I Need Your Help…
Flickr: margilevin
In the three years I’ve been running Dietriffic, I’ve managed to attract a certain type of person — those who wish to live a healthy lifestyle, in a convenient manner, which fits with them and their family.
During this time, you’ve told me about the particular challenges you face in trying to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Lately, however, there’s been a rise in the number of people who find good, nutritious food, beyond their budget.
I’m going to try to address this issue for you very soon, but what I want to know from you today is:
What challenges do you face when trying to employ a healthy lifestyle for both you and your family?
This is your opportunity to air your specific frustrations and challenges with your favourite dietitian 
And, have them addressed in a way which will help you move forward.
So, please share your challenges below. Don’t be shy! And, I look forward to hearing from you…
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45 Comments
Blake
08.25.2010
We usually do pretty well, but sometimes it’s hard to be creative with dinner meals so we don’t get bored of the same foods. My wife and I both like to cook healthy food, so we usually figure something out.
Excited to see some of the challenges from other readers.
.-= Blake´s last blog ..Remember This =-.
Anita Clements
08.26.2010
In a busy life, at times it can be hard to organise the regular trips to the fresh Fruit & Vegie store. Without fail, we have at least one visit per week, but ideally like to buy and use as soon as possible. It is finding the time to travel to, and shop for, fresh, healthy, and wherever possible, in season produce that is at times, our challenge!
Eileen Edwards
08.26.2010
Eating out can be a challenge as ‘healthy’ sounding meals could be loaded with hidden extras – eg salad loaded with a dressing or where a meal will only come with chips and no alternative
Bolanle Idowu
08.26.2010
Sometimes,its difficult to get creative with different food.Another challenge is getting the fruits and vegetables as often as I want to because its not always convenient getting to the grocery store .
Anita
08.26.2010
My biggest challenges used to be creativity, but I have found solutions to that, by adapting other recepies to be healthy – and it’s kind of become a game for me and my husband. How healthy can we make this lasagna – lol.
But since we moved to Spain (from the UK) I find it difficult to source organic foods. I have found some at the supermarket, but it’s the fresh stuff that’s hard to find.
Another big barrier I walked into (and I’m not sure if you deal with that Melanie) was learnign about how to choose good effective supplements, and more importantly how to combine them for good results…
Good question – and thanks for asking
.-= Anita´s last blog ..Do the things you love- and love the things you do =-.
Melanie
08.26.2010
Hi Anita,
I imagined that in Spain the produce would be really nice and fresh, almost organic anyway… no?
Sharon
08.26.2010
SImply keeping motivation to say no to that one extra not-so-healthy-thing too many, especially when not in my own home. It’s all very well choosing a healthy option over pizza at home but when you visit some well-meaning friends and family who set it in front of you and then say “You’ll have a bit of cake – we bought it especially for you.” what do you do?
Mary Beth
08.26.2010
My daughter was just diagnosed with type II diabetes. I’m having a really hard time planning meals especially dinner when we used to have a protein, potato, and vegetable but since she is a diabetic the potato is out. She doesn’t like cauliflower so I’m not sure what to do. Any suggestions?
Melanie
08.26.2010
Hi Mary,
Have you had any advice on an appropriate diet for your daughter? A small amount of potato would be okay… have you been advised otherwise? As a whole, you should go for wholegrain carbs, as they won’t spike the bloodsugars so much. So, things like brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa are fine. Does she like other veg apart from cauliflower? It’s really important that she gets plenty of vegetables into her diet.
Portion control is also very important. 1/2 of the plate should be non-starchy veg, 1/4 lean protein, 1/4 complex carb.
Kennie
08.26.2010
The only problem I run into is having to cook to satisfy me and my husband with the same meal. My husband isn’t on a diet and is a real meat and potato kind of guy. I used to be that way until i started eating healthier and started working on a healthier weight. I am active, my husband isn’t (and he stays skinny!). I used to pretty much buy two different sets of groceries to satisfy his appetite as well as mine. That got expensive. Right now, I buy one set of groceries and when I make my plate for dinner, I just don’t take as much. Hubby believes that there has to be some sort of starch with dinner – I don’t. I guess, a good compromise between the two would be what I am looking for.
Jerry Powell
08.26.2010
My sugar level is a little high. My problem is I love sweets and when I start I eat to much. Also my wife kathern has very bad knees and we eat out most of the time, or at least one time aday. She don’t get much exercise. We are trying to eat healthier.
Melanie
08.26.2010
Hi everyone,
Thanks so much for your great comments. I’ll hopefully be able to address most of them in some way. Keep them coming guys…
Kendra Griffith
08.26.2010
One of my biggest issues is actually living with persons who’s diet is different from mine (my sis and her boyfriend)… it causes issues when cooking is done for everyone or because unhealthy things a always around the house! At times, I’ve refrained from eating some of the things they cook, but when I cook it’s more of a prob since they don’t like my “diet” foods.
Working near to a bakery also doesn’t help when I get hungry at work. Giving up on unhealthy foods that I love is also a prob, since every so often I am too busy to prepare a meal and when hunger strikes, I just want to eat something, anything that’ll satisfy me.
Eileen
08.26.2010
I am currently on a dairy free diet with my eldest daughter. My son cannot have soya milk or ordinary milk so he has to have UHT milk and my husband and daughter use ordinary milk. So I have a major problem when out shopping so as to make sure that I satisfy the whole household
Melanie
08.30.2010
Hi Eileen,
That really is a difficult one. Will you and your son be on the dairy free diet for life, or is it a trial?
Manda
08.26.2010
I think it’s difficult to sift through the mountains of information out there… I have a dream of eating a healthy diet that consists of a lot of natural foods like different nuts, fruits, vegies etc etc, but it is so difficult to find natural and easy recipes (or eating guides since I would prefer to do very little actual ‘cooking’ of the foods I eat). I don’t even know if this is a realistic dream because it’s hard to find information that doesn’t have a spin on it (i.e. don’t eat animals… etc).
I feel in my heart that I could survive by eating very little, or grazing through the day on these natural foods, but I just don’t know where to begin. I try to talk to people and they look at me like I’m crazy lol.
Melanie
08.30.2010
Manda,
I know exactly what you mean… that’s one of the main reasons why I’ve created my next product…I really hope it will help people like yourself.
Duby
08.26.2010
I personally find the whole “eating organic” thing difficult. Its much more expensive !!!! so, i thought its a good time to start a garden. Many people grow their own veggies and seem to save money AND are eating organic !!! so good idea, right?
Well, seems to be that my green thumb is BLACK
i bought a small herb garden (the kind where all you have to do is add water) and i somehow killed the whole thing !!!!!! … and this wasnt even a vegetable !!!
hence my problem
Manda
08.27.2010
Me too!! So many vegies, herbs etc have died at my hands!!
Melanie
08.30.2010
Aw Duby, better luck next time, hey? I think you should preserve… perhaps try something else next time… do you have space for carrots, or corn, etc?
Subir Ghosh
08.27.2010
Hi Melanie,
It is a great and very satisfying experience for me to take you as my mentor for my food habit that I changed since last 1 year and got a very good result. I am continuing with the same food habit and my present weight is 59 kg. which I find is OK. But my greatest challenge today is my wife (57 years) is weighing 94 kg. For last two months she stopped all non-veg. food, fried and oily food as well as taking special diet of salad, soup etc. cut the intake of rice and wheat product to bare minimum as she is being monitored closely by our family physician and she gave the diet list to my wife. She was very fond of sweets, but now she stopped it and takes only half TSP of sugar two times a day with milk tea – morning and evening. She is doing Yoga (deep breathing exercise) everyday for 30 minutes since last two years. The new controlled diet started two months back, but no change in wt. Please advise me how to go about it.
With kind regards
Subir
Melanie
08.30.2010
Hi Subir,
Is your wife able to do something more physically strenuous than yoga? While it is a very good form of exercise, you really need to be doing some form of cardio and weight training as well for weight loss benefits.
As for the diet, it’s difficult to say, but do you think her food portions are too large?
subir
09.03.2010
Hi Melanie,
Her food portions are not too large, in fact she is eating less than me. Let me try with her cardio and weight training in a prefessional center to help her in weight loss. Thanks a lot for your valuable advice.
Melanie
09.03.2010
No problem, I hope you both get on well! Keep in touch.
katie
08.27.2010
i think one of the biggest issues is the availability of unhealthy foods. Everywhere you go you find cheap convenience foods and when other people are eating them you can be socially pressured. I learned a lot from http://www.diet-myths.com and i now eat a lot healthier.
Katly
08.27.2010
Hi Mel,
The problem is both my husband and I get home late, then the last thing I want to do is cook something so we often chuck some pre packaged food in the oven. I know what your thinking, and even worse than that I am so exhausted that we end up buying take away. My husband doesn’t cook so he is no help in that department. Don’t know how you can solve this problem but we have gone from bad to worse in the last few months with my new job. I was thinking to buy light and easy meals for dinner so we stop the cycle but that costs more money. It seems you always have to spend money with what ever you try to acheive. I don’t know if you remember me or not but you may remember my health issues, and to be honest I have completely gone backwards and don’t have any strength or will power to start anything healthy even though I cringe when we do buy take away, I really do, its just that I am sooooooooo tired the thought of standing on my feet for an hour or so in the kitchen kind of kills the joy of cooking for me. And yes I know the drill, excersice, eat healthy low fat foods, drink plenty of water and get your variety of foods in. Seems simple doesn’t it? Anyway that is enough of my feeling sorry for myself.
.-= Katly´s last blog ..10 Winter warmers =-.
Melanie
08.30.2010
Aw Katly, I’m so sorry to hear that — and yes, I DO remember you!. What can I say really? One thing I know, is that when you eat well, you feel better, and that includes your energy levels too. I know it’s hard to find the motivation, but if you keep on in this cycle that you’re currently in, how will you ever get out of it?
I don’t know how many nights you cook at present, but let’s assume it’s zero… what if you were to commit to cooking 3 healthy meals per week? Then when you’ve mastered that, re-evaluate, and perhaps increase to 4 or 5, then gradually you’ll get there. As you do that, your energy levels will also increase, so cooking most nights of the week won’t seem like such an effort.
The other idea is to get into batch cooking large meals on the weekend, or whenever, and then freeze until needed. I don’t cook every night of the week either. Normally what I do is cook once, each twice. So, we eat the same meal two nights in a row, or I just the same base meal (eg chilli) one night with baked potato, the next with rice. Would that work?
Brenda
08.28.2010
The challenges I face are time, area and lack of talent. I am very busy and stressed, so when I get home the last thing I want to do is cook a complicated meal. I live in a small town so finding some of the ingredients become a little difficult and I’m not a very good cook, so I find that most of the recipes have items in them that I’ve never heard of, which scares me away from them.
I need quick, simple, tasty recipes with easy to find ingredients…Thanks…
Manda
08.28.2010
I totally agree Brenda!! I am not blessed with fantastic cooking skills, and even if I get a ‘quick and healthy’ cookbook the recipes look complicated or have ingredients in them that I have never seen or heard of. If I try to make healthy meals on my own they are often really boring!!
Victoria
08.28.2010
My problem is multiple Health issues (Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Chronic Anemia, Kidney Disease, Malabsorbtion, and the fact that I only have a small intestine- the large was removed due to severe disease). Often, I am to tired to eat, or to prepare healthy meals. Most of all, I am not able to exercise sufficiently. At home I should be using a Walker, but don’t- if I start to loose balance, I grab nearby furniture. Away from home I must use a Wheelchair. I have some “minor” atrophy beginning in my legs as a result, which agrivates the pain and fatigue w/ the above.
Cathy in NZ
08.29.2010
Organic foods are available here but in the bigger supermarkets that are almost ‘around the corner’ or a little space down below everything else.
Cost is the biggest bugbear – probably because I’m in a big city so if you are a small organic farmer somewhere out to town and you sell say to a big supermarket chain – not much is going to filter down to my local store
We do have speciality stores but on average they are very expensive and out of the way. We also have Farmers Markets but that is quite expensive as well – it’s as if the seller knows they are Special! So they can charge like a wounded bull
I try to be a healthy as possible with my choices but often I have to buy huge packets of fresh veges/salad greens (packaging reigns!) and I end up with !@#$%^&*() problems because I’m home alone
.-= Cathy in NZ´s last blog ..Grandma Jack =-.
kaylee
08.31.2010
Hi everyone
The best way to loss your fat . Do exercise everyday early in the morning.
Duby
08.31.2010
wow, it was so great reading the challenges of others. I guess when i read all the health blogs – people make it look so easy !
In any case – i REALLY REALLY DO want to learn how to grow my own veggies …. so many reasons why it sounds like a marvelous thing to do – but the whole process sounds very overwhelming. I wish there was a book of tried and true step by step guides — for us beginners. A lot of the books i read (even if they are considered beginners guides) the terms go right over my head.
Melanie
09.03.2010
Duby,
Have you heard about “square foot gardening”? I think it sounds like a very manageable way to begin your own garden.
Verity Mitchell
09.01.2010
Our biggest difficulties are sickness and injury – just when i get into a regular running pattern with good food something goes wrong! If i’m no exercising i find it harder to eat healthily as when i exercise i get the motivation to not undo all that hard work with unhealthy/fatty food.
Melanie
09.03.2010
Aw Verity, that’s a difficult one. I hope you have a better run in terms of sickness and injury in the coming days. Do you take a multivitamin and mineral tablet when you’ve been feeling unwell?
Rochelle
09.01.2010
my biggest difficulties are my husband don’t need to lose weight and I do so I am making 2 meals. He don’t like alot of stuff that I make for myself and his food I no longer can eat. i don’t feel so good after I eat them. I wish there was a way to combine the his and my foods to make something we both like.
resveratrol
09.02.2010
I’m having difficulties in preparing unique and appetizing healthy foods for my kids. Also I don’t have enough time to prepare meal so most of the time we end up eating on a ready-to-eat or on a fastfoods.
.-= resveratrol´s last blog ..Resveratrol 500mg Capsules 98 Pure Micronized =-.
Melanie
09.03.2010
Have you tried cooking large batches of healthy food, then freezing it for nights when you don’t have enough time to cook?
sharon cook
09.04.2010
The hardest part 4 me is 2 stick 2 it and keep going
duby
09.05.2010
Hi Melanie,
i checked out square foot gardening and it looks AMAZING !!!! looks like a great beginner tool — and you can build on that when you get more handy with the whole soil stuff
thanks so much for hte idea !!!! i will definitely check it out. (im assuming i should wait for the end of winter to start planning a garden? — can you see that im totally clueless ?
thanks again for the info!
Melanie
09.06.2010
Hi Duby,
I’m so glad that was useful!! Yay… I think it looks amazing too, probably because I’m totally clueless as well, lol Here’s another handy tool to find out what to plant and when. You can change the zone according to where you live in the world, and if there’s a particular vegetable you want to grow, it will tell you more info on it, and how to plant, etc.
kaylee
12.29.2010
Hi guys
Eating nothing is not a proper way for loosing the weight. Take a proper diet with low calorie and healthy food is use full for loosing the weight.
Debi
06.24.2011
It definately is a challenge to get “back to fit”. Once upon a time (about 5 years ago) I was was a size 5. I always atributed it to my over 13 years of classical ballet – my metabolism being quite active I seemed to burn anything as I ate it!! LOL Now, in my very late 40′s pushing 50 I am quite a bit larger. I would love some exercise ideas that do not involve squats. My joints kill me and keep me from excersing. Any ideas?
Melanie
07.01.2011
Hi Debi,
Have you tried more gentle forms of exercise like Yoga or Pilates? Or swimming?
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