This is downright terrible advice, and unappetizing expensive food to boot. I'm glad you lost weight, but advocating instant and processed foods isn't any better than advocating ordering out at sandwich shops, and you're giving actually healthy sustainable diets bad press. Here's a natural menu without any preservatives, trans-fats, or added sugar, which I've found to be afforable in Austin, Chicago, and Oklahoma City:
(1.) Skip the low-sugar yogurt. In fact, skip any yogurt that looks marketed to sell. Pick the plainest organic GREEK yogurt you can find. Ingredients: Milk, active yeast. It has an awesome tangy yogurt taste and makes a good serving of protein in only a few spoonfulls, rather than a processed chemical taste that's covered up with fake fruit and fake sugar flavors. 32oz lasts me a week. In OKC, this was $5. In Chicago, it's $7.
(2.) Skip the jar of low-sugar peanut butter!! If you don't own a food processor to grind peanuts yourself, find your local health food store that has one. Peanut butter containing anything beyond peanuts is a dumb idea. In Austin and Chicago, $3 got me 16 oz -- a week of peanut butter.
(3.) Skip the stupid pre-packaged bars, and make your own on the weekend. Hint: combine corn/wheat/bran flakes with some quick oats and your favorite granola or nut mix, a couple spoonfulls of aforementioned peanut butter and yogurt, and (completely optionally) a dash of honey or agave nectar. Press into a pan and bake 15 minutes. Yay, whole grains without preservatives or fake sugars! You can add awesome health-supporting extras like fresh ginger, dried berries, flax seed, dark chocolate, or anything else too. So easy! Granola tends to be about $4/lb, while the flakes can vary from $3-8/lb, and the extras can vary widely.
(4.) Lettuce and spinach, celery and salads are great... but how about a handful of fresh fruits and veggies? Red, orange, yellow peppers are excellent snacks all by themselves!! After a few spoons of peanut butter and yogurt, you'll be craving BRIGHTLY COLORED PRODUCE by the middle of the day, so just eat it raw! Raw foods are great for you - they have fiber, low carbs, low sugars, yet they're sweet tasting and packed with vitamins. Usually, they have exactly the right balance of the chemistry and materials you need to get the vitamins into your system, so they don't just pass right through. Tangelos peel more easily than oranges. Bananas are excellent. Grapes are simple. Avocadoes are great too. You can probably buy a whole week of produce for under $40, but this is greatly location-sensitive. It was much cheaper in Austin than Chicago, and surprisingly expensive in OKC.
(5.) So, with the bulk of the nutritional spectrum covered above, and only the granola "needing" to be cooked for 15 minutes (yeah, you could just eat that stuff in a bowl too =P)... add on a couple meals in the week (or even one a day) with SPICE!! Most spices have been added to foods for health reasons throughout the centuries, so eat 'em fresh and in large quantity when you do - The green herbs tend to promote digestion, garlic (2 or more cloves) and ginger support your immune system, and hot peppers support your adrenal glands (keep the stress down). I eat all of these raw in a salad or wrapped with some other raw veggies in a whole-wheat tortilla.
(6.) Don't forget to drink 64oz+ of clear liquids!!! You'll overeat and crave the wrong foods if you neglect your liquid intake. I prefer to add a little orange juice to my water throughout the day... my husband prefers grape juice. Follow your instincts, they tell you what your body needs.
With all of that good stuff, a little oil or cheese won't kill your diet. Whatever you buy, just pick the stuff with the fewest ingredients, nearest to raw, the least sodium, no added sugars or fake sugars. It's the tastiest food you'll ever eat, and it seems so obvious once you're doing it - you'll wonder why you weren't doing it your whole life!
... and if anyone wonders, I'm on the 60-hour professional work week too, and I can't imagine how I'd get through without good nutrition.
Comment Reply
This is downright terrible advice, and unappetizing expensive food to boot. I'm glad you lost weight, but advocating instant and processed foods isn't any better than advocating ordering out at sandwich shops, and you're giving actually healthy sustainable diets bad press. Here's a natural menu without any preservatives, trans-fats, or added sugar, which I've found to be afforable in Austin, Chicago, and Oklahoma City:
(1.) Skip the low-sugar yogurt. In fact, skip any yogurt that looks marketed to sell. Pick the plainest organic GREEK yogurt you can find. Ingredients: Milk, active yeast. It has an awesome tangy yogurt taste and makes a good serving of protein in only a few spoonfulls, rather than a processed chemical taste that's covered up with fake fruit and fake sugar flavors. 32oz lasts me a week. In OKC, this was $5. In Chicago, it's $7.
(2.) Skip the jar of low-sugar peanut butter!! If you don't own a food processor to grind peanuts yourself, find your local health food store that has one. Peanut butter containing anything beyond peanuts is a dumb idea. In Austin and Chicago, $3 got me 16 oz -- a week of peanut butter.
(3.) Skip the stupid pre-packaged bars, and make your own on the weekend. Hint: combine corn/wheat/bran flakes with some quick oats and your favorite granola or nut mix, a couple spoonfulls of aforementioned peanut butter and yogurt, and (completely optionally) a dash of honey or agave nectar. Press into a pan and bake 15 minutes. Yay, whole grains without preservatives or fake sugars! You can add awesome health-supporting extras like fresh ginger, dried berries, flax seed, dark chocolate, or anything else too. So easy! Granola tends to be about $4/lb, while the flakes can vary from $3-8/lb, and the extras can vary widely.
(4.) Lettuce and spinach, celery and salads are great... but how about a handful of fresh fruits and veggies? Red, orange, yellow peppers are excellent snacks all by themselves!! After a few spoons of peanut butter and yogurt, you'll be craving BRIGHTLY COLORED PRODUCE by the middle of the day, so just eat it raw! Raw foods are great for you - they have fiber, low carbs, low sugars, yet they're sweet tasting and packed with vitamins. Usually, they have exactly the right balance of the chemistry and materials you need to get the vitamins into your system, so they don't just pass right through. Tangelos peel more easily than oranges. Bananas are excellent. Grapes are simple. Avocadoes are great too. You can probably buy a whole week of produce for under $40, but this is greatly location-sensitive. It was much cheaper in Austin than Chicago, and surprisingly expensive in OKC.
(5.) So, with the bulk of the nutritional spectrum covered above, and only the granola "needing" to be cooked for 15 minutes (yeah, you could just eat that stuff in a bowl too =P)... add on a couple meals in the week (or even one a day) with SPICE!! Most spices have been added to foods for health reasons throughout the centuries, so eat 'em fresh and in large quantity when you do - The green herbs tend to promote digestion, garlic (2 or more cloves) and ginger support your immune system, and hot peppers support your adrenal glands (keep the stress down). I eat all of these raw in a salad or wrapped with some other raw veggies in a whole-wheat tortilla.
(6.) Don't forget to drink 64oz+ of clear liquids!!! You'll overeat and crave the wrong foods if you neglect your liquid intake. I prefer to add a little orange juice to my water throughout the day... my husband prefers grape juice. Follow your instincts, they tell you what your body needs.
With all of that good stuff, a little oil or cheese won't kill your diet. Whatever you buy, just pick the stuff with the fewest ingredients, nearest to raw, the least sodium, no added sugars or fake sugars. It's the tastiest food you'll ever eat, and it seems so obvious once you're doing it - you'll wonder why you weren't doing it your whole life!
February 24, 2010 - 4:33pm... and if anyone wonders, I'm on the 60-hour professional work week too, and I can't imagine how I'd get through without good nutrition.
This Comment
Reply