I love good food. I love candy, and carbs. I'm not terribly picky but don't enjoy eating quinoa, beans, and veggies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Is it possible to fall in love with eating healthy? The way I am now with pasta, steak, delicious rolls, and cake??
I need to lose about 80 pounds but can't get past the food... I have 3 young kids and very high cholesterol. I HAVE to do this.
I'm just starting in, but I think it's possible. I don't necessarily consider myself a foodie, but I do like candy and carbs as well, and I can cook some really yummy, really unhealthy things.
I do think it's possible to make healthy food delicious, and to enjoy it. I think part of the challenge is teaching your brain to recognize unhealthy food as "bad" food and healthy as "good." Because, honestly, the ultimate point of food is not pleasure. It's nutrition. We just happen to like our nutrition to come with good flavor. So get out your google and look up the yummiest and healthiest recipes.
Good luck! Right now I'm in the throes of overcoming my sugar addiction, but I know that I'll feel so much better if I beat it. I know you'll feel better, too, if you stick to it.
I have always liked all veggies, grains and fruit (thanks to my mom for cooking a variety of different foods when I was growing up), so it is not hard for me to eat healthy. But all my life I have had a sweet tooth, I was a big fan of carbs, and sweets, it's an addiction.
This year I have decided to cut out the bad carbs, sugars and flours. Specially sugar. And I have been doing well. Sure, there might be some days that I will relapse, but for the most part I have been doing really good. To substitute sugar, I will eat fruits, or protein/ nutrition bars. Sure they have some carbs in them, but it's not nearly as bad as eating cookies or cake or ice cream.
I believe you can change your habits if you really want it. You just gotta give it a chance. Go online, try finding some yummy recipes. Eating healthy is awesome and delicious!
To be a real foodie, you have to be into all types of food. People will go through fazes of what kind of foods they like to cook, but you seem to be stuck in the one theme. Why don't you set yourself a couple of themes a week, say Oriental where you could cook yourself a stir fry, Italian where you could do homemade pizzas, Mediterranean where you could have grilled fish or grilled chicken with fresh cut veggies, Mexican with maybe some huevos rancheros for Breakfast or Lunch. Become a REAL foodie and start discovering recipes that you and the kids love to eat. Eat Fresh foods, less processed, do some low calorie home baking.
I loved food! which is always a problem when you cant eat a lot of it. But starting to stop eat processed junk just made me feel 1000% better. I started to care about what food was going in my body, making things from scratch, meal planning for the week ahead. It all really helps towards the lbs coming off.
When I fall into patterns of eating lots of carbs and sugars, healthier foods don't seem attractive or desirable. But after a few weeks of eating healthy, I find my body/mind does a switch- like the old foods that I craved/enjoyed just don't look as good anymore and I end up craving healthier stuff. A couple days ago I got excited about a clementine and chose it over chips because I wanted to, not because I should- 2 weeks before that I definitely would have preferred the chips. Hopefully the same craving switch will happen for you.
Which cuisines from other countries do you like, and what sort of dishes from those cuisines? Think about where you have run into beans, grains or veggies out in the wild, and how you've enjoyed them where other people have cooked them. Are there any dishes, or foods, that you already know you like? How do you like to cook, do you like any particular herbs and spices for instance?
It's totally possible! But don't expect it to happen overnight. What worked for me was focusing on nutrients and getting enough fruits and vegetables. It's been a slow process of learning how to cook things that are nutritious in a way that I like (I finally found a yummy way to cook eggs, YES) and every week I try to do a few new recipes. The more nutrients I get the more full I feel and the fewer calories I eat, and then there's extra room for a sweet or something each day. Counting calories actually does work for me; I tend to way OVERestimate the amount I eat (weird, I know), so when I count them I know I have extra space to play with. Plus, when you're eating really good nutritious food, your body feels good, and that's a very addictive feeling. I've grown to hate eating stuff that I know will leave me feeling yucky the next day.
What I've found and have heard others say too is that the more changes you make the more your taste buds change. Like, if you love ice cream (like me), try making ice cream with frozen blended bananas instead. It doesn't take long for your taste buds to read regular ice cream as too rich in large quantities.
Oh, and you don't have to eat beans, quinoa, and veggies every meal. I tried taking out my frosted mini wheats for breakfasts, thinking eggs would be better, and realized that I had a very difficult time getting enough of certain nutrients. Taking out grains makes it hard to get some of them; there's plenty of room for good bread or cereal or what-have-you! It just comes more into balance is all. The trick is finding a menu that both gives you what you need and satisfies you so that you can sustain it long-term. It's important to enjoy what you eat!
My life is food. My family is obsessed with food, we are American but have a french background. We don't pig down chips and burgers like other families on holidays, rather we spend like 50% of our time together talking about food, cooking techniques, and drinking wine. We try everything, eat in courses, talk and judge everything food xD. My boyfriend cooks and bartends as a hobby, naturally he was a great fit with my family, they all love him.
I like cooked vegetables, but I hate salad. I'm really busy, I'm getting my master's and working full time. I admit I don't eat a lot of stereotypical "healthy" food, my family and beau use butter, we are not a fat free sour cream kind of family. I think it's possible to still lose weight, although it might be slower. Either way it's possible to eat delicious rich foods and balance it out with lower calorie options and smaller portions. If you are a foodie I encourage you to keep enjoying your way of life and find a way to manage. Margarine makes me sad.
I love good food. I love candy, and carbs. I'm not terribly picky but don't enjoy eating quinoa, beans, and veggies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Is it possible to fall in love with eating healthy? The way I am now with pasta, steak, delicious rolls, and cake??
I need to lose about 80 pounds but can't get past the food... I have 3 young kids and very high cholesterol. I HAVE to do this.
I think you just need to try different healthy foods until you find a variety of healthy foods that you like. I gave up junk food about a year ago and I don't really miss it.
If you don't like quinoa, try other whole grains like brown rice, oats, barley, or freekeh, and you can add stuff to make them taste better (I sometimes add blueberries). Bread is also ok if it's 100% whole grain without bad stuff added to it. If you don't like beans, what about nuts (e.g. almonds, pistachios, cashews)? If you're looking for more breakfast ideas, you can try plain greek yogurt (if you want to sweeten it, you can add fresh fruit).
You can also replace the foods you eat with healthier versions, for example instead of regular pasta, eat whole grain pasta. When you eat steak, go for the leaner cuts. Instead of rolls, eat whole grain bread (I often eat toasted whole grain bread with almond butter, which I think tastes very good). When you crave sweets, maybe try eating some fresh fruit instead of cake.
I'm also a food and love cards as well. For me I force myself to fall in love with healthy meal prep. I live to cook tasty meals so taking on the challenge to do that the healthy way has motivated me. If you can make it tasty and visually apealing I think that will help.
I'm smiling because I sounded just like you when I first started out, but now I actually love vegetables and eat vegetarian meals regularly. My past self would have thought it impossible for me to enjoy a dinner without meat in it, but it happened!
You love candy and cake, so that's definitely a sugar dependency. Don't get me wrong, sweet foods can taste amazing, but honestly there's nothing better than going for a while without a sweet treat and then indulging in a delicious slice of cake. I swear it tastes so much better!
Carbs in the form of grains are a killer, because they are delicious but they're also terrible for losing weight. I'm awful about grains; I love bread, pasta, oatmeal etc. I still eat those things, but I definitely try and cut down on my portions. Once I do I start noticing weight loss, sure it would be quicker if I cut them out altogether, but I don't think losing weight should feel like torture.
As for not loving vegetables, I'm positive you can find a way to enjoy them and incorporate them into your life. In Western culture vegetables are a punishment, "eat your vegetables before you leave the table", they are very much a side dish cooked in boring ways. It doesn't have to be that way! I cook with vegetables all the time now in the form of delicious stir fry's, curries, pasta dishes and burrito fillings, I surprise myself sometimes since I was so dependent on meat being the focus on my meals. I love the cook book "Thug Kitchen", I'd recommend it for a good start for vegetarian cooking that isn't boring. Eating more vegetables doesn't have to be throwing a bunch of raw vegetables together in a bland salad. Consider this journey into healthydom an exciting endeavor if you consider yourself a foodie, it'll be a whole new world of food!
Losing weight being a foodie
I tried taking out my frosted mini wheats for breakfasts, thinking eggs would be better, and realized that I had a very difficult time getting enough of certain nutrients. Taking out grains makes it hard to get some of them; there's plenty of room for good bread or cereal or what-have-you! It just comes more into balance is all. The trick is finding a menu that both gives you what you need and satisfies you so that you can sustain it long-term. It's important to enjoy what you eat!
