The Healthy Eating Thread (with pictures)

I see munchie threads all over the site and thought it might be nice to have one here where we can post healthy meals and/or snacks.

I also see a lot of threads where people are saying that they don't have the time to cook, don't know how to cook, or just don't want to. I fall into the latter category so I mostly eat raw. Maybe others can suggest easy and fast recipes for those who want to cook.

I'll start it off and keep it going if it seems that people are interested. Feel free to contribute.


Hard-boiled eggs with siracha & dijon mustard. Melon, cucumber and almonds.



Yellow pepper, asparagus, cauliflower, apple, blueberries, pear and an avocado. Generic green tea with manuka honey, ginger and lemon.



An apple, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, walnuts, a grapefruit and loose leaf Chinese green tea.



3 egg omelette with onion, garlic, parsley, spinach and a bit of grated parmesan with avocado. Grapes, blackberries and a grapefruit on the side.



Fish with red and yellow peppers, garlic, onions, parsley, jalapenos and lemon fried in coconut oil with cucumbers on the side. (prep + cooking was under 30 minutes for you lazy folks)

The juice has parsley, cucumbers, apple, ginger, kale, celery and a few drops of organic blackberry extract.

 

Thanks guys. When I get home to Asia in a couple of months I'll have some more interesting things to post up.


Gonna get my last session in the gym done soon so this is my pre-workout meal:



Egg muffin - eggs, some pieces of salmon, onion, garlic, jalapeno, parsley, cilantro, fresh dill, green pepper, cracked pepper and a bit of sea salt and "organic" all spice. About 15-20 minutes of prep including cooking the salmon first. 30 minutes to bake.

Kale chips baked with a pinch of salt and habanero chili infused olive oil. 5 minutes prep, 10 minutes to bake. My inner fat kid actually likes these more than potato chips.

And some cucumber lol.

 

That would depend on a lot of factors. For all I know you could be 115 pounds and under 5 feet tall, in which case 1200 or less might be ideal for you lol.

Try calculating your basal metabolic rate here:
BMR Calculator, Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator | MyFitnessPal.com

Keep in mind that the calculation is only approximate, but it's safe to say that the number is the minimum amount of calories you should be eating per day. If you are active then you should be adding anywhere from 300-1000+ depending on the amount and type of exercise you get among other factors.

I think a lot of the portions in the photos look larger than they are, however when I am really hungry (or high ) and start to crave junk food I just eat a bunch of fruits and vegetables instead. I also eat a lot of calorie dense foods like nuts and seeds so that I can meet my daily requirement without feeling stuffed to the brim (I train 2-3+ hours twice a day.)

Oh and I don't count calories either. I know approximately how many I'm getting but I focus more on the quality rather than the quantity. If I needed to cut weight for a competition or something I would be a little more careful. For the most part I just follow an intermittent fasting protocol.

 

- Egg muffins with avocado and no salmon
- Baked carrot chips (thinly shaved carrots brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, pepper and Jamaican curry powder)
- Juice (swiss chard, celery, parsley and an apple)
- Bowl of melon

Don't mind the messy counter. I haven't cleaned up yet.

 

I found the egg muffin idea online but that particular one actually called for eggs, a cup of grated cheese and bacon. I don't eat pork and hardly touch dairy so I improvised. I had been thawing salmon too and just threw some in there because I'm fancy. I also used way more vegetables and less eggs than the vegetable variations so I doubt that the muffins came to more than 50-60 calories each.

Found the kale and carrot chip recipes online too and have been trying different stuff with them over the years. My favorites are the curried carrots and infused oil kale chips that I posted.

I'm not much for following recipes to a T but I do browse therawchef.com for ideas occasionally. Planning to make a raw carrot cake today or tomorrow so I'll post it up when I'm done. The last time I made it, it was really good and I could hardly tell that it wasn't baked.

 

Definitely. Sweet potato anything is good in my book. Purple taro chips are my favorite if you can find them in your area. In Thailand you can get a pound for about 30 cents when they're in season so I'll be cooking with them a lot when I get there.

I'm making this tomorrow:
Raw Carrot & Orange Cake Recipe | The Raw Chef - Raw Food Recipes
Walnuts instead of cashews though because I couldn't find any that weren't coated with salt or sugar.

Then I'll probably take some of the leftover coconut shavings and mix them with agave, blended strawberries, apples and pineapples to make popsicles for the gf.


Edit:

As a former 250+ pounder with a fast food addiction, I can assure you that if you put the effort in you'll feel great. Even if you're in decent shape with a poor diet now, you'll even look better regardless.

 

Haha thanks. Everything I make is really easy. I'm only using a small convection oven, hot plate and a juicer.



This was from yesterday:

- Kale, spinach, onion and jalapeno omelette with a piece of Vietnamese rice paper in the middle. Cooked with habanero infused olive oil, then ripped apart and stolen by my friend (with his goddamn bare hands. ) Dates, strawberries and a grapefruit on the side.
- Juice: kale, swiss chard, cucumber, apple, parsley, celery, cilantro, ginger.

I'm a girl.

I'll probably take this down later but here's a little before (2006)/after. I'm about 15-20 pounds heavier now from weightlifting.

 

Really good in my opinion. Throwing in a half or whole apple gives green juices a better flavor if you're not a fan of vegetables. My favorite is carrot, apple and ginger but I only drink it post-workout because it's high in fructose. I usually make a big sealed pitcher of juice in the morning that will last for the day or sometimes until the next morning. It stays good for up to two days if you refrigerate it in a mason jar or airtight container, but always tastes better fresh. You can keep the cost of juicing down by buying vegetables that have a high water content like cucumbers, celery and swiss chard. You'll get more out of them compared to vegetables like kale, parsley and cilantro; though those three are very high in vitamins and some of the best vegetables to use.

If you want to start I suggest buying a used juicer off of craigslist or something for $50-80 dollars. Give it a month and if you're still at it consistently then invest in a better used or new one (mine was used for $150.) You'll have to scoop out the leftovers and juice them again when you have a cheap unit, but it's better to do that than waste your money on a good one if you're not going to use it. Make sure you get a dish/kitchen brush with strong bristles to thoroughly clean the filter when you're done.

It took about 8 months to come off and another 2 months to tighten up (thankfully I didn't really have loose skin.) I had been working in Taiwan and moved to Thailand to get into muay thai again so I was training 3 hours twice a day Mon-Sat. I only took extra days off to lift weights or recover from lifting weights but I would still walk or jog at least 5k. I have a pretty extensive background in sports, martial arts and weight-lifting so I just stopped making excuses and started utilizing what I already knew to get back in shape.

Ultimately you have to figure out what works for you and what you enjoy otherwise you'll have a lot of trouble staying motivated. Regardless, you'll still have to put up with stuff you don't like. My trainer used to literally chase me down the road with a bamboo stick to make me run, it was terrible lol. A good diet compounded with hitting the gym 3-5 times a week for an hour is more than enough if you have a good mix of weights and cardio, or even just cardio if you don't want to lift weights. Anything is better than nothing. Cutting out dairy and especially grains will make the weight fall off you quickly; just make sure you are getting carbs from somewhere (root vegetables for instance.)

In terms of dieting, this is what I did and still do:

- No grains or dairy. Over the course of a month I'll probably total 5 tablespoons of mayo, half a cup of cheese and a cup of rice. I just don't like the way I feel when I eat too much of any of it.
- I always try to make sure that there is a higher volume of fruits and vegetables in a meal than meat or eggs, and only cook maybe 50% of the vegetables that I eat.
- Use as few condiments as possible unless I'm making them from scratch. Siracha and dijon mustard or ground mustard seeds with water are my go-to.
- Lots of nuts, seeds and healthy oils/fats to lower the volume of food I need to eat to reach my caloric requirements and stay full. I eat around 3000+ calories a day when I'm training but I feel too heavy and sluggish if most of that comes from meat and grains.
- Drink a gallon+ of water a day. Fresh juice 1-3 times a day; green tea and coffee occasionally. I drink 500ml of water with lemon and chia seeds as soon as I wake up because I'm usually out the door and training by 5am.
- Make a point of finding healthier alternatives to junk food, such as the vegetable chips. I don't crave salty snack food anymore because of this. I also freeze a lot of blended fruits with coconut milk, water and/or shavings in popsicle moulds. Sometimes with agave or honey too.
- As far as salt, I cook with a fair amount of it to regulate my electrolytes when I train so I don't need to use a supplement. When I'm not training I usually don't use much.

I don't take any supplements consistently but I do have some ViSalus kicking around that I'll drink with fruit and almond milk on a rare occasion when I'm too tired to prepare a meal right after training. I like that style of powder more than regular protein powder because of the vitamin content and (minimal) carb content. I also have psyllium husk which I'll take a teaspoon or tablespoon of with water if I want the extra fiber.

I mentioned earlier that I do intermittent fasting - there's a thread in this section called "The Warrior Diet" you can check out for more info.

 

Adding a picture to make up for that long ass post:

15 pounds of steamed crabs with cajun spice; a bunch of breaded and lightly fried fish, and some fruit: watermelon, pineapple, pink melon, green melon and dragon fruit.

The bowl in the middle is a spicy chili sauce.



This was a "cheat day" in Thailand. I was cutting for a shoot and my roommate and a couple other fighters were cutting for the King's Cup which is a huge event held every year. We were all miserable and hungry so we counted out the calories (including a beer each) and fasted for a day… then called up my dealer/taxi driver and drove around the island collecting the ingredients, including the finest marijuana on the island:


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