Balanced diet

sflano1271
sflano1271 Posts: 121 Member
edited November 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi just wondering is this a balanced diet for breakfast I have two weetabix with low fat milk in a bowl and two eggs then for lunch have 2-3 potatoes depending on the size with chicken or fish and baked beans or peas then two hours after lunch have some fruit the for evening meal have beans and brown bread or scrambled eggs with Brown bread and a yoghurt then night time if im hungry have a glass of milk or a bowl of cereal like weetabix with low fat milk.

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    Eat your vegetables!
  • sflano1271
    sflano1271 Posts: 121 Member
    edited April 2018
    Where are the vegetables? And fat besides in the eggs?

    Beans is a vegetable
  • sflano1271
    sflano1271 Posts: 121 Member
    What's with you and weetabix

    Nothing wrong with weetabix mr
  • 2baninja
    2baninja Posts: 519 Member
    what is weetabix?
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    what is weetabix?

    British
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    what is weetabix?

    American Shredded Wheat.
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
    eat more color variety and a multivitabin
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  • Dreamyriver
    Dreamyriver Posts: 91 Member
    sflano1271 wrote: »
    Hi just wondering is this a balanced diet for breakfast I have two weetabix with low fat milk in a bowl and two eggs then for lunch have 2-3 potatoes depending on the size with chicken or fish and baked beans or peas then two hours after lunch have some fruit the for evening meal have beans and brown bread or scrambled eggs with Brown bread and a yoghurt then night time if im hungry have a glass of milk or a bowl of cereal like weetabix with low fat milk.

    It is a little boring if that is what you have every day.

    You haven't included food weights, or mentioned how you cook your chicken/fish - is that in some kind of oil?

    Here's some suggestions as to how you can increase the nutrient values:
    Add a banana or handful of berries to the Weetabix.
    It looks like you have your main meal at lunch time? Try adding some chopped carrots in with the peas, or add a bag of microwave vegetables. Change it up by stir-frying the chicken with some Asian greens, baby corn, onions and beansprouts, in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil, swapping out the potatoes for noodles or rice. Instead of cooked peas/beans, have a large mixed salad (e.g. lettuce, shredded cabbage, raw onion, grated carrot, sliced bell peppers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, etc.) with an olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing.

    You also haven't said if you have any kind of butter/spread on your toast - it is important to get healthy fats in your diet, it helps with the absorption of vitamins.

    Make sure you log it in MFP so you can make sure you're getting enough calories - you can add avocado or a handful of nuts if you're low. (Mashed avocado spread on toast and topped with beans is delicious - or bake your lunchtime potatoes and mash with avocado... or just slice some avocado and put it in a salad)
  • 2baninja
    2baninja Posts: 519 Member
    what is weetabix?

    American Shredded Wheat.

    Thanks
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    Looks like a bland, monotonous, poorly balanced meal plan.
  • FlyingMolly
    FlyingMolly Posts: 490 Member
    Is that an example of a day you enjoy?
  • staraly
    staraly Posts: 54 Member
    The kinds of vege you are eating are all legumes, green beans and peas included. While this isn't going to do any harm in the short term, in the longer term, you would miss out on certain micro-nutrients. If you have any allergies or there are allergies in your family a reliance on legumes might not be the best thing either, but depends on whatever is or isn't going on.

    There is some good advice above about foods to incorporate. I wouldn't try to do too much at once. Try testing out one or two new things each week and experimenting with how to cook them and what you think they combine well with within what you already eat.
  • staraly
    staraly Posts: 54 Member
    PS. I like the combination of banana and kiwifruit with my Weetbix.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    what is weetabix?

    American Shredded Wheat.

    Thanks

    Except not. It's a dry, crumbly biscuit kinda thing, sort of pressed together, not like the woven strands in shredded wheat.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    It sounds ok, a bit boring but ok. Are you feeling full on that? add more colour and nutrients to your meals by way of veg, and also fats, like cheese, avocado, nuts and of course even some calories left for a snack of choice like some good quality chocolate :smiley: An all or nothing approach can be hard to sustain.

    There's nothing wrong with having weetabix in the evening. Timing of meals doesn't matter nor does what you eat, its all about eating less calories than you burn to lose.
  • Foodfavor
    Foodfavor Posts: 94 Member
    Forgive me if this is dumb, but when you enter all your stats into MFP it gives you goal macros... if you aren't hitting them within your calories allowed then change up your diet.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    what is weetabix?

    American Shredded Wheat.

    Thanks

    Except not. It's a dry, crumbly biscuit kinda thing, sort of pressed together, not like the woven strands in shredded wheat.

    Shredded-Wheat-e1428000240904.jpg


    Not really all that different

    Weetabix-CROPPED.jpg


  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    The deep orange vegetables are rich in beta-carotene, important for your body to produce vitamin A. So I'd say more servings of orange vegetables. Change it up.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I'd also check if you are getting enough iron. Varied protein sources would take care of that.
  • sflano1271
    sflano1271 Posts: 121 Member
    sflano1271 wrote: »
    Where are the vegetables? And fat besides in the eggs?

    Beans is a vegetable

    80g would count towards 1 serve of your recommended daily amount. Youre still severely lacking in vegetables

    Ok sorry for insulting you
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,302 Member
    edited April 2018
    A balanced diet starts from balanced calories.

    How many calories are you eating? Is that a deficit, surplus, or maintenance? How does it compare to what you're trying to achieve? Is it too big of a deficit or a surplus or too small to optimally achieve your goals (faster is not always optimal).

    If you put in the values, in grams, of the items you're eating into your MFP log (choosing correct entries that you personally verify either by looking at the box you're holding in your hand, or by visiting web-sites such as the usda standard reference database or nutritiondata.self.com), you will get a macronutrient breakdown including values of various macronutrients in grams and percentages. I am talking Carbohydrates, Fats, and Proteins.

    Knowing your weight and your target weight in the normal weight range you will be able to verify that you are getting enough protein and fat and fiber. And verify (but only to an extent unless you've done a **kitten** good job of verifying that your entries are correct) whether too many of your fats are saturated as you might prefer to adhere to heart and stroke foundation recommendations that you continue to limit saturated fats in favour of polyunsatured and monounsaturated ones.

    You might also be able to identify other things that may be lacking in your diet.

    Once you've done this basic work to see if what you're eating makes BASIC sense, then you should look to see if you're meeting other good and healthy targets.

    Fist thing to look at would be if you're eating at least "5 a day" usually defined as 3 veg + 2 fruit portions of 80g each. Just for **kittens** and giggles you can even try to go up to 8 or 10 a day as people have found benefits to doing so (without talking you out of eating more fruit which is good, eating more vegetables is probably even better). Usually a dried item "portion" is 40g instead of 80g.

    Then, once you've gotten these basics down, you can go on and have a look at the individual national guidelines established by over 100 countries at the cost of probably millions of (various country) taxpayers' funds and provided for the edification of interested people just like you: http://www.fao.org/nutrition/nutrition-education/food-dietary-guidelines/en/

    Once you do all that, you will **KNOW** whether what you're eating is a balanced diet!!!
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