Healthy Diet / Microwave Cooking – ?
I am a Soldier and recently moved back into the barracks. I am trying to improve my diet, however I am far from the most skilled cook and my means for cooking now are very limited. The nutrition guidelines I try to follow are simple:
6 days/week: Eat as much lean meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds as you want. Eat no grain (bread/pasta), sugar, and minimize dairy. Don’t drink soda or alcohol.
Now veggies, fruit, nuts, and seeds are straightforward. I’m struggling on how to incorporate a variety of lean meats into my diet. I have a grill, though during weekdays my time is usually very limited and I am unable to prepare a good meal. We are also prohibited from having any kind of portable stove, hot plate, etc. in our barracks room. We are provided a microwave. I’ve found a few different lunch meats from the deli, shaved chicken breast for example, but making sandwiches all day makes it difficult to keep carbohydrates limited and quickly becomes old. So Im looking for suggestions. Canned foods Ive overlooked, cooking methods I dont know about, or any other way to expand the foods I can eat without grossly straying from my nutritional goals. The guidelines above are simply that, guidelines, as opposed to strict rules I feel I must follow. So any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
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Apr 4th 2010 • 06:04
by Johnny
I am a Soldier and recently moved back into the barracks. I am trying to improve my diet, however I am far from the most skilled cook and my means for cooking now are very limited. The nutrition guidelines I try to follow are simple:
6 days/week: Eat as much lean meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds as you want. Eat no grain (bread/pasta), sugar, and minimize dairy. Don’t drink soda or alcohol.
Now veggies, fruit, nuts, and seeds are straightforward. I’m struggling on how to incorporate a variety of lean meats into my diet. I have a grill, though during weekdays my time is usually very limited and I am unable to prepare a good meal. We are also prohibited from having any kind of portable stove, hot plate, etc. in our barracks room. We are provided a microwave. I’ve found a few different lunch meats from the deli, shaved chicken breast for example, but making sandwiches all day makes it difficult to keep carbohydrates limited and quickly becomes old. So Im looking for suggestions. Canned foods Ive overlooked, cooking methods I dont know about, or any other way to expand the foods I can eat without grossly straying from my nutritional goals. The guidelines above are simply that, guidelines, as opposed to strict rules I feel I must follow. So any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
Apr 4th 2010 • 10:04
by cyn_texa
I have lots of suggestions, but first I have to comment on your diet. Unless you are eating a lot of seeds & nuts (which I do) there is not enough calories in fruits & vegs to fuel the body. A low carb diet needs to be a high fat diet – so eating lean meats doesn’t make much sense. They finally admitted last month that saturated fat was not bad for your health (it will take them awhile to admit that saturated fats are good for your health, but they really are) Luckily most seeds & nuts have 75% of calories from good healthy fats. I highly recommend adding virgin coconut oil to your diet. All fats can be used for sustained energy, but coconut oil is the (only) fat that can be used for quick energy like a carb.
I hope you have use of a large refrigerator. Most grocery stores have whole smoked (precooked) turkeys & smoked turkey legs & wings. I usually don’t even heat them when I eat them. They usually have whole rotisserie chickens also or whole cooked chickens. Hamburger patties that can be cooked in microwave. If you have access to a grill, I usually cook up a grill full of steaks & then throw on 10# of chicken leg quarters & let then cook for an hour. Then I don’t have to cook for another week or so.
Sugar free yogurt should be included on your list.
Salads – Bacon, lettuce & a lil tomato with avocado/mayo dressing is my fav. Jicama, cucumber, celery & radish marinated in sesame oil & hot pepper flakes with rice wine vinegar & artificial sweetener. Pork rinds & celery sticks are great crunch and can be eaten with dips (avocado/mayo/cayenne is my fav) & tuna/chicken/turkey/egg salads.
You could probably make a batch of hard boiled eggs by boiling water in microwave & them putting eggs in hot water – don’t put whole eggs in microwave though.
I’ll cube up some turkey meat mix in a couple of raw eggs add cheese and broccoli with cayenne powder & nuke a couple of minutes for nearly instant meal.
Flax seed should be eaten daily.
Ground flax seed (4 Tbsp) 1/4 cup water, sweetener, mix in a raw egg – let sit 10 min. to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle & nuke 2 min for daily fiber needs.
I make a raw porridge out of low carb whey powder & water, I add ground flax seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, coconut milk, tahini (ground sesame seeds) & raw egg. All seeds & nuts are raw & soaked to germinate them.
Chia seeds sound so expensive but 1# will make 10# food (when you can splurge some – Amazon.com has couple lbs. for $16 shipped to you. I buy mine in bulk – 24# for $5.83# with free shipping at getchia.com
I also order off Amazon – Lowrey’s Pork Rinds 18 for $15 – they pop like popcorn & are portion controlled.
Faux tapioca – 2 cups of water, 5 scoops of low carb whey protein powder, stir together & add cup of chia seeds, after they have started to absorb the water, add in 2 cans of coconut milk (or cream and added water during induction) & artificial sweetener if you like and mix it all in. Can be eaten after an hour but will be better tomorrow. Cream a pkg. of cream cheese into a can of pumpkin & add to the faux tapioca for an even more nutritious pumpkin pie pudding.
Green drinks – chlorella, spirulina & fruit juice – I have been doing a detox for past couple of months & have been doing a drink daily with qtr. cup each of chlorella, spirulina & kelp. Not tasty but it is filling & highly nutritious. I buy from nutsonline.com by the pound. It’s hard for me to eat much more than that in a day.
Sometimes I’ll make a canned salad – can mackerel, can baby corn, can water chestnuts, can bamboo shoots, can artichoke hearts, can sweet red peppers & add in mayo & chia seed gel.
Kim Chee is a fermented cabbage salad & is suppose to be one of the most healthy foods in the world. You can make a huge batch & it will sit in refrigerator fine for a long time.
(berries are lowest glycemic) – strawberry ice cream (frozen berries, cream, a stick blender) – pork rinds great crunch – i eat lots of fish for snack (fish “steaks” or mackerel in tins are favs)- avocado/mayo/cayenne dip – olives
Pumpkin soup
* 1 (12 ounce) package Jimmy Dean sausage
* 1/2 cup onion, minced
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
* 1-2 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
* 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
* 4 cups chicken broth
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 1/2 cup water
Directions
1.Brown sausage, drain, add onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, mushrooms & sauté until done.
2. Add pumpkin & mix well.
3 Stir in broth
4. Simmer 30 minutes.
5. Stir in heavy cream & water – simmer on low 15 minute add salt& pepper as needed.