buy "enhanced" meat. They
sell some meat that's been soaked in a salt-water solution, and the
meat ends up being as much as 10% salt water. Seems stupid to
pay meat prices for salt water that probably is going to weep out
when you cook it. The label says whether it's been soaked or not.

Meijer's fresh produce is pretty good.

> Considering these meals should I pick certain snacks to balance
> anything that is lacking? *Someone mentioned a nonfat live culture
> yogurt.
>
> I honestly don't know if the statement saying that bologna is extremely
> healthy is a joke or not, most of the sites I look at say it is not good
> for you.

At your age, the occasional bologna sandwich isn't going to hurt you.
You
haven't said if you're... normal weight for your height. Assuming
that you're
somewhat active and are not obese, you can eat something enjoyable but
nutritionally suspect from time to time. Even if you are obese, you
can
have a treat now and again. If it's every day, though, it's not a
treat.

Shoot, I'm north of 50 and I had a hot dog last Saturday.

Cindy Hamilton

On Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:45:50 -0500, Stan Horwitz >
wrote:

>Sign up for http://www.sparkpeople.com for lots of info on eating
>healthy foods.

I second that! They have a lot of information and tools, as well as
support groups geared toward your particular goals.

Carol

--
Change "invalid" to JamesBond's agent number to reply.

On Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:18:19 -0800 (PST), Cindy Hamilton wrote:

> On Feb 10, 5:55*pm, FFFF > wrote:
>>
>> I honestly don't know if the statement saying that bologna is extremely
>> healthy is a joke or not, most of the sites I look at say it is not good
>> for you.
>
> At your age, the occasional bologna sandwich isn't going to hurt you.
> You
> haven't said if you're... normal weight for your height. Assuming
> that you're
> somewhat active and are not obese, you can eat something enjoyable but
> nutritionally suspect from time to time. Even if you are obese, you
> can
> have a treat now and again. If it's every day, though, it's not a
> treat.
>
> Shoot, I'm north of 50 and I had a hot dog last Saturday.
>
> Cindy Hamilton

i thought things went south once you hit fifty.

your pal,
blake

On Feb 11, 8:08*pm, blake murphy > wrote:

> > Shoot, I'm north of 50 and I had a hot dog last Saturday.
>
> > Cindy Hamilton
>
> i thought things went south once you hit fifty.

My husband isn't 50 yet.

Cindy