Diet weakness TIME FOR THE TRUTH

#1

Hi all,

I love the thread detailing share your dinner, keep it rolling.

so what if we share our downfalls… and nudge one another with ideas to make it easily, and tastily better maybe we can find some solutions for our own moments of weakness

remember weak sports are more often than not, emotional or time… the first gets a heated response and the latter tears :slight_smile:

e.g. i have an athlete who has taytos on her plan, she eats them at night when she is tired and hungry… the good old irish salty crunchy comfort food, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tayto_(Republic_of_Ireland) salted popcorn may work to fill the emotional gap and taste as good… who knows but positive suggestions for weak spots can often result in a better diet step by step.

get sharing!!

#2

I feel like you started this thread for me. Years ago my weakness was an evening snack of Tortilla Chips and Salsa with a can of coke on ice. In the mornings it was a breakfast of a bagel and extra large coffee with cream and sugar. That resulted in about 20 extra pounds.

After I got healthy I still have my weaknesses. I joke that I dont have a sweet tooth but have a weakness for fried and fatty foods. Pizza, burgers, fries, hot dogs. All items I have a hard time resisting. Beer in the summer is a weakness too. After work its tough to not want a drink to unwind.

#3

Here is my greatest weakness: I am really picky and don’t really like vegetables unless they are raw, and I’m not too fond of them raw either.

My next biggest weakness is Dr. Pepper. I just love it. I can resist any other type of drink out there. If I go to a restaurant and they don’t have it (which is rare) I usually just get water.

Third weakness: Pizza. Boy do I love pizza.

Fourth: Sugar. I love sugar in the form of candy, pastries, cakes, or sometimes I like to put straight sugar on a piece of toast.

I have found that if I cut out the Dr. Pepper that I don’t crave the sugar as much. Cutting out the pizza helps me crave Dr. Pepper less. The moral of the story for me is to cut way back on the pizza and the rest falls into place.

I just have to figure out a way to get the healthy vegetables into my diet. Right now I drink Spicy Hot V8 (the spice covers up the nastiness of the juice to some degree), but it has a ton of sodium. I’ve thought about figuring out a way to do vegetables combined with fruit in a smoothie in hopes the the fruit will help mask the flavor of the veggies. If anyone has any good tips on how to eat healthy when you don’t like veggies I’d love to hear them.

#4

I have a great green smoothie that has kale and spinach in it and honestly it tastes good. My daughters will drink it too. It was from Cycling weekly. I’ll throw in some Chia Seeds and Protein as well to make a full breakfast / recovery meal out of it.

Recipe:

The ideal remedy for any cyclist looking to give their immune system a boost.

Smoothies are a great way of packing loads of healthy foods into an easy to consume drink and this green machine smoothie is no different.

Packed full of healthy fruit and vegetables such as kiwis, spinach and kale to name a few, performance chef Alan Murchison explains why incorporating these foods into your diet is crucial,

“This is a great recipe for anyone who’s been missing out on veggies. Green vegetables should be eaten in abundance because they contain chlorophyll, which helps cleanse the blood, increases red blood cells and strengthens immunity.”

This recipe can also be halved in size if you require smaller portions.

Ingredients

Serves 2
– 400ml apple juice
– 4 kiwi fruit (skin on)
– 40 white grapes
– 2 bananas
– 2 green apples
– Handful of fresh spinach
– Handful of fresh kale
– Handful of ice cubes

Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blast on full power for 30-45 seconds, according to how smooth you like the consistency of your smoothie.

#5

Is it something you can drink part of and save the rest for the next day, or does it get kind of gross if you leave it in the fridge overnight?

#6

I am lucky because most of the foods that I can’t resist and aren’t healthy for me are in Brazil, and therefore out of reach. I love ethnic food- Indian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Latin American, Japanese, Thai, Greek…

Overall, my main weakness is chocolate. Preferably dark. Pure chocolate and anything covered in dark chocolate. I don’t buy it because if I have it at home I’ll just eat a lot of it. That’s pretty much it for me. I know, boring.

Oh and I don’t really like fruits - other than persimmon, papaya and figs.

#7

Ok so I eat pretty damn healthy all day - no caffeine, hardly any sugar, loads of veg and freshly made good … and then in the evening I’ll have a glass of wine or two, some crisps and a cracker with cheese! If I cut that out, I am shire I’d be 10lbs lighter :slight_smile:

#8

Stomach issues have made me adjust my diet; I am now gluten free, dairy free and caffeine free plus rarely drink alcohol. I love fruit and veggies so don’t have any issue getting them in to my diet… my weak spot though is my sweet tooth!!! I’m trying to be as healthy as possible and now that I can’t eat dairy it’s taken chocolate out of the equation BUT I still can’t resist sweets, especially when I’m feeling stressed or emotional. Finding a healthy alternative that fits my GF, DF regime isn’t easy.

#9

I drink what I make of the green smoothie. Typically only make half a recipe and it’s more than enough. Easy to make even less.

#10

My biggest weakness would be salt because all the dessert foods I like such as pie, streudel, danishes, and anything like that no one else likes at my house so I don’t bake them or buy them. I don’t like throwing food out that will go bad before I can eat it all and while I love pastry one piece is enough, I don’t binge on it.

But I crave salt whether it’s pretzels, chips, or crackers, I need a salty snack every night. I typically have a mini bag of popcorn as a healthier alternative.

My second weakness is that I’m a picky eater, too and am not a huge fan of vegetables either. I prefer salad or stir frying vegetables. I don’t think I could put them in a smoothie. I can’t handle lumpy texture in my drinks at all!

And finally, I could seriously eat take out every night, but I limit myself to once a week on Fridays when I’m exhausted from working and cooking all week.

#11

Overall my household eats pretty healthy. We cut out soda and most junk foods about 7 years ago. My biggest weekness is probably the timing of my eating, beer and the occasional kettle chips- although my cravings for chips has been derailed since I started using base salt while training.

#12

Oooh… where to start? Probably my overall weakness is that I will eat pretty much anything I can arm wrestle down my throat. I am just not very discerning as I enjoy pretty much everything. One of my basic life philosophies is that any meal I don’t have to prepare is a good meal.

Having said that, I would identify my almost-neck-and-neck top weaknesses as ice cream and potato chips - mostly the kettle-cooked variety. Potato chips probably have the edge though because I can limit my intake of ice cream but if chips are around I will eat them. That’s why I only allow them when I’m on vacation.

#13

My weakness is chocolate and peanut butter. I use to put peanut butter on everything growing up (hotdogs, pasta, and so on). Instead of going for a chocolate candy bar, I will melt 85% cacao chocolate and mix it into a mashed banana.

#14

this is hilarious… i must get some comments up when i get a chance x have a think about your patterns and when treats become routine… this is when we run into trouble. i am starting to think that we are boring and regimented in our house!!

#15

My weakness isn’t a particular food, we eat a very whole-food plant-based diet at my house and the number of processed foods we buy is quite small. My weakness is laziness. My diet takes planning and preparation and some days I just don’t feel like putting in the effort. That’s when a peanut butter and jelly sandwich happens for lunch and granola becomes dinner.

#16

Well, you guys all came out with honesty, so here goes.

  1. I generally eat healthy. Most mornings I have a two-egg omelette with turkey, avocado, and cheese. For lunch I have a salad with avocado, chicken, cranberries, and a little cheese. Dinner is usually some kind of protein with rice, quinoa, or couscous. Before bed, the wife and I usually have some bedtime tea and split a small desert.

  2. I like beer, wine, rum (the good stuff), and vodka. I don’t drink every day, but definitely a couple of glasses per week. Some weeks it may be more than a couple.

  3. I love ice cream. Fortunately, it is not always available, and at most I have it once every other week.

  4. I can destroy a pizza. Seriously, if I have a huge training day or race the next day or had a huge training day, I can easily put away a medium pizza by myself, no problem.

  5. I don’t really like a lot of vegetables. I do have a really healthy shake every morning, so I get broccoli, carrots, kale, and some fruits, but I should probably eat more.

  6. This week, I was really bad. After our long ride today, I had cheese burger, a beer, and some coconut fried shrimp for lunch. A few hours later, I crushed a pizza. In my defense, I will be traveling for the next 15 hours, so I won’t eat much.

#17

I would love to eat massive quantities of Pizza - Hawaiian. But, I generally only crush one 2 times a year after very long rides. I also eat an ice cream bar after rides that are 5 hours or longer. It’s a general rule. Ice cream at the corner store before rolling home. O so good.

#18

so, now you have identified some weak spots ask a few things.

  1. during my week, are there many weak spots? what is acceptable? do i need to cut back on the number with some interventions and a change of mindset?
  2. emotional connection to our choices. Can we do some ‘healing’ with awareness here. are we stress eating, getting caught in cycles of reward and punishment? sabotaging our hard work
  3. can we make some simple and tasty substitutions?
  4. can we make a less good choice a little better? eg salad with the pizza? i love my food so i try to make what i am having better when i can

I know none of us want to admit to when bad food habits start to become an issue for our training investment but sometimes when we let go of the attachment that we have we can actually make positive choices which are also tasty… its all about how much it matters… how badly we want something. or… just enjoy the food. life is meant to be enjoyable but sometimes we want a race so badly that then being a little better in our choices pay dividends.

but wow… you have so much food choice in the USA, it definitely makes things harder
:heart:

#19

Planning and prep really are the hardest part of a whole food diet. Ive gotten into finding “freezer bag crock-pot meal” plans online. I can prepare 10-20 meals when I have a off day. The grocery bill always makes me hit the floor but then I remind myself of how many meals I am making from it.

#20

the crock pot for us hands down has to have been our best investment. stuff like spiralisers and so on have been such a waste. you cannot beat the important basics to help meal prep.