How to find foods for diet?

JacksonZehnder · August 2014

MyFitnessPal lists all the carbs and protien etc I'm supposed to consume everyday. But I don't know what foods to pick? How do I search for them? I want to be right on the dot, and not skip out on like 20 things of sodium.

HeidiCooksSupper · August 2014

To learn what comprises a healthy diet, go to http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/ and look at the "healthy eating plate" and work on developing your diet from there. If you read the various pages there, especially http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/ you'll find it much easier to make decisions.

FindingAmy77 · August 2014

just eat food. pay attention to the labels that lists the calories out and how much a portion size weighs or measures out to. i suggest you don't pay attention the anything but calories and portion size when you first start out. . eat vegies. drink water. log everything you eat accurately and honestly. Exercise too. Try your best to stick to the food pyramid. its pretty basic but tells you the recommended ammounts of what you should eat each day. I would start with that.

Rmfowler1990 · August 2014

I really like to log my food a day ahead if I can. Especially if I know I'm going to the store the next day. I type on potential items id buy and see how nutritious they are. That way I don't buy something and get home and realize I have a really unhealthy food in the pantry. If you use the phone app you can scan the product while shopping if you're unsure! As far as getting exactly everything mfp suggests, that just comes with time and trail and error. Check after every meal and see what you can add or take away from the next meal to make your goals.

SnuggleSmacks · August 2014

Seriously? Don't drive yourself nuts being all OCD about the numbers. The most important one is your calorie goal. You want to average around that number for the week, so you might go a little over one day and a little under the next.

The next most important are your macros: protein, carbs and fat. Protein is really important, especially if you're lifting, so if you are then you may not want to go by MFP's numbers since they tend to be light in the protein and heavy on the carbs. Definitely try to hit your protein goal every day, but it's ok to go a little over. Fat is important for satiety and omegas and such, so also try to hit that, and fill the rest with carbs.

As for the micronutrients like sodium and various vitamins and minerals, if you're eating a variety of foods without cutting any food groups, you should be able to get enough of those. Just eat what you like within your macro goals for a while and see if any of your micronutrients are noticeably low, and then add specific foods to address those if needed.

Personally, I mainly concentrate on eating enough protein since that's something that I find challenging. I don't worry about the percentage of fat and carbs unless I find myself wanting to snack, and then I know I need to increase the fats that day. But some people like to be more precise.

lemurcat12 · August 2014

Start inputting the foods you eat, see the results, and adjust.

As far as planning your diet, it's really up to you. How I think of it is that meat, eggs, and dairy are good sources of protein (there are others if you are vegetarian or vegan, but it's easy to think of each meat containing a protein source), you should try to include a good many vegetables (both cooked and raw), and to fill out the meal people commonly go to carbs like starches (i.e., rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, quinoa, pasta, whole wheat bread, so on). I often have fruit or dairy instead of a starch.

But this is just a basic template and how I like to eat (and generally what I remember being the norm back in the olden days when I was young), you'd fill it out with what you like and experiment to see what works for you.

alereck · August 2014

Limit anything packaged that claims to be healthy, until you learn and get experienced in reading food labels and ingredient lists. Things you will find in my diary:

these are no brainers and should be a daily consumption: beets, asparagus, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, green beans, chayote, corn, squash, carrots, lettuce, cucumber, spinach, kale.... you get the idea

some people say no to fruit because of the sugar but if it didn't give me acid reflux I would eat it much more often: I eat bananas everyday, watermelon...

protein
salmon - any type of fish really but this is my favorite
sausages - turkey/chicken
egg whites / eggs
chicken (mostly breast but I do wings too in moderation)
tuna fish in water (watch the sodium)
protein whey isolate shakes
protein bars ( quest )

others (carbs/fats...):
peanut butter
cottage cheese
sweet potatos
avocado
fingerling potatoes (moderation)
wheat bread
greek yougurt
low cal/low fat popcorn
rye crackers
pumpernickel bread
almond milk (can't do regular milk)

my diary is open if you are interested, I am trying to gain muscle / maintain so I've been eating things I didn't when cutting such as ice cream or a sweet snack daily. I would limit those if you are cutting.

Good luck