What do you guys eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner?

[Katiebug_1976]

My husband and I have come to the realization that we need to make some drastic changes in our lifestyle, especially our diet. Neither one of us had weight problems growing up, but after 5 kids and 3 very stressful years, we both could drop a few pounds. My biggest concern is that my 13yo dd has started gaining weight the last 2 years. She has always been tall and skinny. At first I thought it was a growth spurt, but after 2 years of "growing out" and not getting much taller I am starting to get concerned. I think the stress of the last 3 years has affected her more than I first thought. But life is starting to get better, less stressful and more "stable" (whatever that means). Anyway, it has become necessary to change our diet before the weight issue gets out of control and causes long term health problems. And since I have never had to watch what I eat or how much I eat, I am completely clueless as to where to start. So I would greatly appreciate your tips for healthy, cheap, (quick & easy is always nice), preferably non-processed meals.

 

FYI: I am not afraid of baking or making things from scratch. I just need a starting point and some direction.

 

Thanks so much

[katemary63]

:lurk5: Me too! And it has to be simple, inexpensive and tasty! Can you do that?

[muffinmom]

We tend to have big breakfasts at our house...we're all hungry in the morning and that's when my kids eat the most...we always have some kind of protein (eggs, turkey sausage, etc.) and a carbohydrate (whole grain toast or muffin or pancakes or cereal) and usually a fruit.

 

Lunches are sandwiches on whole grain bread or a cheese toast, soup, quesadillas, or leftovers. I almost always serve raw veggies with lunch (my kids will eat red peppers, carrots, and sometimes cucumbers or celery).

 

I'm moving toward lighter dinners...we tend to want more calories earlier in the day. So we like to do soups for dinner once or twice a week. If not that, I try to include veggies with dinner, but we will usually have meat as well.

 

As for snacks...I really insist on healthy snacks. Either healthy granola/type bars or fruit or cheese/crackers or nuts...stuff like that. I think that helps a lot in terms of keeping energy and not overeating at other meals.

[Rosie_0801]

I had to run out early this morning, so didn't get a proper breakfast. It was brunch time by the time I got back and that consisted of home made besan roti, left over split peas, tomato and baby spinach. Flat breads don't take all that long to make if you have a tortilla press. We eat that way for breakfast when dh is home, if he isn't, we usually have porridge with fruit.

Lunch is either left overs from dinner, or peanut butter sandwhiches. I'm sure I'll be a whizz in the kitchen and improve that when I don't have a baby and a 2 year old wreaking havock. If I made a proper lunch, I'd never have time to make any dinner at all so lunch tends to get neglected.

Dinner almost inevitably involves salad with baby spinach, rocket or both, and lots of yummy seeds. We're vegan, so there's no animal products, but anything else goes! Last night was a sort of roasted zucchini and citris thingi which needs some serious revising. I bought a cask of white wine for risotto the other week and dh grumbled that it'd go bad and I ought to buy a bottle. So I promised to make lots of risotto :) We've made a few soups this past week, one was a split pea soup flavoured with miso, another was a corn, potato and seaweed soup. Geez that was good! It might even be my new best favourite.

We limit the carb portion, or do if I keep tabs on it anyway, dh is not so diligent. He'll skimp on the salad, but I'll growl if I don't get enough, lol.

That kind of stuff...

:)

Rosie

[Bess]

Breakfast: Grapenuts cereal

Lunch: 4 slices of turkey deli meat (no bread) and a yogurt

Dinner: big salad 3/4 of my plate, meat and starch take up 1/4 of my plate

 

I'll have two small carb snacks during the day...like two graham crackers or 4 fat-free fig newtons or a Fiber 1 bar.

 

I LOVE eating this way and it keeps my weight at bay.

[Stacey in MA]

I am not a healthy/health food nut, but I have been trying to eat better this past year or so. I have lost 20 lbs since last summer! I am technically at a nice average weight now, but would like to go down another 10lbs before I feel completely satisfied.

 

My idea for starting to eat healthy (and diet, perhaps) is to start with a simple "spine" of food. It can be so confusing trying to figure out on the spot what is good or bad, OK to eat or not. So if you have some sort of baseline menu to start with, you can do no thinking when eating time arrives. Then you can tweek it along the way with other/extra foods.

 

I am a calorie counter. I have tried other ways, but can't stay true to a diet unless I am seeing the damage right on paper. If I eat well all day, getting in 1600 calories of healthy food, but then sneak in 400 calories of cookies at night, I can see in black and white, right away, that 20% of my calories for the WHOLE DAY came from junk that my body can't do anything with but make me heavier! And all in that small 3 minute time it took to wolf down those cookies! So I need to jot it down each day - accountability I guess!

 

Also, I was trained in my pregnant gestational diabetic days to eat 6 smaller times, instead of 3 larger. I still do that, so that's why you'll see I have 6 eating times.

 

Here's a quickstart place that you might consider:

 

Breakfast:

oatmeal (100 - 150 calories)

coffee w/ milk (50 cal)

 

Snack:

Banana (80 - 100 calories)

and Orange (50 - 100 calories)

or

some sort of smoothie with fruit, milk, ice, low-cal sweetener (about 200 cal)

 

Lunch:

Veggie Soup (200 cal)/ Crackers (150) / Salad w/ lowcal dressing (50)

(Meat soups can be high cal, as are creamed soups, so be careful)

 

Snack:

Pretzels (150 cal) with hummus (50)

or

Apple / Banana (150 cal)

or

Sunflower seeds (200)

or

Popcorn (50)

 

Dinner:

(Really varies....) One example:

Big salad with fruit, nuts, cheese (~200 cal). Grilled or baked chicken (150 cal) and another veggie side (50 cal).

 

I make chili in the crock pot often. Veggie chili is reasonably low cal and very healthy. Side of salad and also perhaps another fresh veggie. (Total of about 400 cal)

 

Stir fry with rice. Use mostly veggies, and add small amounts of meat for flavoring. (rice and sauce give you the big calories here - about 400 - 500 depending)

 

Snack:

bowl of frozen mixed veggies (125 cal)

or

some sort of smoothie (abotu 200 cal)

or

bag of popcorn (50 cal)

 

So, start with some idea like this, and do it every day. Branch out as you feel comfortable with what is OK, what is truely healthy, what is the right caloric intake for you. I discovereded that the sweets/junk I was taking in at the end of the day was killing me. I also discovered that I was getting WAY too much fat (most fats are about 100 cal/Tbsp), in general, by seeing all those calories in butter, cheese, many meats, and most dairy. So unnecessary, but yet I was taking it in! Now I eat MUCH less meat (it is an accessory, not the main entree), very little cheese, and fat free when I buy dairy like ricotta or yogurt.

 

If you just make one new rule, try making it to work on eating raw foods - veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, some grains. Skip the processed stuff, or count it as "extra".

 

Good luck and congrats on your decision to try and get healthier! It's a process...hang in there!

 

- Stacey in MA

[Starr]

We've moved to whole grains. I also started making soup. Throw in a couple of pieces of skinned chicken and some veggies and water and you'll have soup. Portion control is the only way to keep to a healthy weight. I liked the description in a book I read. Mark your plate in quarters. One quarter is protein, one is starch and the other half is fruit and veggies. Seconds only in the fruit and veggies. I remember my Great Aunt cooking for the family. Everything was in a portion and later there was always a nice small dessert but no one went back into the kitchen! They lived into their 90s and never had weight problems. I figure if I get things under control the rest of the family will follow suit. :tongue_smilie:

[coralloyd]

Breakfast:

whole grain/whole wheat toast -w/cream cheese or peanut butter & fruit spread

or

cereal w/ bannana in it

We are not big morning people ;).

 

A plate with the following for

Lunch:

cheese stick or nuts of some kind

dried cranberries or rasins

a fruit and/or carrot sticks

whole grain crackers and corn chips

 

We keep it really simple, I never make sandwhiches or things like that, unless it's for a special picnic lunch or something.

 

For Dinner I have fun :D. I never really know what I am going to make untill that day. I just make sure the ingredients I have on hand are healthy:

veggies

meats (buy on sale)

pastas (whole wheat)

rice (brown)

organic boxed both stocks

canned crushed tomatoes

garlic

olive oil

canned green chillis

flour (to thicken things)

dried herbs

 

You'd be surprised at how many things you can make with these ingredients. I hope you find what works for your family.

[elise1mds]

Veggies, veggies, veggies. It amazes me how many of my friends who are just DYING to lose weight still have absolutely no vegetables in their diet! We have a WFD (what's for dinner) thread on a local mom's forum I'm on, and these women also tell me all the time how wonderful my dinners sound - I guess it's exotic to have a salad a couple of nights a week? I will just buy the bagged stuff on sale and use it.

 

Moving on... I've lost 20 pounds in the last year. Not a lot and not fast, but I look at it this way - I'm no longer gaining, and I'm only 10 pounds away from my goal weight. It definitely started with my diet.

 

Breakfast is crucial to me. I am not a morning person and am really bad and don't always even eat breakfast, but I lose more weight when I do. Making and freezing breakfast casseroles or even Lean Cuisine breakfast things with milk and fruit are some of my better ideas. I always try to make sure I get some protein in my breakfast since I can have issues with my blood sugar if I just have carbs. That's just me, though. My kids are perfectly happy with oatmeal and fresh fruit and milk or 100% juice to drink. They actually are in love with the Kashi oatmeal - they like it better than Quaker, for sure.

 

For lunches, when we're all home, I keep it simple and add vegetables. Leftovers are big, too. If I do Annie's mac 'n' cheese, I throw in frozen broccoli and cauliflower. If I do sandwiches, I pile on lettuce and tomato and use mustard instead of mayo. Peanut butter and jelly comes with baby carrots and apple slices. Hot dogs are served with green beans and a (drained) fruit cup. We love tuna salad served on lettuce leaves with crackers on the side. We all get veggies; they get full. Win/win!

 

For dinners, I always TRY to plan protein and two veg. Tomorrow night, for example, I'm making spinach manicotti - no meat, but plenty of protein in the cheese. One of the veggie servings will be in the tomato sauce and spinach inside the manicotti, and I'm going to serve a salad with it... with low-fat Italian dressing.

 

I am a lot like Stacey in MA, I guess, though I have never successfully counted calories and really admire her for doing that! Snacks have definitely been a big downfall for me in the past, and it's really easy for me to slip right back into that routine of "one more cookie won't hurt." Drinking a lot of water also helps me lose weight; I hardly ever drink pop any more. I have started buying whole wheat pastas, though I've always been a whole-grain bread person.

 

Good luck... I hope your DH is on board with you because spouses can seriously hold you back if they fight any sort of change in the diet. Mine still buys white bread when he goes to the store, though I haven't fed him that in the entire 9 years of our marriage. I just smile, shake my head, and the kids and I go feed the ducks! ;)

[Stacia]

sparkpeople.com is a great way to track your eating & it is free to sign up. I haven't noticed any spam from it either. I know there are quite a few sparkpeople on these boards.

 

One neat thing is that you can ask it for daily eating suggestions & it will give you suggestions for meals & snacks, including links to recipes. I like that you can customize the suggestions you want too (so, if you don't eat eggs, you can tell it to eliminate eggs from the suggestions).

 

There is also a sparkteens site, but I'm not sure of the minimum age for kids signing up for that one.

 

For us, tracking our food (seeing the calories, cholesterol, protein, etc...) & seeing it in black & white has made a big difference in our eating habits.

[kalanamak]

Breakfast, 2 peices of WW Orowheat toast and cream cheese. Sometimes an orange.

Lunch: Soup, salad, apple, cheese

Dinner: current favourite is a big bowl of romaine with hot unsauced cheese tortellini over it, with onions and lots of Meyers lemon juice and olive oil.

Bedtime snack: ice cream

Daytime snack: prunes or pineapple rings or cucks (roughage, as my mother would say)

[TammyinTN]

Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ a slice of toast and coffee

Snack: Light string cheese

Lunch: Ham sandwich, cut up veggies with hummus or leftovers from dinner

Snack: A piece of fruit

Dinner: Salad usually at all dinners, chicken, veggies-steamed with lemon slice and a roll

 

This is a typical day at our house.:001_smile:

[jail warden]

This is a great thread! I love all the ideas! I've done really well with working out and watching what I eat until the last two nights I really splurged and needed this kick in the pants :tongue_smilie:to get back on the healthy wagon so to speak!

[muffinmom]

One more thing...we don't drink sugary drinks. Or drinks with artificial sweeteners. Very occasionally I will drink lightly sweetened iced tea, but mostly I drink just water.

 

Even my kids who are still young drink water or milk. I rarely let them drink juice (like a few times a year)...we eat fruit instead. And I never let them have sodas.

 

So not drinking our calories is a big help!

[Katiebug_1976]

Veggies, veggies, veggies. It amazes me how many of my friends who are just DYING to lose weight still have absolutely no vegetables in their diet! We have a WFD (what's for dinner) thread on a local mom's forum I'm on, and these women also tell me all the time how wonderful my dinners sound - I guess it's exotic to have a salad a couple of nights a week? I will just buy the bagged stuff on sale and use it.

 

Moving on... I've lost 20 pounds in the last year. Not a lot and not fast, but I look at it this way - I'm no longer gaining, and I'm only 10 pounds away from my goal weight. It definitely started with my diet.

 

Breakfast is crucial to me. I am not a morning person and am really bad and don't always even eat breakfast, but I lose more weight when I do. Making and freezing breakfast casseroles or even Lean Cuisine breakfast things with milk and fruit are some of my better ideas. I always try to make sure I get some protein in my breakfast since I can have issues with my blood sugar if I just have carbs. That's just me, though. My kids are perfectly happy with oatmeal and fresh fruit and milk or 100% juice to drink. They actually are in love with the Kashi oatmeal - they like it better than Quaker, for sure.

 

For lunches, when we're all home, I keep it simple and add vegetables. Leftovers are big, too. If I do Annie's mac 'n' cheese, I throw in frozen broccoli and cauliflower. If I do sandwiches, I pile on lettuce and tomato and use mustard instead of mayo. Peanut butter and jelly comes with baby carrots and apple slices. Hot dogs are served with green beans and a (drained) fruit cup. We love tuna salad served on lettuce leaves with crackers on the side. We all get veggies; they get full. Win/win!

 

For dinners, I always TRY to plan protein and two veg. Tomorrow night, for example, I'm making spinach manicotti - no meat, but plenty of protein in the cheese. One of the veggie servings will be in the tomato sauce and spinach inside the manicotti, and I'm going to serve a salad with it... with low-fat Italian dressing.

 

I am a lot like Stacey in MA, I guess, though I have never successfully counted calories and really admire her for doing that! Snacks have definitely been a big downfall for me in the past, and it's really easy for me to slip right back into that routine of "one more cookie won't hurt." Drinking a lot of water also helps me lose weight; I hardly ever drink pop any more. I have started buying whole wheat pastas, though I've always been a whole-grain bread person.

 

Good luck... I hope your DH is on board with you because spouses can seriously hold you back if they fight any sort of change in the diet. Mine still buys white bread when he goes to the store, though I haven't fed him that in the entire 9 years of our marriage. I just smile, shake my head, and the kids and I go feed the ducks! ;)

 

Thanks for the info. You make it sound so easy. I am trying to get more vegies into our diet. We are pretty easy going. I am blessed because my children are not picky eaters (most of the time. There are times, however, and then I just let them decide if they are going to eat or not). My husband is also very supportive. We are both on the same page when it comes to trying to eat healthier, so that helps a lot. We rarely eat white bread, and when we do it is homemade so I guess that is better than all the preservatives in store bread. I used to bake all of our bread but last year I went overboard and started selling bread at the farmers market and got burnt out. But I am slowly getting back into the habbit of baking just for us.

[Katiebug_1976]

One more thing...we don't drink sugary drinks. Or drinks with artificial sweeteners. Very occasionally I will drink lightly sweetened iced tea, but mostly I drink just water.

 

Even my kids who are still young drink water or milk. I rarely let them drink juice (like a few times a year)...we eat fruit instead. And I never let them have sodas.

 

So not drinking our calories is a big help!

 

Nest week will be interesting. I am not buying anymore juice! I bought it this week, but I announced to my family this morning at breakfast that when the juice runs out, there will be no more (except for using it to make fruit smoothies etc. but no more for drinking). They took it rather well, but I'm afraid my 2 yo dd will object to not having her apple juice next week. I am going to start rationing her now so it isnt such a drastic change for her.

 

We also do not use artifical sweeteners. I think they are worse than sugar (never mind that I am alergic to most of them and they taste bad!). Kool-Aid has been a naughty word in our house for over 10 years, and we are drinking very little to no soda pop anymore. So I think we are progressing quite well when it comes to what we drink. Eliminating the juice will be one more step closer to being healthy! We can get our juice straight from the fruit!

[amyinva]

We have cut out all refined grains (so we eat ONLY 100% whole wheat bread- usually I make it, brown rice, WW pasta, etc.) and almost all sugar. My DH threw out all sugary food and other junk food in the house and we went for about 2 months without any. Cold turkey. Now we will will have a treat occasionally, but it is a treat, not a regular thing.

 

I read every single label and never have High Fructose Corn Syrup in the house. It hides in many things, like bread, ketchup, etc. Don't eat it! We avoid artificial sweeteners (I confess to an occasional diet pepsi, but nobody's perfect). It can get hard, especially at first. For example, we only get plain yogurt b/c the sweetened kind either has way too much sugar, has HFCS, or has artificial sweeteners. We will sweeten it with mashed bananas or jam sweetened with fruit juice.

 

We drink milk and water, and the kids have one glass of orange juice each day- no more. I will make decaf iced tea or coffee for myself.

 

An average day for us is:

 

B: egg and cheese sandwich on WW toast, yogurt, or oatmeal (not the packages- make it yourself!)

L: leftovers or sandwich on WW bread (usually by itself b/c we eat snacks and then a smaller lunch)

D: a protein (meat or beans), brown rice, veggie and salad

snacks are fruit, cheese, nuts, smoothies, homemade WW banana bread, or air-popped popcorn. We usually have a mid-morning and a mid-afternoon snack.

 

We do not skip meals, and usually have 2 snacks a day. I think eating smaller meals more frequently is better.

 

Since eating healthier, those who needed to drop a few have done so and those who did not need to lose weight have felt healthier. I think that eating healthier first, before trying to count calories, etc. is really important. You may not need to eat less, just better.

[funschooler5]

One thing I drink now is seltzer water. I hate drinking plain water and when I switched from pop, I went to seltzer. Sometimes when I'm craving flavor, I add a splash of 100% fruit juice. I read somewhere that seltzer might help with weight loss because the bubbles tend to make you feel full faster. :)

[Laura Corin]

Breakfast for the boys is cooked and traditional: they are skinny, and I find that lots of protein at breakfast sticks to their ribs. With the protein they will have fruit. I eat whole grain cereal with skimmed milk.

 

Lunch will be whole grain and fairly low fat usually, and will include a fresh veg and a fruit. It might be brown rice stir-fried in olive oil with veggies and egg; lentils; tinned mackerel with whole grain pasta; a whole grain sandwich....

 

Supper will be something like a lean protein (chicken breast marinated in garlic, olive oil and lemon, sauteed with strips of bell pepper) with a brown starch (brown rice, quinoa, potatoes with skins, etc.) a veg and a fruit. They'll have a couple of cookies to follow.

 

During the day they might have some nuts and a cookie or two. Through the day we mostly drink water. The boys have a glass or two of milk during the day. They run for half an hour a day, as well as participating in martial arts.

 

Laura

[Jen in PA]

For breakfast 5 days a week I have two eggs fried in just a bit of olive oil and half a grapefruit. Mid-morning I have homemade whole milk yogurt with walnuts, fresh fruit, and a bit of honey. For lunch I have beans of some kind -- I make a big pot at the start of the week, and that's what I have for lunch. I also usually have salad or sliced veggies. I have cheese and nuts for an afternnon snack, sometimes with a glass of milk. Supper is a huge salad, at least one other veggie, and some sort of protein. I have potatoes/sweet potatoes/brown rice with dinner about twice a week. The 2 mornings each week I leave the house too early for a hot breakfast, I have a hard-boiled egg and an orange. I make sure to eat at least one sort of cruciferous veggie every day. In the evenings I have dark chocolate most nights, and red wine a few times a week, my big "treats." I only dress my salads with vinegar and sea salt. I drink 2 cups of black coffee in the morning, then switch to tea for the rest of the day. I make a 6-cup pot of decaf green tea each morning to drink throughout the day, and I usually have real black tea/iced tea later in the day. I do not like tea sweetened in any way, so that makes things simple.

 

It sounds sort of boring now that I'm reading over it, but it doesn't seem that way when I am eating. I love spicy foods, and use tons of different kinds of spices, curry, sriracha, and plenty of garlic, onions, and fresh herbs each day. Eating this way became my habit over the past couple of years as I had to remove wheat from my diet and wanted to streamline food preparation.

[Snickerdoodle]

Well, we eat a huge variety of food. I'll just list what we (including the kids) had today:

 

Breakfast: Oatmeal (not instant) with a bit of brown sugar

AM snack: 1/2 plum, 1/2 apple, handful of strawberries

Lunch: large bowlful of sugar snap peas raw, ham sandwich on WW

Dinner: Lentils (made with tiny amt of bacon, celery, lots of zucchini and 2 huge sweet potatoes) and 1-2 slices of WW bread.

 

Water as needed. I had 2 cups of coffee with milk this morning.

[Katiebug_1976]

One thing I drink now is seltzer water. I hate drinking plain water and when I switched from pop, I went to seltzer. Sometimes when I'm craving flavor, I add a splash of 100% fruit juice. I read somewhere that seltzer might help with weight loss because the bubbles tend to make you feel full faster. :)

 

We try to stay away from carbonated drinks because our dentist said that it eats away at the enamal (did I spell that right?) on your teeth. We have enough dental problems, I don't think we need to cause more on purpose. Ha! Ha!