Need help with a beginner diet.

[Shibby]

I have a friend and she has a horrible diet. I need some sort of a beginner diet. Nothing to strict, more just something to get her started in a decent direction and she will be able to stick with. Then we can modify it from there. She's 19 and is very beautiful, but has started developing a belly that kind of makes her look early pregnant. Other than that she looks decently shaped. I would hate to see her get to a point where it's to overwhelming and she dosn't care about it any more. I would hate to see a good thing go to waste.

[Puddles]

Knowing what kinds of foods she likes would be a good place to start, working up a diet for someone and then finding out they hate tuna and chicken would be a waste of time. Getting her to eat 4 or 5 times a day would be good too because most women don't eat enough. Cutting out junk foods, pre-packaged foods and simple carbs will help her. She probably doesn't eat enough protein too. She should learn how to read labels on foods so she can see the real content of what she's putting into her body, as we know, most convenience foods are loaded with carbs, fats or both and have very little protein in them. She needs to drink a lot of water, most people don't drink enough.

Find out what she likes to eat and get an idea of what she eats and drinks and then we can put something together that's easy to follow. What are her days like, is she in school or working? Can she bring her lunches with her or does she have to buy them?

[Shibby]

Well I know alternatives for alot of things, I just don't know where to start and the different needs of a woman's diet. As far as what she does, she at home most of the time then goes shopping or hang out with friends. Most of the diets that I can set up are for similar needs as mine. She dosn't like red meat or pork. Her favorite food is sushi, but that can get real expensive.

[sana]

there's really not a different need for women's diets then men. it's all about the goals she wants accomplished. at this point, i don't even think you should worry much about that. start her off like puddles said - with eating 4-5x's a day, then getting her to stop eating processed junk.

get her in the gym too.

[Puddles]

Shibby, some people need an exact meal plan to get started with while they continue to learn about nutrition. Set her up with something easy to follow, smaller portions and a meal or two less than you'd do simply because unless she's seriously dedicated she's not gonna prepare 6 meals a day.


Something like this would be a good start:


Breakfast:

2 or 3 egg whites plus a whole egg, scrambled in a non stick pan sprayed with Pam or nuked. She can add in some seasoning but no butter.

and

1/2 cup of oatmeal nuked with water, Splenda and cinnamon.

or

If she doesn't want to mess with cooking breakfast she can do half a cup of low-fat cottage cheese with strawberries (frozen ones will be fine as long as there's no sugar added).


Lunch:

Salad with a can of tuna or a grilled chicken breast and half a cup of brown rice (the rice can be mixed into the salad). For dressing some olive oil mixed with some seasonings to taste.

or

She can switch the protein and rice a couple of times a week to a sandwich made on whole grain bread, there are some new low carb breads, Pepridge Farms is a good one. She should still eat a salad with lunch to help fill her up. If she wants to use deli meat, Boars Head has a low salt turkey, just make sure she's making the sandwich with enough meat, not just one slice. She should use mustard instead of mayo on sandwiches.

Snack:

10 almonds (She can stick these in a ziploc baggie in her purse for when she's out.)

Dinner:

Protein (6 ozs. of chicken/fish/turkey, etc.), 2 cups of steamed veggies or some veggies and a salad. This is easy to order when she's out. Make sure she's not adding butter to the veggies and the veggies are not loaded with carbs like corn and potatoes.

Snack (this can be like a desert for her):

Protein shake, lower carb. Lean Body for Her comes in packets and is easy to mix in a blender with some ice-cubes and water, the chocolate is pretty good.

or

A plain rice cake with a little peanut butter spread on top.


She can go to Fitday.com to check on the total cal's of her daily intake. I'm guessing that since she's not very active, 1200 cal's a day would be pleanty but still low enough for her to loose some fat.

Diet soda's should be limited due to salt, no more than 2 a day if that. Unsweetened iced tea with artificial sweetener would be better. Make sure she's drinking water. A cup or two of coffee is ok as long as she's not adding a bunch of stuff to it.

She should also take a multi vitamin.

[Timma]

This thread is making me hungry. Another good snack for her could be some peanuts.

[Shibby]

Thanks puddles. She will become more active or she's definatly going to hear it from me. She works at a gym with me so she has no excuse.

[Puddles]

Originally posted by Shibby
Thanks puddles. She will become more active or she's definatly going to hear it from me. She works at a gym with me so she has no excuse.

So...does this mean you're gonna help her with cardio?

[Shibby]

Originally posted by Puddles
So...does this mean you're gonna help her with cardio?

If she lets me

[Puddles]

Originally posted by Shibby
If she lets me

I'll keep my fingers crossed for her.