Real Food Makeover

007Missinginaction

So I've been counting calories for a while, and it's going... well enough.
Anyway, I'm looking for a way to eat healthy and tasty foods that are fairly low-cal, and I've started wondering what it would be like to eat mostly "real" foods, aka foods with less than say, 4 ingredients, preferably 1.
Has anyone else tried this kind of diet makeover? Any thoughts? Tips?

lemurcat12

?? I eat mostly foods I cook myself, so buy the "ingredients" and cook them, sometimes together and sometimes on their own. I imagine lots and lots of people eat this way, is this what you mean?

Or do you think my omelet stops being "real" food when I include 5 ingredients (eggs, feta, onion, spinach, broccoli, perhaps) rather than fewer?

007Missinginaction

That's and interesting point. I guess if I ground my own peanuts and salt and made pb I would consider that wholesome. But peanut butter off a shelf... No thanks.

lemurcat12

I don't actually like peanut butter much (it's the texture, yeah, I'm weird), but it's actually super easy to make nut butter if you have a food processor. And you can buy it made from just peanuts and salt.

Francl27

Why? If you make a recipe from scratch and it has a lot of ingredients, it's still real food...

dbmata

007Missinginaction wrote: »

So I've been counting calories for a while, and it's going... well enough.
Anyway, I'm looking for a way to eat healthy and tasty foods that are fairly low-cal, and I've started wondering what it would be like to eat mostly "real" foods, aka foods with less than say, 4 ingredients, preferably 1.
Has anyone else tried this kind of diet makeover? Any thoughts? Tips?

as an ex-pro cook. I think this is silly and arbitrary, but hey. Go to town with it. It's not needed to restrict like that, but whatever floats your boat and finds your lost remote.

squirrelone

007Missinginaction wrote: »

That's and interesting point. I guess if I ground my own peanuts and salt and made pb I would consider that wholesome. But peanut butter off a shelf... No thanks.

Have you actually looked at what is in "off the shelf" peanut butter?
Unless it is the cheap crap, it contains peanuts and salt. How do you believe you mixing exactly the same ingredients will magically make it better?

You are setting up arbitrary rules. and quite restrictive ones at that. That is generally where people start before ending up fanatically devoted to some incredibly unhealthy nonsense diet.

dbmata

uh, because wholesome. obvs.

007Missinginaction

True, but a lot of the stuff on the shelves is cheap crap.
I think it's important to make dieting a lifestyle change, and part of that is seeing what I'm really eating.
And how unhealthy could a get with a diet of fruits and veggies and dairy products...

dbmata

If you're imbalanced, irrationally fearful, and dealing with arbitrary restrictions pulled out of a hat, it could be extremely unhealthy.

007Missinginaction

Thank you. You don't know what my perspective on this is, but since you're worried about the outcome I will keep in mind that I should have a healthy outlook on dieting.

dbmata

Oh I'm not really caring about your outcome. You'll do what you feel is right, and it will be right, or it will be wrong.

You asked a question, you received an answer. You will parse and then act as you feel is correct.

sparklefrogz

FWIW, I have often gone through periods where I will try to make some food item I normally buy premade -- just to see what's actually involved in it, in terms of ingredients, time, effort, and skill. I don't think one way is morally superior or inherently better, but I do find it an interesting learning experience.

About 50% of the time I end up deciding to make the food item myself, like pickles or sorbet. They just taste better homemade, even if they're a bit more expensive to make at home than buy from the store.

The other 50% of the time...well...I just appreciate the food that much more when I eat it, and am grateful that I live in a time and place where I don't have to make everything from scratch and I can pay a machine (or a baker) to do it for me.

007Missinginaction

I always found that things tastes better homemade
Sometimes the store bought meals are just convenient tho...
And sometimes it's fastest just to grab an apple...
Eh bien...

Francl27

007Missinginaction wrote: »

True, but a lot of the stuff on the shelves is cheap crap.
I think it's important to make dieting a lifestyle change, and part of that is seeing what I'm really eating.
And how unhealthy could a get with a diet of fruits and veggies and dairy products...

Well unless you have a cow, your dairy products will be 'processed' too.

I see your point though, a lot of things are better homemade, I just don't agree that the number of ingredients used has anything to do with it.

Kalikel

I went from eating mostly junk, all the time to eating healthy all the time. It included low salt and no fat, which eliminated just about everything in a box or can.

It was rough. The first two weeks, I was internally pissy. I wanted what others were eating. I missed my yummy foods. About six weeks into it, I cracked and had a cheeseburger and fries from my favorite deli. No burger and fries ever tasted so damn good! A little salty, but heavenly. But I felt "off" later and it sat in my stomach like a rock.

After that, it was much easier to stick with the healthy stuff because I liked how I felt. It got very boring, though. Excruciating. I was like, "I cannot eat another carrot. I don't want to see another green bean." It was also hard to get a lot of calories, because those foods are not high in calories, so you have to eat SO MUCH of it to get anywhere near 1200.

My best advice is to do this the healthy way. Make sure you aren't following some fad diet, but have received good advice for a doctor or dietician. Don't limit yourself to a certain number of ingredients. Incorporate all kinds of different flavors. Prepare those veggies in as many different ways as you can.

Focus on the healthy part of it, not the number of different foods on your plate.

Francl27

Yeah I went to Smashburger a few weeks ago and it was delicious but yeah, I could just feel all the salt in my system for 2 days afterwards. Much rather make my own burger and fries at home, honestly. I guess if you really want to make everything from scratch you could make your own rolls too.

lemurcat12

I almost always make my own burgers at home, so don't consider them off plan at all. I like them as much as any I'd buy at a restaurant, so I don't usually waste restaurant meals on burgers, but that's of course a personal preference. (I do have a weakness for fries, but I indulge it rarely.)

I can usually figure out how to make anything I'd otherwise want in a way that fits into my plan, so I guess I don't have such a huge dichotomy between "junk" and healthy food. But I didn't ever buy lots of premade stuff other than restaurant food (and with the exception of ethnic places the restaurant stuff I get is similar to what I make at home, just with more ingredients and certainly more butter).

randomtai

:huh: