Healthy Living Part I: Diet

I've been thinking about my lifestyle recently (after reading this post by the lovely Jane, whose attitude towards these things I share) and I think I know why I've been struggling a little.

You see, I'm constantly exhausted lately. Through the fog of tiredness, I can see the shadows that suddenly seem permanently housed under my eyes and the state of my skin. It's not good.

I'm sure there are a number of factors causing this:

1. My diet has become more about grabbing whatever happens to be quick to prepare, rather than what's healthy.
2. I'm barely exercising.
3. I'm working too hard. I push and push and push myself.
4. Aside from work/writing, I don't do anything for myself.

(Sound familiar? Anyone nodding along with me here?!)

But all of those things are within my control.

I'm going to try and make some changes, beginning with my diet (I'll do another post about exercise, and perhaps another one about taking some time for me).

(By the way, when I use the word 'diet', I mean it in the long-term lifestyle sense. I don't do 'diets' as a short-term or fad thing. Never have and never will.)

Here's what I currently do in terms of food and drink:

Breakfast - either two eggs and multigrain toast or a bowl of porridge.
Morning tea - whatever happens to be around. Preferably something sweet.
Lunch - leftovers from the previous night's dinner. If nothing is quickly available, I'll just snack on whatever is in the fridge.
Afternoon tea - whatever happens to be around. Preferably something sweet. Will also snack on some nuts or biscuits and cheese during the day.
Dinner - either meat and three veg or pasta and meat sauce or risotto.
Dessert - something sweet.
Drinks - I'll have a glass of orange juice with breakfast, then drink water all day and usually with dinner. A couple of nights a week I'll have a glass of wine with dinner.

Honestly, I read that and I just want to yawn. And eat chocolate.

So here's what I need to change - and I can see it SO clearly now that I've written all that (and been honest with myself, even though I really wanted to write more interesting things there!):

Breakfast - I'm a creature of habit when it comes to breakfast, and I think my options are healthy enough. The only thing I'd probably change is to also have some yoghurt - I love a big brekky.
Morning tea - fruit. I will need to force myself. I don't like fruit. (If you have any ideas to make fruit more interesting, please feel free to let me know via comment or email!)
Lunch - I often used to eat pasta for lunch, which I think would be okay. Dinner leftovers are usually healthy too. Otherwise, if I get back to planning my meals and food shopping a bit better, I could have something like a chicken salad or - as a faster option - a multigrain toasted cheese sandwich (not too often - I don't like bread, although I can handle it if it's toasted to a perfect crispy brown, absent of any soft bits). (Yes, I am a crazy woman.)
Afternoon tea - probably more fruit. (Ideas pleeeease!)
Dinner - we used to eat such great dinners. Fresh pasta, beautiful vegies with nice sauces, trying new things. Now we've gone back to basics and I'm not happy about it (basic is good, but not all the time). This is just a matter of taking the time to plan a good meal before doing the food shopping, and seeing the time it takes to cook a good meal as worthwhile. Which it really, really is.
Dessert - okay, I don't intend to fully cut out sweets. But I think once a day should be plenty!
Drinks - I think I'm all good there. I just need to make sure I drink enough water, as busyness can make me forget about it at times.

I've also taken a look at the old food pyramid (remember that from your school days?!) to see where I sit:

Vegetables - five serves

Fruit - two serves

Dairy – two serves

Meat, eggs, nuts, fish, lentils, etc. – one to two serves

Breads, cereals, rice and pasta – four to six serves

(Source 1, Source 2) My big downfalls have always been fruit and dairy. So I'll really have to focus on those I think. Everything else should be okay with my new plan.

Oh, and as a matter of interest, and because I found this information a little difficult to come by, I thought I'd share the healthy eating guide for kids too (this is for toddlers up to about eleven years - it only changes very slightly after that):

Vegetables - two to four serves

Fruit - one to two serves

Dairy – three serves

Meat, eggs, nuts, fish, lentils, etc. – one to two serves

Breads, cereals, rice and pasta – three to five serves

(Source) Interesting to note that Abbey's diet is virtually perfect according to this. Anyone sense a bit of 'do as I say and not as I do' in this household?

How about you? Do you feel you need to make changes to your diet? Do you feed your kids better than yourself? Any food ideas to share?


Megan