Is there a dead easy way of eating healthily?

NCOT talked in about eating frozen dinners every day. She asked the question and I am trying to answer it. I did not say what "healthy eating" is because I think she knows what she needs to be healthy.

She specifically talked about processed food, so I will specifically say that people should not eat processed food. If it came out of a factory, you should not eat it, at least not as a primary source of your calories. Having just finished reading the bread section of Michael Pollen's new book, Cooked, I would say that includes almost all of the breads you buy in a double-plastic sleeve in the grocery store.

I would not include aged meats in the category of processed food unless the "aging" included flavorings like "smoke" and "hydrolised vegetable proteins."

A Subway chicken bacon ranch sandwich might be good eating if you left off the processed bread and the factory-made ranch dressing.

if a guys live to 90 eating junk food, was it really junk food ?

snap ! you got me kb - good point ! but as you well know, your healthy diet may put me in a bag -

kazbern, not everyone actually enjoys cooking and preparing food. It's just not interesting to them or worth the effort. Some people just see food as a thing they have to put in their mouth to keep living-my grandmother was one of these and didn't particularly care for food (and let's not get into her cooking skills. Oy.)

Also, keep in mind that not all prepared foods are created equally. Eating, say, honey bunches of oats is going to be better than eating fruit loops. Same with having a kashi meal versus a hot pocket.

IMO, as long as someone is eating plenty of fruits and veggies, lean proteins, and whole grains, and minimizing junk and processed food (still ok for a treat sometimes) they're gonna be fine.

Also, if you think chef-prepared food is less expensive than buying prepared meals, you had better be ready to back that up. Assuming lunch and dinner are some of the higher quality prepared foods at $4-5 per item not on sale (average 4.50), and breakfast is a high quality greek yogurt (let's say 1.50/yogurt as an intermediate) with fruit as snacks (assume $15 spent on fruit) then total grocery bill for 1 is roughly $90 and these are pretty high estimates. How much would hiring a chef for a week and paying for their ingredients cost? Not to mention, a lot of chefs slather on the butter and salt.

Also, Somedude, sorry but I can't accept anything slathered with ranch as being healthy (or tasty, yick). =P

Isn't a quality restaurant meal (take-out included) the same as a personal chef? Possible less expensive and most people have several restaurants to choose from.

There is nothing wrong with preferring not to cook, many people never cook including making coffee.
My husband for example hates thinking of what to cook and getting everything on hand.
I like to cook and he cleans up. We both feel we have the best deal.

I'm super picky about my food: nix the pepper, remove onions, remove spicy stuff. But I love salt and fat. I almost never order something that is "prepared", no sauces, no casseroles. My gut does not like surprises. NY Strip and potato and green veggie is my fave. I want to recognize everything.

I know the restaurant "industry" uses many horrible fillers and extenders to increase profit margins. Never ever eat pudding in a restaurant. You would not believe what the ingredients are on the giant can it came out of.

no process foods, no dairy, no sugar -thats pretty much it!

Handful, cook the veggies longer and take digestive enzymes.. Also, really focus on chewing.

Guys, I made my first healthy lunch :p

An organic wholemeal roll with lettuce leaves (not the iceberg crap), tomato, chicken slices, and a home-made dressing which I made >_>. My mum was the inspiration for the dressing. She decided she was going to make a yoghurt marinade for some lamb, and I ended up making it. Toasted some cumin and coriander seeds, crushed them, added them to Fage Greek yoghurt (the good stuff), along with lemon juice, EVOO, garlic, chilli powder, chopped mint, and sea salt. Plus a little bit of honey for sweetening. It was well nice.

I was just pleased to see my mum actually interested in making something again. (I live with my parents; I know, I know.) 'Cos she's a very good cook, but basically she has lost interest in cooking as well. Between my dad constantly moaning about how food has gone downhill and hardly eating anything and me being unable to eat anything due to my Crohn's, there hasn't been much incentive for my poor mum to cook nice dinners. So we've just been eating more and more supermarket stuff, such as pies, breaded chicken and the like. Not every night, but a lot.

However, since surgery, I can eat veggies and so forth again. I also learnt to make a mean chicken stock from my liquid diet days :p There is no way on earth I could afford a personal chef: I'd be eating out at 3-star Michelin restaurants if I could afford that >_>. So I either make the effort or live on toast, cereal and crap supermarket meals for the rest of my life.

Anyhow, before I waffle on for even longer, thanks for the ideas, folks! I can't promise miracles (kazbern is right - I do struggle with depression and feeling unmotivated for large chunks of the time :-/), but I am going to try.

NCOT, have you talked with a doctor about your depression? It really does come across in your posts (I'm not saying this to be mean; it's because I've noticed and it's concerning) and I bet you'd feel miles better if you got some help!

I struggled with post partum anxiety after my son was born and it helped tremendously to see a counselor and to take Zoloft. Depression and anxiety are nothing to be ashamed of and need to be treated just like any other medical condition!

NCOT, yes, you really do. At least to me. I've read a fair amount of threads you've posted in lately, both in this forum and others. The pissed off feeling can also be depression manifesting itself in a slightly different form.

Hang in there and I hope that the psychologist can help!