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[DJ]

Your friend is right, you need more fish. I get that you don't like it now, but you'll get used to it. Though I would recommend freshwater fish due to the whole mercury thing. Carp and pike should be cheap and easy to find throughout central Europe. Trout is great, but you can only get the really good ones in mountainous regions, they don't do well in slow moving water.

Also, make sure you're getting enough B12. It seems you have a mostly vegetarian diet, and there's virtually no B12 in that stuff if it hasn't been fortified with it during processing (read labels carefully to verify). Some of your health issues seem consistent with B12 deficiency, so I'd recommend going to a doctor to check your levels.

[DeKaFu]

I suppose I could also learn to cook chicken and have it once a week or so. I do like chicken, and it's not TOO expensive, though I have to try to block out of my mind how full of hormones it is.

I might be wrong here, but I'm under the impression that hormone-use is banned in poultry, at least in North America... "No added hormones" is just meaningless marketing fluff when it appears in advertising here, since it's true of all chicken sold. Maybe look into it for your region? It might not be as bad as you thought.

[FallacyofUrist]

Now, I'm not a cook, and I don't think I can teach you how to cook chicken. If you want mashed potatoes or an omelet... but that's off topic.

Instead, I'm going to make a suggestion for the source of the chicken you may or may not buy: not the average supermarket. If you're only having it once a week, I think you might be able to go for better quality. As in, organic free range chicken from a local farm, if at all possible.

[kilakan]

You mentioned feeling lightheaded and dizzy at one point I believe?

Also, make sure you're getting enough B12. It seems you have a mostly vegetarian diet, and there's virtually no B12 in that stuff if it hasn't been fortified with it during processing (read labels carefully to verify). Some of your health issues seem consistent with B12 deficiency, so I'd recommend going to a doctor to check your levels.

I'm a vegetarian (Or whatever the hell they are calling it these days where you will still eat some seafood but zero red meat, chicken, ect) who is struggling with weight issues (It's genetic though, most of the men in my family die of high blood-pressure, obesity and heart faliure by the time they are 35.  I'm still overweight like my entire family going back to grandparents but cutting out all meat has prevented me from having to deal with any of the conditions that come with it.  Tendons, nerves, muscles, skin, eyes, blood pressure, heart ect are all absolutely great... I just weigh 80pds more than someone my age/height should)

Anyhow enough about me, what I was trying to get to is that he's absolutely right about the b12 issue.  For years throughout highschool I felt hungry, tired and dizzy constantly to the point where when I was in university I was passing out walking down the road.  I had bloodtests, checkups and everything else and was told repeatedly that everything was fine (Tell the concussions I got a few times from fainting that) until I read an article about how if you have a really severe B-Vitamin deficiency it can show up as normal on blood tests where your body is routing B vitamins to vital organs through your blood.  I got a tissue test and it came back has having near to zero B12, so I started taking about 5x the daily recommended amount of B vitamins (I think it was like 2 b-complex and then 2 extra b-12 1000mg pills?) for a few months till I started feeling exceptionally better, then cut it back to the daily amounts afterwards.    I now at 22 finally feel completely awake for the first time in my life that I can remember.

So yeah.. TLDR low meat diets should REALLY take B-Vitamin supplements.... and I'm following this thread to lose a heck of a lot more weight than you are dealing with ahahah.

[Flying Dice]

Now, I'm not a cook, and I don't think I can teach you how to cook chicken. If you want mashed potatoes or an omelet... but that's off topic.

Instead, I'm going to make a suggestion for the source of the chicken you may or may not buy: not the average supermarket. If you're only having it once a week, I think you might be able to go for better quality. As in, organic free range chicken from a local farm, if at all possible.

Alternatively, if you have a decent grocery, you can probably buy free-range unmodified chicken breasts without needing to source local stuff. If you can, get ones that come individually vacuum-wrapped, since you can freeze them basically indefinitely instead of having to cook them all in quick succession.

Actually cooking chicken is dead-easy if you're just doing breasts. Trim any fat away with a sharp knife, cut into ~2-3cm cubes/chunks (or strips that wide with more length, if you prefer), and you can do basically whatever you like. A marinade is simple, will vastly improve the taste, and you can just dump it and the meat into a nonstick skillet and cook it through. Basically impossible to fuck up even if you've never cooked meat before in your life. Pick the chicken out, dump it in a salad/over rice or noodles/whatever. Cooking in-oven needs a closer eye and you might not have a pan right for it if you don't eat meat.

If you don't already, see about adding avacados to your diet, they're basically big green vitamins which (among other things) give you a couple key facts.

[ChairmanPoo]

if you have a really severe B-Vitamin deficiency it can show up as normal on blood tests where your body is routing B vitamins to vital organs through your blood

I don't know where you read this, but it doesn't work like that. When B12 levels are very low, they very much show up as very low.

You get plenty of other signs and symptoms to watch out for, on top of that, such as a very characteristic sort of anemia, and nerve damage (which is permanent, btw), and a swollen tongue, which make it unlikely to stay undetected, as well.

[kilakan]

It's not so much I read it as I was told it by my doctor.  I went and had a blood test, B12 showed up as 'A little low' is what I was told at the time, she sent me for a test where they took a tissue sample I gather and it was extremely low then. This was a few days apart.

[Sappho]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. I only have time to write something very quick here - I will write proper responses to other stuff later. Just want to point out that I have had my blood tested, and I have had concerns over B12 in the past. I went to the doctor for it, hoping that that was the cause of my problems, but my levels were A-OK, 100% perfectly normal. No deficiency whatsoever. I really do eat meat at least a couple times a week. Also, the sleep/fatigue/etc problems have been around since I was 12 and eating almost nothing BUT meat (America, woo), so that's definitely not the cause of my health issues. That one can be ruled out, at least.

[nenjin]

I can sympathize with the fish thing. I tend to only like fish done three ways:

-Raw (love sushi.)
-Insanely fresh.
-Smoked.

Basically if it's not being caught on the coast that day, or is still raw, it's blech to me. I hate the flavor of most cooked fish that is even a couple days old.

But fresh and raw, it's divine. And smoked? It's barely even like fish. More like a really light beef instead. I can definitely support adding smoked fish to your diet if you find the taste agrees with you.

As another alternative, you could investigate adding supplements to your diet, like protein supplement powders in your drinks, or added to your food post-cooking.

[ChairmanPoo]

I know of a wonderful food source that contains all the nutrients a human being needs to thrive

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

THE HEARTS OF YOUR ENEMIES!!!!

[kilakan]

Great to hear that you sound to be good for B12, it kinda bothers me how many years I wasted feeling like shit every day to find out I just needed more vitamins in the morning.

Hey, just wondering but I'm gonna be tracking all my food and exercise on that myfitnesspal.com thing(since I'm curious and it seems neat)... and does anyone want to do like a weight-watchers group thing here (or in another thread)?

Also yeah, living on the coast I agree with the fish thing.  I can only really eat cooked(raw or smoked any time is great though) fish if it's like... pan fried in lemon juice shortly after being caught.  Otherwise it's bleh

[nenjin]

Cured fish (usually done in salt) is also super tasty.

[Sappho]

Oh wow... I stopped at the supermarket to try picking up some smoked salmon and it is CRAZY EXPENSIVE. One single smallish piece of it was over 100 kc (enough to buy nearly a kilo of low-quality chicken). I can't afford to buy that on a regular basis. I'll ask around to see if there's a cheaper source. But it's true that living in a landlocked country makes seafood very expensive. And the last time I tried buying frozen fish, I got food poisoning. Quality control here is not what it is in many other countries.

I can't even choke down carp without gagging, so that's out. I'll ask around local friends and see what suggestions they have for me, since advice coming from other countries is not likely to work well here, at least as far as obtaining affordable, quality food.

My boyfriend was actually showing me last night a good source for low-cost high-quality protein powders online, which he used to use a lot and highly recommends. So I'm definitely going to give that a shot. I think I'll also pick up a bottle of B12 supplements, since after a quick search online it seems there is no downside to getting more of it, so it probably can't hurt, and it's possible my levels are on the low side.

I was devastated last night to realize hummus has almost no protein in it - it's almost entirely fat! At least, the only hummus I could find around here. I have long been considering buying a food processor so I could make stuff like smoothies, and also homemade hummus and such, but so far I haven't been able to justify the cost (and there's nowhere to put it in my itty bitty little apartment). So for now I'm going to try protein powder, since after two days of tracking my food it is clear that I really do NOT get enough protein, since the things I thought were high in it are actually not.

And I'm going to take a look at those folding bikes. They are really not SO expensive, and if I use it, it is worth the money, really. My boyfriend says we can go cycling together. On the other hand, he has the opposite problem from me - he's severely *underweight* with literally ZERO fat on his body. Doctors have warned him he needs to eat more, but when he gets stressed (and he has a crazy stressful job), he doesn't eat. So my goal is to feed him lots of healthy but nutritious foods as often as possible. Especially if we're going to be exercising together, he needs to eat more! This morning I made us eggs - one with a small piece of buttered/peanut buttered toast for me (OH GOD SO DELICIOUS I HAVE MISSED EGGS SO MUCH) and two with bigger pieces of toast with lots of butter and peanut butter PLUS a side of yogurt for him. He is always laughing that I'm constantly hungry when he eats way more than me (at least when I cook for us) and is rarely hungry.

[kilakan]

Oh, if you need a food processor to make things like humus try getting one of these:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Or something similar, you really don't need a large food processor to make things like humus, sauces, ect.  Got one awhile ago when I was in a dorm room and it's great for all sorts of things like smoothies/ect.  Of course, this assumes you are okay making 1-2 person sized portions all the time anyways.

[nenjin]

RE: Crazy expensive fish.

Is regular fish cheaper? Because all you do really is get some fillets, lay out some plastic wrap, cover it in salt, place the fish on it, cover that in salt, wrap it up and let it cure for....I think about a day? And it's good to eat. Google for the exact recipe, I've only ever seen my brother make it.