My Best Advice

For the past semester for most of my meals I have been eating rice, vegetable stir fry with either a fried egg, cashews, tofu, or meat for 80% of my lunches and dinners. This has not only led to me saving a lot of money, but it has kept me lean and fit providing the perfect balance of nutrients for a small price. In addition to saving me money and pounds, it has also saved me time. Stir fry's are quick and easy and every time I go to the supermarket I know exactly what and how much to buy. Fussing with planning different meals is an unnecessary waste of time. Instead, I get basically every veggie in the isle- a bag of cashews, a dozen eggs, 2 packets of tofu, and a few hundred grams of whatever minced meat I feel like.

Now you might be thinking to yourself "I could never eat that every day, I would get so sick of it." Well, at least that is what everyone has told me including my roommate half a year ago. Now she eats what I eat.

The thing is, we aren't meant to have so much variety in our diets. The more you add, the more messages your mind receives, the more you crave all sorts of food. After only eating rice and veg, when my body is hungry, that is what it craves. It is funny how the mind works. It adjusts to the choices you give it. My brain looks forward to the different types of stir fry I make. I have created variety in a dish that most people think of as uniform- a stir fry is a stir fry. But not to my brain. With the different sauces, vegies, chilli's, meats, tofu's and spices I have, I have tons of varieties that are so healthy and simple to prepare.

My advice to you would be to do what I do. No unsustainable diets, no unrealistic goals. And like I said, it is 80% of the time. The other times I can't be bothered to cook I go out and get Chicken Teryaki, Sushi, gourmet Pizza, or my roommate makes her famous Chili con carne.

This is what I eat on most days:

Breakfast:

2 slices of wholemeal toast- spread with crunchy peanut butter and jam and a cup of coffee.

Mid-morning snack: Apple or a banana (or some other kind of fruit)

Lunch: Half a cup of rice (uncooked), A pile of veggies (stirfried)topped with an omellete (made with 1 egg).

Snack: handful of mixed roasted nuts

Dinner: Same as lunch but usually with tofu or meat instead of the egg.

And just because you have work, does not mean you can't have the same for lunch. Buy one of those asian lunch boxes, or a tiffin-like thing and fill it with left-overs.

People always wonder why asians are so skinny. It's because they don't have as much variety as western countries have. In the west you have so much choice for meals: pizza, potato's and meat, pasta, asian, indian, thai, lebanese, tapas, sushi, chicken wings, burgers, hot dogs. East Asians stick with the basics and add a dash of variety- rice or noodles+veg+meat. Most of them go to the West and STILL EAT THIS. It's what they crave.

My philosophy is, keep it simple and your stomach will too.

Eating Out/On business trips

I know you travel a lot and cannot control what is given to you to eat. Lets say in China- eat half of the rice they give you, eat more vegies along with a fist sized portion of whatever meat/fish they have.

If you go out to eat with your indonesian friends, do the same. And hold off on any curry or sauce, drizzle don't drench for yourself.

In most places I know pieces of fruit are easily available- so snack on those for business trips.

Excersize

Last but not least, your workout plan.

Whatever you are doing at the gym is not working. Upload your favorite songs to your iPod and walk to the Tanglin club or somewhere of the same distance and back three times a week. I don't care about weights right now. You just need to walk. Trust me it is the best thing you can do.

Dinner

After the proper meals and healthy snacks throughout the day, you should not be ravenous by dinner. The meals that mj cooks are healthy, just ask her to prepare half a cup of rice for you to accompany the asian meals. And maybe a warmed up bread roll with the western ones. Eat as many veggies as you want- and a piece of meat or fish that she makes. Ask her to make more stir-fries with rice for dinner- top them with cashews or an egg. Or simply have with a piece of steamed fish.

NO TOAST AND PEANUT BUTTER or OATMEAL when you get home. NO SCOOPS OF PEANUT BUTTER WHEN you get home. NO COOKIES AFTER DINNER. You can have these things for breakfast and throughout the day (in moderation). I am not saying you cannot eat them at all (besides the scoops of peanut butter, which is simply an unhealthy habit) you just cannot have them for or after dinner.

THE ONLY THING YOU CAN CONSUME AFTER DINNER IS TEA OR A MEDIUM SIZED GLASS OF MILK.

With the meals and snacks that you will be eating throughout the day, you SHOULD NOT BE HUNGRY after dinner.

Lunch

After your midmorning snack you should not be ravenous, but hungry. From what you have told me, you have just soup for lunch? This is not enough. No wonder you come home and snack so much. If you eat lunch at around 1, you should be full till 4. if you get hungry again at this time- have one of the lighter snack options.

-If you add a wholemeal bread roll to a small soup and a salad with light dressing that would be better.

- If you go out to a food court- head to the nasi padang. They tend to pile on the rice so ask for half of what they usually give and instead ask for more vegies- ladies fingers, kailan, green beans, and the tofu dishes are good options. Make sure you ask them to hold the curry and put in a separate container so you can put it on yourself (just drizzle don't drench).

- Japanese is always good- limit yourself to six maki rolls, two slices of sashimi, miso soup and a cup of edama

me.

- Have mj make you a ham and cheese sandwich with crispy lettuce, onion and tomatoes and pesto. With a cup of mixed fruit.

- Mj makes me this really good corn, tomato and tuna salad you would really like add some green beans for crunch. Have a cup of that with a handful of pretzels.

- Mj also makes me a really good tomato and chickpea salad. Have that with some pretzels.

Snacks

Now, I know you eat breakfast at around 6:30/7am before work so if you are getting hungry again around 9:30/10 am that is NORMAL. You just have to be smart about what you choose to snack on. I know you don't like carrot and celery sticks so I won't force you to snack on these things but there are options that are better than others. I assume you have a coffee at this point.

If you are indeed really hungry at this point,

1. try 1 of the bars in the nature valley packs and save the other one for an afternoon snack.

2. Try ten cherry tomatoes with five small slices of cheese and 5 multigrain wheat thin crackers or something like them.

3. A piece of fruit is always a good choice- try some apple slices with a FEW (3-5) thin slices of cheese.

4. Nuts are a good choice, but you like most other people have way too many for one serving. So I would stay away from eating them unless they are crushed or sprinkled on top of something.

4. Try half a cup of yoghurt, topped with chopped strawberry's and sprinkled with hagelslag.

5. You can even have a biscuit or two. But don't exceed that amount...

Remember, you have lunch in a few hours.

You can have one of these options now as well in between lunch and dinner IF YOU ARE HUNGRY. But having these snacks should mean that you don't need huge meals (especially lunch and dinner).

Breakfast

Now dad,

I think your problem is that you do not eat enough food throughout the day, so when you come home you are so hungry that you eat and snack too much. You should be hungry in the morning (which comes with not snacking after a proper dinner) and thus breakfast should be your biggest meal of the day. Here are some examples of what you should be eating for breakfast. The usual small bowl of oatmeal that you have, although healthy, is not enough nor does it have enough nutrients. Here are ways to make it more sufficient and nutritious along with other options that should keep you full till your mid-morning snack.

Oatmeal Options:

1. Replace the low-fat milk with soy milk in your oatmeal and add half of a sliced banana, sprinkle with raisins.

2. Shred half of an apple and add to the 3/4 cup of cooked oatmeal, low fat milk. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and add some slivered almonds.

Top with honey.

3. Top your 3/4 cup of cooked oatmeal and soy milk with blueberry's, strawberry's and crushed walnuts. Top with honey.

4. Add poached peaches, cinnamon, nutmeg and slivered almonds to your oatmeal.

Toast Options:

1. 1 slice of wholemeal bread with peanut butter and a banana-soy smoothie (frozen banana, soymilk, honey).

2. 2 slices of wholemeal toast with jam. Spinach omelette (made 1 whole egg and 1 egg white).

3. 2 slices wholegrain toast thinly spread with lowfat cream cheese, topped with smoked salmon, sliced onion and capers.

Other options:

While most mornings you should eat one of the options above, don't deny yourself. You can still enjoy special breakfast treats without having to worry too much.

1. You can still have those toasted waffles, just top two of them with half of a sliced banana or some berries, sprinkle with chopped nuts and drizzle with honey.

2. You can still enjoy eggs benedict (it is the hollandaise sauce that is loaded with calories) so ask for it to be put on the side and take as you need.