Lately I've been working towards improving all areas of my life. So far I've mostly been working in the financial area, and hope to soon be much more wealthy while enjoying the process of creating such wealth and my contributions to society.

That being said, I am not yet very wealthy, and while I was previously waiting to get my health in order (until I had more wealth -- figured it would be useful for such a goal) I've realized I've been making excuses and that I can become healthy on a budget, and that this health will greatly aid me in my quest for wealth.

So here's my situation:

1) I really can't cook well. Just don't have much experience or knowledge. I'm a great self-learner and know I can improve this, but some advice on getting started in a simple and doable way would be very helpful.

2) I eat out all the time. Pretty much every meal. This has 2 major consequences:
It's expensive + It's unhealthy. (and a 3rd consequence is I often don't eat enough).

3) I haven't worked out in over a year, and within that year have canceled my gym membership. Again unhealthy.

4) I am tall and scrawny. It's my natural body-type. I can eat crap and lay around all day, and I don't get fat, just scrawny and low-energy.

Now, for about 9 months or so prior to a year ago, I had been working out somewhat regularly. It was my first experience with weights and a gym and all that, and I didn't really know what I was doing, but I discovered my body responds quite well to it. I don't remember how much muscle I gained, but it was probably like 20 pounds or so (all gone again). Obviously at that time I was also eating more and better.

But now I'm back at ground zero. I can't afford a gym membership right this second, but I figure, if I can get my diet in order, and start preparing all my own meals rather than eating out, I'll be able to afford a gym within a week, lol. I already found a cheaper gym (was at an expensive one before that had all these "features" I didn't use).

The gym will cost me $40 a month, I'll bet I save more than that each week if I stop eating out!

Blah, I've been typing too much, but basically what I'd like to know:
Can anyone describe or point me to some basic diet plans to follow? For now my I'd like it to meet 3 criteria:
1) Healthy & Balanced -- all the nutrients I'd need and not much unnecessary junk/crap.
2) Cheap -- Remember, for now I'm on a budget.
3) Easy to prepare -- I'm basically a virgin to cooking. Any advice on how to prepare the food in a simple yet tasty way will be golden for me.

I'm not picky and don't require a ton of variety in my diet. As long as it's healthy, cheap, and tastes decent it should work for me.

After about a week or two of my new diet (I figure it might take a few days/weeks to get fully into it -- better to see solid results over time than switch cold turkey and crash) then I'll join a gym and start the exercise portion of my Health Quest.

First off, nice job starting your "health quest"...

Simple Starting Diet

This is recommended by all the members here who know what they're talking about. I'm a beginner as well and I follow it, it's worked great for me as well as many others. Based on my experience so far I think it definitely meets your criteria:

1. Healthy and Balanced - Definitely. Eat this food for 6 days a week and allow yourself a cheat day once a week so you stay sane.

2. Cheap - You're eating the same thing every day so buy it in bulk and you'll save a ton of money. Also it's a hell of a lot cheaper than eating out.

3. Easy to prepare - I'm 18 years old and basically can't make anything other than Kraft Dinner and I cook all my meals in this diet, enough said. There are lots of easy ways to make beef taste better as well so you get some taste and variety without having to be a good cook.

Buy yourself a "George Foreman" grill. Those things work great and are about $20.00

Call some of the gyms in your area. $40.00 a month is too much. Keep in mind, the more you pay up front, the lower your monthly membership will be.

Buy things on sale, especially meat and chicken. Don't hesitate to shop at the discount stores either, but only for certain items as things like meat are usually close to their expiration date.

But things like eggs, tuna, etc... can be bought for cheap and are inexpensive sources of Protein.

Do a little reading and learn about nutrition.

If you really want to do it, you will. If not, you'll make excuses not to.

This starting diet seem like it will work great as a simple base to build off of and get me started. A few questions:

1) Do frozen vegetables work well? I prefer these, as they're much more convenient. I also read a convincing article a while back that frozen vegetables are usually the most nutritious form (assuming you don't boil too many of the nutrients away). The logic is something along the lines of that the freezing doesn't destroy much nutritional value, and they are frozen at the optimal time. Versus "fresh", unfrozen vegetables which are usually not eaten at the optimal time and loose quality during transportation, etc...

2) Assuming frozen vegetables work well, any recommendations on how to prepare them? I used to just lightly boil them and eat them plain back when I was working on my diet a year ago, but I think some seasoning would greatly improve the situation. Also, is boiling the best method of thawing?

3) What kind of beef? And what quality of such beef? And any recommendations on where to get? I'm trying not to be over-analytical or obsessive, but I've read there can be a vast difference in the qualities of meat. So any advice (remember, I'm on a budget, so price is a factor as well as quality. A nice balance would be good.)

4) Also, any recommendations on preparing the beef?

5) Likewise for the chicken (which to get and preparation advice)?

6) I might cook the eggs for breakfast, and have them with toast, OJ, and bacon. Is this healthy (in particular I'm wondering about the bacon)? Or should I save it for my off-day?

That's about it for now. I know I'm asking a lot but I like to make informed decisions, and while I've done a bit of reading on nutrition and hope to read more, there's a lot of info to sort through when for now I really need to get started (optimization will be continual).

I'll look into a George Foreman Grill. I think I'm going to forgo the shakes/raw eggs sessions for now (aside from my egg-breakfast), but just until I start working out (which will be as soon as I get this starter diet really going -- and saving me gym money). Once I start working out I'll want to gain so I'll add the shakes/raw eggs and extra meals as necessary.

And I do believe I really want to do it and that I'm through with excuses. I'll update this thread with my progress and you can feel free to ridicule me if all that progresses is my "excuse-creation-ability".

1) It doesn't matter that much...stop over-thinking. Just do it.

2) Yes boiling and seasoning, some butter or whatever will be fine. Just get it down. Preferably if you rather save some money and time, just make salads. MUCH EASIER

3) THe higher the fat content, typically the cheaper. Get ground beef at 80% 20% fat. That will be fine. Get like 2 1/2 batch, seperate them by half pound giant meatballs, when you cook it, flatten it in burger form (put the rest in the fridge covered with plastic wrap), add seasoning. You can use ketchup, A1, taco sauces, tomato sauce, steak sauces, bbq...be creative. But don't over due the sauce..........you can also make salisbury steaks or meatballs. Bu that takes a little bit of cooking but it's not hard to do. Just look up recipes.

Also you can get a london broil (nice thick steak), and they are generally very cheap. I switch them in and out with ground beef.

4) I like everything rare...don't over cook the ground beef. Its nasty. A good pinkish red in the middle is great.

5) Grilled chicken....or do tuna. I'm no cook but they make salad dressings that can be used as marinades. Wishbone's "Italian" or "Rasberry Vinegrate" is really good.

6) just put them in the shake raw, or cook them. Toast is eh...banana or apple would be better

A shake is a very nutritious way to start off your day with what i mentioned above. You can start whenever with it.

And yes we will ridicule you if you don't get on it

Good luck dood

forward said:

1) Do frozen vegetables work well?

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yes.

2) Assuming frozen vegetables work well, any recommendations on how to prepare them? I used to just lightly boil them and eat them plain back when I was working on my diet a year ago, but I think some seasoning would greatly improve the situation. Also, is boiling the best method of thawing?

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always add fat, it helps absorb the nutrients: butter is a great choice, also olive or peanut oil. I never add water, I just put some fat in the bottom, turn up to high, add veggies, put on lid, check every 3 minutes & use a wooden spoon to bring the veggies on the bottom up to the top to avoid burning. the only veggie that doesn't tolerate this well in my experience is cauliflower (burns pretty quickly).

for spices, always add a moderate amount of salt (unless using a significant amount of salted butter) and get a hold of a black pepper grinder. pre-ground black pepper (sneeze powder) is best saved for playing practical jokes on people

beyond that, you're limited only by your imagination with spices. a few places to start: Italian seasoning, curry powder, seasoned salt (in place of salt), lemon pepper, pumpkin pie spice, or the constituent herbs/spices of any of the things previously listed. you'll figure out what you like -- use your nose.

3) What kind of beef? And what quality of such beef? And any recommendations on where to get? I'm trying not to be over-analytical or obsessive, but I've read there can be a vast difference in the qualities of meat. So any advice (remember, I'm on a budget, so price is a factor as well as quality. A nice balance would be good.)

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there's nothing so wrong with any beef that you should have to spend extra to get it -- spending extra doesn't guarantee you anything, it can't even guarantee that you avoid junk like mad cow disease. get cheap ground beef unless someone can recommend to you a higher quality source (for flavor, not for health -- most 'healthy' beef is actual worse for you, unless you can guarantee that it comes from grass-fed cows and that stuff breaks MOST budgets).

then spend on whatever other cuts you can afford for variety.

5) Likewise for the chicken (which to get and preparation advice)?

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to start, get a package of fresh, not frozen white meat, and play around with it. then get a package of fresh thigh meat, and play with that. see what you like. there are many, many ways to cook this stuff, but try playing first & asking questions about it later. it's tough to ruin chicken, except by overcooking it, and you'll figure out pretty quickly what that looks like, or undercooking it (still translucent -- nobody can swallow it in that state -- you'll figure that out even quicker).

6) I might cook the eggs for breakfast, and have them with toast, OJ, and bacon. Is this healthy (in particular I'm wondering about the bacon)? Or should I save it for my off-day?

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I recommend eating the eggs by themselves, scrambled quickly with a bit of butter (and/or cream), or with oatmeal. be generous with the pepper grinder on the eggs + come back for more suggestions on how to keep them interesting. the most obvious thing to add to oatmeal is brown sugar, dried blueberries and/or raisins but that's the just the tip of the iceberg.

Bacon presents several challenges, mostly the nitrates, not the fat content (shhhhhh lard is good for you, right up there with olive oil, but don't tell anyone or they'll lock you up with the other nutritional deviants). But mainly, it's just a pain in the arse to cook on anything like a daily basis.

Tools:

I say don't bother with a Foreman grill -- you'll develop bad cooking habits, and there's nothing you can do with it that can't be done with a cast-iron skillet (though the skillet only cooks one-sided, it's an infinitely more flexible tool).

Start with a cast-iron skillet (an 8-inch one should cost < $15 and do everything you need, or better yet, find one that someone else isn't using). This is perfect for browning beef, cooking chicken & steaks, and making scrambled eggs. Learn how to take care of it and your descendants will be able to make use of it for many generations.

At some point you may want to cook bigger batches of meat. A 10 or 12 inch cast iron skillet should set you back < $20 if you do your research.

For the veggies, any 1 to 3 quart pot will do with a lid, probably on the smaller side if you have to actually buy one.

A heat-proof (Silicone) spoon-spatula is perfect for stirring veggies, cooking eggs & oatmeal, and browning beef. Almost any sort of heat-proof (metal, silicone or silicone-tipped metal) tongs are perfect for chicken & steaks.

Any kind of black pepper grinder will make everything taste better, because it releases the volatile oils & other compounds at the last possible moment (right before eating).

Couldn't hurt to have a pot-holder or 2, esp. for the skillet but there are lots of easy substitutes (dish cloth, wash cloth, bunched up t-shirt).

I think that should cover all the cooking gear you need right now.

Forget the frozen veggies and hit the weekly local Farmer's Market that every town/city has during the spring and summer months.

Not only will the veggies be fresh, but there are loads of hot women walking around shopping for their veggies and fruit and it's one big day game bonanza!

Not only do you get your grocery shopping done, you might even be able to get a girl over to your place or get over to hers for some "cooking lessons"

Women love to help guys with stuff like this. Ask a chick how to cook something. If she's cool, she'll be more then happy to help and to explain it to you and you can take it from there.

Also, the Foreman grill is great because it's a time-saver as it cooks both sides simultaneously, is easy to use and clean, and it works well, but a cast-iron skillet is also a good tool to have in your cooking arsenal.