I’m encouraging my wife to eat better and more consistently. She’s goes to the gym 4-5 days per week but her real weakness is her diet. Her metabolism is just a wreck and I’m attempting to help her fix it.
She’s trying to lose a good amount of bodyfat and obviously one key way to do that is small frequent meals (5-6/day).
I’ve got her up to 5 meals/day now. The remaining gap is she eats lunch at 1 pm and doesn’t eat another meal till dinner at 6 pm. I keep telling her that a 5 hour gap between meals is just not going to cut it.
The challenge is she is a physical therapist at a burn clinic in a hospital. The afternoon meal cannot be refigerated and she has only 5 minutes to eat it between seeing patients. Please give me some ideas on what this non-refigerated meal could be for her.
She will not eat tuna out of a can/bag so that one is out. Crap, I’d almost rather have her eat a low-carb protein bar with the sugar alcohols than eat nothing for 5 hours. One other idea I have is beef jerky and nuts. Any others?
No offense to the jerky and nuts, but it takes me forever to eat jerky, and I eat relatively fast.
If I only had 5 mins I would definitely go with a protein powder meal.
If she won’t eat tuna out of a bag then I bet she’s not too keen on chugging olive oil either, so a shake with 2 shots of oil is out.
How about a shake (w/ water as the liquid) and some nuts.
Or make your own oat bars. There’s a pretty good recipe on the back of the Quaker oats canister that you can take the fat out of. But I find those to be pretty dry, and again, take longer than 5 mins to eat.
I think the shake is the best “whey” to go. (sorry.)
After talking with her again, it gets even better. Beef jerky is not ideal becuz she doesn’t react well to a lot of sodium. She also needs something small she can carry on her (i.e. in a pocket, etc.). This scenario almost screams protein bar but I know these are not great choices because of the glycerin/sugar alcohols. If I’m cornered into recommending a protein bar what’s the least damaging one out there in the t-peeps’ opinions? Unless you have other portable protein ideas that aren’t high in sodium and don’t need to be refigerated.
5-6 meals does not necessarily mean 5-6 same size meals. But mainly your 3 main small meals breakfast/ lunch & dinner plus 2-3 healthy snacks inbetween to stop your body from going into starvation mode.
A low fat yogurt with nuts mixed in it.
Low fat cheese slices and peeled apple slices.
A Meal replacement protein shake would be probably best.
Or a MRP protein bar.
half a whole grain bagel with cottage cheese and peach slices on it.
Heck, anything will do. Nuts are great, maybe some dried fruit unless you’re really worried about the carbs. Simple sandwiches of any kind are good as well, be it PB, turkey or chicken she puts on it.
pack some bread with some topping… back in my school days i used to bring lunch every single day. it doesn’t need refrigeration… this is in Norway however, where eating bread (whole wheat) is very common, dont’ know how it is on your side. give it a go.
if you’re trying to stay off carbohydrates, i suggest a protein bar
200 g Oats
30 g Whey Powder (use chocolate flavour)
2 Table Spoons Natural Peanut butter (any brand)
3 Egg Whites
2 150 g Bananas (or average size)
1 Tablespoon Honey (Natural version if possible)
100 Ml Skim Milk
1 tsp cinnamon
Preheat your Oven for 5 minutes at 180 C, Mix the oats, the whey and the cinnamon. Add the Peanut Butter and stir in throughly, Add your three egg whites, your mashed up banana and the honey and again, stir in really well whilist slowly add the 100ml of skimmed milk. Once fully stirred, spoon the mixture into a greased lined cake tin and smooth with knife until nice and level. Place in oven for 15 minutes at 180c. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly, (beware this is very hot and sticky) then cut into 8 bars.
Per Serving : Calories 147, Protein (g) 9.5, Carbohydrates (g) 21.3, Fat (g) 3.4
I’d say making your own bar is the best choice.
Illuminatae’s recipe looks rather fitting, got any other goodies like that? I know soy has a bad wrap for guys (estrogen is evil and what not) but I think it actually has some positive effects for women. I could be wrong but I think The Food Pharmacy article mentions something about it. Just a thought since the bar is for your wife and not you.
I would agree, make your own protein bars. Here’s another recipe from the Shake It Up II contest.
Legal’s Chocolate & Peanut Butter Protein Bars
2 scoops of chocolate Grow!
1 tablespoon of natural peanut butter
1/4 cup steel cut oatmeal
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the egg whites and uncooked oatmeal, then add the remaining ingredients. Spray a nonstick cooking spray in an 8"x8" baking dish. Spread the mixture in an even layer over the bottom of the dish and bake for about 20 minutes or until the edge starts to pull away from the sides. Let cool for 5 minutes and cut into bars. Eat these while your co-workers eat candy bars; feel smug.
I’m in the same boat as you, with my wife. She has, finally, started taking sone raw, unsalted almonds and dried fruit to eat in between lunch and dinner. However, the oat bar recipe listed above, sounds like a great alternative.
I think PPP had some good ideas. However, it may appear to you that your wife is giving you REASONS why she cannot eat certain things when to some of us (myself included) they are sounding a little more like excuses.
Does your wife truly want to make a change or is this something you are asking her to do? Most people who really want to do something themselves don’t say the words “I can’t”. They tend to say the words “How can I?”. If she wants to eat something that must remain cool she could always buy a small “soft cooler” for a couple bucks from Walmart. Mine works great for situations like hers.
[quote]willr3 wrote:
I’d say making your own bar is the best choice.
Illuminatae’s recipe looks rather fitting, got any other goodies like that? -snip- quote]
I have lots…mostly for meals…will post more if you want…
Doesn’t the mixing of peanut butter with bannas and honey violate the P+F and P+C nutrition rule, as this would be mixing C+F? I always find this tough to abide by, which is why I’m asking.
The P+F and P+C rule is not really a rule. It is a theory. While it may work, there are certainly other methods that are equally as effective. If you can’t find a way to consistantly abide by this rule there are other diet options out there.
[quote]Will99 wrote:
Doesn’t the mixing of peanut butter with bannas and honey violate the P+F and P+C nutrition rule, as this would be mixing C+F? I always find this tough to abide by, which is why I’m asking.[/quote]
[quote]iluminatae wrote:
I have lots…mostly for meals…will post more if you want…[/quote]
I’m definitely interested, canned tuna is good an all but I wouldn’t mind some variety. I don’t know if this constitues Hijacking the thread since they may not all be portable meals. Maybe another thread, or PM, or a webpage I could visit?
[quote]randman wrote:
What about RTD protein shakes? Do they all suck or do you think this is an option?[/quote]
I read once that most (all?) RTD shakes use some sort of heat-processing in preparation, which can denature the protein. I can’t remember the citation for this fact, but I’ve always steered clear of RTD shakes. A shaker bottle with whey protein and a bottle of water work just as well. :o)
