Agent C
I recently moved in with boyfriend and he does NOT eat well. He's always sick and I know it's because literally for breakfast, lunch and dinner he'll just work a bag of doritos. He's finally accepted that this might be the problem but he just doesn't LIKE healthy food. What are some healthy recipes with only a few ingredients what I could make for a very picky 21 year old :) Preferably something with a lot of protein and vegetables because he gets almost none. Also minimal meat since I'm a vegetarian and would prefer not to prepare it. Thanks!
Answer
First he should be willing to learn this stuff along with you, not just choosing and meal planning but cooking, to invest in his own health. Not just you. He will also have to approach this with an open mind, man up and learn to like something good for him. There are a million healthy foods. He can't possibly hate them all. He can't shut down. He will have to keep looking. Eventually my guess is he will just realize it is too hard to hate everything.
Second and very important is that he must remove his crutch foods, like the Dorito's. He should not allow himself the option of comparing the new items to the junk he loves. You might not make every switch all at once but if there is a serious go-to that he leans on an item that he cannot control his eating, then it has to leave the house. Then phase in healthiER items until he is eating better and better and feeling better.
Get your hands on corn tortillas and flour tortillas. You can use them as the base for tons of items, and use them to wrap good stuff and make it portable, making it easier to keep away from fast food and convenience store food. They are hearty and satisfying and a pretty simple food, not super healthy but not overly bad for you.
Also since he is a dorito guy...the thing that makes them bad is the spray painted on flavors and colors. You can keep him in plain corn tortilla chips. Even Dorito's brand is fine but plain. Baked is better, so is organic blue corn chips, some are even flavored with sesame! Dip them with fresh salsa, mashed black beans, homemade guacamole, etc. HEALTHY!
A crockpot of beans with onions, garlic, can be delicious as a soup. Scoop some out to whiz up in the food processor for dipping your chips, making burritos. Add some ground beef or ground turkey and some canned tomatoes and zippy spices, and cook it down for a chili. Watch the salt and the greasy meats, go crazy with herbs and spices, otherwise HEALTHY.
Switch out olive oil instead of butter for most of your cooking. Switch to olive oil mayonnaise. Do not use margarine. If you need butter for a recipe, try to use less. You can also use vegetable dips like hummus, guacamole, eggplant dip, for sandwich spread, chip dip, etc instead of greasy sandwich toppings, queso, condiments, etc.
Lean on the ethnic foods. Basically that means learn more about the local foods, herbs and spices and flavor pairings for those areas. Cajun, Mexican, Mediterranean, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, etc....all these cultures have lots of seafood and vegetables, can be a bargain, too! When your recipe asks for lots of fat or salt, make swaps with things you know are better.
There is nothing wrong with a turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and carrots or green salad on the side.
Pasta with sauteed veggies and some lean sausage? Healthy. You can get better pasta such as whole wheat, or you can swap out for brown rice.
PBJ is a pretty healthy meal if you do it right. All fruit spread (Polaner's), lower sugar peanut butter, whole wheat bread.
First he should be willing to learn this stuff along with you, not just choosing and meal planning but cooking, to invest in his own health. Not just you. He will also have to approach this with an open mind, man up and learn to like something good for him. There are a million healthy foods. He can't possibly hate them all. He can't shut down. He will have to keep looking. Eventually my guess is he will just realize it is too hard to hate everything.
Second and very important is that he must remove his crutch foods, like the Dorito's. He should not allow himself the option of comparing the new items to the junk he loves. You might not make every switch all at once but if there is a serious go-to that he leans on an item that he cannot control his eating, then it has to leave the house. Then phase in healthiER items until he is eating better and better and feeling better.
Get your hands on corn tortillas and flour tortillas. You can use them as the base for tons of items, and use them to wrap good stuff and make it portable, making it easier to keep away from fast food and convenience store food. They are hearty and satisfying and a pretty simple food, not super healthy but not overly bad for you.
Also since he is a dorito guy...the thing that makes them bad is the spray painted on flavors and colors. You can keep him in plain corn tortilla chips. Even Dorito's brand is fine but plain. Baked is better, so is organic blue corn chips, some are even flavored with sesame! Dip them with fresh salsa, mashed black beans, homemade guacamole, etc. HEALTHY!
A crockpot of beans with onions, garlic, can be delicious as a soup. Scoop some out to whiz up in the food processor for dipping your chips, making burritos. Add some ground beef or ground turkey and some canned tomatoes and zippy spices, and cook it down for a chili. Watch the salt and the greasy meats, go crazy with herbs and spices, otherwise HEALTHY.
Switch out olive oil instead of butter for most of your cooking. Switch to olive oil mayonnaise. Do not use margarine. If you need butter for a recipe, try to use less. You can also use vegetable dips like hummus, guacamole, eggplant dip, for sandwich spread, chip dip, etc instead of greasy sandwich toppings, queso, condiments, etc.
Lean on the ethnic foods. Basically that means learn more about the local foods, herbs and spices and flavor pairings for those areas. Cajun, Mexican, Mediterranean, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, etc....all these cultures have lots of seafood and vegetables, can be a bargain, too! When your recipe asks for lots of fat or salt, make swaps with things you know are better.
There is nothing wrong with a turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and carrots or green salad on the side.
Pasta with sauteed veggies and some lean sausage? Healthy. You can get better pasta such as whole wheat, or you can swap out for brown rice.
PBJ is a pretty healthy meal if you do it right. All fruit spread (Polaner's), lower sugar peanut butter, whole wheat bread.
vegetarian.......?
hallieeee
im thinking of becoming one and idk.. um what products should i buy and how can i stay as healthy as i am now without eating meat? id like to stay on the cheap side.. (: thanks.
Answer
Learning to cook(vegetarian food) is the only way to keep things cheap. You'll actually spend less than the average meat-eater if you do it right.
I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:
Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.
Lunch: VEGAN "SAUSAGE" SANDWICHES, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.
Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup
I use these sites to find recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://vegweb.com
http://www.recipezaar.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.
You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
http://meat.org
Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html
Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/discussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.
A responsible vegan ALWAYS studies the subject of their own health and how to keep their body completely provided for in every sense. http://www.veganhealth.org/sh
To neglect their body is to define a plant-based diet as unhealthy and is the opposite of helping the animals.
When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter.
Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. Fruits and vegetables are always important but they DO NOT make up the largest portion of any healthy diet.
A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html
Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.
A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html
The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.
If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.
If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.
Learning to cook(vegetarian food) is the only way to keep things cheap. You'll actually spend less than the average meat-eater if you do it right.
I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:
Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.
Lunch: VEGAN "SAUSAGE" SANDWICHES, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.
Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup
I use these sites to find recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://vegweb.com
http://www.recipezaar.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.
You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
http://meat.org
Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html
Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/discussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.
A responsible vegan ALWAYS studies the subject of their own health and how to keep their body completely provided for in every sense. http://www.veganhealth.org/sh
To neglect their body is to define a plant-based diet as unhealthy and is the opposite of helping the animals.
When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter.
Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. Fruits and vegetables are always important but they DO NOT make up the largest portion of any healthy diet.
A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html
Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.
A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html
The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.
If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.
If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
