Help with diet

well, what are your goals?

Some ideas:

Increased portions of fish, lean meat (watch for that cholesterol though!), tofu, edamame. Increasing starches (you know, potato yams etc) will give you a nutter's dose of carbohydrate. Lots of pasta (preferably whole wheat). On that vein, I remember an article from a magazine where they allowed access in the pit/support area of some F1 team and they reported on all the crew having constantly high carbohydrate foods like pasta to keep their caloric intake high as they would spend hours working frantically...
My qualm with increasing fat is that it is more likely to be stuffed away than metabolised, while leaner higher carbohydrate & protein meals will be easier to use up.
Of course take that with a grain of salt - oh and watch your salt intake!

Edit:
Miza posted whiel I was tyyping. That question makes more sense than the assumption I took that you are just looking to put on weight (primarily muscle).

Then I'd say look at what I posted. I will not pretend for even a moment that I am an expert but those are my suggestions.
If you want specific meals and recipies that are easy to put together, I can throw in some more suggestions...

get a bag of mixed salad greens. Grab some good olive oil and red wine vinegar (or balsamic vinegar), salt pepper oregano. Buy either precooked chicken (or grill some chicken breasts), or striops of cooked steak (does not have to be anything fancy, just cut it thinly and grill it). Good all around salad. Have some decent bread with it. Put in a container and put it in thee fridge at work. Extra points get a little sandwich bag, put the dressing in the bag and mix when ready to eat. That way it will not be soggy. Another option, something I would do a lot. Get a loaf of nice bread (even the Fry's bakery bread). Cut in half, then cut lengthwise. Grab avocado, lots of sprouts (alfalfa etc), some lean low salt lunch meats, maybe some low fat cheese. Grab any nice greens you find in season. Assemble, drizzle with olive oil, oregano, salt pepper. Now for some "ethnic" options (god I hate that word). Give me a few moments, I'll type up some for you...

These are great ideas. 2000 cal/day doesn't sound like much for a guy who works out. You need more protein, more veggies, more fruit, and more complex carbs. Try to go for the less-processed protein. Roasted chickens and made in the store roasted turkey are better than those low fat lunch meants that in plastic.

Perhaps you could learn a few basic recipes--how to roast a chicken, how to broil fish, how to cook a steak, and some simple veggie preparations. If you're interested in learning some easy recipes, take a look at Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything.

Staples in Cyprus include lots of beans/legumes and the like. Some ideas: Yahni is something very easy that is a staple where I come from. Somewhat like an english curry, it is a way to use almost anything to make an easy hearty meal. My favourite variation: You will need: Cooking pot. Tomato paste/tomato sauce (puree) Water Some oil (canola would be a good one) Onions (optional but better) Vegetable/chicken/beef stock (optional but better) Bag of frozen artichoke hearts Bag of frozen peas So if you choose to use the onions, just chop one up, fry them until they start getting transluscent/golden. The measures for the ingredients I do on the fly usually, I'll try to approximate this for you. Pour a glass/can of tomato puree or if using paste mix the paste with water until you have that much. Add a glass of water and/or stock. Add peas and artichoke hearts. Make sure there is enough liquid to cover all this, bring to a boil then let simmer until everything is cooked. Check every so often, add liquid if it looks like things will start burning. More staples: Black eyed beans (you call them black eyed peas over here IIRC). If you have them dried, best to let soak in water overnight. You'll need a bowl that will fit the beans and double the amount of water. Anyway, next day discard the old water (important - otherwise they will be a tad bitter) plop them with plenty of water and a touch of lemon juice so they keep their colour in the pot (just cosmetic, they look better white than brown), bring to a boil then simmer with the lid on until they are soft. Drain, serve with oilive oil. As a side, warm plain bread and a can of sardines. AN excellent variation on those is adding when they are half way cooked a one or two sweet zucchinis/courgettes chopped in chunks ( are the ones I have used in the States). Excellent stuff, very healthy high in fibre and protein. White beans Prepare like black eyed beans but serve with lemon juice, olive oil and some fresh parsley. Ideally instead of parsley, fresh dill (my favourite, I remember we used to grab big chunks of marathos - wild fennel - when we would find it on walks or whatever outside town for this dish). Again goes well with some canned sardines, octopus, or squid etc. Edit: Regarding the yahnista, there are countless variations limited only by your imagination. A nice one would use plain mushrooms, white wine and cauliflower. Or another, potato/taro root (kolokassi/kolkassia), chopped carrots and peas.

I don't agree with the suggestion to eat lots of carbohydrates, nor that eating fats makes you fat. Lots of carbs will just cause your body to secrete insulin, which tells your body to store fat and makes you hungry. Fat is slower-burning than carb's, but it satiates, and it does not adversely affect blood sugar or insulin levels.

I like the suggestion to bring a salad. That's what I did today: threw some greens in a ziploc bag, with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Right now I'm enjoying some leftover, cold roast beef, too. For a snack, I have some roasted salted peanuts and prunes.

Cutting out junk is easy, if you can just substitute non-junk. You just have to plan ahead.

Here are some of my favorite recipes:

- Roast beef: Chop up onion, throw in a baking dish with baby carrots and cherry tomatoes, and a big chuck roast. Cover tightly and roast for 8 hours or more at 200 F. Do it in the morning and you'll have a meal when you get home, and it can also be good for leftovers.
- Short ribs: Rub with some seasoning (I like garlic powder, paprika, mustard, and salt). Throw in a crockpot and cook all day on "low."
- Chicken: Rub with butter and seasoning. Roast in the oven for 3 hours or so at 375. Cover tightly, remove cover during last 30 minutes.
- Salmon: rub with seasoning and melted butter, cook in oven for 15-20 min. at 400F
- Wings: bake some chicken wings at 400 F for 20-25 minutes. Toss with wing sauce (and butter if you like)

Sides are easy: just steam some veggies, or toss some salad greens with olive oil and vinegar.

I recommend grass-fed meats and raw dairy instead of the farm-raised, pastuerized varieties, if you're really health-conscious. Raw cheese and yogurt make great snacks! Nuts are good snacks, too.

Brian, I think it's going to be difficult for you to put on 10 lb of lean muscle in two months with the diet you proposed. You might want to increase your time horizon upwards a bit. If all of your excess calories are turned into muscle (unlikely) then you're going to be able to gain a theoretical maximum of 1 lb of muscle a week, so the fastest you'd gain 10 lb of lean muscle from being in caloric excess by 500 calories is 10 weeks. I think it would take more like 15-20 weeks, though. My current diet is about the same, 500 calories in excess, and is something like this: Breakfast ~ 9 AM: Creatine shake with orange juice 200 calories Chicken Breast 250 calories Small Banana 85 calories Lactose Free Milk 200 calories Lunch ~ 11 AM: 2 Chicken Breasts 500 calories 150 g raw spinach 60 calories Apple Juice 100 calories 1 PM: 1 chicken breast 250 calories 3 PM: 1 chicken breast 250 calories Pre workout: Creatine + OJ 200 calories Post workout: Protein Shake 200 calories Dinner: 2 chicken breasts 500 calories 150g raw spinach 60 calories Apple Juice 100 calories Post Dinner: Muscle Milk 350 calories Total: 3315 calories, ~300-320g protein Daily Calorie Use: 2800-3000 calories. Oh, for reference, 6'1" 217. I'd like to get closer to my post-HS stats of 235 lb and ~10% BF (at about 14.5% at the moment) in time but I don't need to get quite that big, as I think that would rule out some of the stuff I'm currently wearing, adding 5-8 lb of lean muscle while lowering BF% would be just fine.

brian, why do you want to gain 10 pounds? what i mean is what are your reasons, cosmetic? for better sport (or other) performance?

brian, i've put on about 10lbs in the last two months (i went from 160 last year, down to 145 by december) i was working out with weights some but it wasn't until jan that i really started focusing on diet and that's where all the gains came. before i was on a diet similiar to yours (a little healthier since my weight came down so much) but seeing no gain in bulk. the biggest benefit was eating a lot more food, and i mean everything, throwing in an extra bagel for breakfast, doubling the size of my protein shakes etc. i would still taper my meals and be more careful about carbs at the end of the day, but it's been a lot more calories. i'm up to about 155lbs now and i know it's not all muscle, i track my body fat and it's gone up. it's something i accept. while i think it's possible to gain it all as muscle, i think the work in the gym is more important to me then trying to balance my calories so i only gain muscle, i think the risk of under-eating and losing that work is too great so i take the trade-off of some fat gain. once it gets warmer here i'll switch to more cardio and pare down my diet to lower my body fat. my goal wasn't to get bulky, at this point i'm pretty happy that i've filled things out a bit, my target is 155-160 with my body fat lower then it is now. oh, and i'm just shy of 6ft tall, asian. sorry for being long winded, i think the biggest thing is that you need to eat more along with the weights. go read some nutrition books, everyone is different but i like a balanced diet of good fats, carbs and protein with a control of when to eat them throughout the day. 'book of muscle' has a good section on nutrition as well as 'scrawny to brawny' and i think drizzt has a good plan, but personally i can't eat that much chicken/meat in one day! so do whatever you can stick with. but that should illustrate how much food you need to eat to get to 3K calories!

Honestly if you intake 2500-3000 calories of mostly protein a day, you'll gain weight fast. Not sure about 10 lb of muscle in 2 months, but you'll gain muscle quickly especially if you work hard in the gym.