Getting into mid 30s now and need to clean up my diet. I am still in great shape, but:

- I eat no fruit or veggies whatsoever
- I eat a ton of burgers, pizza, chips, junk food
- I drink lots of sugary drinks (Gatorade, soda)
- I take no vitamins whatsoever

I feel like I should change this sooner rather than later before I die?

Looking for some advice. For starters, what vitamins should I be taking daily - any multivitamin ideas?

I'm in my late 30s and have let aspects of my nutrition, exercise etc lapse in the last couple of years and am the worse for it.

Have just started to get back on track (and aiming to get back to where I was about 4+ yrs ago)

So aim:

- Cut down the junk food – especially fried food (chips are my weakness) and pizza (cheese)
- Burgers are generally OK IMO if the you can limit the bread and dense sauces
- Sugary drinks are a NO NO (but that’s easy for me as I never drink them)
- Vegetables – eat more of them (especially steamed) + salads
- Reduce carb intake but don’t have to go no carb
- Reduce dairy
- Multi-vitamins – I used to have Swisse which is ok
- Have fish oil (ie. Krill oil) after meals – good for cholesterol levels and heart function (especially if you still eat meats and eggs, bacon etc)
- Daily morning and night Magnesium tablets – good for well being and muscle health (ie. reduce soreness) when you up the excersise
- Fruit – eat more like apples, berries and less of the more sugary ones

Good words of wisdom

I’m not healthy. I’m sick all the time and I need to get stronger.

lol. i can't believe this

I used to be healthy. But I’ve started eating terribly and not enough, and didn’t seriously go to the gym until the end of the semester. Combine that with stress and walking way more than I used to I think I lost significant muscle. I’m still lean but I definitely should be stronger.

I'm gonna die anyway and be worm food, so the least thing I can do is try to enjoy the good things in life, and if it's unhealthy food, so be it. The worms will appreciate it later, as my cadaver will be more tasty than others.

May be saying the obvious but if you drop soda don't assume juice is better, especially orange juice. If you look at the sugar content of stuff like Tropicana it's basically like drinking coke. Yogurt is also deceivingly sugar filled when it's fruit flavoured.

I'm not a health expert or anything, but how much of your own stuff do you cook? I think some people give up on cooking cause they overcomplicate it. I have a few ridiculously basic go tos that I use to save money and cook for 2 nights at once. It takes me like half an hour. Really it's not any harder or time consuming than making Kraft Dinner.

1 - Pasta and chopped sausage - Boil water, put pasta in there for 15-20. Cook sausages on the frying pan, then after they're done take chopped sausages slices and put them in the pasta with sauce.
2 - Ground beef and pasta - same process
3 - Cooked kale and pasta - same process (I don't do it that often cause I like meat too much, but surprisingly good)
4 - Pork and potatoes - Boil water, put chopped up potatoes in for 15-20. Put pork on the frying pan.
5 - Steak and potatoes - same process
6 - Fish and potatoes - same process (I don't do it often but worth mentioning)

I have seen people buy all kinds of ingredients and spend hours making a giant stew and it comes out tasting like a dog's ass, all I really need is a meat I like and something to eat it with and it tastes pretty damn good to me. Next thing I'm going to look into is making my own sauce

Agree, I think you cant go wrong with meat (chicken, pork, beef, lamb) or fish and vegetables or salad (+ potato) for simplicity, taste and healthiness.

Do you like mushroom sauce Shack? Pretty easy to make and delicious.

Also - Cauliflower is a bit of a wonder vegetable in that you can use it (after preparation) to replace carb heavy foods - ie. as a pizza base (never tried this), as a replacement for rice in sushi rolls (not bad) and mashed up into a puree/sauce that goes well with meat.

My biggest issue is eating late. I barely even get hungry during the first half of the day, but after midnight everything in the kitchen looks great.

Chicken, pork and fish are much healthier than beef. Not that beef is bad, but it’s much higher in fat and cholesterol.

I love cooking. It is my preferred way to relax after a day of writing. When I moved out at the age of 20, I could not cook to save my life. Haven't even boiled spaghetti by myself before. After half a year of eating out or eating some frozen food, I was sick of it and decided to learn how to cook. Found out, I had a knack for it. About two years ago, I took it to the next level and started to experiment a lot more with recipes, invest far more money in really good ingredients, never going for the cheapest option, making as much as I can myself. For instance, when I make bolognese or chili, I no longer use canned tomatoes, always fresh ones.

Started exploring different international cuisines. Got pretty good at Italian, Indian, Irish, Mexican, Brazilian and Hungarian dishes. Also started exploring more exotic meats in unusual combinations. Ostrich steaks flambéd in cognac are a dream. So is rabbit in white wine/cream sauce or rabbit in coconut milk and garlic. Not every experiment is equally successful, but it is trial and error. Recently cooked pigeon in beer sauce. It was a bit meh, though not sure if the problem was the pigeon or my sauce. For New Year's I made a stew of wild boar and deer in red wine.

Remember, I started out with absolutely no knowledge of cooking whatsoever. Though when it comes to experimenting what goes well with what (recently starting using tequila, lime. honey and espresso in my chilis, which was terrific) it might require some kind of talent, ANYONE can learn basic good cooking. Anyone. And most food you cook yourself will taste better than whatever you buy.

And, yes, skip all sodas. Totally unnecessary. Water is just fine. Just find the kind of water you like, they are not all the same.

I’ve read this before somewhere

Here

viewtopic.php?p=2079186#p2079186

Though my cooking (and in particular my attention to high quality ingredients) have leapt lightyears since then.

Also, I did try my hand at desserts and baking since then. I even bake bread every once in a while.

I’m still eating at a dining hall at this point. It’s really easy to just pick the healthy stuff. Though the meat is usually very dry. I make my salads with spinach for the extra nutrition that lettuce doesn’t have, but it is a lot dryer also. So I go through a lot of beverage, which I’ve kept to skim milk at lunch and dinner and coffee with breakfast and a smoothie before my work out. Though I may have to start grocery shopping because I will run out of meal swipes/money if I want to have breakfast and something for before my workout

Lecter is Remy.

I'm buying your story and turning it into a romantic comedy.

At a dining hall you are limited to the options they have there. If you cook yourself, you have unlimited options.

About a romance between my stove and me?

I'll be cooking for myself next year when I live with my friends. I got a meal plan this semester because even though I'm not in a dorm and thus not required to buy a meal plan, I live with strangers in an apartment because of how full housing was before the year started. And if I cooked for myself, I'd either always be eating alone or with them. At the dining hall, I can eat with friends.

I see three perfectly viable options:

You could eat alone sometimes. Why the hell not? Do you need help being fed?

You could befriend the strangers and eat with them. Meeting new people is always interesting.

You could invite your friends over to your shared apartment and eat with them.

I'm fine with the dining hall. But I don't like eating alone because it's depressing. I wouldn't mind eating with my roommates (who are not really "strangers"), we're just very different people, and they're rarely around when I want to eat anyway. And I live too far in town for my friends to want to walk there, and I also have no food in my apartment anyway.