A little bit about my current eating habits:
-I eat two over easy eggs and a piece of sourdough with butter everyday for breakfast. I usually don’t have a fruit or veggie then. I also have coffee with a good amount of 2% milk. No sweetener.
-Lunch is normally a sandwich or wrap with chips and a fruit. Though right now I’ve been trying to eat in a calorie deficit so I’ve been having a beef stick and baby bell cheese around 11am then a protein shake around 2pm.
-Dinner is normally a meat (bone in skin on chicken thighs, steak, sometimes salmon), mashed potatoes, and a roasted veggie.
-I do order fast food quite a bit and love sweets
-I am not a big fan of the texture of most whole grains, though I can handle brown rice and farro.
-I have OCD that tends to manifest in disordered eating when I attempt to follow a strict diet, though I really want to start eating healthier with more whole grains and veggies.
I feel like the Mediterranean diet is a good choice for me bc it’s not a super strict diet, and if anything is more changing my habits. I do love a sweet potato hash so I thought that would be good to have in the mornings and can switch up between eggs and beans for the protein. I love lentil stew so I thought that would be good to prep for lunch. Then I would only have meat at dinner. Does this seem like a doable plan? TIA for any advice!!
by Rfick09
9 Comments
Change half the dinner proteins to lentils and beans.
Have chicken 3x a week and salmon 2x a week
Looks good to me except I would add greens (spinach, turnip, collard, chard) if you like them, and extra virgen olive oil.
This looks like a good improvement from your current diet. You have to start from where you are and this definitely does that. Cutting out the highly-processed meat, white breads, chips, butter, and ultra-processed shakes is an excellent start.
Agreeing with the other commenters that next steps would be (1) to cut down on the meat and seafood, especially the meat, and substitute with beans or tofu and (2) add more and more-varied vegetables, especially dark greens.
Even a side salad with extra virgin olive oil would be a good small step. While you’re roasting your veg, bake a couple of potatoes. You can use your hummus or tzatziki on them, and be sure to eat the skins. When I was working, I would prep containers with a half or a small whole baked potato cut open on the bottom, then some kind of bean or lentil stew or chili over top. Easy to microwave it at the office.
Do the vegetarian lentil stews have tomatoes? Onions? You want to work up to eating as many veggies as you possibly can, and tomatoes and onions are particularly nutritious. Canned tomatoes are fine.
Don’t forget about seeds. You can mix pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds in with your nuts.
If your grain dislike doesn’t stretch to oats, you might want to consider sometimes a meal of oatmeal (from steel-cut or rolled oats, not instant) or muesli. I hate the texture of cooked oats but I really like muesli. You can add nuts and seeds to that, too. That’s a good place for smaller seeds like sesame, chia, hemp, and flax.
Also, more fruit is good, not just as a sometimes snack. Bananas, kiwis, pears, grapes, whatever you can get. Dried fruit like dates, prunes, raisins, or apricots in moderation are good, too. Whole fruit, not juice. Try to work up to 3 servings of fruit per day.
Take small steps, a few changes at a time.
What’s your goal? To eat healthier, lose weight, lower cholesterol, etc. – it can be a combination but I can’t discern what you want to change other than habits and maybe cutting out fast food? If you respond with a specific goal it might be easier to give pointers. Looks good to me though! The only thing I would say is just be careful about portions because you don’t mention that anywhere especially with chips, nuts, even rice. You don’t have to cut them out but being mindful what a normal portion / serving looks like might help you with any goals. Also I’m team chicken thighs too but if you’re eating them 2-3x a week, you might want to consider doing skinless for cholesterol, skin on only once in awhile – I promise they still come out fantastic as long as you season them properly
I’d ditch the cashews. Or replace them with roasted pecans or walnuts. (They are easy to roast and lightly salt or season at home, and taste much better than raw. Though if you like them raw, that’s fine too)
Unless you really LOVE cashews, I don’t feel they are worth the high saturated fat. The other nuts have a better ratio of good fats.
This looks good! One could quibble with the absolute strictness but that’s not the point – or at least not to me. It’s supposed to be fun!
If you get bored you could add in or swap in some new stuff (new fruit, veg, different lentils, various spices, hot sauces, etc.). Maybe try a tofu thing at a restaurant and see what you think.
Get a cheap (mine was $20) rice cooker and you can cut way down on meal prep time. Keep some frozen/canned veg around and add them here and there.
You got this! 👍
I think that seems doable, and is definitely stepping in the right direction. I feel like one of the benefits of the MD is that it isn’t strict and prescriptive. I personally think starting with moderate change and gradually working in more improvements over time is more sustainable than a complete diet overhaul.
Just to help you on the grain side, there are some sources I don’t see here that you might find more appetizing texture-wise. For example, you mentioned liking potatoes. While mashed potatoes with butter aren’t the best choice, potatoes can fill the “whole grain” portion of your plate so feel free to add them to your vegetable roasting pan, or bake or boil them as a side. I probably have roasted potatoes once a week, they’re really great as a side for fish
You can also keep your sandwich lunches! 100% whole wheat bread, preferably without sugar or preservatives, is a great source of whole grains. You can fill with hummus, other legumes, or marinated tofu, and have vegetables inside and/or as a side dish. Vegetable soup plus a sandwich is also a pretty fast and easy dinner.
Similarly, don’t overlook whole wheat pasta as a source of whole grains. You don’t want to eat a whole plateful, but a veggie-heavy pasta salad, or pasta served as a side dish to a meal focused on vegetables and healthy protein is an option.
Having OCD when it comes to food and trying to go from what you are to this list of food ideas, IMO is going to be really really hard.
My suggestion is start slower. Add the sweet potato hash to Saturdays breakfast for a few weeks, while keeping the rest of your days what they are.
I love lentil soup too. In fact I had a big bowl this afternoon. But eating just lentil soup for lunch every day would get very old very fast. If you want to stick to soups there are tons of options to make and eat.
Your dinner ideas are great, but again try to not limit your options to what is on the list. Eating some slow cooked pinto beans with loads of extra veggies, and some homemade corn tortillas would be fantastic, add some radish, some pickled carrots, some salsa. Yes. I really like Mexican food and find that it fits the Mediterranean profile pretty darn close.
I also tweak Asian food to fit this style of eating, a bowl of rice, some grilled salmon, a bowl of miso soup and a side of veggies with a cup of green tea is one of my favorite meals of all times.
I also really like Greek yogurt with some fruit and walnuts. I do add some extra seeds like flax and sesame seeds as I enjoy the nutty flavor of them and it makes it feel fancy
My number one tip is to keep frozen veggies on hands at all times, and start to eat a small serving with every meal. Having a bowl of oatmeal, with frozen blueberries egg whites and peanut butter powder, and a side of broccoli can be weird at first, but I love it as it helps me feel full for a long time.