This is the meal plan I'll be basing the next few days around. I've separated it from the rest of the post as I promised to do with food diary type entries. It is based on June 2014's Healthy Food Guide Magazine but is not word for word since I wanted to adapt it to suit my budget and what's already in the pantry - if you want to see the original weekly plan, the magazine retails for less than $6 :)
I think the hardest thing with following this is that I pretty much never normally snack! Maybe if I'm less hungry at meal times I can make better choices.
Day One
Thursday, May 29, 2014
"Non-success"
I don't necessarily like the word "failure", if for any reason just because the internet has totally overused it, but the last few days haven't even come close to being successful.
The last two days kind of sum up my eating habits for the last week or so, and keep in mind this is me trying to choose healthy alternatives:
Wednesday
10.30am
Two pieces wholegrain toast with ginger marmalade
Special K with low fat soy milk
2 mugs of Earl Grey tea
3pm
Tofu salad takeaway - lettuce, pickled vegtables and breaded and fried tofu squares
7 pieces of Dutch Licorice
1 200mL can of sugarfree V
5-6pm
1 500mL bottle of water
7.30pm
Takeaway - Beef Burger with blue cheese and mushroom sauces, portion of fries
8.30pm
2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk
1 mug peppermint tea
Thursday
10.30am
2 slices of wholegrain toast with mashed sardines
1 mug of fruit tea
11am
Smoothie - banana, chocolate protein powder, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1 teaspoon chia seeds, 3.4 cup of low fat soy milk
3.30pm
Single serve pumpkin and feta quiche
1 x 200mL sugarfree V
Muffin Break boysenberry white chocolate muffin
7pm
1 x 200mL sugarfree V
10pm
Instant mix Alfredo flavoured pasta and sauce (later realised this was a "4 x side serve" packet rather than a "1 x meal" packet)
1 large glass water
Although this "non-success" is a little disheartening, I can see lots of patterns starting to emerge. I'm starting the day out well at home, doing pretty average at eating well while at work and then being so tired at the end of the day I'm just eating whatever I can access with the least effort. I'm not a fan of "meal plans" but I think at least planning lunches and dinners ahead of time will encourage me to make better choices.
There's also a fair amount of caffeine being consumed towards the end of the day - I've been feeling totally drained the last few weeks, to the point where the weekend comes and I can barely summon the energy for even the most basic household chores. My sister said that iron supplements are like "magic" to her so I've added them into my daily routine (if you can call it that!) in case a deficiency is what's making me so tired. We'll see how that goes!
Moving forward, I'm going to plan the next couple of days' meals around one of the Healthy Food Guide weekly meal plans. I trust HFG since I know their advice is backed up by scientific research and government recommendations rather than anecdotal evidence and food fashion. Their meal plans are also adjusted to fit the seasons and offer a wide variety of meal ideas with recipes included. I'll check back in in a couple of days time to see how eating this way makes me feel.
The last two days kind of sum up my eating habits for the last week or so, and keep in mind this is me trying to choose healthy alternatives:
Wednesday
10.30am
Two pieces wholegrain toast with ginger marmalade
Special K with low fat soy milk
2 mugs of Earl Grey tea
3pm
Tofu salad takeaway - lettuce, pickled vegtables and breaded and fried tofu squares
7 pieces of Dutch Licorice
1 200mL can of sugarfree V
5-6pm
1 500mL bottle of water
7.30pm
Takeaway - Beef Burger with blue cheese and mushroom sauces, portion of fries
8.30pm
2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk
1 mug peppermint tea
Thursday
10.30am
2 slices of wholegrain toast with mashed sardines
1 mug of fruit tea
11am
Smoothie - banana, chocolate protein powder, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1 teaspoon chia seeds, 3.4 cup of low fat soy milk
3.30pm
Single serve pumpkin and feta quiche
1 x 200mL sugarfree V
Muffin Break boysenberry white chocolate muffin
7pm
1 x 200mL sugarfree V
10pm
Instant mix Alfredo flavoured pasta and sauce (later realised this was a "4 x side serve" packet rather than a "1 x meal" packet)
1 large glass water
Although this "non-success" is a little disheartening, I can see lots of patterns starting to emerge. I'm starting the day out well at home, doing pretty average at eating well while at work and then being so tired at the end of the day I'm just eating whatever I can access with the least effort. I'm not a fan of "meal plans" but I think at least planning lunches and dinners ahead of time will encourage me to make better choices.
There's also a fair amount of caffeine being consumed towards the end of the day - I've been feeling totally drained the last few weeks, to the point where the weekend comes and I can barely summon the energy for even the most basic household chores. My sister said that iron supplements are like "magic" to her so I've added them into my daily routine (if you can call it that!) in case a deficiency is what's making me so tired. We'll see how that goes!
Moving forward, I'm going to plan the next couple of days' meals around one of the Healthy Food Guide weekly meal plans. I trust HFG since I know their advice is backed up by scientific research and government recommendations rather than anecdotal evidence and food fashion. Their meal plans are also adjusted to fit the seasons and offer a wide variety of meal ideas with recipes included. I'll check back in in a couple of days time to see how eating this way makes me feel.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Why Helen?
When I was about seventeen or eighteen, one of my classes at my all-girls Anglican high school was called Lifeskills. Lifeskills was the senior version of Religious Education or Pastoral Care and we took mini courses on all kinds of things from cooking to women's health to coping with the grieving process. One of the mini courses was called "Things Grandma should have taught you" and the idea of the class is that we'd learn how to change a tire and how to knit, that sort of thing. One of the sessions boiled down to an open Q & A with the teacher and the direction it took turned to diet and health. The teacher really wanted to emphasise to us how and why diets don't work and I remember her saying that if there was any one diet that did work there wouldn't be so many diet books on the shelves - it's a never ending market because people are always willing to try the next big diet, even if they've tried ten previously with no success. "If you want to be rich," she said, "write a diet book."
It's an idea I entertained for a while. I imagined myself writing up a diet book under a pseudonym in my free time at university and being set for life once I graduated. It would be called the "Helen of Troy Diet" and would appeal to the notion that you could be as attractive as the most beautiful woman from mythology just by eating lots of fresh fruit and olives. Of course, in real life my "free time" at university was taken up with working and partying and putting on musicals and I know now and did then that I could never publish something I didn't really believe in. The ideas inspiring the diet itself however are something I can still get behind.
Even before paleo was a term anyone had heard of, I knew that going back to a more old-fashioned style of eating must be healthier. This notion of eating like actual cavemen though, before the development of agriculture, has always seemed a bit fairytale to me. And while I like the idea of eating lots of fresh vegetables, and limiting "carbs" and processed foods I don't understand the paleo obsession with saturated fat, it goes right against all my food instincts. On the other hand the thought of eating like, say, the ancient civilizations - well, that's a little different, I mean, they had bread! And wine! Plus, my mum spent a lot of time in Spain when she was young and we've always had olives and tapas platters as treat foods so it seems natural for me to have a more Mediterranean palate. Once I got my head around all these thoughts - liking some of the principles of paleo but finding it overall counter intuitive, wanting to eat a mostly Mediterranean diet but not have to rule out cookies forever, I came to realise what I wanted out of my dietary lifestyle. I don't want to be on the "Helen of Troy Diet", I don't want to be on a diet at all, I want to eat like Helen of Troy did.
I want to be realistic. My inspiration for healthier eating comes from before the industrial revolution but I live in a time well beyond it, in which food has become a commercial product. I want to eat naturally while remembering there are benefits to a modern diet. Thanks to globalisation, I don't have to rely on the changing of the seasons to get variety and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups aren't the only great food to come from America - the Ancient Greeks didn't have foods like tomatoes, peppers or potatoes so there's no benefit in trying to eat "authentically". My goals are to eat mindfully, for fuel and for enjoyment while channeling the dietary balance of ancient times. And that is what I mean by eating like Helen, and that's why I've named my blog Eat Like Helen of Troy.
Further reading:
http://www.patient.co.uk/health/health-benefits-of-the-mediterranean-diet
http://www.patient.co.uk/health/how-to-follow-the-mediterranean-diet
It's an idea I entertained for a while. I imagined myself writing up a diet book under a pseudonym in my free time at university and being set for life once I graduated. It would be called the "Helen of Troy Diet" and would appeal to the notion that you could be as attractive as the most beautiful woman from mythology just by eating lots of fresh fruit and olives. Of course, in real life my "free time" at university was taken up with working and partying and putting on musicals and I know now and did then that I could never publish something I didn't really believe in. The ideas inspiring the diet itself however are something I can still get behind.
Even before paleo was a term anyone had heard of, I knew that going back to a more old-fashioned style of eating must be healthier. This notion of eating like actual cavemen though, before the development of agriculture, has always seemed a bit fairytale to me. And while I like the idea of eating lots of fresh vegetables, and limiting "carbs" and processed foods I don't understand the paleo obsession with saturated fat, it goes right against all my food instincts. On the other hand the thought of eating like, say, the ancient civilizations - well, that's a little different, I mean, they had bread! And wine! Plus, my mum spent a lot of time in Spain when she was young and we've always had olives and tapas platters as treat foods so it seems natural for me to have a more Mediterranean palate. Once I got my head around all these thoughts - liking some of the principles of paleo but finding it overall counter intuitive, wanting to eat a mostly Mediterranean diet but not have to rule out cookies forever, I came to realise what I wanted out of my dietary lifestyle. I don't want to be on the "Helen of Troy Diet", I don't want to be on a diet at all, I want to eat like Helen of Troy did.
I want to be realistic. My inspiration for healthier eating comes from before the industrial revolution but I live in a time well beyond it, in which food has become a commercial product. I want to eat naturally while remembering there are benefits to a modern diet. Thanks to globalisation, I don't have to rely on the changing of the seasons to get variety and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups aren't the only great food to come from America - the Ancient Greeks didn't have foods like tomatoes, peppers or potatoes so there's no benefit in trying to eat "authentically". My goals are to eat mindfully, for fuel and for enjoyment while channeling the dietary balance of ancient times. And that is what I mean by eating like Helen, and that's why I've named my blog Eat Like Helen of Troy.
Further reading:
http://www.patient.co.uk/health/health-benefits-of-the-mediterranean-diet
http://www.patient.co.uk/health/how-to-follow-the-mediterranean-diet
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Hello World
I think about nutrition a lot. I grew up with a traditional stay at home mum who cooked us three square meals a day and taught us so many nuggets of wisdom around food. Beyond the old wives' tales that eating my crusts would give me curly hair, I was taught that fibre "cleans" your gut and that oils are usually healthier if they are softer at room temperature (eg butter vs olive oil). I was taught that the wrong fats eventually clog your arteries and that white bread is like sugar spun into a loaf shape. I was also taught the basics of cooking and grocery shopping and that a tin of diced tomatoes can be the base for almost any meal.
After leaving home I maintained my interest in all things food. I love to cook and bake, and I read Healthy Food Guide fairly regularly. I balk at juice cleanses and raw veganism and like to know the science behind a food trend before I try it out myself.
And yet somehow here I am at 24 thinking about how tired I am, how I've put on weight, how my skin has broken out for the first time in my life and then looking at my dietary habits and thinking "Hmm.". I've lost any sense of mindfulness from my diet. I eat a lot of processed food, hardly any vegetables and my meals are at totally irregular times.
It's time for a change, but I don't want to do something drastic. I don't want to "go on a diet", especially not the kind that starts with a cleanse or detox program and progresses through phases of restriction. I actually just want to eat more healthful food, to fuel my body correctly. And when I look at a lot of reasonably healthy food programs, it looks like I would actually be able to eat a lot more if I was eating this way!
My purpose with writing this blog is to start a learning journey and to stay on it - I want to record what I eat, how I feel and what improvements I see and to further explore my relationship with food. I'd also like to share recipes and research and look into various "food myths". My end goal is to be eating a healthy, mostly natural and mostly Mediterranean inspired diet with some allowance for treats!
So in the interest of comparison, I've written down what I ate over the last two days to look back on in a few weeks time. I think that in the future I will enter any food diaries into a separate post because they are boring to some people but it's important here to see why I'm looking to make a change. What you see below isn't as shocking as something from reality TV but it is also a far cry from anything "nutritionist recommended":
Wednesday
Breakfast
One piece of toast (sandwich slice wholegrain bread) with sundried tomato hummus
Lunch
Tried to make packet mix Rice Risotto but I set the pan on fire (a first!)
Tried to make packet mix Rice Risotto but I set the pan on fire (a first!)
Instant tomato soup
Water crackers
A small cube of creamy blue cheese
A tablespoon of hummus
3pm
Belgian white chocolate mocha
Belgian white chocolate mocha
Dinner
Mum's roast chicken dinner and a homemade coconut cupcake.
And then about 6 squares of 33% cocoa chocolate.
Breakfast
Special K
Unsweetened Almond Milk
Unsweetened Almond Milk
Two cups of peppermint tea
12pm
A protein bar
3.30pm
So Yo (snickers flavoured frozen yoghurt, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate sauce, sherbet)
A sugarfree V
7.30pm
A bowl of kakiage udon soup and noodles
A 600mL pepsi max
A small bag of pick and mix lollies
10pm
A cup of peppermint tea
My plan for the next week or so is simply to "think before I eat" and see what kinds of changes occur naturally. From there I will look at my food diaries and see where might need improvements like eating more or fewer calories or adding in different varieties from the big food groups. Wish me luck!
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