She only said she was going to eat better, not best. She’s stated in another thread that she never, never cooks. This is a good first step, making her own ramen and hot dogs. I’ll bet she gradually works her way up to improving her choices, maybe take a cooking class or two.
At least you read it with the word “better”. I read it as “I’m going to start eating butter, dog, rabbit!”
me:
Exactly. She also did not say she was doing this to lose weight so any posts that talk about weight loss and being 300 pounds are not going to go down well.
Yeah weight loss is a loaded topic for me, due to the way I was brought up and the way my obese mom (and obese grandma, before she died) have, for my entire life, worshipped at the altar of weight loss–despite not doing anything to actually lose any weight. It’s a bizarre, twisted self-loathing that I witnessed in both of them, which my mom still exhibits, and I have no desire to go down that path. So, if it happens it’s incidental and I’m okay with that. But it’s not the goal of this.
When you, like many other clueless thin people, define the lack of desire to lose weight as a mental illness, then it’s no surprise that you might define someone who doesn’t want to lose weight as mentally ill. That’s what adults call a circular argument.
Google “feeder fetish” or “fat admirer.” It’s a paraphilia in the way that foot fetishism or scatophilia is. Paraphilias are not defined as mental illnesses, unless you’re stuck in the 1800s. Also consider googling “fat self esteem;” you might be surprised to find out that even fat people can be happy with their bodies as they are.
I apologize for my assumptions.
Another “baby steps” suggestion to vary slightly what you’re eating is to fold stuff into a tortilla - it’s a great way to use up leftovers. Pile a little leftover chicken, veggies (you mentioned you got peppers and avocados?) in the center of a tortilla with a little shredded cheese, and zap in the microwave for 15-30 seconds until the cheese gets hot. Roll it up quick, and the cheese will hold everything together.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can brown the filled and rolled tortilla in a skillet for a few minutes, but for a non-cooker, the microwave will do ok.
As a fellow 300-lb person who is pretty ok with her body and not trying to “diet” let me just throw this out there…even if you don’t want to lose weight, you should definitely start paying more attention to sodium and cholesterol. Cutting out/down restaurant foods will be brilliant for this but so will cutting out the ramen.
Your approach is fine but “eat more healthy” to me means watching sodium and cholesterol, not simply eating fewer calories.
Good luck! Keep at it!
Or turn your stove burner on high, grab a pair of tongs, and hold the tortilla on the burner for, like, 2 seconds on each side. Protip: do not get distracted between seconds 1 and 2. :smack:
Oh, the friggin’ sodium - I’m not terribly overweight, but I am 44 and my blood pressure is creeping up. I’m trying to eat low sodium, and it is damned near impossible if I’m not making every damned thing I put in my mouth from scratch. I am seeing changes in the grocery stores, though - even in the couple of years I’ve been doing this, I’ve seen more low-sodium choices showing up. Yesterday I made a hamburger casserole with low-sodium mushroom soup, low-sodium cottage cheese, and low-sodium ketchup to put on it. 
I thought all good dopers realized that dietary cholesterol has little to no bearing on blood cholesterol. Unless I’m misreading your post, which I may be doing. Eggs are good again.
Yeah you’d also be surprised what stuff is high in sodium. You gotta read labels. Bagels have 400+ mg. Cottage cheese has about ~400-500mg per serving (I found out that the Daisy brand has the lowest, still with 360mg). Sun-dried tomatoes are loaded. Almost every single frozen meal - even the “healthy” ones - are full of sodium. Some “light” products might have more sodium (or at least more sugar) than their “regular” counterparts. Canned veggies and soups have nearly deadly amounts (but the cans marked “low sodium” are perfectly good - I feed them to my dog as a snack!). Coke and Diet Coke have about 40-50mg per can.
Stuff doesn’t have to taste salty to be high in sodium. If you taste the salt then you already know it’s not the best choice heh
The RDA is 2400mg but more like 1500mg if you have high blood pressure or are genetically pre-disposed to heart disease, like I am.
Yeah sorry. I do know this, and I do enjoy plenty of “good cholesterol” in the form of eggs and olive oil. But it’s a numbers game and I’d rather think about the amount of cholesterol in an item than calories and fat. Thinking about sodium and cholesterol is a good way - for me - to eat healthier and get away from the whole “LESS FAT AND FEWER CALORIES” droning.
Yeah, this – I thought I was eating very healthily until I started tracking my food online and saw I was regularly getting over 4000 mg of sodium a day. That stuff is in everything!
There is no ‘good’ dietary cholesterol though. Or ‘bad’. It’s all just cholesterol.
There are many other forms of dietary fat often referred to as ‘good’ and ‘bad’. And the ratios of the different types of your blood cholesterol can also be referred to as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ (high HDL is good, low HDL is bad. High LDL is often considered bad, but that depends more on how big the LDL particles are, and how much HDL you have).
If you are serious about eating healthier, I recommend a trip to the library and/or bookstore, and educate yourself on nutrition. While you are making an attempt to eat healthier, you’ve really just traded store-bought fat, carbs and sugar for what you were getting at McDonald’s.
It’s kinda funny that you guys brought up sodium and blood pressure. I’m guessing it’s a function of both youth and family history, but my blood pressure is always in a great range. More than one doctor has sounded surprised when they told me “115 over 70” (or thereabouts)
rachelelollogram, you didn’t address the soda questions some people have asked upthread. Why do you absolutely need it ? I mean, when you’re going to cut some calories off your diet, it’s the first thing that comes to mind.
Soda brings nothing but empty carbs. It’s like regressing to early childhood. Man, if you’re drinking some beverage that has calories in it, at least drink something adult, like wine :rolleyes:
rachelellogram, if you’re looking for advice (and I’m not sure that you are), we could probably help you a lot more if you tell us what you mean by “better.” If you mean foods that don’t cause you heartburn or bloat, and/or don’t empty your wallet, the congrats, I think you’ve found what you’re looking for.
If you’re looking for foods that have high amounts of nutrition in the form of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber, I think you could do better, and if you want, we can all give you some suggestions.
I think you’ve made it clear that you’re not looking for weight-loss, so lowering calories shouldn’t be a goal when thinking of suggestions.
My blood pressure was always dead on normal until I turned 40. That day, I needed bifocals and my blood pressure went up 20 points (at least, that’s how it felt).
As a fellow fat ass with perfectly healthy numbers, this kind of sticks out to me. I’ve also had doctors make total shocked expressions upon reading off my stats after blood work. Here’s the thing: we might be fine now, but let’s not kid ourselves that this is some healthy way to be. Like it or not, we are causing extra strain and pain on our bodies. We are going to die younger/ have far less pleasant old age than healthier people if we maintain the status quo. Your blood pressure might be fine now, but it isn’t going to be like that forever. I haven’t had a heart attack yet either, but if I keep eating cheese fries on the daily, it’s likely I probably will.
And that’s the thing: see, I believe in one aspect of the Fat Acceptance movement and that’s the part about loving who you are, however you are. Everybody’s beautiful and should see that beauty they have. Everyone is deserving of love. Everyone should be happy with themselves and their world. You don’t have to be a size 2 to be healthy and happy. But it does no one any good to sit around and pretend like being 300 lbs and eating sodium rich, high fat food is not going to do long term harm to our bodies. It is. Maybe not right now- we’re young, but this stuff does catch up to you.
Good for you for changing up your eating habits- you’re definitely making a step in the right direction. There’s a lot of good advice in this thread that’ll lead you to good health (and that DOESN’T necessarily mean a diet or anything like it-- or even necessarily weight loss. Even the skinniest person could benefit from a sodium/fat/blah blah makeover).
(FWIW: I’ve changed up my eating over the last several months significantly- way less fast food, more home made meals (yay! Farmer’s market!), and less sugary stuff. I feel great and have lost 30 lbs. Is it easy? Actually, yes. That’s the surprising part.)