"Complete Meal" help!

anbuckmaster
anbuckmaster Posts: 51 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I went to a nutritionist at my gym the other day and she said that a complete meal consists of protein, vegetables, and a "healthy" fat. I am boggled by this healthy fat thing - full fat salad dressings, butter, bacon don't seem healthy to me but I'm not the nutritionist... I also am cutting out dairy because I think I am a little lactose intolerant and my digestive system isn't working too great. Getting rid of the simple carbs, rice, bread, etc, is really hard for me and I feel like I don't know what to eat.

Does anyone eat this way now that I could look at your food diary? Or does anyone have recommendations like websites or recipes? Dinners are easier but breakfast and lunch are the two meals I am struggling with. I'm used to eating sandwiches for lunch so eliminating bread kind of messes that up. And breakfast I am completely at a loss with.

It's tough and stressful not knowing what to eat!!

Thanks for any help given!!

Replies

  • jhassan1980
    jhassan1980 Posts: 28 Member
    Healthy fat usually means a monounsaturated fat. So you could add some nuts to your oatmeal for breakfast and maybe some avocado to your lunch.

    Also if you are cutting refined carbs just swap those for complex carbs like a sweet potato. Then maybe trade white rice for brown rice or quinoa.

    Start simple so it doesn't seem like a huge mountain to climb.
  • Lconsla
    Lconsla Posts: 226 Member
    bump...sandwiches are my goto for lunch also. I have a harder time eating all my calories but staying under all my limits (fiber and protein are minimums, i know)
  • alaskaang
    alaskaang Posts: 493 Member
    Unless you aren't eating meat, poultry, etc you're getting fat with your protein. Add in a little olive oil based salad dressing, the occassional nuts or avocado and you're good. As long as you aren't going with a bunch of low/no fat foods, fat usually takes care of itself.

    ETA: My diary is now open and I'm gluten free, so all of my meals are bread free, feel free to browse.
  • castell5
    castell5 Posts: 234 Member
    My son-in-law currently in Rutgers advised me that the healthy fats are not butter. But to get your healthy fat from nuts; peanuts, peanut butter, cashews, almond, or Olive Oil. Butter is not what they mean when they say eat healthy fats.

    The body does need some fat. A low fat diet is essential to weight loss, but you can't strip all fat from your diet. Just be careful to choose the fats you use.

    If I see my diary is short on fat, I add a Tablespoon of Natural Peanut butter, or I use olive oil instead of a cooking spray.

    My dinners are very often a really nice salad. Not your run of the mill salad. A real mixed salad: Romaine lettuce, Baby Spinach leaves, Red Cabbage, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Green peppers, Snap peas, radishes, sliced almonds, celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower. I use a food processor to shred and slice everything up nice and quick. I store three Gallon size ziplock bags of mixed premade salad and each night that I have my salad, I slice half a fresh avacado into it.
    I also use Maple Grove of Vermont SUGAR free dressing.. they are good and extremely low in calorie. Best low cal dressing I've found. WalMart sells it.. $2.00 bucks a bottle.

    Lunch I make a yogurt smoothie. See my blog
  • anbuckmaster
    anbuckmaster Posts: 51 Member
    I only said the butter and the bacon thing because thats specifically what she told me. Seems strange to me. Thanks for everyones responses!
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,222 Member
    I only said the butter and the bacon thing because thats specifically what she told me. Seems strange to me. Thanks for everyones responses!
    Unfortunately people have been programed to think animal fat is a bad fat, they're not. Just over half the fats in bacon are monounsaturated, just under half are saturated and a small amount of polyunsaturated, which is a decent breakdown, the lower the polyunsaturated fat in a fat, the better it is for overall omega balance. Most of your intake of fat should be monounsaturated, call it 60-70% with saturated next around the 25-30% and polyunsaturatred about 5%. imo
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    I went to a nutritionist at my gym the other day and she said that a complete meal consists of protein, vegetables, and a "healthy" fat. I am boggled by this healthy fat thing - full fat salad dressings, butter, bacon don't seem healthy to me but I'm not the nutritionist... I also am cutting out dairy because I think I am a little lactose intolerant and my digestive system isn't working too great. Getting rid of the simple carbs, rice, bread, etc, is really hard for me and I feel like I don't know what to eat.

    Does anyone eat this way now that I could look at your food diary? Or does anyone have recommendations like websites or recipes? Dinners are easier but breakfast and lunch are the two meals I am struggling with. I'm used to eating sandwiches for lunch so eliminating bread kind of messes that up. And breakfast I am completely at a loss with.

    It's tough and stressful not knowing what to eat!!

    Thanks for any help given!!

    Presumably your nutritionist has advised you what food groups you need to eat more from to replace the nutrients in the dairy and grains? Did they write anything down for you? Grains and other starches are not classed as simple they are complex even if they are refined, it is sugars that are simple.

    Your body needs fat to function correctly - long chain omega-3s from oily fish, olives, avocados, creamed or unsweetened dessicated coconut, the yolks of omega enriched eggs, nuts or seeds rather than extracted oils or fats which contain few/ no other nutrients (protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants). The ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s is very important. If you are trying to lose weight limit saturated animal fats because the human body finds these relatively easy to convert to bodyfat, by contrast the short chain saturated in coconut are more likely to be burned as energy.

    Base all your meals around your nine servings of low sugar fruits and non starchy vegetables in the full rainbow of colours - that means start at breakfast. Eggs and baked beans, vegetable omelette/ frittata, green smoothie, live yoghurt (naturally low lactose) with mixed berries and nuts or seeds, smoked salmon with grapefruit and melon.

    Lunches: leftover evening meals, mixed salad veggies with beans or lentils, houmous or fish pate or liver pate with vegetable sticks.
  • amonkey794
    amonkey794 Posts: 651 Member
    bump...sandwiches are my goto for lunch also. I have a harder time eating all my calories but staying under all my limits (fiber and protein are minimums, i know)

    fat, too, is also minimum.
  • amonkey794
    amonkey794 Posts: 651 Member
    A low fat diet is essential to weight loss,

    I lost weight on 40% fat. Low fat is NOT essential for weight loss
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    I only said the butter and the bacon thing because thats specifically what she told me. Seems strange to me. Thanks for everyones responses!

    Have you checked out her qualifications? In many countries 'nutritionist' is not a regulated title anyone can claim it, so they might have done a rubbish online certificate or might have a full honours degree in their subject. It's generally dieticians who must have a specific degree and be registered. I wouldn't personally let anyone who doesn't have a degree level qualification in a lifestyle type healthcare discipline give me nutrition advice, I've met too many in the fitness industry who get their information from junky commercial diet books and even magazines.

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