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Welcome to the Personal Development for Smart People Forums, the place for lively, intelligent discussion of all personal growth issues -- physical, mental, financial, social, emotional, spiritual, and more. You're currently viewing as a guest, which gives you limited read-only access. By joining our free community, you'll be able to post your own messages, access many members-only features, see the new messages posted since your last visit, and of course remove this header message. Registration is fast, simple, and free, so please join today. If you arrived here from a search engine, you may want to explore the main site first, which includes hundreds of deep and insightful articles on a variety of personal development topics. |
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04-05-2008, 02:53 PM
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 Bachelor Chow/Human Food? Hey guys, You know how there's "Dog Food" and "Cat Food" and that's all they have to eat along with water to stay alive and healthy? Is there any food like this for humans, or a preparation of food that you could make every day and eat? For me, this would have to be vegetarian. If you know of a way to do this including meat, please let me know, and I'll do my best to substitute. I'm looking for minimal time investment and maximum health if you do know of more than one. Any input would be great. Thanks!      |
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04-05-2008, 03:30 PM
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| I think the closest you get is oak meal, but again, eating that all the time is not a good balance on the diet. |
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04-05-2008, 04:20 PM
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| What could you add to oak meal (did you mean oatmeal? Please pardon my ignorance if you didn't.) in order to balance the diet? |
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04-05-2008, 04:27 PM
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| I think you are trying to take a shortcut that is quite unhealthy and not advisable. My question would be, why are you trying to take a shortcut ? There is food that people in hospitals get through a tube in their nose directly into their stomach. You can live on that for about half a year and it contains everything you need (according to medicine today). |
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04-05-2008, 04:47 PM
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| I'm with Bart -- why would you want to do this? Is it a case of lack of interest in food, lack of time to prepare/cook food, wanting to save money on food..? A balanced diet really needs: - At least 5 servings of fruit & veg a day (preferably more!) - Some protein (not usually as much as people think -- and there's a some protein in foods we think of as being purely carbs, such as bread) - Plenty of carbs (I know others may disagree with me here), mostly wholegrains - Some monounsaturated fat (eg. olive oil) You can get all of those just fine from foods like sandwiches, breakfast cereals, salads and fruit if you really don't want to bother cooking. Ali
__________________ ___________________________________________ Ali Hale www.theofficediet.com (Free tips, ideas and encouragement to help busy people succeed with their health/weight-loss goals.) |
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04-05-2008, 05:02 PM
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I have more important things to be tackling that I enjoy more. Food is a necessity, and although it can be enjoyed, there are many things I enjoy more than eating that I'd like to free even more time for. |
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04-05-2008, 05:10 PM
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| I'm like you, Dave. I don't want to have to put a lot of thought into it; I just want to have some handy, good-tasting, nutritious "People Chow." There are a couple things I always have on hand for my food bowl (it says "Angela" on it.) Couscous. I make a big pot and then separate it into little batches for eating later at room temperature, usually I throw some nuts in, and when it's time for a meal I add lightly steamed vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli, and maybe a spoonful of pesto. Yummy, that's my perfect meal. I'm sorry I didn't know about couscous during my poverty-stricken student days. The Vitality Elixer for breakfast. Soy milk, frozen bananas and blueberries, maybe whatever fresh fruit is around, and 60-gram protein whey powder. A little no-sugar, no-fat vanilla pudding, like a teaspoon if I want to have it more desert-like and rich. A fuji apple and a spoonful of peanut butter (perfect pre-workout snack.) |
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04-05-2008, 05:19 PM
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04-05-2008, 05:55 PM
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| Thanks for the great ideas Angela. I'm definitely going to look into the nutritional values of those foods and see how easily i can automate that process to give me 'everything' i need nutritionally. I figure I'll calculate how much i need, make sure I eat that, only that, and all of that, and then get ordering it bi-weekly via Peapod and schedule my cooking times  |
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04-05-2008, 06:00 PM
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| Okay, Dave. It has been suggested to me that couscous is an ignorant choice; so you must make up your own mind on that one. I thought for sure it was the vanilla pudding that would get me in trouble! Like you, I would rather find nutritious, easy, inexpensive ways to eat to vitalize myself, but I'm not too interested in dedicating a lot of time to it. I get a little exhausted reading Steve's descriptions of all the work and thought he puts into eating wisely, but I'm inspired by the results he gets -- the energy and well-being he gains. I like the idea of eating raw, mostly because I can't be bothered to cook very often. |
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04-05-2008, 06:08 PM
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| Looks like couscous would be a great thing to add in for calories and but isn't considered a whole grain (there are whole grain varieties though)! Has some protein and B vitamins too apparently. If it were a whole grain and raw vegetable combination I could totally do it. If I had to eat raw onions/carrots/broccoli and wheat bread/couscous/nuts all day and only that I would love it. The ideal thing would be a combination of just a few to minimize preparation. |
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04-05-2008, 06:15 PM
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Have you tried quinoa? Also not a whole grain, but delicious and apparently pretty nutritious and relatively high in protein. The only trouble is, I've never been able to get it to taste as good as when someone else prepares it. |
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04-05-2008, 06:19 PM
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| I wish it weren't something produced. I want the food(s) to be natural. What would humans eat if they lived in a region like mine, without imports? If the answer is "you couldn't survive here without imports" it makes me ask whether or not I should be living in the area. It's just funny to me that monkeys don't have to go to the grocery store and eat 200 different things to be healthy. We're the only animal that eats this varied a diet to my knowledge. |
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04-05-2008, 06:21 PM
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| Dave, I think rice might be the answer you're looking for. You can prepare rice all kinds of different ways, with various sauces / veggies. Rice and beans. Rice and plantains. Rice and guacamole. Man, now I'm hungry.
__________________ Best, Dan Linehan |
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04-05-2008, 06:44 PM
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| When I lived in Brazil, there was always a pot of black beans and another of rice, so you could just have a scoop of each when you were hungry, and it was served at every meal, including breakfast! The family I lived with said "rice and beans" was slang for sex, because you have it every day.  |
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04-05-2008, 09:46 PM
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| If you really do want to eat a monodiet, then something along the lines of powerbars or bodybuilding 'milkshakes' might work. When I was in the Navy, some of the hard-core muscleheads didn't eat on the mess deck at all. They drank whey protein shakes every day in the berthing compartment and spent their lunch hour working out in the ship's gym. Whenever we hit port, they had a 'liquid' diet as well, just a different (and higher octane) liquid... I have no idea how long these guys were able to keep up that diet. |
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04-05-2008, 10:15 PM
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| A few people seem to think that a single food item is required. Dog and cat food are a blend of different foods to achieve a nutritious meal. "Bachelor Chow" would presumably be similar. By analogy, some sort of stew would probably do the trick (quinoa, vegetables, legumes, cheese etc.) though I'd analyse the nutrition carefully first. Personally though, I suspect you'd get sick of a single food pretty quickly. Even for our dogs we rotate through 3 or 4 different types of dog food.
__________________ When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created. When people see things as good, evil is created. When the way is forgotten, 'morality' and 'piety' need to be taught. -Dao De Jing, Chapter 2 |
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04-05-2008, 11:56 PM
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Angela, I must visit Brazil.
__________________ The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. (Thoreau) |
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04-05-2008, 11:58 PM
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May I quote Boswell......... Samuel Johnson once criticised Boswell for the Scottish habit of eating oats for breakfast: "In England we wouldn't think of eating oats. We only feed them to Horses." to which Boswell replied: "Well, maybe that's why in England you have better horses, and in Scotland we have better men" 
__________________ The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. (Thoreau) |
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04-06-2008, 01:12 PM
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| Thanks for explaining your reasons, Dave! I think Angela's suggestion sounds pretty good, as does the idea of some kind of stew. When I'm lacking time/interest in food, I tend to go for crispbreads with cottage cheese and salad -- cheap, quick to prepare, easy to eat and digest. Vegetable soup with good fresh-baked bread (lovely local bakery) also works well. Good luck! Ali
__________________ ___________________________________________ Ali Hale www.theofficediet.com (Free tips, ideas and encouragement to help busy people succeed with their health/weight-loss goals.) |
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04-07-2008, 02:16 PM
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| OK! So far this is what i've got for my all purpose daily diet 1 whole wheat bagel with 1 tbsp almond butter(241 cals) 1 Gala Apple (75 calories) 1 medium banana (125 calories) water 1 cup steamed broccoli (100 calories) 1 cup steamed carrots (80 calories) 1 cup steamed mushrooms (50 calories) 1 cup steamed snow peas (70 calories) 1 cup steamed brown rice (210 calories) water 1 cup steamed broccoli (100 calories) 1 cup steamed bok choy (40 calories) 1 half head of lettuce, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (60 calories, 10 calories) 1 whole wheat tortilla (140 calories) 2 tbsp hummus (80 calories) water What 'essentials' am I missing. Am I horribly short on calories (1400 seems like plenty for an IT manager who doesnt work out more than light yoga 5-10x a week and general recreation)? Can i expect to actually eat all that food at lunch? Should I move some to dinner? |