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Food for the sendintary
tehcr33d
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
It seems there must be a product out there for sedentary individuals. Many of my friends and I are graduating from college and settling into tech/office jobs, to compound matters we favor board or video games as a pastime. Weight gain is inevitable. or is it? Home cooking fresh meals is cheep but it takes so much time, and ordering out is expensive and generally unhealthy. Has anybody thought of some good alternatives? I'm trying to maximize health and free time without breaking 2-5$ per meal barrier. Currently I'm cooking simple food in large batches and reheating when hunger demands it, and trying to supplement that with some sort of vegetable (spinach salads mostly). My brother (more of a fitness/gym type) suggested I try a nutrition shake (he uses Herbalife) as a meal substitute, which got me thinking if there are other convenient alternatives to balance my nutrition intake. Ideas?
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Go to the gym and lift weights and do some aerobics.
Muscle at rest burns more energy than fat.
That is all you need to know to keep from putting on the lbs. Obviously eating healthy is your primary goal. Lots of veggies, and cut down on processed food.
FYI HTH
Shakes as a meal substitute is a pretty crappy idea, unless you're already pretty overweight, because they're expensive relative to food and tough to maintain over the long term.
I think the disconnect is that practice decreases time. As a novice cook I can guarantee you there are no meals I can cook in 10 minutes. I can barely make a sandwich in ten minutes. But as you get better at things like chopping, multitasking in the kitchen, and doing a lot of prep work before hand meal times come way down. It sucks but you basically just have to put in the time to make it efficient.
When I first started out, it easily took me 1 hour to make a 30 minute meal. Now I can get it down.
The tradeoff comes back in aces when you no longer feel like shit all the time because you're not eating garbage.
But yeah cooking in larger batches is better if you hate prep. If you don't like making large batches, you can always prep in a large batch and vacuum seal food and toss it in the freezer.
There is no cheating the fact that making your own food takes time. The only way that gets done is if you value it enough to make it a priority. It does get easier if you make a habit of doing it.
You should also exercise, cause it makes you strong and healthier.
Basically, 100% of the time there is food at home I can cook, because I can make tortalini with chicken and pasta sauce, and it takes 20 minutes to make, max. Generally that's more "emergency food in case of extreme laziness" but it eliminates any excuse to eat out. We alternate between cooking something larger and more planned, or just buying things fresh and making quick stir frys. If you are like me, I need to keep things mixed up or else I get hella bored.
I agree that things get easier and faster as you go, but if you want to pick up one skill first, learn to stirfry. One of the first things I got a handle on was making a decent fried rice, which is good cheap eats if you buy rice in bulk, and you can throw all sorts of bullshit into it to renew leftovers.
Try to think creatively about what you have around, and dont worry about making a pretty plate of classical meals. For instance my last breakfast was leftover crockpot chili (which is maybe 20minutes of chopping and you just throw that shit together) and an egg topped with some cut green onions and jalepenos that I quickly fried in a pan. I put a little spinach on the side for good measure. Its just the stuff I had on hand, but a solid meal. Once you get a few tools under your belt, you can just slap shit together with little effort.
If you have a good understanding of when you're hungry vs when you're bored/nervous, only eat when you're legitimately hungry. And stop eating when you're full, even if there's food on your plate. This is a lot harder than it sounds. But it's really important.
Do not eat a high-fat diet. Limit junk food. Try switching out cookies and chips for fresh fruit. (Don't tell me it's too hard. Just wash it and bite it.) Instead of having a bag of chips next to you to snack on, go for strawberries.
Stop drinking soda completely. This includes diet soda.
Don't eat while you read, watch TV, or play a video game. You'll increase the risk of over eating.
You definitely should endeavor to eat right. Everybody should. But it is not a substitute for exercise.
If you can fit in three 30-minute cardio sessions a week, you will be in far superior health than if you don't.
Can't even do that? Take walks. Sign up for a sport. Play some paintball. Do something to get your body moving on a regular basis.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
First issue, don't be sedentary. Find something active you enjoy. If you like board games, LARP. If you like listening to music, do it while walking in the woods. If you like fantasy, take up fencing. Easy.
Second, cooking takes less time if you cook simpler stuff. Most recipes are for feeding a family of four, or impressing guests. Regular food, you are just meant to know. Grill a chop and steam some vegetables. That's fast cooking and you'll never find a recipe for it.
Investigate "semi-lazy" convenience food. For instance, you can pick up a ready-chopped vegetable stir-fry at the supermarket. More expensive than doing it yourself, but for just one person there is less waste and less chopping time, and it is healthier and cheaper than a takeaway. And don't feel bad about using stock cubes or jar sauces. Foodies will kill me for this (in less than 3 posts no doubt), but who has the time? I cook vegetables and meat and add them to jar sauces and that's how I avoid just going "fuck it" and ordering a takeaway.
I also like to cook large meals and put portions in containers to freeze for later. On top of that, lifting weights has made me stronger and is helping me to lose weight. I also like to bike some.
Unless you have some sort of medical problem, or are desperately broke and simply cannot afford decent food and a handful of half-hour exercise periods per week because you work three jobs, there is no real excuse for gaining weight.
A basic spaghetti bolognese is simple to make with a few ingredients, and is pretty healthy, very filling, and you can make a huge batch for not much money. All you need is some beef or lamb mince and stock to suit, a few tins of tomatoes, an onion, a few cloves of garlic, and some herbs to add flavour if you want. I like to add some capsicum, champignons, a dash of worchestershire sauce and about a teaspoon of finely grated ginger. Make lots of sauce, boil up some spaghetti, and in half an hour you have enough food to feed two adults, and to fill about 5 extra meal-sized containers to freeze for later.
Decent jar sauces and store-bought stock isn't as bad as the nay-sayers will try to tell you. It's not as good as making your own from scratch, no. But then making your own from scratch isn't as good as going to a restaurant, and going to just any restaurant isn't as good as going to some world famous chef with a hojillion Michelin stars or whatever, so if you start not doing stuff because "it's not good enough", then you'll never do anything.
Grilling some chicken breast or a steak can be made tasty with a variety of different marinades and spices, or put in a sandwich. I've had some limited success with small simple meals like that.
As far as food goes you shouldn’t be supplementing your meals with some sort of vegetable, vegetables should be around half your plate. Vegetables are generally low in calories, high in vitamins, will keep you feeling full and are easy to cook. On the downside you’ll spend some more time on the toilet.