I have unintentionally become pescatarian recently because I’ve come to realize that fish have a lot of nutritional value. So far, my meal plan looks like this:
Breakfast
- 3 eggs
- 1 slice of Ezekial bread toasted
- Mixed berry smoothie with banana, peanut powder, collagen peptides, chia, creatine, non-fat greek yogurt, and water
Lunch
- 2 tin cans of sardines, mashed
- Non-fat greek yogurt
- Tzaziki sauce
- Lemon
- Black pepper
- 2 slices of Ezekial bread toast or one ezekial tortilla, depending on my mood
Dinner
- Shrimp kebabs made with olive oil and veggies
- 1 corn roll or asparagus
Some days I’ll switch out my dinner for a salmon salad / salmon wrap, or I’ll change the shrimp kebabs for a shrimp ceasar wrap with a nice avocado oil based dressing. Being pescatarian is really great because it’s easier to make, shelf life lasts very long, and it’s generally cheaper than buying meats.
Breakfast Cafe con leche, sometimes with toast or oatmeal but always the coffee. Not right away, usually 3 hours after I get up.
Lunch usually leftovers from last night’s supper, if there isn’t any then a salad or sandwich or whatever the special is in the work cafe
Supper I cook so whatever I want. This week I have food to make one spaghetti day, one day steak & tomatoes marinated in preserved lemon and soy sauce, one day shrimp and pineapple skewers, one day halal chicken, one day beans, rice, and greens from the garden. There is no usual. Different stuff all the time.
Sometimes I bake too, this weekend making sourdough donuts.
Breakfast: black coffee
Lunch: brown rice, cheese, jalapeno, red onion, some protein (usually chicken)
Dinner: salad (shredded cabbage, cheese, homemade balsamic vinaigrette, carrot, bell pepper, red onion) with something crunchy (currently gluten-free knekkebrød, but I’ll be out after my next meal and it’s not sold anymore here in Japan (or at least my area thereof)).
Snack/Dessert: chips and salsa or yogurt or peanuts and chocolate chips
Hunger. It greeted the man at dawn, and laid down with him at dusk. Sometimes, its gnawing woke him up at night. There’s only the hunger, the dead, and a terrible solution.
But for real, microwaved potatoes with whatever my CSA hooks me up with. I’m vegetarian for economic reasons, most of the time anyway.
I do two meals a day.
Brunch Most common, probably 2-3x a week: Bacon, egg & cheese biscuit, yogurt with fruit. Next most common: Protein shake, Fruit, Almonds
Supper Most common: Something high protein I can mean prep in advance. Chilli, Beans with pork, Rotiserie Chicken. All combined with a side of greens. Latest addition: Bowl of homemade peanut butter, banana, coffee.
Bruh I’m just trying to survive out here
I feel you. People here seem to be so particular about their diets? Wtf is Ezekiel bread, and how do they manage to make it look like the blandest white bread one could imagine? Why is there baby food with added protein now? So many questions???
Not sure how old you are but you might want to mind the sodium content of the two tins of sardines. They likely exceed your daily allotment. I know people don’t worry about these things when they’re young but tge habits you build now will be with you when it does matter, and they will be hard to change.
I’m 22, and believe it or not, I actually lost 120lbs over the course of 8 years. I have a whole spreadsheet dedicated to my meals which shows me everything (Calories, fats, mono/poly, sodium, fiber, etc.) I try my very best to make sure I’m healthy, tracking everything down to the gram.
Right now, I’m averaging about 2000mg sodium a day, and the seafood also provides a sufficient amount of Iodine too.
Thank you for showing concern at least haha, you’re right that people need to build these habits early on.
Taking care of yourself is very good, but just in case, for anyone reading this - watch out for the eating disorders lurking behind, they can take over quite stealthily. Choose a healthy BMI or weight number and stay at that, never under, that has been my defence against anorexia taking over quite succesfully. If you are thinking about how to be healthy constantly, also read up on orthorexia.
I checked a can i have of Brunswick brand sardines in olive oil. That has 16% DV or 370mg. If theirs is similar, it looks like they may just get other sodium from the bread or tortilla or when they do caesar and they might be fine.
I’m in the UK. Wtf is ‘Ezekial’ bread?
It comes from the Bible, Ezekiel has some stuff of what should be in bread. (It is pronted on the packaging all over) Its sprouted and has like 11 different seeds in it. It is usually in the organic freezer section in stores.
Even if you don’t care for the origin story - it supposedly really good stuff, it tastes good also.Why is it frozen?
There are no chemicals added - so the shelflife isn’t comparable to the “regular bread”.
Also, they are not cheap and well hidden so I don’t think it is particularly a fly off the shelves item.
Also UK but I looked it up - bread made from sprouted grain/legumes instead of normal flour.
Breakfast: Coffee, maybe with milk.
Lunch: Usually nothing, maybe a salad.
Dinner: BurritosIt works for me
the bowel mover diet
Breakfast: no fucking way you chase me out of bed in time.
Lunch: leftovers from dinner.
Dinner: 300g of meat/ fish/ chicken. Salad (usually red onion, lettuce, peppers, feta cheese, cucumber).
I’ve got about 80% adherence to this diet. Either my belt has gotten longer or my waist has gotten smaller.
- Breakfast: None.
- Lunch: Cereal if I feel like eating, otherwise I skip.
- Dinner: Chicken wraps, with tomato, lettuce, and Mayo.
I’ll eat a snack later in the evening if I’m still hungry.
Brunch: pemmican
Dinner: every now and then pemmican
Snacks: none
One to two meals a day is the win
I’d like a recipe for pemmican pretty please … I’ve never tried it but imagine it must be tasty and practical
Ingredients: Meat Rendered fat of the meat
I use beef and beef tallow
Method: Dry the meat to bone dry, much drier than jerky Blend, grind, or pound the meat to powder Weigh the meat, with out the same mass of fat Melt the fat Form a well in the meat powder, pour in the fat Stir or mix until all meat is saturated with fat Tip the mix into a mold.
I make about 3 kilos of pemmican each batch, so my fresh meat is about 5kg, it dries to 1.5kg and I add 1.5kg tallow
Heyyyy +1 for pemmican! I almost never hear anyone talk about it nowadays.
It’s pretty much all I eat :) the simplest portable whole food
Yeah, that would be because the popularity of it peaked in the 1800s. And it contributed to the near extinction of the American Bison.
It was deliberate action by European settlers that drove bison to near extinction. Amerindians had been making bison pemmican for thousands of years sustainably
Buffalo Bill wasn’t making pemmican, he was trying to destroy the food supply of the natives
I just try to not eat too much processed food and go to the gym
Reading the comments mine might be the weirdest…
Breakfast:
- bowl of all bran and special k with cow milk
- “adult formula” blended with almond milk. It’s like feeding tube stuff as a dry powder. I struggle to eat enough calories per day without it so my doctor prescribed it, it’s “nutritionally complete”
- electrolytes potion. Magnesium and vitamin C effervescent with a pinch of salt in coconut water
- small cup of Turkish coffee
- two squares of dark chocolate
Lunch
- sliced strawberries and banana with cream
- low GI crunchy bread (Bürgen) with hummus
Dinner
One of:
- vegetable and meat stew
- wholemeal spaghetti with nooch and olive oil and feta cheese
- chicken thigh with wild rice and cucumber salad
- salmon with wild rice and cucumber salad
- whatever leftovers are gifted to me (as long as it doesn’t have sugar or loads of simple carbs)
I have prediabetes along with a dozen other health conditions lol
“adult formula” blended with almond milk.
ensure?
I have prediabetes along with a dozen other health conditions lol
unsolicited advice on prediabetes
If your worried about pre-diabetes and other metabolic symptoms (hyper tension, fatty liver, visceral obesity excess adiposity, snoring, etc) ; you might want to talk to your doctor about going low carb. Lots of the food you listed will spike your blood glucose (especially the adult formula), which will spike your insulin, which is the foremost cause of pre-diabetes and other metabolic problems. While whole grain/complex carbs are less bad then refined carbs - they are not good and will still spike your blood glucose. You can see this in real time if you put a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) on for two weeks
Yep ensure was the one. I wasn’t sure if it was available internationally so I didn’t put name brand in there.
Complicated Medical Stuff
hyper tension, fatty liver, visceral obesity, excess adiposity, snoring
Yeah I have all those problems lol. I actually did use a CGM and the most concerning thing noted was I was going into high 2’s and low 3’s blood sugar. Normal range is 4–7 so I was hypoglycemic for a big part of every day.
It turns out I was massively undereating for a long time and slowly starving to death, somehow without losing weight as well. When I brought it up in the past doctors were like, well you’re not massively losing weight so you’re fine. But I was measuring my calories and only getting 800–1400 on a good day, when my maintenance was meant to be 2400.
My doctor told me to stop starving to death as a top priority, but due to various other medical issues I physically can’t eat enough food per day. It got really confusing so now I’m using Ensure even though it’s not ideal for prediabetes (I can see it on the graph). All the doctors I’ve seen have mostly just been confused and not really sure how to help me. My disability makes it impossible to exercise enough per day.
My body seems mostly ok with my current diet of whole meal stuff, but any sugar or refined carbs really fucked me up and made me very unwell. So I’m definitely avoiding all sugar like the plague. I did keto for a while but it wasn’t sustainable for me long term. So wholemeal is my compromise.
Overall a shitty situation, not much can be done to help me it seems.
complicated response
I actually did use a CGM and the most concerning thing noted was I was going into high 2’s and low 3’s blood sugar. Normal range is 4–7 so I was hypoglycemic for a big part of every day.
That is a common sign of insulin resistance, basically the human insulin is more attuned to the insulin curves (gentle but long lasting) for protein, but we have a diet high in carbs which spike blood glucose - so to get enough insulin to bring down the glucose in a resistant person will actually cause hypoglycemic events!
All the doctors I’ve seen have mostly just been confused and not really sure how to help me. My disability makes it impossible to exercise enough per day.
The vast majority of doctors receive little to no nutritional training (even endocrinologists) outside of tube feeding in a hospital setting - so nutritional help isn’t what they are strong at.
did keto for a while but it wasn’t sustainable for me long term.
I’m curious what happened, if your open to going into details.
Overall a shitty situation, not much can be done to help me it seems.
You might want to reach out to medically supervised low carb programs, they may actually be equipped to help you with your medical history. Virta health is the one I have personal experience with, and they are great.
Oh that’s interesting. Maybe I’ll try a dietician instead, I just assumed doctors know all about diabetes stuff…
Keto Problems
What happened with Keto was, I felt like I was eating too much fat per day. I felt greasy and horrible and disgusting and heavy, and my LDL cholesterol went even worse (6.3–7.8).
I tried fixing it by eating mostly protein and low fat instead, but considering I can’t eat much volume per day, that just ended up with me eating almost nothing and things went real bad from there. I couldn’t get out of bed for days at a time levels of fatigue. So I slowly added back in wholemeal carbs and some fat, and at least now I know what types of carbs cause spikes.
The reason I can’t eat much is I have erosion in my esophagus, stomach, and intestines from GERD acid reflux (confirmed via endoscopy). I’ve been on strong acid suppressants for a while but it seems like the “damage is done” so to speak from decades of acid splashing all over the place, and it’s not healing. At least I don’t wake up with a melting throat anymore so I’ll take that.
I’m on statins recently to try and reduce my LDL. The first type I tried gave me severe full body cramps so hopefully this type is better. And this is only a small part of my medical problems. Before we get into POTS, CFS, hEDS, MCAS, chronic migraines, arthritis, hormone problems, heart problems, neuropathy… I always forget most of my issues as well I can’t keep track of them all. I take more than 10 pills per day to manage all that.
I just accepted I’m going to die sometime soon based on this trajectory.
I’ve been trying to increase my walking per day because I heard walking is a great way to reduce diabetes and heart attack risk. I’m up to 15 minutes walk per day and some sneaky resistance training, which knocks me out for the rest of the day, but it makes me feel like I’m doing something at least.
Basically my body is failing in a million different ways at once at this point. If I only had one problem it would be easy to fix, but everything interacts and compounds the issue. Thanks for listening and trying to help by the way, you’re a kind person.
nerdy details
I just assumed doctors know all about diabetes stuff…
They do! They know how the hormones work, but not how the food relates to the hormones - they really don’t get training on this.
I felt greasy and horrible and disgusting and heavy
This sounds like a gallbladder wake up issue - after a long time on low fat the gallbladder has some starting pains.
my LDL cholesterol went even worse (6.3–7.8).
LDL, and cholesterol is not a disease - if your doing proper LCHF and in ketosis - very lean people do see a elevation in LDL, but since you indicated some adiposity this probably wasn’t your scenario.
I tried fixing it by eating mostly protein and low fat instead, but considering I can’t eat much volume per day, that just ended up with me eating almost nothing and things went real bad from there. I couldn’t get out of bed for days at a time levels of fatigue. So I slowly added back in wholemeal carbs and some fat, and at least now I know what types of carbs cause spikes.
Low fat isn’t sustainable on keto, if you join one of the medically supervised nutrition programs they won’t let you stay low fat for the reasons you describe. The probably will have you slowly increase fat so your gallbaladder can keep up, or add some bile supplements while you adjust.
The reason I can’t eat much is I have erosion in my esophagus, stomach, and intestines from GERD acid reflux (confirmed via endoscopy). I’ve been on strong acid suppressants for a while but it seems like the “damage is done” so to speak from decades of acid splashing all over the place, and it’s not healing. At least I don’t wake up with a melting throat anymore so I’ll take that.
Suppressing stomach acidity does match up with your fat intake symptoms. The literature does indicate that keto (but especially zero carb) helps with GERD, but this must be done under medical supervision as medications will need to be adjusted during the onboard phase. I’d recommend either revero (zero carb) or virta health (keto) as programs to work with their physicians in a Telehealth setting.
I’m on statins recently to try and reduce my LDL.
Statins increase the risk of t2d, so that lines up with the prediabetes.
this is only a small part of my medical problems. Before we get into POTS, CFS, hEDS, MCAS, chronic migraines, arthritis, hormone problems, heart problems, neuropathy… I always forget most of my issues as well I can’t keep track of them all. I take more than 10 pills per day to manage all that.
I’m not familiar with all of those - but migraines, arthritis, hormonal issues, heart, and neuropathy all have strong foundations in the underlying diet and hyperinsulinemia.
I just accepted I’m going to die sometime soon based on this trajectory.
I don’t think thats necessary. Work with a low carb doctor to improve your metabolic health. There are LOTS of people with testimonials about how their life turned around by focusing on small metabolic changes. I’m happy to share those if you would find them motivating. Where ever you are - you can improve - just focus on one step at a time.
I’ve been trying to increase my walking per day because I heard walking is a great way to reduce diabetes and heart attack risk. I’m up to 15 minutes walk per day and some sneaky resistance training, which knocks me out for the rest of the day, but it makes me feel like I’m doing something at least.
That is great! every bit of movement helps.
Basically my body is failing in a million different ways at once at this point. If I only had one problem it would be easy to fix, but everything interacts and compounds the issue.
My suspicion is that everything is rooted in metabolic problems just manifest in a hundred different ways.
Basically my body is failing in a million different ways at once at this point. If I only had one problem it would be easy to fix, but everything interacts and compounds the issue. Thanks for listening and trying to help by the way, you’re a kind person
Yeah! I’m happy to help if I can. I really think you should reach out to virta, this is exactly their focus. Please reach out to either revero (zero carb) or virta health (keto) to see if they can help with your health management.
I get high LDL on very low carb even at 20% body fat (but with a waist smaller than my hips)
You don’t need to be super lean to be a lean mass hyper responder
Really? wow. I didn’t realize the effect was so common
I’m on a high fat diet.
yeah high protein + high fat seems to rule
high fat and moderate protein (1.1-1.6g/kg/day) seems to be the best for long term health.
Make it high in animal fat and get rid of seed extract oils for better health
You’ve been getting advice from the brain worm controlling that leather handbag.
Right now I am on ~ 1000 calorie a day. Still have some weight to loose.
Breakfast: oatmeal with 1/2 cup of milk 2% + vitamins.
Lunch: most often a frozen healthy meal ~400cal or salad with meat + fruits.
Dinner: coffee with 2% 1/2 cup of milk, and usually 2 seeded thin toasts with 1tbs of sour cream / sometimes added some hard boiled eggs.
Snacks: sometimes crunchy rice rolls with honey, fruits or a tiny tiny bit of sweets (chocolate/cake etc)
May I recommend very low carb? No need to count calories and the weight just vanishes quickly
If you do it with high meat and meat fat you won’t lose muscle either
A couple of warnings: it takes up to a few weeks to become used to running on fat instead of sugar (running on fat is how it works), you will need extra salt during the first few weeks; see the keto community for more advice
I appreciate the advice! My problem is that I just love carb, like crazy.
And I only need to keep it up for about +60 days more.
I know very low calories with keto is the way to go if I want it fast, but so far I’m only about 60 days in with 30lbs loss, so that’s not too shabby in my books :D and I still can eat a bit of cheesecake. A tiny one, but it is still cheese cake!!
