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Ask HN: How do you decide what to eat/mealplan?
42 points by ndmrs on July 2, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 48 comments
For many years now most of my meals end up being junk food. My analysis is that this is mostly due to mental issues (ADHD), decision paralysis on what to cook as well as uncertainty on the huge number of different diets and advice you can find online (reduce carbs? Reduce fats? Eat lettuce all day?).

Planning a couple of days worth of good meals is seeming like an impossible task, let alone a plan that's healthy (for whatever definition of healthy) and manages to consistently use what's stocked in the fridge/pantry.

So HN: Have you hacked your meal planning/cooking? What procedures have you developed?




> Eat lettuce all day?

This is what worked for me. I lost 70 pounds into a healthy weight range eating salad and vegetables, since working remote during the pandemic.

For lunch every workday I make a big salad: one head of romaine lettuce, bagged spinach, carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, tomato. No meat or cheese. Small amounts of dressing and croutons. Comes to 600-700 calories total depending on the dressing, and keeps me full for hours. There's great motivation to use what I buy since the greens will go bad if I don't.

Dinner is usually a bag of microwave steam-in-bag vegetables, plus something else veg-based, baked potatoes or canned black beans or chickpeas or something similar. I put seasonings on these, Dash brand or similar, lemon pepper or "everything" seasoning or other blends. No butter or any other garbage with dense calories. Again it's 600ish calories, with lots of bulk and fiber which is how you stay feeling full.

I describe it like this: this is what the human body evolved to eat in the hundred thousand years before we invented Mcdonald's.

I'm not super strict about following that all the time; maybe 75% of my meals do, with the rest being typical takeout or whatever if I'm out somewhere, usually on weekends. But there's enough slack in that plan that I can lose any stray pounds I pick up in a week or two.

I don't log food, just roughly estimate calories in my head over each day and week. I don't do anything about tracking fasting hours or anything like that. The description of this that works for me: "Eat all you want. Train yourself to only want healthy food."


So fwiw I consider myself an athlete (ex-military, powerlifter, been lifting for 15 years) and I still struggle with nailing my weekly meal plan. It’s a nontrivial effort and organization problem.

There’s also no “best” way to eat without identifying what the metrics you’re optimizing for.

For me, I’ll oscillate between really motivated to be lower body fat vs not and that’s basically a function of roughly hitting macros (40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fats) while staying below calorie counts (2500 on non lifting days, 3000 on lifting days).

It’s not exactly “right” but I can generally manage to hit it with 3 meals a day plus some snacks. If I can manage this without going out to eat during the week then I generally lose body fat over time because restaurant meals have a lot more calories and sodium than home prepped food.

The meal prep is more complicated on “high motivation weeks” but I work to maintain this as a baseline. Trader Joes is my grocery store btw.

Breakfast every day (pre lifting meal) 5 minutes of prep - Egg whites from a box with some shredded cheese + granola bar or handful of granola

Lunch every day: 5 minute prep - bread + Turkey slices + pepper Jack cheese + mustard and 3-4 rice cakes + seltzer water.

Snacks: Turkey Jerky or Yogurt

Dinner: 5 minute prep (I cheat slightly here) - Trader Joe’s prepared meals like a burrito or a Tzatziki wrap or a Caesar salad or a half a box of their chicken nuggets. I sometimes cook my own food but this is a good compromise between a fairly spartan homemade meal but not 1000 calorie restaurant meal.

Portions tend to matter more than you expect.

When in doubt, have a fixed rule like no carbs after 1pm and give yourself a free meal or day once a week for your sanity. It matters more for your life that you just start trying to eat better than to actually nail it off the bat.

Best of luck and feel free to reach out to me if you want to chat further! You’ll figure it out.


Also IMPORTANT: Don’t hungry shop!!

1. Make your grocery list. 2. Eat a snack. 3. Go to the store and shop. 4. Profit.

You will buy food that will take you further away from your goals if you hungry shop.


Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Given:

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-...

I buy a week worth of salad components and make 10 salads for my partner and myself. No meat on these. Crumble of feta. Homemade oil/vinegar based dressing

Then I buy salmon or cod for a few meals, chicken for a few meals, then an optional "wildcard" that might require planning.

The rest is easy. Lots of fruits and veggies.

Don't be afraid to just do it. I learned mostly by trial and error and have ADHD as well.


How do you do salads for a week w/o spoilage?

Do you do any mise en place?


I did used to have some spoilage/lack of freshness but overcame it by trial and error.

I like greens that come from those robot farms. There have been a few different brands over the years. I have 10 square pyrex containers with lids that clip on all 4 sides. They've lasted about 5+ years so far. I put a small piece of paper towel in each to absorb extra moisture. Add cheese in the morning. Haven't had any spoil really but they sometimes taste less fresh and I eat them anyway.

I do my dressing in an oxo shaker but it can just be whisked in a bowl. Divvie it into Sistema dressing containers for the week. They're cheap and they've lasted years as well.

I've tweaked this a lot over the years but I've basically eaten a salad 5 days a week for 5+ years at this point. Be prepared to be the butt of jokes at work for sticking to it.


This works for me.

1. Calculate calories: https://tdeecalculator.net/

2. Generate meal plan from calories: https://www.eatthismuch.com/

3. Grocery shop from checklist

3. Make meals.

Credits to op of this Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/WeightLossAdvice/comments/j9i8ag/th...


This is great, thanks.

Now I'm on a 3.1k calories diet and some days I run out of ideas and I just don't know what to eat. I won't follow the full meal plan but there are some good recipes there that I'll definitely use.


Wow..this so simply put together. Thank you !! Also kudos for passing on the credit.


Keep it simple. Experiment incrementally and find out what works for you. Pay close attention to your body and cut out what it doesn't like.

What has been working for me lately is:

1. Eating one big meal and perhaps a small snack later all within a 4-6 hour window; also do a 24 hour fast about once a week. This has eliminated my acid reflux, helped me gain more energy and focus, and have never slept better.

2. Cut out 95% of my sugar and carb intake, also cut out dairy as I seem to have a mild intolerance/allergy to milk which I indentified from performing an elimination diet experiment. This has helped me eliminate various forms of skin inflammation which I had been suffering from for years. Also cutting out sugar has helped me tremendously with emotional balance and equanimity.

3. Eat primarily whole unprocessed foods

I stick to a few simple meals such as:

-Scrambled eggs with onion, garlic, peppers, salt, cumin

-Steak cooked in ghee and oven roasted veggies (brussel sprouts, green beans, carrots)

-Oven baked fish and veggies

-Occasional small amounts of low sugar fruit after rigorous exercise

My typical snacks are:

-Hemp and chia seeds mixed into almond butter and pinch of salt

-Bell pepper and hummus

-A handful of mixed nuts

I also supplement with wild alaskan salmon fish oil, for the omega 3 fatty acid


Once in college i started to follow few simple heuristics and immediately noticed improvements of my skin and overall health.

Just made them a subconcious habbit since then:

1. Near Zero junk food (besically everything in celluloid packages making loud noise and any mcdonalds type of restaurant)

2. As little processed food as possible, especially meat. Cook as much as I can from raw materials.

(meaning i buy a raw piece of meat and cook it if i want meat, not preprocessed, prepackaged, precooked, prefrozen something)

3. No sugar or sugar based food (coke, cakes etc)

4. Nothing deep fried on the pan or in the oil. This alone helped me get rid of acne in few weeks back then.

5. As little quick carbohydrates as possible

6. No pork meat (this one I caught up living in Israel)

7. Not too much meat (few times a week is enough for me), and no meat before sleep.

Of course its impossible to always follow these in the modern world. I just try to follow them when I have a choice.

Regarding the planning, i find it impossible, being a bit adhd myself.

I just cook and buy whatever and whenever i feel like in the moment (or find in my freezer :)


This is what I did:

1. Set up a target (lose/gain/keep weight, etc)

2. Learned basics about macros, calories and my daily caloric intake

3. Picked up a diet or macro distribution. For example 45% carbs, 35% protein, 20% fat.

4. Used an app (tried many, ended up using Eat This Much) to figure out a meal plan. Basically created 3 meals and used the app to tune the macros to fit #3

5. Make it as simple as possible to do. Easy to prepare meals (salads, veggie medleys, chicken, etc). Buy things for a fee days and pre cut everything so it’s easy to put together

It took me a while to read a bit about it but now it’s really easy to do and adjust as I go.


What I've found works for me is to have prepped ingredients handy, and not buy junk food (snacks, sodas, cookies, etc.) in the first place.

When the easiest meal available is a salad because it takes two minutes to put all the precut ingredients (lettuce, cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, onions, olives, feta cheese) in a large bowl, toss it with lemon juice, olive oil, and put a bit of salt and pepper on top, then it's pretty easy to eat more of it.

For example, in my fridge right now, I have containers with cut bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, feta cheese, mushrooms, cucumbers, carrots, and a tub of spring mix. With that already prepped, a lot of weekday meals are easy to make. Toss some onion, mushrooms, bell peppers and some tomato sauce into a pan for a delicious pasta sauce. Or some onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, and some eggs to make an omelette. Or cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, olives, and red onions for a Greek salad.


I’ve been moderately depressed recently and it’s been really ruining my appetite. I have the worst eating habits in the life right now, and I’m unsure how to fix it.

For reference i was always underweight, and medication i was taking was suppressing my appetite. I switched medications and ate WAY more. Was getting to a healthy weight, and i got COVID and that kinda ruined my appetite. Since then it’s almost been a chore to eat. Even when I’m hungry i struggle with what to eat, then i just don’t eat enough of it. My body will physically say “no more”

I think if i start eating a couple smaller meals throughout the day and then a bigger meal at night i can get back into the habit of eating regularly. It really is a struggle trying to think of what to eat though, and i usually go fasting all day until i NEED to eat.


> I’ve been moderately depressed recently and it’s been really ruining my appetite. I have the worst eating habits in the life right now, and I’m unsure how to fix it

God I've been here for years, and haven't figured it out let. I don't like big meals, and I don't like standard schedule. I'd prefer just to snack throughout the day, but that's somewhat difficult to do in a way that's both healthy and appealing. My hunger occurs at random often extremely inconvenient times. I also just don't have the motivation, especially reading these other comments. Life if already boring enough without eating the same thing day after day.


Yeah it’s definitely annoying thinking of what to eat everyday, i especially hate spending money to eat two bites and not want to eat at all after.

I’ve been trying to train my body to get hungry at “normal” times. I kinda hate breakfast, always have, but now I’ll eat a piece of fruit i enjoy in the morning. Later on in the day I’ll try and eat something else that’s small and i enjoy. My thought process is that if i continue to do this my body will start to crave food at that time and my appetite may come back.

I’ve had varying degrees of success so far, i don’t have the habit of the small healthy snacks yet so i keep having to remember. I think i may set up a bot to text me to eat at X time.

The depression definitely doesn’t help, hard to motivate to eat when you’re low. Dealing with that in parallel should help. When i can exercise again I’ll probably start doing that too for 30 minutes a day to build up an appetite.


Change one thing at a time.

First get in the habit of cooking.

Then work on making it healthy.

There isn't a hack.

It is a lifetime process.

You start by using a frying pan, not sprouting jars.

Good luck.


I think my microbiome decides that. I'm following my cravings (all but sugar) for 2-3 years now and it's going great.

When grocery shopping, I get those "oooh, I NEED that" urges when looking at certain veggies, fruit, meats, dairy products, breads/rice/groats and even spices. It's all changing over time but mostly with seasons.

In addition, I eat fermented stuff daily and supplement different probiotics: Saccharomyces boulardii in the morning, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium longum in the evening. Fermented stuff is a craving but supplements are researched. I also have ADHD.

I'm on 17:7 intermittent fasting with addition of ~41h fast every couple of weeks.


When I was single, I tended to make big one-pot meals. Chili, lasagna, stews, etc. Meal planning several days ahead is way easier if you're making 3 or 4 days of leftovers at a time. If you can manage, cook every other night so you can stagger those leftovers between lunch and dinner before they go bad. If you miss a night, no biggie, make sure you've got sandwich fixings or something for easy lunch. But, getting into the habit of cooking regularly is the real hurdle for a lot of people. Once you're in that habit, focusing on "is this healthy" is just a matter of changing up recipes.


From my experience, diets don't work. Everyone's physiology is different and I've created my own diet that is tailored to my needs, not the needs of some diet book author. One thing I need is plenty of sodium, since sodium is an essential nutrient, but bad in high amounts, so I limit my intake. I sweat a lot, so having essential electrolytes present in my system helps a lot. I also enjoy various nuts and seeds. Nuts help with fiber, aswell as balancing hormones, getting protein in, and getting in healthy fats. My favorite are walnuts and brazil nuts (which are high in selenium). Also I've learned to live with carbs since I can't do keto. Keto actually makes me feel tired, as opposed to the common advice that you're fueling your body the right way with keto, but as I said: everyone's different. Maybe it's my genetic makeup to prefer carbs. Although I do cut out sugary drinks as much as possible, and go for the 'zero' or 'sugar free' options when I can.

In terms of meals, I add seeds to everything (chia, flax, linseed, pumpkin seeds) etc I also add salad mix to everything, so a burger for me is quite leafy, and has plenty of onions. I vary my diet as much as possible, yet lately I have tried every dish imaginable and it's hard to seek out new food, but that's an enjoyable problem I like to solve. 'What new thing can I eat today?' is a common question for me.


One nit: A diet is the food you eat. It is your lifestyle. You don't go on a diet, you change your diet.


I think they meant prescriptive diets that are recommended by others


Oh I know, but repurposing the word diet to mean blanket change is what sets you up for failure. When you realize that you can focus on incremental change and really see benefits.

Another example I give is how long you have been eating your diet and you suddenly want to change it. Compare that to riding a bike. It probably took 2-3 years for you to become good at riding so much so that now it comes second nature after 10, 20, or 30 years. Apply that mentality to changing your diet and you will have much more success. Sometimes you fall off. You cry a bit, you dust yourself off, you get back on.


I'm similar and have had a bunch of success with the meal plans (e.g. hellofresh etc). My day was:]

Breakfast: None (don't crave it anyway)

Lunch: Something predictable and the same every day. Either sandwich or salad

Dinner: Meal plan M-Th, Fri-Sunday eat whatever I want

Mostly I don't mind the cooking part, but I hate spending time deciding what to and the logistics of making sure I have all the right ingredients on hand. The meal plans solve all of that.


You need to AGILE your meals. An easy way to start is by creating a basic menu you can fall back on. I started lifting in college and had to increase calories on a college budget. I became okay with eating chicken, brown rice and broccoli everyday. To this day, I still default to chicken and rice when I need to eat dinner and don't have plan. So my default looks something like:

    - Oatmeal, banana, and/or scrambled eggs for breakfast
    - PB&J or ham&cheese sandwich for lunch
    - Nuts, protein bar, peanut butter etc for snack
    - Chicken and Rice for dinner 
    - Eating out once a week
Sundays are my shopping days so I make a mealplan for the week of what I'm going to eat before I go to the store. That's when I decide if I'm going to make something else. Sometimes I want waffles or pancakes, or I'll get a frozen pizza, or I find a recipe for an interesting dinner and I'll try to make it. I've been doing this since I have lived on my own. With a family this just scales out a bit to account for everyone. Before I go shopping I ask the question "what does X normally eat for each meal" and that goes on the list. Then I ask them if they want to try something different this week. Usually my children say No, they want the same yummy food every day. My wife usually says yes because she desires change in her diet. So this allows me to plan at the start of my food sprint, spend 4-5 days executing, and then 1 day usually eating out and reflecting on how the week went. The number one indicator my plan failed is waste at the end of the week. To minimize waste, you need to maximize usage. I track this using grocy[0]. As time consuming as it is to manage inventory, it does a really great job of exposing how much money you spend and waste. Plus it has a recipe section which allows you to easily mealplan and figure things out especially when you don't feel like doing it.

So to recap:

    1. Identify your flaws and workarounds to get to a default state
    2. Commit to easy recipes to fall back on
    3. Expand and track your waste
    4. Fine tune and feel great!
[0] https://grocy.info/


I have CFS and to try and combat it I am experimenting with a low carb diet. This restriction takes a lot of thought out of meal prep as every meal is protein and veg/salad. Nothing gourmet required.

There are plenty of keto treats and zero calorie but tasty drinks (some based on just native plants) to scratch the sweet tooth itch.

It has been working well to quench a lot of CFS and also I am losing weight through better hunger regulation although that isn’t a primary goal (but I am overweight so it is not a problem).

Two burgers, sans bun, an egg and salad is super filling and like 500 calories or so.


A few videos I like:

https://youtu.be/1S3998B6BjI

https://youtu.be/UIOW18kRDEA

https://youtu.be/GCF6E0vRceo

https://youtu.be/Kes2fk-Nuwo

https://youtu.be/Y0p06tRmO78


Titles would be a nice touch rather than a list of bare naked links.


Something I realized is that good nutrition can actually reduce ADHD symptoms.

So you can start with that and then find out which foods make you feel more stable/present.

Some foods that help my physiology are eggs, butter, fish, nuts, yogurt, avocados, turmeric, onions and other veggies. Also chicken and occasionally red meat.

Then I try to cook something that includes those foods and it can snowball into a healthier lifestyle because you actually feel better along the way.


I've been on a 100% carnivore diet for a month and I feel great. Only meat, salt and water on an intermittent fasting (16:8)


What types of meat? Any organ meats?


I eat what I crave. When it has too many calories, I know it, and I cut back some in the next 24 hours.


I calculate my macros and calories based on if I am cutting or bulking (+500 cal || -500cal)

Signed up for a meal prep company that delivers weekly meals based on my daily caloric needs. the rest is if I am getting dinner or lunch with people.


- Nowadays it's easy to find healthy food (lentil/bean based) you can microwave in 2 min - As a side dish, microwaved rice - learn to cook meals from as few as max 5 incredients


I just have some few favourites that I often come back to; such as scrambled eggs with Japanese dip (Kewpie or Otafuku), air-fried french fries and mozzarella sticks.


I let Hello Fresh (meal delivery service for self-cooking) decide for me. No more shopping, no more decision making on that end.


Frozen vegetables + protein (tofu) + sauce to stir fry (e.g tomatillo). I change the sauce up for variety.


Eat real food, not too much, mostly plants.[1]

Figure out what you want / like to eat, and perhaps why (more on this below).

Learn how to prepare that.

Use that to guide your shopping.

If you're not buying what you plan to / want to eat, you're going to have difficulty in preparing meals based on that.

Learn basics of nutrition. There are numerous guides, I've found fitness / bodybuilding books useful as they're strongly focused on macronutrients (carbs, fats, proteins), as well as micros (vitamins & minerals). They also tend to emphasize short meal prep and economy of ingredients. Tip: books oriented at women tend to focus far more on food and recipes. I've found the New Rules of Lifting series to be quite good in this regard, and whilst both the "For Men" and "For Women" titles emphasize nutrition, the women's book covers this in much more detail. These are vastly more useful than the "food pyramid", which is mostly a marketing tool for different sectors of the US ag & food industry.

Another element of fitness books is that they incorporate goals into meal planning. You can leverate this beyond simple fitness, keeping in mind that what you eat should serve some purpose. That purpose could be fitness, weight loss, muscle gain, or considerations such as ease of preparation, entertainment, variety, health concerns, limited storage / refrigerator / freezer space, etc.

Learn some basic recipies and foods. They're the foundation of a diet and menu, you can use or add to these to create a vast variety of dishes. Or you may decide you've got your go-to meals and go with those. If you don't have a cookbook or set of cookbooks, invest in some (perhaps checking them out at the library first).

If you plan on preparing your own meals, learn to cook. There are classes and courses (a great way to meet people as well), books, videos (a lot of cruft along with the good), and more. Keep in mind that there's a wide range of goals and intents behind these, from basics to social signalling (see the recent jarred garlic thread for all the social context mixed up in food: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31943770).

Build up a basic kitchen and set of tools. That's your basic pots and pans, bowls, cutting board, a good knife or three (Chef's, paring, bread, for starters), spoons and spatulas, and a few basic tools (graters, presses, and the like), and some food-storage containers (for batched-preparation and leftovers). It really doesn't take much, and you can build with time. Low-tech is often best, and my most treasured utensiles are a 60-year-old cast-iron skillet, a Dutch Oven, and a chef's knife. Mechanised tools can be useful but you can go a long way without them: mixers, blenders, food processors, etc. Get a whetstone for your knives and learn how to use it (not necessarily in that order).

On tools: I've long longed for a KitchenAid stand mixer, and thought that this was essential for tasks such as bread baking. When I got into sourdough baking at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I found that an old ceramic bowl I'd received years ago from a friend was far more useful. What I did end up buying were a digital scale (about US$20), a dial thermometer (yeast is highly tempeature-sensitive), a bench knife (this resembles a spackling spatula, and in fact I bought and used one of those until I found a good bench knife), proofing containers, and a set of glass jars for my starter. The lessons being that 1) expensive mechanised equipment isn't necessary, 2) task-specific tools are, 3) measurement is often critical, and 4) you'll discover these over the course of your cooking/baking career. I still don't have that stand-mixer, though I'd kind of like to have one.

And if you don't like cooking for yourself, or want to minimise time spent doing so, find out what foods maximise both pleasure and nutrition whilst minimising time. The frozen foods section has vegetables which both won't rot and are often pre-sliced, which can be easily added to recipies, along with various meals and other options (check ingredents especially for trans fats, sugar, or other ingredients of concern). There's no shame in this.

Large-batch preparation (e.g., a stew for a few days), one-pot meals, stir-fry, learning how to make your own (sour)dough, and some basic frying, blanching, stewing, and baking skills will get you a long way. Combining fresh and prepared (frozen, shelf-stable, dried, ...) ingredients can give you a lot of flexibility.

Plan your weekly shopping around basic staples. If you can swing by a store for fresh produce and vegetables, that's a big bonus --- you can buy small quantities as you need them for immediate use.

And for the foods you want to eat less of: don't buy them. It's very hard to eat what's not available.

________________________________

Notes:

1. Michael Pollan, from In Defense of Food, which is a good book to add to your list, though perhaps not the best starting point.


> for the foods you want to eat less of: don't buy them.

I have no willpower. Any semblance of self control is due to not buying junk in the first place.

+1 for Pollan


Common advice amongst the fitness community is to shop around the perimeter of the grocery store, skipping the inner aisles. Of course all grocery stores have different layouts, but in your average American grocer this means you would only walk through the produce, dairy, meat counter, salad bar, and eggs/cheese sections of the grocery store. The processed food is always in the middle aisles because it doesn't require refrigeration.

I utilize this method personally with great success. The cookies, snack cakes, chips and crackers aisle has nothing which belongs in my weekly diet, so I skip that aisle and don't even look to see what's in it. I probably haven't gone down that aisle in a decade and by not navigating down the aisle I prevent myself from being tempted to buy junk. Likewise I only have to practice willpower in the grocery store once or twice a week, instead of every day.

Strongly recommend you try this method as its worked for me and many I know


When I shopped in person that's exactly what I would do and oddly enough I was not even aware of that rule of thumb at the time. I was only aware of what good food was.

I'd load up on fruits, vegetables, salad components first. Back of the store was meats, milk, eggs. Other than spices, oils, and coffee there is not much reason to ever venture into the center aisles.


They key here is that "the perimeter" tends to be where the less-processed (and more perishable) foods are.

Exceptions which are internal, as you note: spices, oils, coffee (and/or tea). I'd add:

- Frozen fruits and vegetables, particularly if you want to buy bulk and reduce spoilage. Rapidly-frozen foods can be higher in nutrition than "fresh", most notably vitamin C, which degrades relatively rapidly.

- Bulk grains, legumes, and nuts. Other baking supplies as well, which are typically on interior aisles.

- Tinned goods, including fish. Prepared soup stocks. Arguments for/against canned goods exist. There are long-shelf-life goods which make much preparation easier or provide for easy and healthier snacks.

I too can spend years without walking down a crisps / snacks aisle.

Among foods which may seem healthy but often aren't: many breakfast cereals (overly-processed, low-fibre, high-sugar), numerous freshly-baked goods, sweetened yoghurts (plain is generally fine), fruit juice (liquid sugar --- eat whole / frozen fruit instead), many "diet foods" (often trading fat for sugar, overly processed, and overpriced to boot --- see Polan's basic dictum).

I'm not saying "never buy / eat these". But do so rarely, as special occasions, and do so consciously. For the most part, I don't miss such ... food-shaped products ... at all, the few I do sample occasionally I appreciate when I do.


Your habits are eerily identical to mine. All I did was ignore fads/hype and read Harvard Health. A botany elective in college was also extremely insightful and life changing.


Living as a starving student had a pretty strong impact. By the time I'd graduated college, few of the high-priced packaged goods had any appeal at all. And I knew how to do some basic cooking / meal prep.

Pollan himself is pretty awesome as well.


Another possibly useful book, How to Read a French Fry, by Russ Parsons.

It's a scientific exploration of food and cooking.

https://www.worldcat.org/title/how-to-read-a-french-fry-and-...


I found this on the internet 15 or 20 years ago. I can't find the original, but see https://www.indps.k12.wi.us/cms_files/resources/Power-Back-D...

Menus for Healthy Living

Want to know exactly what to eat? The following menus each contain between 1,500 and 1,800 calories and are designed around food-group servings from USDA's Food Pyramid. Use these menus as a guide to developing your own menus, substituting equivalent amounts of your favorite foods from within the same food group whenever you like. Vegetarians can easily substitute such meat and dairy alternatives as tofu and beans for protein, and calcium-fortified soy milk and soy milk products for the dairy category.

MENU 1

Breakfast

1/2 cup orange juice (1 Fruit)

1 cup cooked oatmeal (2 Grain)

1 cup low-fat milk (1 Milk)

Lunch

3 slices (3 ounces) turkey breast (1 Meat)

2 slices whole-grain bread (2 Grain)

Fresh spinach leaves and tomato slices (1 Vegetable)

1 tablespoon reduced-fat mayonnaise (1 Fat)

1 apple (1 Fruit)

Afternoon Snack

1/2 cup tomato juice (1 Vegetable)

2 large rice cakes (1 Grain)

Dinner

1 cup black bean soup(1 Meat Alternative)

1 corn tortilla, toasted (1 Grain) and topped with1 cup chopped cooked vegetables (2 Vegetable)

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Jack cheese (1 Dairy)

3 fresh pineapple rings (1 Fruit)

Snack

1 cup sugar-free, fat-free lemon yogurt (1 Dairy)

MENU 2

Breakfast

1 cup cantaloupe or Persian melon cubes (1 Fruit)

1/2 cup bran flakes cereal (1 Grain)

1 cup low-fat milk (1 Milk)

Lunch

1 cup lentil soup (1 Meat alternative)

1 cup raw spinach ( Vegetable)

1 cup sliced mushrooms (Vegetable)

1 tablespoon reduced-fat salad dressing (1 Fat)

2 large or 4 small bread sticks (2 Grains)

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (1 Fruit)

Snack

1 cup grapes (1 Fruit)

1 slice (3/4 ounce) reduced-fat cheese (1/2 Milk product)

Dinner

1 large flounder fillet (1 Meat) broiled with 1 teaspoon olive oil (1 Fat)

1 cup steamed broccoli spears (1 Vegetable)

1/2 small baked potato (2 Vegetable) topped with 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt (1/2 Milk product)

1/2 cup fruit salad (1 Fruit)

Snack

3 graham cracker rectangles or 6 squares (1 Grain)

1 cup low-fat milk (1 Milk)

MENU 3

Breakfast

1/2 grapefruit (1 Fruit)

1 slice whole-grain toast (1 Grain)

1 tablespoon reduced-calorie margarine or butter (1 Fat)

2 eggs, scrambled in nonstick skillet without fat (1 Meat)

1 cup low-fat milk (1 Milk)

Lunch

Pasta Salad: 1 cup cooked pasta (2 Grain) with 1 ounce reduced-fat cheese cubes (1 Milk)

1/2 cup chopped cooked vegetables (1 Vegetable)

2 tablespoons low-fat salad dressing (2 Fat)

1 cup melon chunks (1 Fruit)

Snack

4 pretzel rods (1 Bread)

1/2 cup vegetable or tomato juice (1 Vegetable)

Dinner

3 ounces lean steak (1 Meat), sliced and wrapped in 2 fat-free flour tortillas (2 Grain) with 1/2 cup diced tomato (1 Vegetable)

1 cup raw spinach leaves (1 Vegetable)

1/2 cup red or sweet white onion slices (1 Vegetable)

1 kiwi, peeled and sliced (1 Fruit)

Snack

2 cups air-popped popcorn (1 Grain)

MENU 4

Breakfast

3 small pancakes (3 Grain) with 2 tablespoons reduced-calorie syrup (Free) and1 cup blueberries (1 Fruit)

1 cup low-fat milk (1 Milk)

Lunch

Tuna Salad Sandwich: 2 slices whole-grain bread (2 Grain) 3 ounces water-packed tuna (1 Meat)

1 tablespoon reduced-fat mayonnaise (1 Fat)

Chopped, celery, lettuce leaves (Free)

1 pear (1 Fruit)

Snack

2 large cinnamon rice cakes (1 Grain) with 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (1 Fruit)

Dinner

1/2 chicken breast ( 1 Meat), baked or broiled, skin removed

1/2 cup cooked brown rice (1 Grain)

1 cup steamed zucchini and carrots (2 Vegetables)

1 small roll (1 Grain)

1 tablespoon reduced calorie margarine or butter (1 Fat)

Snack

1 cup fat-free, sugar-free hot cocoa, made with low-fat milk (1 Milk)

3 fat-free cookies (1 Grain)

MENU 5

Breakfast

1 large bagel (2 Grain), toasted with 1 ounce reduced-fat soft cheese (1 Milk)

1 cup strawberries (1 Fruit)

Lunch

1 cup split pea soup (1 Meat Alternative)

1 whole wheat pita pocket (2 Grain) filled with Shredded lettuce (Free)

1 ounce reduced-fat feta cheese (1 Milk)

1/2 cup chopped tomato (1 Vegetable)1 tablespoon reduced-fat vinaigrette dressing (1 Fat)

Snack

1 peach or 1/2 cup canned peaches packed in unsweetened juice (1 Fruit)

2 gingersnaps (1 Grain)

Dinner

3 ounces lean pork (1 Meat), stir-fried with 1/2 cup sweet red pepper, 1/2 cup onion and 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (2 Vegetables) in 2 teaspoons vegetable oil (2 Fat)

1/2 cup cooked brown rice (1 Grain)

1 cup fresh pineapple cubes or 1/2 cup canned pineapple packed in unsweetened juice (1 Fruit)

Snack

1/2 cup low-fat frozen yogurt (1 Milk)

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Congrats on taking the initiative! It’s hard.

I have ADHD and I eat healthy and track macros semi-successfully. Here’s my advice:

Ignore 99% of advice out there.

Personally, I try to cook as little as possible. Some people enjoy cooking, that’s great! Even I do sometimes. But for most meals, the slog of buying groceries, preparing, cooking, then cleaning is no fun and I end up throwing away food and eating out.

Things like meal prep can be extremely taxing for a neurodiverse person — I’m sure you can do it but it’s probably harder than it is for most people and you can put all of that incredible creative energy into something more productive.

Find a few healthy snacks that you like and buy those. Healthy = not junk, don’t overthink this part. These are just to curb cravings. Baby carrots, lettuce + deli meats, chickpea popcorn, watermelon, whatever. Set up a recurring order from an online grocery delivery or Amazon and call it a day. Eating these when you’re hungry will make all of your other food decisions more deliberate.

Get all of your groceries delivered. Safeway has it, FreshDirect, Instacart, many other options. It makes it quick to reorder the same things, you avoid indecision in the grocery store, and you save lots of time.

Buy healthy microwaveable food. I use The Chicken Pound [1] or you might like Freshly [2]. Trader Joe’s and other grocers have pre made stuff that’s pretty good too. Don’t cook rice the 45 minute way on the stove, buy microwaveable rice.

All of these could be healthier: watermelon has sugar, pre made has extra sodium, etc. If you get to the point you have extra time and space to optimize for these things then go for it, but to start out, the only thing that matters is calories + not eating junk.

Probably just not eating junk will make a world of difference, but if you want to dive deeper, track calories. Figure out what your baseline is using TDEE Calculator [3] and choose the slow loss. I use Keto app [4] for tracking (I don’t do keto) because I like searching by barcode and voice.

There are lots of rabbit holes to dive down and I anticipate if you get the basics on “easy mode” then you might view some of these smaller optimizations as actually fun!

But ya, as someone with ADHD the biggest thing for me was just letting go of the shame of not being able to meal prep like a normal person. Instead, I spend some extra money on premade and grocery delivery, set myself up to be 80% healthy on autopilot, and then spend my energy on much more engaging and productive (and high leverage / high return financially) activities.

[1] https://thechickenpound.com/ [2] https://www.freshly.com/ [3] https://tdeecalculator.net/ [4] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/keto-diet-app-macro-tracker/id...


Fantastic advice here. Meal prep has always been a struggle but this makes it seem much more doable.




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