Help me and my diet, please.

PostieJohn · December 2011

Greetings all.
Hopefully all being well, in Sept, I'll be Raiding the Pyrenees.

This has been mooted for quite a while so my usual, 2011, New Year diet kept going and I've lost a stone and a half.
All being well, I'll do the same this year and be in tip top shape for Sept.

The problem is my food intake.
I have major issues with all things veg (other than potatoes), and to a lesser extent fruit, but I'm getting better with that.

Being 41 now, this isn't going to be something I'll now grow out of.
So what supplements should I be looking at taking to help me get proper cycling fit, and keep me ticking over while training and doing the big event.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as my knowledge of food types and what they 'do' is terribly lacking and just won't stick in my head.

McBain_v1 · December 2011

Perhaps a trip to a nutritionist is in order then? It's either that or audition for a slot on the next season of "Freaky Eaters"

Pigtail · December 2011

What do you mean by major issues? You don't eat them at all? You eat them but really dislike them? You eat them, but would probably prefer something else?

Between March 2010 and May 2011 I lost 5 stone.

I regard food as being mainly a matter of habit (always hit the biscuit tin after supper) For about 25 years I had bought sandwiches at lunchtime or occasionally hot food. The main change I made was replace the sandwiches with a bag of fruit. Before that I had rarely eaten fruit, not because I didn't like it, but because it just didn't figure on my radar. The fact it worked has been enough for me to want to keep it going, and as I took the weight loss pretty slowly it was an established part of my routine before I stopped trying to lose weight. I'm about 8 years older than you as well - so I'm sure you could change if you worked at it.

t.m.h.n.e.t · December 2011

Shouldn't need to fork out on supplements really. Diet alone should be able to cover most (if not all) bases,although as a non veg eater myself this can be difficult :roll:

How often do you eat? How much? What do you eat?

PostieJohn · December 2011

Major issues in a Freaky Eater physically sick if I go near them, stylee.

As I said losing a stone and a half last year was great, just by eating better, barely drinking beer.
Naturally exercise isn't a problem.

Maybe it's just Wifey trying to scare me into veggies, by saying words to the effect of:-
'Well you won't be able to lose any more weight without a balanced diet'
and the one that's obviously got under my skin
'You'll make yourself ill without a balanced diet'

Hence wondering what cycling specific supplements I could take to offset this.

t.m.h.n.e.t · December 2011

If it's working,carry on 8)

ric/rstsport · December 2011

PostieJohn wrote:

Major issues in a Freaky Eater physically sick if I go near them, stylee.

As I said losing a stone and a half last year was great, just by eating better, barely drinking beer.
Naturally exercise isn't a problem.

Maybe it's just Wifey trying to scare me into veggies, by saying words to the effect of:-
'Well you won't be able to lose any more weight without a balanced diet'
and the one that's obviously got under my skin
'You'll make yourself ill without a balanced diet'

Hence wondering what cycling specific supplements I could take to offset this.

To clarify, weight (fat) loss is "simply" a matter of expending more energy than you consume. In that regard it matters little whether you eat fruit/veg or not. However, in general fruit and veg is low energy density while being relatively bulky and can help fill you up without a huge increase in calorie consumption. Additionally, fruit and veggies contain micronutrients such as phytochemicals, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, etc which are either essential or generally needed for good health.

If you find that veggies etc make you physically ill due to some psychological effect then it may be worth seeing someone such as a registered dietician after getting a referral from your GP.

In the meantime it *may* (i have no idea, as i don't know what the rest of your diet is like) be useful to take e.g. a multivitamin supplement that contains 100% of the RDA. (or perhaps, it maybe a good idea not supplementing and having a blood test first to see if you are e.g. vitamin deficient and then you could correct it).

Congrats on the weight loss so far.

Ric

ut_och_cykla · December 2011

Try 'weening' like you can do with kids? - choose one veggie you dislike least - eat a small portion of it as often as you can - e.g. once a week to start with and just build up. Once you can do one veggie - try another. Try different ways of eating - in a stew with other stuff, raw, grated, etc. I'm sure you'll find some stuff you can deal with.
if you're really not eating fruit and veg at all you MIGHT be lacking in Vitamins B & C, trace elements (like Zinc) and of course you're missing out on solunble & insiluble fibres - things that keep you feeling full without too many calories. But if you got to 40 odd without dying of scurvy its probably not a problem. You could always look around for an evening class or Open Uni course on nutrition ( I did OU - good but you probably need at least O level science to get full benefit of it) - and I believe weight watchers are fairly good in explaining why to eat certain things and limit others - tho' I've never tried them myself!

Herbsman · December 2011

Just because you're 41 doesn't mean you can't grow out of food dislikes. That attitude is really defeatist. You might find it difficult but you don't have to do it on your own.

simon_e · December 2011

+1 on sounding defeatist. If you have a problem with specific food types I'd also say that requires professional assistance rather than looking for some processed pill to magically replace the most fundamental components of a healthy diet. Are there really no veg you like? I don't think you'll die next week because you don't eat vegetables.

If you can make some progress with your aversion then cut down on calorie-dense foods like potatoes and grains (pasta, pizza, pastry, bread etc) while eating more fresh fruit and veg you'd probably make some real progress. In the meantime can your wife try making bakes, soups etc with the veg quota 'hidden' or disguised?

keef66 · January 2012

"In the meantime can your wife try making bakes, soups etc with the veg quota 'hidden' or disguised?"

+1 to this. Pureed carrot will happily disappear into a bolognese sauce for instance.

Out of curiosity, where do you stand on carrot cake?

doubleoseven · January 2012

At first glance i though my wife had written the OP on my behalf....
Just like PostieJohn I don't eat fruit or veg( do potatoes count?? :oops: ) When i first moved out from my folk's to live on my own I decided it was time to try fruit and veg, which i did. 16 years later i still don't eat them.....The way i see it is that i don't drink(much), don't smoke and keep relatively fit/healthy.I'm rarely ill so why worry? that being said i did try to create some banana shakes, though they also included ice cream,mars bars and milk...
Bananas and oranges are the 2 fruits that i can just about manage to eat a little of( yes really), so if anyone has a banana/orange smoothie recipe....
I did try taking multi vits once, but they made me feel very lethargic so I stopped.

simon_e · January 2012

Doubleoseven wrote:

if anyone has a banana/orange smoothie recipe....

Peel and chop a banana. Put it in a blender with 1/2 pint of milk or chocolate milk (or soya milk). Fit the lid securely and turn the blender on until it's all gone smooth - you know, like a smoothie. You could add some peeled orange segments too if you're feeling adventurous.

Doubleoseven wrote:

I did try taking multi vits once, but they made me feel very lethargic so I stopped.

Perhaps you took some sleeping tablets by mistake.

Herbsman · January 2012

Simon E wrote:

Doubleoseven wrote:

if anyone has a banana/orange smoothie recipe....

Peel and chop a banana. Put it in a blender with 1/2 pint of milk or chocolate milk (or soya milk). Fit the lid securely and turn the blender on until it's all gone smooth - you know, like a smoothie. You could add some peeled orange segments too if you're feeling adventurous.

Citrus fruit and milk is not a good idea. I think the citric acid makes the milk proteins congeal, leaving you with nasty curdled milk

KnightOfTheLongTights · January 2012

I'm not a massive veg fan but love salads - especially if they have a decent dressing on.
So staples for me are steak and salad (no carbs) or omelette and salad (maybe a bit of bread) - both have protein and nutrition without too many carb-calories.
Breakfast - muesli & fruit & yoghurt or porridge & banana, or brown toast & cream cheese
Lunch - Soup is the weight-loss golden gun: those pots of fresh soup you get from the supermarket have about 300-400 cals in - that's meant to be 2 servings. Scarf the whole thing in two sittings at say 1pm and 3pm - you will be FULL, job done.
Fruit or nuts for snacks.
A bite or two of posh chocolate or a couple of bsicuits for a treat instead of cake / pudding.

dearbarbie · January 2012

OOh my bro did the Pyrenean Raid this year!

simon_e · January 2012

Herbsman wrote:

Citrus fruit and milk is not a good idea. I think the citric acid makes the milk proteins congeal, leaving you with nasty curdled milk

I must admit I didn't like the sound of mixing citrus and milk, perhaps that's why. I prefer soya milk anyway but wouldn't blend an orange with that either.

Carton soup can be very nice but homemade soup is even better. Today's lunch was homemade roasted vegetable soup with bread & hummus, yumyum!

Help me and my diet, please.

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