Everyday Systems

I am interested in how one stops themselves from getting bored with the foods they eat on the S diet?

One of my main problems is that I fall easily into routine. I do not cook a lot, and therefore I don't really have dozens of recipes lying around. I'm a eat on the go type of person. I work in a museum with a huge cafeteria, but most of the meals are not that healthy. Here is a typical N day for me:

BREAKFAST
Bagel with Cream cheese
Apple or Orange

LUNCH
Small bowl of pasta with alfredo sauce and meatballs from Musuem
OR
Market Meal- Meat, vegetable, macaroni and cheese and roll
OR
Turkey sandwich on Wheat with fruit

DINNER
Steak with veggies and baked beans
OR
Chicken with veggies and baked beans
OR
Spaghetti with meat sauce & garlic bread


As you can see I'm pretty limited. And a lot of this food isn't exactly the healthiest. But since the S diet is about moderation, and not about excluding foods, I'm feeling sort of stuck. When I wake up in the morning, I dread it because I'm bored eating a turkey sandwich every day for lunch. I'm bored eating disgusting baked chicken with beans. I don't cook it very well. The spaghetti is good, but I end up piling a ton of it on my plate, and after I'm done eating it I feel bloated and messy, as I did in my pre-S days.

So how do I change my eating habits as far as WHAT I eat? I get bored easily, which leads to me binge feasting. I really don't know how to spice it up in terms of variety- especially in the breakfast and lunch department. I'm just not a breakfast person, and bagels and cream cheese are the only thing I really like- but that's not healthy to eat every day. Telling me to eat oatmeal is going to make me yawn- its just not something I like eating. Telling me to make egg whites and adding "spices" to it sounds like hard work and concise timing- which I don't want to do. I need simple solutions. Will I lose weight eating what I'm eating now, since I am following the single plate rules?

The only thing the S diet has helped me with is social events and of course, eating what I want on the weekends. However, the drinking is also a problem. On "thirsty thursdays", we go out after work to bars and I order rum and Cokes- even though Coke is a sweet, technically, I have to use it to mix my drinks. And 2 drinks is not happening when you're partying. I end up getting sloppy drunk a lot, for fun. So please, what are your suggestions?

Your post reminds me of a story I heard years ago. I'll repeat it to the best of my memory:

Two men were having lunch. The first man said, "Peanut butter and jelly. Every day, peanut butter and jelly. I'm sick of peanut butter and jelly."

The second man says, "Why don't you ask your wife to make you something different?"

First man replies, "Can't. I make my own lunch."

Just like that man, you're limited only by your own choices and actions. Choose something different! What do you want to eat?

I'm not a breakfast person either and I either don't eat breakfast or eat whole grain toast with butter and some fruit. Or I make a smoothie. I'm happy with that. If I happen to go out to eat, I'll have something different.

My lunch is nearly always some combination of soup, salad and/or sandwich. Most often I have homemade soup, but that's because I love soup and never get tired of it.

Dinner can be anything. Tonight it's going to be a sandwich and some fruit because it's hot and that's what I want. Last night it was just a smoothie (also hot). But I've had chicken, pork chops, salad with grilled chicken and a frittata this week, too.

I'm never bored by what I eat. I can, and do, eat anything I want.

I agree with Wosnes.

Ask yourself some questions:

What do you like to eat?
How much effort ARE you willing to put in?

There are a lot of dinners that are easy that take hardly more effort than what you're already doing - just have to figure out some alternatives. (Example: Frozen tortellini with pesto, big salad on the side. Almost instant.)

Cruise the "intelligent dietary defaults" thread for ideas. Get a really basic cookbook, or two, or ask people.

No-S is the LEAST boring diet I've ever been on, because it doesn't have narrow definitions of "allowed" (or "forbidden") foods. If it's boring, it's only because of your own choices.

I just wanted to chime in and say that I see fruit and vegetables with every meal. That seems moderately healthy. I remember when bagels were a diet food. haha. I eat my bagels with cream cheese and jelly or cream cheese and hard salami. (I probably am not the best person for healthier breakfast solutions.) I also like peanut butter on toast.

For lunch, you may have to just branch out and find new sandwich fillings. There's tuna and salmon. Before I embraced mayo, I used to wet it with italian dressing. Salmon is awesome with cream cheese and crackers. You could spice things up with different breads, like pita or rollups. If you like hummus, you could spread that in a pita or rollup and either live with it like that, or add vegetables like cucumbers and lettuce (or onion, shredded carrots, sprouts, etc.) I also eat ham and egg salad. Peanut butter and jelly is still pretty tasty to me. If you are brave, you could get a thermos and pack warm lunches like soup or leftover pasta heated up.

For dinner, have you tried combining the baked chicken with the spaghetti sauce? You could use leftover baked chicken from the night before and chop it up and use it instead of your usual meat. Add mushrooms and you almost have chicken cacciatore. Serve it over pasta or rice (like the frozen kind - or get a rice maker.) If you do a search on the internet, you might find some tips on how to cook the chicken better. You might have better luck with a different cooking method. Something easy ofcourse.

It might not be bad idea to learn a new dish everyonce in a while. Maybe something like chili (hamburger, tomato sauce, beans, chili powder), or perhaps a similar stew. You can eat it with rice, pasta, or potatoes and add whatever vegetable you like to it. You can water it down with broth and turn it into a soup. Or, you can wrap it in a tortilla and call it a burrito or enchillada if it gets on the thicker side (you can add cooked rice to thicken it).

You can chop up leftover steak or chicken and add BBQ sauce to it and eat that as a sandwich. You might have to think ahead and cook 2 servings of meat the night before so you have the extra meat to spare.

You can microwave or bake a potato and top it with salsa, leftover meat, and vegetables. No need for butter, but you certainly can use it.

Just keep eating the fruits and vegetables with your meals and be a little more adventurous and creative. It might just be a matter of trying new spices or a new sauce. Good luck. Hope I was some help.

I know you said that you don't have a lot of time to cook, but if you could carve out some time on the weekend you could make a bunch of things and freeze them in individual containers to take to work. Like chili, pasta, beans and rice, etc.

Another idea is buying all the ingredients for salad, prepping them the first day (chop the lettuce, or buy it pre-chopped, cucumbers, buy grape tomatoes). A lot of the trimmings are available in cans: olives, artichoke hearts, beets, etc. Cook a few chicken breasts and chop them up or buy them pre-cooked and pre-sliced. Then, you can throw together a salad for lunch (just hold the dressing until you're ready to eat it).

Also, for breakfast, you could hard boil a bunch of eggs and then, grab a couple to eat for lunch with some fruit or toast.

For me, I don't really get bored with breakfast and lunch. Most days I eat the same thing. Breakfast is eggs, toasts, fruit. Lunch is a salad or sandwich. I get bored when my dinners are blah, so that's where I spend most of my cooking creativity.

What did you eat before you started the No-S diet? What's stopping you from just eating that, only limiting it to one plate 3 times a day?

At the bar, can you mix your rum with diet Coke instead of regular? Or how about switch to beer or wine, or even something with a fruit juice base instead of pop?

I'm in the 'cook on weekends' camp. I have time to get a bit more creative on weekends, and I take that chance to make some big pots of soup, roast a turkey breast for meals through the week, bake some bread. But then, I like to cook......and having that refrigerator full of new things I'm trying helps me plug into the NoS week ahead.

Just to add my 2 cents... my suggestion would be to get a crock pot. You hardly know you're cooking. Just dump meat, veggies, pre-pared sauce in and leave it on low for a really long time. When you come home just boil some potatoes or rice and voila! Easy dinner with lots of leftovers if you make it big to start with!

I'm not big on cooking either, basically because our family is so busy all of the time. That is why I LOVE this article by Mark Bittman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dinin ... .html?_r=1

Would work for lunches too.

I don't usually cook. I'm starting to pick up on things I buy out at restaurants and make them at home. I purchased two really cool containers from Target. One is a salad bowl with a sealed cup on the top for your dressing and even a plastic fork and holder. The other is a 3-sectioned container with a knife and fork on the top.

I went to the produce shop and got my favorite salad stuff (I am picky). I got a can of tuna and mixed it with mayo last night and grapes and put that in one of the small sections, a whole grain bagel in another and lastly some salsa and sour cream. I bagged some tortilla chips in a small baggie. Voila. I did not cook and I just had the most awesome lunch!

I was so full from my salad and tuna salad bagel that I didnt' want the chips.

This morning I made an egg and melted some shredded cheese on a tortilla, then added some salsa and sour cream and made a breakfast burito. It was easy and delicious. No need to go to Dunkin' Donuts. The ingredients are so cheap!

Just find what you like and eat it. You should be happy on No S. : )

Movie Guy did you get so bored that you gave up? You haven't been here since the first posting! There are so many good ideas here!! What do you think of them?? Just askin'

MysteryLover wrote:I'm not big on cooking either, basically because our family is so busy all of the time. That is why I LOVE this article by Mark Bittman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dinin ... .html?_r=1

Would work for lunches too.

If you like that one, here's one for picnics, one for appetizers and here's the book, which covers the whole year!

Be sure and check the comments to the Time's articles -- especially the first one. More great ideas there.

Yeah, I'm not sure how anyone could get bored doing the NO S Diet.

I'd think the exact opposite would be true.

I mean, the only thing you CAN'T eat on N days are "sweets."

That leaves only like a trillion things you CAN eat.

There should be no reason to become "bored" on No S. Aside from what I would see as "obvious junkfood", the sky is the limit or No S.

I think movie guy found us all too B O R I N G and moved on.... his loss!

Over43 wrote:Aside from what I would see as "obvious junkfood"

And, technically, even junk food is allowable, as long as it fits on a single plate.