Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with diet

Breakfast: My best friend. My worst enemy.

Vorteks — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:31:35 -0800

What low-GI, high-protein, portable food can I cook on Sunday night and then reheat for breakfast Mon-Fri? To improve my health and diet, I need to be better about eating a good breakfast regularly. Lots of diet/exercise books and blogs recommend things like steel-cut oats, scrambled eggs, etc. The problem is... I hate getting up early, and will basically not do anything that adds any time to my morning routine, even 5 minutes. Even finding the time to eat a bowl of cheerios is difficult because I invariably wait until the last second that I could possibly get up and still get to work on time, then leap out of bed, get ready as fast as I can, and run out the door.

So, to combat this, what I thought would be nice is to create something ahead of time (the night before, or ideally Sunday night for the whole week), then refrigerate and brown-bag it. That way I could get up, grab my brown bag from the fridge as I run out the door, and then reheat (or whatever) the food at work and eat at my desk. I feel that if I could do this, I would be able to stick to a good breakfast routine.

So, finally getting to the point, what can I make ahead of time to eat for breakfast each day? I'm looking for recipes with step-by-step instructions. The ideal recipe will have the following traits:

Can be made at least 1 day, and ideally up to 5 days in advance
Can be prepared in roughly an hour or less
Involves no additional preparation on the day that it's eaten (other than microwaving or other simple things that can be done in an office)
Has a low glycemic index (GI)
Has at least 20% calories from protein (roughly 5g of protein per 100 calories)
Doesn't taste awful
Contains no artificial sweeteners

Does anyone have a good recipe that meets these criteria? I'm hoping to get at least 3-4 so I can make them in a weekly rotation. I have no food allergies, and I enjoy a wide variety of flavors. Other breakfast habit tips are also appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I'm smart and have my head on straight. So why can't I stop eating?

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:06:40 -0800

I'm smart and have my head on relatively straight. So why can't I stop eating? Long story short: My life is okay, I'm accomplished and intelligent and have a lot going for me. But I'm at the end of my rope with my binge eating and need some help.

Long story longer: After an abusive childhood and a few terrible relationships, life has been treating me well for the last half decade. I'm with a person I love, I run a successful business, and later next year I will have a very public career milestone that's basically the culmination of a lifelong dream.

So why the fuck can't I stop eating?

I've struggled with binge eating since my teenage years. In early college I flipped over to the anorexic side, losing 40 pounds over the course of a year. I then flipped again after a stressful move, gaining 100 pounds over another two years. I lost about half of that weight, but over the last two years my weight has been creeping up again (work stress, professional pressure due to the milestone accomplishment I mentioned, death of a dear family member) and I'm only about 15 pounds shy of my highest weight. And it's not okay.

Things I've tried: OA (extensively), therapy, Weight Watchers/diets, food journaling, antidepressants, various forms of getting my shit together. Nothing has worked. I still binge eat, in secret. In the past I could go for weeks, even months, without doing it, but recently things have taken a turn for the worse. The more weight I gain, the more I eat in secret. Except it's not a secret, because I'm putting on pounds at a shocking rate.

This all came to a head the other day when I tallied the amount of money I spent on food this year and it is a BIG amount of money. To a scary extent...like, I could be paying off a student loan with that money, securing my financial future.

I don't want to be spending my money destroying my health. At five foot six, I now weigh in at 225 pounds. I am short of breath when I walk and I'm having trouble finding clothes that fit. And I hate it.

I don't want to be fat. I'm a vibrant, intelligent person and I think my outer body should accept that. I'm no longer surrounded by negative, terrible people, so why do I still feel the need to eat? I'm tired of breaking New Year's resolutions, of feeling like I know what I should be doing (believe you me, I know tons about diet/exercise) and secretly being so out of control.

Advice? How did you stop binge eating?

How to lose weight when veggies are mostly off limits?

gilsonal — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:13:36 -0800

Looking for dieting help given several dietary restrictions. I have Crohn's disease and cannot comfortably eat most veggies and fruits. Also, does dieting automatically mean I need to be hungry all the time? I'm 25, female and approximately 75-100 pounds overweight. My weight gain happened over the course of about eight years, due in combination to antidepressant medication, a love of pepsi, low motivation to work out, extreme fatigue due to my illness and difficulty tolerating "healthy foods." Following a recent surgery I've lost about 20 pounds and feel much better, to the point that I have the energy to start working out again. So that's one tactic to get to weight loss. I'm also almost 100% soda and caffeine free, and drink way more than my 8 glasses of water a day. I've considered Meridia for weight loss but I'd like to do it without a pill and the accompanying risk of serotonin syndrome.

I'd also like to implement some diet changes, but I'm affected by residual digestive problems. I love tomatoes and broccoli but lots of veggies are hard to digest, even cooked. I'm not too excited about fruit, so I couldn't really say how well those fair with my gut. Safe bets are simple starches and carbs like pasta but that's not particularly healthy.

I'd love some recommendations for easily digestible healthy food, or perhaps foods that are good for you but not traditionally "diet" foods and perhaps I haven't considered them. I'm sure there are people out there with similar problems that might have some tips.

Also, am I naive to think that dieting has to mean being hungry all the time? I don't mind restricting myself from extra calories so long as I'm not constantly on the verge of starvation. I want to lose this weight responsibly, and in a sustainable manner. Bonus points for foods that are relatively easy to make, but I do enjoy cooking when I have the time.

[ Nutrition-Filter ] Evaluate this 24 year-old guy's current diet!

platosadvocate — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:00:38 -0800

[ Nutrition-Filter ] Evaluate this 24 year-old guy's current diet! Hey Hive! I've been thinking about nutrition lately, and I wanted to get your feedback about my diet. I eat the same, generally healthy foods all the time. I approach food more as fuel than fun, although I do enjoy eating specific kinds of foods only for pleasure at times.

Here's what this 24 year old guy eats all the time:

- Baked / Grilled Chicken Breasts
- lean deli meats (I focus primarily on turkey breast with the smallest amount of saturated fats)
- 2% milk Cheese
- Nature's Own Double-Fiber Wheat Bread (This stuff rocks)
- Original plain oatmeal with a tablespoon of sugar-free jam
- Omelets (3-4 egg whites and one yolk)
- Broccoli and cheese steamers (you pop em' in the microwave for 10 minutes, and voila!)
- Optimum Protein Shakes

... and that's it.

So, do you see anything I might be missing out on, in terms of nutrition? I should mention that I do take a daily GNC sport-grade multivitamin, and a fish oil supplement as well. I've been searching Ask Metafilter, and the internet as a whole, but I have yet to find some kind of guide or consensus about the issue.

Your advice and experience is greatly appreciated AskMeFi!

Why did they make me eat fish on Fridays?

tastybrains — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:52:42 -0800

In some religions (at the very least Catholicism), eating fish on Fridays is (or at least was) a requirement and seems to remain a bit of a tradition. I was raised by some strict Catholics, but never understood what the real rule was. Do you have to eat fish, or do you just have to not eat meat? And how exactly is "meat" defined in this situation? This question is one I've wondered for a long time, triggered by my intense dislike of all seafood. Most recently, what triggered this question was the fact that it seems that all corporate cafeterias I know of serve fish every Friday (and stank up the whole place).

As a child, on Fridays during Lent, I was given a lot of shit for refusing to eat fish like everyone else. My question was always "if we can't eat meat, why can't we just order some cheese pizza?!" Really...why? Why is fish the traditional alternative to meat, instead of *real* nonmeat foods like tofu and beans and pasta and the aforementioned cheese pizza?

I also wondered exactly how fish was not meat, but chicken was. I mean, where is the line drawn between meat-dead-animals and non-meat-dead-animals? Is it warm-blooded versus cold-blooded (if so, could I eat amphibians and reptiles on Fridays if I wanted to observe this rule? Are frog legs and alligator fair game?)? Is it land-dwelling versus water-dwelling (if so, could I eat a dolphin or a manatee?)?

What about mealworms? Could I eat those?

Help me peak as an athlete.

vito90 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:24:43 -0800

I'm looking for tips on how to peak for an athletic performance. I'm 38 years old and soon to go head-to-head against more talented and athletic foes. I've been playing recreational baseball for the last 9 years every summer, and for the last two years at a highly competitive level.

I've mostly performed as our backup catcher but was just informed that our starter is taking the year off and I'll go into the season as the first-string catcher. In other words, I've been called up to the show.

I'm very motivated to take my game to its highest level this year, and want to start preparing now to be completely at my best by mid-season, which will be around July. I want to take a comprehensive approach to my training, in fact I'm looking a little bit less for advice on workouts than other aspects of improvement. I would especially love to hear tips on how to improve my vision, hand-eye coordination, reflexes, ability to recover, mental approaches, leadership tips, diet and supplements, anything you can think of. Anything that can help a slightly older, yet still pretty durable body to withstand some punishment this season.

I would love to hear old crafty baseball tips too...most of my opponents will be in their twenties and I know that just knowing a few things the kids don't will give me an advantage.

Really any kind of advice is welcome. How did you prepare for the competition of YOUR life?

Oil and vinegar, hold the oil.

Hwaet — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:38:30 -0800

I like foods with strong flavors: lime juice, chili peppers, vinegar, red onions, whiskey, onion salt, cilantro, and so forth. I recently figured out that grains were the culprits that make me really sleepy and unfocused. I'm switching to a lean meat, veg-heavy diet. Can you recommend decently healthy, low-carb recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner that have LOTS of flavor? Thai food is an obvious suggestion (chicken larb is my favorite dish to order at restaurants), but I'm looking for specific recipes of all genres. I can eat a whole tin of those lime and wasabi almonds. I've been putting sliced turkey on spinach salad with toasted almonds and tons of balsamic vinegar. Hardboiled eggs with onion salt used to be my breakfast stand-by but now I'm sick of them.

carbs or protein

leotrotsky — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:03:56 -0800

Dean Ornish vs Gary Taubes. Ornish claims through clinical trials to have reversed the effects of heart disease. Taubes argues that there's evidence high carbohydrate, low fat diets increase the risk of heart disease, obesity, cancer, etc. Surely they can't both be right. Is there a unbiased opinion out there? What do the plurality of clinical trials seem to indicate?

I like it raw.

blackcatcuriouser — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:46:54 -0800

Any suggestions for a 14-day raw food detox diet? What can I expect to feel like? I've been in the process of losing weight (via eating better and exercising) and have lost about 20 pounds since early summer. I fell off the health wagon in early November due to work/school stress, started ordering takeout more often, missed the gym for weeks at a time. Throw in a few weekend birthday celebrations and Thanksgiving - all of which involved indulging heavily in fatty foods and quite a bit of alcohol - and I gained about 4 pounds back.

I'd like to get back on board and continue to lose the weight I started losing. (I'm about 10-15 lbs to my goal.) I've started going to the gym again, and lighter eating began the day after Thanksgiving. But I still feel sluggish and generally gross from a month of face-stuffing and boozing.

I've developed, based on various internet articles, a plan for a 2-week raw (or mostly raw) cleanse. It's a variation of the vegan raw food cleanse in that it's not as super strict as some of the ones I've read about online. I plan to eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts and drink water and herbal teas. (Which is pretty much what I normally drink anyway.) I'm allowing occasional oatmeal with raw honey and fruit, maybe 1 or 2 mornings a week. I'm also thinking of throwing a teaspoon of olive oil per day into the mix, for salad dressing. Maybe some light salt and pepper. No meat, dairy, eggs, pasta, bread, alcohol, candy or processed foods. I am going to allow myself avocado and canned beans, but no tofu.

Anything else I should avoid? Any cool raw recipes I should consider feasting on or advice in general? I've never done this before. What can I expect to feel like? (Some background, I'm a mid-20s female of a healthy weight, and I usually eat everything.)

New Vegetarian Feeling Sick

gb77 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:37:40 -0800

Hive Mind Vegetarians, I need your help. I changed to vegetarianism (lacto-octo) two weeks ago (cold turkey) and ever since have been feeling sick. Symptoms are vague...just feeling "blah", if that makes sense. It's that feeling you get when you're on the edge of getting a cold or flu.

I take multiple vitamins, eat a lot of vegetables and fruit, beans, legumes, grains, etc.

Is the timing a coincidence or is something else going on? Thanks in advance for any help.

A Gym plan for a chubby dude with not-enough time (yet).

snap_dragon — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:41:32 -0800

For a few months, I have a total of 30 minutes at the gym in the morning (not counting shower) at three times a week. (It's a long story.) I know this is not much at all. I am a 25 lbs overweight guy and would like to get a bit leaner. I don't expect quick results. I have asthma but control it with inhaler so I can "trot" a bit on the treadmill so far. I can't (yet) flat out run for long periods without asthma/poor shape affecting me. I am very familiar with the gym and various weightlifting exercises. I am not sure how to make the best of my time, though. At all. Within a month I would like to bump it up to 45/1hr in the gym and 4 times a week. (and then later, 5 days a week.) But for now, do you have any solid advice that works for you? I am eating much healthier now and smaller portions but I think the sedentary job change has got to me the most. So, in summary, leaner and more energy is my goal. (I will put on hold my goal to look like Brad Pitt from Fight Club but hey, everybody can dream a little...)

antinutrients

leotrotsky — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:39:58 -0800

Anti-nutrients: Do they pose any legitimate risks? I'm reading about the Paleo diet, I've noticed some references to the toxicity of grains, legumes, potatoes, etc... Is there any substance to these concerns in a modern diet that contains a large portion of these foods? Are the Paleo folks taking a legitimate term and taking it to mean something more alarmist?

Acing this test!

lundman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:47:30 -0800

Me = fat guy, annual health checks = "A" grade. What gives? Actual data inside, BP, LDL, HDL, Cholesterol etc, inside... So, without a doubt I am obese, about 135kg/200lbs. (BMI at 40 this year). I have always struggled with weight, and pretty much spent 23 years fighting it. There is a lot of kanji in here I can't read.

The data is as follows, sorry it is so hard to read, couldn't find how to make tables in meta.

_____2-years-ago_____1-year-ago_____this-year
BP: 108/70_____128/86_____118/80
Kanji: 84_____84_____81
HbA1c: 4.7_____4.6_____X

Cholstr: 119_____122_____133
Kanji: 54_____79_____60
HDL-C: 50_____45_____42
LDL-C: 91_____87_____X

UricAcid: 6.9_____6.7_____6.5

Kanji: x_____x_____6.7
GOT(AST): 25_____25_____26
GPT(ALT): 23_____24_____34
y-GTP: 13_____13_____15
AL-P: 209_____195_____213

LDH: X_____X_____204
T-Bil x_____x_____0.6

I'm a bit unsure what I am doing "wrong" I guess. My diet is not fantastic, but sure better then it has been before. (In terms of carbs anyway). I cycle to/from work, but maybe i need more exercise (don't we always).

I recently threw in the towel on trying to get smaller, clearly I am not going to win. I have decided to go the other way, if I am to be big, I want to be big, meaning muscle, so I have started that instead. I feel really good about that though.

The only "*" I got was on Cholesterol, I guess they feel it is getting high. (Although, their guide says 150-219). Perhaps it is 'too low'. How can a fat guy have too low cholesterol?

Although I am aware that these checks are more for the health insurance to know what to charge the company, than they are about my health. But it feel peculiar to get "A" grade, when you get droned about how bad it is to be fat.

Amusingly, I seem to fit the profile for AD-37, but I get the feeling that's more fringe-science..

And yes, you are not my doctor. :)

Is alcohol metabolized like sugars? Or something else?

Nelson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:59:15 -0800

Is alcohol metabolized like sugars? Or something else? There's a variety of diet books that focus on the theory that in the American diet, carbohydrates and sugars are the primary cause of weight gain and other problems. The Atkins diet is the most well known; Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories also does a thorough job in highlighting scientific evidence that refined carbohydrates and sugars are bad for health. However, none of these books talk about alcohol.

How is alcohol metabolized? Does the body process it more or less like sugar or refined carbohydrates? Does it get converted to glucose relatively quickly and end up causing large changes in blood sugar, insulin, etc? Or does something different happen to it?

(Taubes' book has given me a newfound appreciation of the complexity of metabolism science and the ease by which common wisdom can get mistaken for science. Hoping to find some proper research, not just speculation.)

Getting My Life On Track: Health and Fitness Edition

julie_of_the_jungle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:49:49 -0800

Getting My Life On Track: Health and Fitness Edition! Can you recommend a weight loss (diet and exercise) plan for a 5'5" 175lbs female? So, after gaining about 40 lbs due to anxiety issues I got some help (yay help!) and now I'm well on my way to being mentally healthy, (yay mentally healthy!) but I need some help on the physical side. I know I need to exercise and eat healthy, but I don't know where to start. My insurance pays for the mental help but not a nutritionist, so that's out. So, do you have any tips? What does your workout look like? How do you keep from getting bored? Any diet/exercise advice would be appreciated.

(Hopefully) Relevant Details:
-Have access to KU Fitness Center (machines etc.)
-Walk about 30 min./day already (between classes)
-Own an mp3 player (downloadable workouts?)
-Have about 2hrs/day M-F to workout
-Take a multivitamin

Is Green Tea Good for You even when it's cold?

lynnie-the-pooh — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:09:17 -0800

I heard Green Tea is extremely good for you. If I drink it cold, will it give me the same benefits as hot green tea? I like the Snapple Green tea drink you can get in a glass bottle and you drink it cold. Thanks, Lynnie-the-pooh

Can I fuel my human body off just SPIZ (nutrition drink), water, and the occasional "recreational" meal?

mikee — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:26:56 -0800

Has anyone ever attempted or documented using a "nutritionally complete" drink such as SPIZ that has all your daily values over a long period of time? I've read some other threads here, but not finding much. It is nearly impossible to Google anything diet related these days, too much spam and nutjobs. My goal here is to think of food merely as fuel, and just scrap the whole eating what I crave thing.

Going to talk to my family MD and ask for a referral to a nutritionist, too. But before I do, and because I know I'll be met with some criticism to my desires, I wanted to get some more info.

Where is the food pill already?!?

Help me understand what's going on with my body?

Chrysalis — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:19:11 -0800

Questions about glycogen stores, hypoglycemia, carbs (specific situation inside) Last night I didn't have an appetite so barely ate dinner. This morning I woke up, had a coffee, 1/2 a banana, 2 spoons of muesli and did 3 sets of plyometric intervals (20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest x 8). Immediately afterwards I felt dizzy. I realised my blood sugar was low so I had about 300ml of orange juice, then scoffed down a wholegrain sandwich with 2 eggs. My blood sugar didn't go back to normal, so I had a little more juice, then after about half an hour I had about 5 tsps of sugar, which seemd to help a bit, so then I had 1/2 a scoop of protein as my doctor suggested this might help when I get hypoglycemic. I felt a bit better but still a bit weird. Then on the train to work I started feeling a bit more scattered so (maybe 1 hour later) I had a muesli bar (25g protein, 6g fat, 4g protein), then I still felt awful half an hour later so I had about 400ml fruit juice, followed by a scoop of whey protein. I started to feel a bit better, then a bit later I started to feel hungry and a bit weird so I ate 1/2 cup of porridge. I continued to feel better after that but had a massive headache.

Basically, my theory is that
a) I depleted my glycogen levels
b) I shouldn't have had the sandwich as that probably slowed digestion of the sugars

Does this sound right?

And now,

a) am I going to put all the stuff I ate afterwards on as fat?
b) should I train this evening (12 hours after morning training) or will my glycogen levels still be too low
c) should I eat normally for the rest of the day, or should I not eat much because I ate so much this morning?
d) would it have helped to have eaten more before exercising this morning?
e) would it have been ok to have done this on an empty stomach this morning if I'd had more carbs last night?

I am a 55kg/166cm female if that helps, recently increased my food intake and went up from 53kg to try to stop this stuff happening, but scared it's going to go keep going up!

Best online diet and workout dairy?

Aya — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:50:10 -0800

Looking for the best websites to track my diet / exercise / weight.

How to avoid gaining weight when you become a couple?

mintchip — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:46:09 -0800

How to avoid gaining weight when you become a couple? I know the general principles for avoiding gaining weight: eat less, exercise more. But any tips for when life circumstances change – specifically you go from single to a couple?

My boyfriend said a lot of his exes gained weight after they started dating, and I’m worried that it is starting to happen with me. In a way, it’s almost predictable…I’m eating out more and watching calories less, and I have less time in my already tight schedule for workouts now that we’re spending a lot of ‘couple time’ together.

Probably the most diet-unfriendly is the social aspect of eating together. My boyfriend has a larger appetite and can get away with eating more than I do, and more frequently. But since I’m at his house much of the time, I tend to match his schedule and habits and even tastes, and end up feeling deprived if I eat much less than him. This was not really a problem when I was eating dinner alone at home (although I suppose it’s a nice problem to have in the grand scheme of things) and had 100% control of what food was in the fridge and when and what was available to eat (no tempting snacks on hand, etc.).

I know I should just “be stricter” but any tips for how to actually do it without feeling totally deprived?

Help me incorporate weight lifting into my current fitness routine.

reticulatedspline — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:03:37 -0800

How can I successfully incorporate weight lifting into my current fitness routine? Backstory: was overweight for much of my adult life. Was around 220lbs at the start of '07, and dropped down to 160 since then. Mostly this was done through dieting but I have been doing yoga about 2 to 3 times a week for the past year, and about 6 months ago I upgraded to hot yoga (hot vinyasa flow, to be specific).

In terms of how I want to look, I'm pleased weight-wise, but I'd like to have a bit more muscle mass. Nothing insane, just a slight increase in bulk to help me more pleasantly fill out those size small tshirts I can now (finally) fit into.

That in mind, I wanted to start doing some weight lifting.

A few questions:

-I've been told I need 48 hours minimum to let the muscles repair in between sessions. Does this mean no yoga during this time, or just no weight lifting? I have tried to research this, but have heard a lot of mixed things. Some are saying yoga helps restore some of the lost flexibility, some say it actually hinders the muscles getting bigger. Does anyone have anything scientific that puts this issue to rest?

-Is hitting each muscle group once a week (i.e. like chest/shoulders/back on one day then arms/legs on another) enough to see results in any reasonable time period, or should I be doing 4 total days a week, hitting each group twice?

-Diet-wise, I'm still hoping to shed a bit more of my body fat. I'm currently at 10% (down from 24%, boo-yah) but I'd like to get that down another 1-2%. I've been on a diet of about 1300 calories a day (with weekends off) for a long while, but I understand that calorie restriction can hamper the repair process. What's a good amount of calories to aim for to continue to lose the fat but to still supply the muscles?

-Protein. I know I'm supposed to have a big dose of it in the 30 minutes or so after I work out, but do I need to also up my protein intake throughout the entire 48 hour recovery period? I've also heard one or two people mention extra protein leading up to a workout. Is this essential or just for the hardcore?

The Protean Life of Protein Snacks

Hwaet — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:44:23 -0800

I have recently started riding my bike 10 miles a day and lifting free weights 4 days a week. I need some healthy, lowish carb, high protein snacks AND savory vegetable snacks to stave off my crazy sugar cravings. I've had a notoriously demanding sweet tooth all my life, and it's exacerbated by exercising or forgetting to eat in a timely fashion. I'm working on it, but my recent spike in activity has left me absolutely dying for bready sandwiches, cookies, sugared coffee, etc. I'm trying to kick both processed sugar and get to a more balanced diet of 1/3 good carbs, 1/3 good fats, 1/3 proteins.

I'm looking for flavorful, healthy, hunger-killing snacks to get me through my worst sugar attacks. So far I really like hardboiled eggs or edamame, both with onion salt; cottage cheese; greek strained 2% yogurt; cherry tomatoes with kosher salt; organic turkey wrapped around cheddar and mustard; tamari almonds; and packed tuna with spring water. I'm trying to cut down on the tuna due to mercury, though. What else should I consider? I read several related questions and am interested in recipes like this one that recommends walnuts, gorgonzola and pear slices.

I definitely need to eat more vegetables, which I tend to only do when they're seasoned and/or savory, so I'd appreciate some easy recipes to take with me to work or that are easy to prepare with a few ingredients during lunch time using the oven at work. I'm not necessarily vegetarian, but cooking raw meat squicks me out, so I won't make anything that involves handling and cooking dead, squiggly skin.

What else should I be eating that's tasty enough to make me forget about the box of cinnamon graham crackers that my co-workers stack in the communal area?

Thanks!

please help me to not starve

happy scrappy — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:54:22 -0800

I'm having surgery in my pelvic/abdominal area on Friday, and since my doctor is expecting some bowel involvement, he is putting me on a clear fluid diet as of Thursday morning. I'm going to be STARVING by surgery time (noon Friday). I feel weak and irritable if I miss one meal, let alone a whole day and a half. At the pre-admission clinic, they told me I can have black tea/coffee, clear soda, Jell-O, water (of course) and "consomme" (broth or bullion, I'm guessing).

Any ideas as to what I should / should not consume that would help to alleviate my hunger? I'm also taking several drugs for pain, which I prefer to take with food, as they tend to upset my stomach a bit.

Any ideas/advice would help. I realize I should have brought this up with the nurse, but it didn't occur to me until now, with this fasting day looming closer (I know it's only a day and a half and I'm being a big suck, but I'm really dreading it). I will be able to talk with my doctor tomorrow, so any advice you give can be run by him first (he may or may not have any helpful ideas, but he'll tell me what I can't have).

Thanks in advance!

Researching African-American nutrition

AceRock — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:17:47 -0800

Good resources for researching African-American attitudes towards and perceptions of nutrition? I'm writing an article and I'm having trouble finding good secondary sources before I start the primary research. Do black people in the US think about food and health in different ways than other parts of the population? What are the differences within the African-American population? Where do these differences come from?

Any suggestions on where to start looking to answer these and related questions would be greatly appreciated. Also, any anecdotal information or personal observations are welcome as well. Thank!

Excel 2007 file for Hacker's Diet

ajackson — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:05:02 -0800

Where can I find a 2007 compatible excel file for the Hacker's Diet? For those who don't know about the Hackers' diet: see here

So you can get the chart tools for all of the other previous versions of Excel here, has anyone made a version compatible with Excel 2007? Where can I grab it?