Frustrated about diet

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Callista:

Here are some more comments and ideas that I hope might help. Unfortunately, I doubt that you will find inexpensive, nutritious, prepared food that doesn't contain large quantities of salt, but you can prepare your dinner in five minutes (I do) with a little advance preparation.

First, you need a proper refrigerator!! ! Hassle your landlord until you get one. Tell him that it is a matter of health because you can't eat processed food and need to be able to keep things in the frig. In any event, the landlord has an obligation to provide a properly functioning frig. Second, get a timer if you don't have one. This will remind you to take things off the stove if you start thinking about something else.

OK, you are eating a very nutritious breakfast. Try to eat this every day, and perhaps add some fresh fruit, either at breakfast or lunch.

1234 suggested that you eat rice, and that you prepare a week's requirement in advance. This is in fact what I do. I eat brown rice and sometimes cook two week's worth in advance, and then just put some on my plate each evening and zap it. I cook rice in a bowl in my pressure cooker (fastest), but a rice cooker would be good, or just a large pot. You could cook this on Saturday while you are cleaning, and have rice ready for a week or two. With a measuring cup you could easily figure out the calories you are consuming.



There is no law that says that you need to chop vegs up in cute little identical chunks. For broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower, I just cut off the piece that I am going to eat and put the whole thing in a covered pot with a half inch of boiling water and steam for a few minutes. For green beans, I just cut the ends off, which takes very little time if you do three at once. For carrots, beets, and turnips, I cook a large quantity, like the rice, and eat after zapping with the rice, over a week or two. I put a little butter on most vegs for much improved taste, except I put a bit of mayonnaise on broccoli, and soya sauce on cabbage and cauliflower. There are charts on the internet that tell you how many calories are in various vegs.

I can give you ideas for meat/protein, too, but this is getting long. Right now, I am eating mostly chicken. I bought ten pounds of chicken legs (cheap!!), took the skin off, and baked it all at once, so I have enough chicken in my frig to last a couple of weeks.

To recap, here are the steps to a sample five minute healthy, salt-free dinner. 1) Walk into kitchen and turn on electric kettle (to heat water to steam vegs - faster than heating water in pot). 2) Take veg out of frig, cut off chunk, e.g. broccoli, and put in pot with lid on stove. When water in kettle boils put a half inch in pot and turn burner to high. 3) Return used veg to frig and take rice and chicken out of frig and put portions on plate. 4) Return rice and chicken to frig and put plate in microwave. 5) If steam is now escaping under the lid of veg pot turn down heat. The above steps take about 2 min. Your dinner will now be ready in about 3 min. when veg is done, and you have a minute or two to complete a simple task eg. turn on TV or music/go to bathroom - NOT TO GET INVOLVED IN A SPECIAL INTEREST!! !. 6) Turn on microwave so that dinner is hot at same time broccoli is done. 7) Take plate out of microwave, drain broccoli and put on plate Eat!

If the above seems complicated, it is because it is not part of your current routine. If you start making dinner in roughly this manner every night, it will become a routine and will be very easy. The first week or two might be difficult.

Good Luck, and continue to ask questions if you have any?

I think you've found one good solution... ask others! Because whereas this is torture for you, planning meals is one of the things I LOVE to do.

You got breakfast under control, right? Oatmeal? If you're happy, then all is well. Other options... you could do the same milk with a bowl of cereal. Also, if you get 6 eggs at the store and hard boil them all (literally, stick them in the boiling water, and that's it), you can keep them till they're ready to eat. Can you find a flavor of poptars or breakfasty things that aren't too sweet? A lot depends on the flavor... and eating those once in a while will not kill your health, I promise.

Lunch: Swap out your lunch meat for a different kind, is all. Can you get a lower sodium turkey breast? Get it sliced, not shaved. Two or three slices of turkey and a slice of cheese, any lettuce or tomato you want on there, and there you go. You can also add some pretzels or baked chips or something.

Snacks: Granola bars are great, that's taken care of too. Also, little snack pack puddings, wheat thins or other crackers. Many cheeses don't need to be refrigerated, so that could add some protein.

Dinner: those frozen dinners definitely come low sodium. Also, how about some lower sodium soups with some toast? Or pasta tha tyou just have to boil? Do you have a microwave? If you get a skinless/boneless chicken breast at the store, microwave it for 5 minutes and then bake it for about a half hour, you can do that with your pasta... and it'll be a single serving.

I'm not going to cook anything for lunch. I'm going to have to find a sandwich solution for that, though. Breakfast = oatmeal, no problem.

So... I guess I need some really simple meals to cook that don't require salt. Two or three different meals should do it. Cook once a week on Sunday or so...

My dads side of the family had heart disease. Practally everyone in his family died before 60 from some kind of heart problem. None of them ever watched their diet, except my Grandpa, who had two quadruple heart bipasses.

I have noticed that there are alot more low sodium food choices at the grocery store than in the past. Fresh Fruit and steamed veggies are a good choice. ( no chopping veggies. just buy the stuff frozen). and you can steam it in the microwave too. Have you ever tried cooking with a crockpot( slow cooker) I never did until a few years ago and it is so easy to cook meats in it. You can place some kind of roast in there, a little water and throw in some low sodium seasonings( Mrs. Dash, etc. ) some mushrooms, if you like them, etc. and cook it slowly ( I do mine over night, since I would be too paranoid about leaving it while I was gone during the day). After it cooks( I believe 160 Degrees F internal temp( I think). you cool it in the fridge, and slice it for sandwiches. Yum. home cooked roastbeef or pork roast. Or you can cook chicken. that way, the meat for your sandwiches wont have all of the salt added. ( make sure you get the fresh cut roast, not ones sealed in plastic bag with a bunch of salt salution added).

Turkey breast = lunch meat, just like your ham. Buy it in the same place in the store.

Still has high sodium, ~200-400 mg per serving...