Eating habits?

[James Comey]

Not just healthy eating habits. Eating habits in general.

I feel as if I'm not eating enough. Oftentimes, during the morning, I have very little time to actually eat something. Often I don't eat anything at all in the morning, and if I do, it's usually something small. Lunch is usually just a peanut butter sandwich. Occasionally I have a decent lunch though that hasn't been the case recently. Oh, and sometimes, I've gone days where I eat nothing in the morning or lunch.... talk about really unhealthy.

When I get home I often eat a lot (but not enough to define as gorge, I feel) because I'm so damn hungry that I haven't eaten much. People talk about eating too much, I honestly feel that I'm eating too little, and that's partly contributing to my lack of energy at the end of the day.

Are there any suggestions on what to eat, and how to develop habits on eating?

[brainiac3397]

Wholesome and maybe sometimes a little gluttonous.

What can I say, culturally food is a pretty big thing. We've made sure you'll have a limitless list of breakfast,lunch,dinner,dessert, and everything for in-between.

My habit of eating is generally pretty big part of me. I will refuse to do anything, till I've eaten breakfast(cereal and such is reserved only for times I don't have time). I will expect egg,bread,cheese(feta and mozerella both, but feta is my primary preference),olives(black olives, but I enjoy green olives just as well),sliced tomatoes and/or cucumber,some type of breakfast meat(whether it's groundbeef mixed into the egg, or Pastirma, a dried salted slice of meat), fried peppers(mainly bell, because hot peppers I can't handle), honey, jelly or spreading chocolate. I consider minimum being at least 3 of the above(with tea, no exceptions)

Lunch is generally soup, maybe some leftovers from the day before(or soup and salad). My lunches are pretty lacking in grains. There is sometimes potatoes(though I've grown a bit tired of eating potatoes).

Dinner is wholesome. Grains(like macarroni,spaghetti or rice), meat(chicken or beef, infrequently fish), vegetables(salad), with a sauce-like stuff made with pepper paste, chickpeas(or corn or peas). Maybe some traditional pastry(not very often because my mother doesn't like to make them very often. It's pretty time-consuming and messy, though she's pretty good at it). There might also be soup. Sometimes dinner is leftovers from yesterday.

Dessert is eaten with tea, and that really varies(sometimes there is no dessert).

If you really want to develop a good habit of eating, you'll have to see eating more than just a time-consuming nuisance, or some necessary grinder in life you just have to do. I, for example, enjoy eating my food. I'm always looking forward to my next meal(seriously, it's like my secondary clock runs on food time). I try to keep it healthy, but it tends to depend on my mood(if I deny myself that cookie, I'll probably eat a box or half later...so it's better I eat that one cookie, and avoid the craving of eating an entire box...then feeling slightly sick due to the cookies not being fresh or completely natural)

[James Comey]

Out of curiosity, when did you wake up when you still had to attend prison, and when did your parents wake up? I'd imagine your current eating habits are much different than mine's considering you're free.

[Gwedin]

Damn this low income household!

I eat less than I want to/should because I have to. I skip breakfast a lot out of choice, though, because I just can't handle eating many kinds of food in the morning. I'd love to have sausages or eggs or something for breakfast, but they cost money. :( I eat a lot of peanut butter sandwhichs. I love them.

On a side note, I'm freakin' stoked it's grocery day tomorrow.

[brainiac3397]

(01-28-2014 02:54 PM)Hansgrohe Wrote:  Out of curiosity, when did you wake up when you still had to attend prison, and when did your parents wake up? I'd imagine your current eating habits are much different than mine's considering you're free.

School was at 8, so I had to wake up at 7. I could sleep til 7:15 if I dressed fast, and quickly had my breakfast(cereal...).

My parents generally woke up at 9-10am.

My first semester of college I still had to wake up early since I took public transit(and the school was 30mins away, and I had a morning class at 9:45).

However, now that I don't have classes till Fall semester, I wake up 10-ish, and sleep at 12-1am(I try not to but I'm more nocturnal. I actually don't like sunny mornings, probably because I grew sick of them when I used to be younger and always woke up 3 hours earlier than everyone in the house, yet had to be silent and couldn't really do much so as to not wake anyone)

During "prison", breakfast was cereal(eh), lunch was either leftovers, my friends food(I became a scavenger in 11th grade, eating from my friends. Made lunch easier and more diverse ), or going home for a proper breakfast(for lunch, and that was in 12th grade when I could go home for lunch). Dinner was always the same.

Basically my breakfast became more to my liking, lunch became more flavorful, and dinner didn't really change.

I do sometimes do some unhealthy things like go to the nearby supermarket and buy some cookies/brownies and share them with my sister(while my mother is at work). However, I generally make up for unhealthy eating over time. Basically balance it out(at a near subconscious level).

Our food costs are between 100-200 a month, though perhaps 300 if we include the egg/milk I might have to run out and buy if we run out during the month. Most of the good stuff gets finished by the first week, or mid-2nd week.

If I lived alone, I could probably cut back on the costs(being alone, and by not wasting. My sister makes us buy a crap load of apples, and only eats some and the others just go to waste). I'd still maintain a diverse habit of eating though. Perhaps even improve my basic cooking skills(I can make rice, spaghetti/macarroni & an easy sauce for it, salad and egg. I like my eggs scrambled.)

I also prefer eating healthier in certain aspects. I actually find the "bland" taste of certain foods(bland without salt that is) to be tasty. Unlike everyone else in the house, I don't mind eating most of my meals saltless. I also try to use olive oil in place of butter when I can.

[xcriteria]

Great question.

I eat less than I should, too, and I'm trying to change that. Right now it's morning and I'm about to head to work. My goal is to eat breakfast each day. For most of my life, I haven't eaten breakfast at all.

I don't think I ever ate breakfast during the time I was in high school, for example. I'd sleep in late and often got to school late. I'd have to reflect on other times, but in general I haven't eaten meals at regular times.

Having very little money makes food buying decisions a challenge, as well.

I'll come back to this, but one suggestion is to use food journaling, either on paper/text file or with a tool like LiveStrong's myPlate Calorie Tracker. It doesn't just count calories, but the aggregate of what you eat. Just entering what you eat in there, along with times of day, can help provide a sense of the bigger picture when you look back on it.

[Trar]

I eat two meals a day, brunch and dinner. I should eat more vegetables, even if I do eat more now than I used to in the old days (which was almost none). We get a fair amount of junk food and sometimes bake sweets as well, but I've been trying to cut down on the portions I consume.

I actually started keeping a food journal earlier this month. It's rather neat! I'd say my daily eating consists of 1/3rd 'popular with teens' stuff like pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers(how I love 'teen media' and the way it implies we love this stuff), 1/3rd average American family staples such as meatloaf, casserole, mac-and-cheese, spaghetti and whatnot, and 1/3rd cool stuff my mother can create from her decades of cooking experience such as avocado-turkey-red onion sandwiches, blue cheese and bacon soup and crab quiche. She does have a thing for cakes, though; she made one just tonight and it's the usual triple-decker chocolate with a fourth of an inch of light frosting. She also occasionally tries to make or just buys gourmet food, my favorite dish being sushi.

Sometimes brunch is light; a quickly-made half-sandwich or banana and a yogurt, or it can be the more traditional eggs-toast-sometimes meat, but it's usually just last night's dinner. I've stopped eating cereal because it's bland and not actually that healthy in comparison to other foods, even if the FDA-approved quantity of rat feces gives me extra fiber. I usually drink water, but I do like my orange juice, and I furiously chug savor iced tea and soda when we bother to buy some.

[brainiac3397]

My mother can make a wide variety of great sweets. Unfortunately she doesnt for "health" reasons. So the times we get them is few and wide apart. They also dont last long...

[KFC Nyan Cat]

I don't give a fuck about healthy eating, I eat very little food anyway due to the economy, the health food movement is entirely made of annoying jackasses like Michelle Obama.

[brainiac3397]

I find it ironic.

Peasants used to eat healthy foods while the wealthy ate shit(good tasting, but very bad for health). Now the wealthy speak about eating healthy, while paying for it by money made by making us peasants eat shit.

[Potato]

calorie restriction is actually the most effective way of extending an animal's lifespan

[brainiac3397]

Well, if you eat what you use, and use what you eat, then you'll probably never have a problem balancing your health. A little fat is not a bad thing, but when you start deforming to the point it becomes questionable whether you're actually human...

[magikarp]

weekdays:

No breakfast. Lunch is a sandwich if I remember (cream cheese usually, maybe egg salad, avocado if I have it) and a diet energy drink. Sometimes chips from the vending machine.

Dinner is usually pretty simple. Rice/fried egg/vegetable, pasta, maybe some kind of curry or fancier vegetable dish if I'm feeling ambitious, maybe soup if I'm not that hungry. I do like to eat (and cook, even), but eating alone gets boring. If I am still working or otherwise busy by dinnertime, maybe another energy drink or more chips.

weekends:

'Breakfast' whenever I drag myself out of bed. Toast (sometimes biscuits), eggs, some kind of fried vegetable if I make it myself, which is not usually. Fairly similar if I go out except more excessive.

I eat a lot more through the day/night on the weekends. Not typically 'snack food' unless I'm drinking, but just leftovers or half a sandwich or whatever even if it's not a mealtime. Sometimes I'll cook stuff to freeze in the afternoon and then eat some of that.

Dinner is either something easy or I go out (sushi, Indian, whatever).

[brainiac3397]

Y U PPL NOT BREKFAHST?

Its like the most common thing I hear from everyone.

[Trar]

Breakfast is pretty much the most important meal of the day.