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on wheat, bread, pasta, etc - it's difficult to reach a consensus on whether these are worth eating or not. you can read the nutrition thread (though i bet you have already, having been in tlhf for a long time) for more info. in the end, people respond differently to different foods, so you should decide for yourself whether you wheat is good for you. people here usually recommend you stop eating a certain food for a month (let's say bread), then go back to eating it and see how you feel. if you want more carbs for energy, white rice and sweet potatoes are always safe choices.
on white rice and brown rice - theres also a lack of consensus here. white rice is very neutral, it doesnt contain a lot of good nutrients (just carbs), while brown rice does. but ive also read that brown rice contains harmful substances. again, it's up to you - try eating it reguarly, stopping for a month, and then adding it back. let your body tell you whether it's a good idea to eat it or not. on a side note, brown rice does contain nutrients, but you can also get those nutrients from your meats and veggies anyway (since you said you like white rice more).
good snacks - canned tuna, nuts and seeds, carrot sticks, celery sticks, salads, fruits (blueberries are supposed to be really healthy with low sugar content) beef jerkey.... really, you can eat anything you want for a snack lol. since you want to get more protein, tuna and sardines would be good choices. i actually like munching on pieces of sliced roast pork when im at the computer. you can buy them at asian supermarkets or make your own. buy a big pork tenderloin, marinate it with a mix of soy sauce (or teriyaki), black pepper, and honey (or sugar), and put it in the oven to roast. go easy on the marinade if you want it to be healthier. you can look up a more specific recipe on google, since i just wing it every time. after it's roasted, slice them up and you can eat it with rice or eat them cold by themselves as a snack.
if you really need more protein, you can always try protein supplements. though, i have zero experience with that, so maybe someone else can help you.
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Can I really cook chicken thighs in an hour? Everything else I cooked in the crock pot took all day lol.
EDIT: Took 2.5 hours on high. Cooked 12 thighs. Just did brocolli steamed and forced it down. Its all in my head I think
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oh im actually not sure about crockpots... ive never used one before. the way i cook chicken thighs is placing them in a pot of water with the other ingredients and heating it on the stove until the water is simmering (there's steam coming off the water, but not bubbling). i just thought it'd be the same with a crockpot, but now that i think about it, you'd probably have to cook it longer than if you were simmering it in a pot of water. seems like using the crockpot will allow for more tender meat, and you probably get the meat to soak up the flavors more.
edit - nice work with the broccoli haha, you can try adding some olive oil and/or butter, maybe some chopped garlic and a pinch of salt if you dont enjoy the flavor of pure broccoli.
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Zurich15364 Posts
Had a blood test taken today for cholesterol:
TRG: 131 mg/dl
HDL: 51 mg/dl
LDL: 136 mg/dl
TC: 213 mg/dl
Couple of questions:
From the OP I understood that TC (total cholesterol) is the total of LDL and HDL, but obviously that doesn't add up. What else goes into the total number?
According to the chart I have all these values are good or very good, except for HDL, which is too low.
I have not been eating quite as cleanly as I used to, but still consider my diet very healthy. So I guess my main question is what can I shift around in terms of diet to raise HDL without increasing total cholesterol and LDL?
+ Show Spoiler +Typical day:
No breakfast or just an apple.
Lunch at cafeteria. Usually I take a big salad and get them to skip anything I don't like for my plate (like sauces, pasta, etc).
Liter of milk throughout the day.
Dinner I prepare myself, usually very paleo-ish. About 3x meat 1x fish per week. Only fresh vegetables, fruit, and potatoes. No processed food.
Sometimes dark chocolate for dessert.
When I say I don't eat as cleanly I mean I allow myself treats like a croissant, pretzel or ice cream when I really feel like it. Doesn't happen more than once or twice per week though.
I do drink a lot of alcohol though.
Also it says for the TRG test I should have not eaten anything 12 hours prior and not have had alcohol for 3 days. Unfortunately I went out drinking last night and had late night fatty food. I assume this skews the results and the "real" values would be even better? Or could it be the other way around?
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If you eat more lean meats (chicken, fish, turkey, etc.) you can get more omega 3s, 6s, and 9s fatty acids and more HDL in your diet (both of which are good). Not really 100% sure what you can eat if you don't want to eat more fish and lean meats, but I'm sure there are carbohydrates or supplements you can take (fish oil for instance) that will increase your HDL.
Congrats on the good cholesterol scores though.
And I don't think that the drinking and eating fatty foods would really skew your scores too much, but it's not great that you ate before it. If you scored, well even with those conditions, you should be fine.
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just got myself a jar of coconut oil, so i can try some of my stir fry dishes with it. i'm excited to see how it tastes. also got a bottle of grapeseed oil, just to see how it tastes. heard some good things about grapeseed oil, and thought, why not try it out. the experience is worth it for 5 dollars. im having a small bowl of white rice with some grapeseed oil drizzled over it. it's got a very nice, mild flavor with a hint of bitterness.
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Coconut oil pretty good tasting. Doesn't work with everything but yummy 
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Oh nice I was just about to ask about white rice vs brown rice. Good to see someone already discussing it.
I read up that apparently Brown rice has phytic acid, "which interferes with the absorption of certain minerals". Not sure what that exactly means, but by the end of the article it concluded that neither brown or white rice is a nutrient dense food, obviously lol. But being Asian it's tough to let go of rice, just gotta have a little less of it.
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On March 27 2013 04:08 Snuggles wrote:
Oh nice I was just about to ask about white rice vs brown rice. Good to see someone already discussing it.
I read up that apparently Brown rice has phytic acid, "which interferes with the absorption of certain minerals". Not sure what that exactly means, but by the end of the article it concluded that neither brown or white rice is a nutrient dense food, obviously lol. But being Asian it's tough to let go of rice, just gotta have a little less of it.
i actually don't think there's anything wrong with eating rice, as long as you're eating a good amount of nutrient-rich foods. maybe im just being unscientific here, but i think there's more to eating healthily than just ingesting foods that satisfy all of the micro and macro nutrients that you need (obviously that's a big part of it). and maybe it's completely in my head, or maybe it's because i've grown up eating white rice every day (im asian too), but i just feel better after eating rice (with other foods of course, but i can eat white rice plain lol). nothing's quite like having a steamy bowl of rice with some good pan-seared beef strips and stir fry veggies.
rice is neutral, from a nutritional standpoint. if it makes you feel good, then eat it, but don't let it take away from you eating other foods that are full of good nutrients.
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Oh man, beef n veggies over rice... so damn good. I just had salmon stir fried with cabbage just before reading your post, and I limited myself to just one small bowl of rice hehehe.
Yeah, just like that saying goes "Everything in moderation" or w/e. One small bowl of white rice won't hurt, especially compared to Fried rice which probably has a lot of unnecesary oil in it. I like your take on foods that you just can't let go, like rice in our case. Because if I think about it, how miserable would I be if all I ate was just chicken breast and lettuce. Less happiness = less motivation to stay fit right?
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mmhh 2 things i wanna ask:
1. from checking some calroie calcs they mostly say i "need" 2,8k++ a day to maintain my weight. that surprised me a bit. currently im at ~93kg @ 187cm, working 30hr/week (where im standing/walking/lifting light stuff all the time) + 3-4 times a week the stronglifts program with a little bit of extra exercise (and sex ;P) in addition to that.
i never informed myself about stuff like that and just had the 1,8k for women, ~2,2k for men rule of thumb in my head.
so is that right?
2. how do you make sure you get enough proteins evry day? cause according to the stuff i read here i should get 180g+ which seems quite hard. and i dont want to resolve to overpriced crappy shakes,bars,powders, whatever.
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2.8k seems about right. that rule of thumb is what it is - a rule of thumb. 2.2k is probably a good general starting point for an average dude, but you're not an average dude - your job consists of a lot of movement and some lifting, and you do stronglifts.
isnt the rule for proteins: eat 1g of protein for every pound you weigh minus bodyfat? so if you have 20% bodyfat, then you would eat around 150g of protein every day to maintain your muscle. someone correct me on this though, im not too sure.
oh, and if you're maintaining your muscle from eating what you are eating right now, then isn't it fine to not worry about getting that 180g?
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On March 30 2013 08:03 ieatkids5 wrote:
2.8k seems about right. that rule of thumb is what it is - a rule of thumb. 2.2k is probably a good general starting point for an average dude, but you're not an average dude - your job consists of a lot of movement and some lifting, and you do stronglifts.
isnt the rule for proteins: eat 1g of protein for every pound you weigh minus bodyfat? so if you have 20% bodyfat, then you would eat around 150g of protein every day to maintain your muscle. someone correct me on this though, im not too sure.
oh, and if you're maintaining your muscle from eating what you are eating right now, then isn't it fine to not worry about getting that 180g?
alright. is just really never checked out daily kcal needs at all. when the calcs showed me numbers above 3000 it just seemed weird to me.
for protein thing i dont feel bad or anything. im just questioning if i could progress faster if i had that recommended intake. and im pretty sure that usually i dont really reach 150+
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I don't really want to follow a paleo diet because I'd have to stop eating so much food I like.
So instead of paleolithic I'm going Mid-Victorian (found on reddit).
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
How much do you guys spend a month on groceries?
I'm probably spending around $600, not counting when I eat out.
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Holy crap. My wife and I eat for like $250... I can't imagine how well I would eat on that budget. Mad jealous.
I'm wondering if you guys have any meal plans / weekly staple meals. I'm trying to get more organized so the tendency to buy cheap/easy stuff is lessened and increase the good stuff.
Right now some of my dinners include:
Salmon cakes/steamed veggies/mashed potatoes
Beef tacos
Taco salad
Beef vegetable soup
Chili
Oven-baked chicken(cream of mushroom and cheese)/mashed potato
Chicken stirfry/rice
Lunches:
Tuna or chicken salad wraps
Leftovers
I'd like to add more paleo friendly stuff so my wife will go along with it (I could eat the same two meals for months) I'm thinking like pulled pork or a hashbrown/egg/bacon casserole or something... not sure. Any ideas or favorites?
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Somones birthday today so obv the office table right next to me is loaded with processed food and soda and shit. Co-workers keep telling me to eat. SORRY TOO BUSY BEING HEALTHY.
On April 04 2013 08:35 infinity21 wrote:
How much do you guys spend a month on groceries?
I'm probably spending around $600, not counting when I eat out.
I've been meaning to calculate this but i'm scared:
Since i've moved:
Breakfast is usually a few eggs and maybe some breakfast meat so probably 1-2$/day plus 1-2$ on coffee so we'll say 3$
Lunch - about 7-9$ at the cafeteria. we'll say 8.
dinner - been eating out a lot (bar food is downstairs from my room T_T) probably around 10$/day. 0-5$ if i eat at home.
Miscellaneous...probably another 5$/day on random coffees/snacks.
(i dont even want to calculate my booze tab. probably 400/month ez).
So I'd say about 700-800$/month including eating out. Fucking brutal. although i'm not paying rent yet so its not hurting my checkbook that much. Once i move into my own place and cook more i'll get that down to probably 500-600. Eating healthier should be able to cutdown on how much i eat out. I was eating on around 250/month in college. I have no idea how.
@mordek
These are a couple of my go-tos:
crock pot pulled pork. cheap easy and awesome.
anything i can grill - chicken/steak/pork
Pan cooked chickenbreast or beef with rice and veggies.
anything with eggs in it.
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Definitely going to try some pulled pork recipes. You guys are blowing my mind with your food bills. We budget 350 for groceries and eating out for two :O
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jesus where do you live that you get away with that?
In college i only bought eggs/bacon/chicken/milk/bread/maybe a few other things and cooked everything and that still ran me 50-60/week
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EPT
