Your healthy recipes, please.:-)

Went to the Dr today with a sore knee and came out feeling a bit worse for wear, to be honest. Seems my blood pressure is "a little" high and my weight is "a lot" high. Can I be cheeky and ask you all for your favourite, healthy recipes? Mainly breakfast and lunch ones as I have planned a lot of fish and vegetable combinations for dinners (although if you do have some really beaut dinner recipes, I would be most grateful for those too). Its time to get my act together and get this weight off. And, as soon as I get my knee back to normal I can start walking again. Thanks to all of you, I really appreciate any help with this.

The best and most honest advice I can give you is read up. Then make your own mind up. People (me included) will regale you with what works for us as individuals. I suggest you buy a book called 'Eat Real Food' by David Gillespie - if you don't want to buy it google away. I suppose my advice is to educate yourself. Do some work yourself, stuff what everyone else thinks (esp on MBs) and then make some decisions and stick by them. Best of luck!

Oh no, I think you have misunderstood me, awoftam. I know what I should be eating . I was overweight long ago and spent a few years with Weightwatchers, successfully. Its just that I get a little bit sick of my same old recipes and it would be interesting and helpful to get a few new ones from the people on here. Nothing like the tried and true recipes from real people.

You are very overweight and your blood pressure is high yet you know what you should be eating. are you eating it? Again, my best reccy to you is Eat Real Food - may help in all sorts of areas and I do wish you the best of luck. Healthy living is a lifestyle change.

Thank you for that.

try lemon juice on your lettuce salads really nice. I know what you are going through. I cant afford WW anymore, so having to do it on my own,. So every little hint is good, Soup is good as well. You more than educated if you have been there and done it. Just keep strong. Try a hobby like knitting and take your mind off food I know it hard.

Look for the heart recipe books that they brought out good recipes in them I think they were called fit for life can pick them up in second hand shops

Thanks for that, slimgym. Yes, I have got some good cook books for losing weight. All I was trying to ask on here was for people to share their favourite healthy recipes. I am not enormously overweight but, after being rather busy for quite a while and not eating as healthy as I should, I now need to get back into it and lose a few kilos. I didnt think it would be this hard to get some recipes from the message board people. Oh well, never mind. back to the internet for some new ideas. :-)

It depends on what you regard as healthy. Here are some suggestions from my viewpoint, which is that healthy food is natural, minimally processed, nutrient-dense and grain-free.

Breakfast: soft boiled eggs, scrambled eggs with bacon, fried eggs with mushrooms and tomatoes, poached eggs on savoury minced beef & carrots, poached eggs on Aloo Gobi, poached eggs on bubble & squeak, shakshouka with eggs.

Lunch: salad of lettuce, rocket, red onion, tomato, grated carrot, cucumber,avocado plus a protein - cold chicken, thinly sliced beef steak, tuna, salmon, hard boiled egg, cheese. Add olives, capers, toasted nuts etc for variations. Make a simple vinaigrette from good quality olive oil or avocado oil and red wine vinegar.

Frittata of spinach or mushrooms.

Plain whole milk natural yoghurt with unsweetened fruit.

If you tell us what you have been eating lately maybe someone can advise on healthier alternatives.

I agree with what has been written so far.
You say you know what to eat and have successfully done weight watchers. Sorry, but it's not successful if the weight is back on.
Stop with all the 'diet' low fat plus processed foods and eat real food, don't starve yourself by severely limiting calories.

there is so much new research out there now that proves that obesity has skyrocketed since everyone jumped on the low fat bandwagon.

I strongly recommend that you read the book state above, and 'What the Fat' and watch That Sugar Film.

What do you think you should be eating. As awoftam said, people will regale you with what they consider to be healthy and it may differ markedly from what you consider healthy.

Best to get that sorted so people know what you are looking for from the outset.

Dont eat processed foods, ready made, take out junk, sodas - anything with more than four ingredients or ingredients u cant pronounce - all the usual stuff like everyone has said. cut out bread for a bit maybe, its more a mind set and attitude though as u say u know what to do, as for recipes - google a few sites and decide what u like the look of, everyones different :D like clean eatz, paleo, i quit sugar - whatever takes yr fancy :D

OMG! I just cannot believe you people. Let me try to make this as clear to you all as I can. Yes, I did WW ages ago, successfully. Yes, it was successfully. I lost all the weight I needed to lose. That in my book is SUCCESSFUL, geldof. Yes, I have put some of the weight back on again which is why I am now back into eating the healthy foods. The weight went back on, not because I am a lazy, brainless person but because of various aspects of my life that I do not chose to share with you (at least not anymore). I DO NOT want to read a book (are you on commission or something, awoftam? ). I know all the things you listed, morganna. I know not to eat processed foods, take out crap and the like. I am not doing any "fad" diet. Do you all think I am brain-dead? I am sorry if I sound rude, I really am. I politely asked you for some lovely healthy recipes that you perhaps use on a daily basis. You know, I was hoping for some different ideas for fish or chicken. things like that. Instead, I feel insulted by you all. Do you think that if a person is overweight they are also thick in the head? I am not that, I can assure you. I have come across some lovely new recipes today so I am sorted. Please do not judge people the way I feel I have been judged. As for any recipes. forget I asked. It was obviously too much trouble.

Exactly. Well said. There are some very thick and mean people on this message board. Puts me right off TM. You go girl.

Thanks bellabella3. :-). I really appreciate that. And you are so right about the thick and mean people. I didnt realise it was that bad. Have a lovely weekend. :-)

Now THATS the kind of thing I was after, ruby19. Thank you so much. They sound delicious and will be going into my new collection of recipes to keep me from dying of boredom with the usual ho-hum "diet" food. I dont want to consider myself on a diet. I just want to constantly cook healthy meals for myself and my husband and just continue with them. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into sharing your recipes with me. Yummmm. and those muffins sound amazing!

No, I am not on a commission and no, I do not think you are thick. Quite the opposite in fact. I think you have an issue with food, and I gave you the advice that I was given, which helped me unbelievably. The fact you didn't want to hear it and went all 'nasty gal' sent a clear message. I wish you well. In 2 years you will still be fat and still be coming on here asking for help and shouting down people who can actually offer advice. I am not trying to be mean. I am just stating a fact.

How rude. What about a thank you for taking the time and making the effort to reply to you with suggestions?

Exactly.

Probably because it can actually get quite unhelpful to have people constantly telling you how and what you should be eating when you're trying to lose weight, no matter how kindly intentioned they are.

Having lost over 60kgs I had years of yo yo dieting and I finally discovered that each time I listened to the people (including my family) who kept telling me what I should be eating, and for whatever reason my weight loss was non existent or less than expected it got me down and made it worse. I felt I was letting them down.
Eventually I surrounded myself with people who 'seemed less judgemental' and along with eating healthily and exercising I lost weight and kept it off.
Poster is wanting recipes that will give some variety in the right way, I'm thinking, because it will help to keep to the healthy eating. Sometimes when you are eating the same things again and again, some fresh ideas can help keep you on track.
I know you are well meaning, but please, take it from someone who has experienced it, telling people what they should eat etc can actually be damaging and doesn't help the process.
And again, saying that "you'll still be fat I two years" please, please, please, don't ever say that to someone trying lose weight. When I read that comment it just took me back to my mother saying 'if you don't listen me you'll always be fat' and that just made things worse and even more weight piled on till I got to the stage where I had to lose those 60kg. I know you mean well, she thought she did.

By the way, I'll dig out some of my recipes and post them. Good luck and keep the healthy eating up.

#O/P Healthy recipes are everywhere. Of course, that depends on your definition of healthy, to some it is low-carb or low-fat or vegetarian or vegan or whatever. How about using Google or your local library and making an effort yourself instead of coming on here asking for help and then getting nasty when you don't like the responses?

Regal girl,

Ok here's some of my go to healthy food 'recipes' that I use/do. I use the term recipes fairly loosely as I tend to try and be instinctive, use what I have and try for a variety. In saying that, for the first one, I have got quantities.

Ricotta & banana hot cakes
Chop a banana loosely, blitz with a stick wand along with 1 cup of low fat ricotta cheese, 1 egg and a few drops of vanilla essence. (If I'm using riper bananas they tend to be sweeter so don't need any added sweetening agent). Heat up a non stick pan (or spray a one that isn't non-stick) and cook them as you would Pikelets. I eat with some sugar free maple sauce.

My Bircher muesli
I love Bircher muesli and do this version. The night before, mix some low fat muesli with low fat yoghurt. Can add some dried fruit or grated apple/pear (with lemon juice) at this stage as well. Next morning thin down with trim milk and can add some fresh or tinned fruit, nuts, chia seeds. The fruit may negate the need to thin down.

Lunch (or brunch or breakfast) frittatas
Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. In them place veges, strips of cooked chicken, low fat shaved ham, tuna, salmon, prawns, grated Parmesan, feta, whatever you have on hand. Beat some eggs with low fat milk and seasonings (see my notes below about seasonings for taste). Bake until set. These can also be done as a larger single frittata. I've also lined muffin tins with sheets of filo pastry placed and put the filling in to get a 'pie' feel. Also have blind baked some dumpling wrappers from Asian supermarkets and filled these with frittata type mixes for a lower fat type savoury.

Rice paper rolls
Because I try to avoid bread if possible I extend the Asian based rice paper rolls to do rolls with a variety of fillings. I place a clean tea towel on the bench, soak rice paper sheets in warm water for about 30 sec. Place the soaked sheet on half the tea towel and pat dry with the other half. Place fillings in the about a third of the way from the bottom in a long oblong shape, leaving room at each end horizontally. Fold the horizontal ends in and then roll from the bottom. I use lots of different fillings like you would in sandwiches. The more mushy the filling can make the rolls a bit mushy, but I find they hold tomatoes well.

Chicken scotch eggs
Hard boil some eggs. While cooking, mince some chicken (thigh meat is best) mix in an egg white and flavour with seasonings. Cool the eggs enough to handle and shell. Using wet hands, shape into a large pattie, wrap meat around the egg and then toss in oat bran that also has been seasoned. Bake in the oven until juices run clear when you poke with a skewer. Just before serving take a tin of tomatoes, chop up and pour over the eggs in the oven to heat to. If you're able to shell the eggs with them boiled for a shorter time to try and get a softer yolk, that's really good. Have also used low fat pork and beef as well or mixture of them and smeared some chutney or cooked onions on top of the meat after shaping and before wrapping.

Cauliflower mash
I just love this, it's like mashed potato but without the carbs. Steam the cauliflower, and mash. Can flavour with with a little Parmesan cheese or a knob of low fat cream cheese. I've bought some of the yellow cauliflower when they come out and they're just so yummy.

Carrot/courgette 'pasta'
I slice courgettes and carrots thinly with a vegetable peeler and steam. I then use as you would pasta with lower fat sauce options. One of my favourites is mixing in some extra low fat Philadelphia cream cheese, torn basil and halved quick roasted cherry tomatoes.

Seasonings and flavourings. See the next post

Continued from my previous post
Seasonings and flavourings. For me I mix it all up with different flavourings and seasonings. They can make the same basic thing very different and more interesting giving variety, so you don't feel that you're eating the same thing all the time. Herbs (fresh, dried and the tubes you get in the vege section) spices, curry powder, dukkah mixes. The master food type pre mixed seasoning mixes and stock powder. I use onion soup powder that I place into a jar. Soy sauce, a few drops sesame oil, Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce. Grated Parmesan can add a lot of cheese flavouring without the higher fat content that regular cheddar gives. And I can't go past Philadelphia extra low fat cream Cheese. A little bit to hot veges can give a cheese sauce type approach.

I've had two go to places for getting recipes and ideas. The first is the Healthy Foods website. www.healthyfoods.co.nz I find that because it's a NZ website it has ideas that are relevant to us here in NZ. I ended up subscribing to the magazine and now jump on any second copies of editions before I started subscribing. The website has some of the recipes but there are heaps more of them and other good info as well. The other one is www.sparkpeople.com Although it is an American site, and does contain quite a few American style shortcuts, I use this for hood ideas. They have a recipe of the day that you can subscribe to as well as an exercise of the day that gives me some variation in the exercises as well.

For me it's been all about variety and experimenting to keep me on track. Have fun with it.
Hope this helps. Good luck and keep up the good work

Firstly I have to say thank you so much, huia991 for the effort you just put in with the above recipes. They all sound delicious and, no doubt, I will try each and every one of them. for variety throughout the next few weeks. Thank you also for your kind words in the previous post and I applaud you your weight loss. Nice one.
This will be my last post on this thread. I have been completely misunderstood and I am sorry that you all feel I have been rude. I am not a rude person. I simply asked for some recipes. Thats all. I have been told I am fat (I am 9 kilos overweight), I have been told not to bother asking on here but to stop being lazy and seek out books, try google and the Library. I have done all that and I do know what I am doing. I asked on here as you would ask a friend if she has got any favourite recipes cos I am getting sick of mine. I thought that was the kind of thing we shared on here. you know . like thoughts, ideas, advice and (maybe) recipes? I have talked to so many people on these message boards over the last 20 years or so and I have given sympathy and, hopefully, helpful comments to many people as they have done for me. This thread has blown me right out of the water. I have been told I am mean and nasty and that I am fat and still will be in 2 years. And all I asked for was a few recipes! What was wrong with that? If I had read a request like mine on here I would have gladly got my books out and typed out an old family recipe for them to enjoy. I just don't know what else to say. I hope you all have a lovely week.

Eat fruit, it's great, summer fruit coming up O YEA

For a start cut out the hydrogenated oils such as canola ,and soy and use animal fats and low melting point fats such as coconut and reduce sugar intake .Gradually reduce sugar to get your taste buds accustomed to it. I have lost about 6 kg without even trying to reduce intake.