I used to eat brownies for breakfast.  I know, we all eat unhealthy things for breakfast every now and and then, but I used to have Brownies appeared as a regular feature on my breakfast menu.  I didn’t really plan on cooking them when I decided what to serve for our weekly meals, but whenever I was feeling any emotion at all, brownies appeared.  A big pan of brownies should have lasted for several days.  However, because there was one big overweight me, all the remaining brownies disappeared by the next morning.

During the course of my weight loss journey, I realized that my sweet tooth could be suppressed and lessened, but not killed.  Not that I didn’t try.  I valiantly resisted chocolate cake, pies of all types and plates full of cookies.  I avoided buying any desserts that I knew I shouldn’t eat, and stayed away from the dessert table at social functions.  Considering how much I loved sweets, I did remarkably well.  Making the decision to go cold turkey worked well for me, especially during the first couple of weeks.  After I felt had some control over my choices, I recognized that I wanted to be able to enjoy the occasional sweet treat.

Here came the problem.  I didn’t like low-fat, healthy desserts.  To me, there was no such thing.  If it wasn’t oozing chocolate, and full of sugar it wasn’t any good.  For a long time I decided I’d rather do without then have a “fake” dessert.  Fortunately though, I got brave enough to try some lower fat choices.

I tried making fat free brownies, which were moderately good. I substituted prunes in place of the oil with less than stellar results. I tried the old “substitute with applesauce” for a lower fat alternative, again with limited success. Finally I realized that if I wanted brownies, then I’d rather have a small amount of really fabulous homemade brownies than have ones that were “pretend brownies!”

But that’s just brownies. I found that there are lots and lots of healthier sweet treats that I can serve my children without feeling too much guilt. Here are some that we have:

• Fruit parfaits, made with yogurt or low fat ice cream
• broiled or grilled fruit – I was surprised how much my children liked this
• Baked apples – these are so yummy!
• Frozen yogurt or sorbets
• Angel food cake with fresh strawberries
• Whole grain waffles topped with fruit
• Homemade popscicles

When I was writing yesterday’s post I was focusing on things I avoid eating, but on the other side of the coin, there are things I don’t eat every day, but still enjoy every so often. I used to not serve desserts at all, but then worried that my kids might “go wild” with sweet things when they were on their own because I had never allowed them to experience desserts. So now we have dessert occasionally and I talk to them about eating things in moderation. My children range in age greatly, but I feel that my older ones “get it.” Which I love.

So are there healthier desserts that you feel comfortable serving guests or your family? Or have you just cut out sweets all together?

Do you have to cook, or like to cook in order to eat healthy and/or lose weight?

To be honest with you, I used to hate to cook. When John and I married I honestly didn’t know how to make anything but plain chicken and white rice with no gravy. Well, that’s not entirely true. I also knew how to make every dessert known to man. That I could cook. But real meals? No. That probably explains why many, many restaurants knew John and I by name during those early years of our marriage!

Thanks to the assistance of some well meaning friends, I did learn to cook and to my surprise found out that I actually enjoyed cooking. Between the births of my second and third child, before I lost all my weight I was at the point where I cooked  family meals on a regular basis. We still went out to eat fairly often, but I knew how to make many different meals – both healthy and not.  I enjoyed experimenting with recipes and tweaking recipes to make them taste better for us. Even though I enjoyed cooking, I wasn’t at the point where I was just cooking for weight loss – but instead just cooking because someone had to do it – and I was elected!

But what of those people who don’t really enjoy cooking, or don’t really know how to cook. What do they do when trying to get control over their weight and healthy eating? Is it possible to eat healthy without cooking a lot?

In thinking this through I think it is possible, but it would be more difficult. There are lots of meals that require little culinary expertise yet yield healthy, tasty results. Things like:

• salads with grilled chicken

•bean salads

•whole wheat tortilla pizzas

•pasta with prepared sauce

•baked salmon (which is actually quite easy to cook)

•sandwiches of all kinds

•fresh fruit salads

•doctored up oatmeal

•bagels with healthy toppings

•etc., etc., etc.,

So to my way of thinking it is possible to prepare healthy meals without having to have a lot of kitchen skills, but it probably takes some careful planning to avoid the temptation to continually fall back onto frozen “diet” meals and healthier restaurant entrees. Both of those food items are okay on occasion but aren’t the healthiest choices. Learning to cook can definitely help in being able to expand the possibilities of healthy eating.

So where are you – cook  extraordinaire, occasional chef, beginning chef, or barely able to boil water? How does this help or hurt you in your journey?  Diane

This afternoon we hosted 20 people at our house. Half were women and half were teenagers. Part of the festivities was a cookie swap. This is what ONE table looked like. There were so many cookies we had to set up a second table.  Every person brought three dozen cookies to share with the other ladies. Cookies were everywhere.

As I was taking pictures of the table I thought this would make a terrific topic for a December weekend blog. This time of year these types of events are rampant. How do you handle events like this?

Do you:

♥ Not go

♥ Go but don’t bring cookies

♥ Bring cookies but don’t take any home

♥ Another option ____________________________

There are many ways to handle sweet events like this. I don’t think there is just one right answer for every person. And sometimes the right answer for you at this point in your life may look different a year from now. Or twelve years from now.

When I was in the midst of my journey I took the easier way out and skipped the cookie exchange my church was hosting.  I didn’t feel ready for the assault on my willpower and senses. So I skipped it. Over the next several years I chose several of the other options. Sometimes I went but didn’t bring cookies or take any home. Other times I brought cookies and didn’t bring any home. And still other years, I brought cookies, and brought a few home – but not the dozens that were available.

It’s so important to know in advance what you will do and what makes you comfortable. Even more important than your comfort may be learning to make choices that move your forward in your life’s journey.

What’s your plan for these inevitable sweet offerings?  Diane

                      For Breakfast:

I admit I’m not the best breakfast eater in the world. Some weeks I’ll have oatmeal, dry cereal, or make pancakes for the kids, and other weeks I don’t eat breakfast until 10:00 or so.  I think for me, listening to my body became really important while I was losing the weight, and I still try and do that. I know research shows otherwise, but it works for me. That being said, here’s what I ate for breakfast this past week (even if it wasn’t exactly at 8:00 a.m.)

• 2 pieces of whole wheat bread with less than 1 T natural peanut butter – I ate this three times, orange juice 
• Frosted Mini Wheats (measured out the proper amount), juice
• Yogurt and a banana
• Pancakes (I ate two. No syrup because I don’t like it. So, I had a tablespoon of jam.)

For Lunch:

Okay, lunch is usually at 12:00 in our house. With this many kids, we do live with some structure or else we’d all go crazy! I love lunch, and it’s usually my biggest meal calorie wise. I find that if I eat a bigger lunch, then I’m not as hungry during the witching hours of 3:00 – 5:00.

•  1 whole wheat quesadilla with vegetarian refried beans & salsa, fruit, yogurt, baked chips and 1/2 of a homemade chocolate chip cookie
•  Egg salad sandwich on whole wheat bread, made with just enough light mayo to hold it together. (Literally less than 1 teaspoon). I think I had chips, fruit, yogurt and a half a string cheese
• Leftover homemade pizza slice. Pizza was made using the crust recipe on the site, topped with sauce, a little bit of cheese, lots of peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms – YUM!
• Leftover chicken parisienne. This is another low fat recipe that I love a lot. I added some fruit and a salad to it, and it was delicious!
• Bean dip with homemade tortilla chips. (Don’t be impressed, I just cut flour tortillas into wedges, spritz them with spray, sprinkle them with garlic powder and put them in the oven for a few minutes. I had fruit and cheese with this.
• I had other things, but that’s all I can remember right now!

For Dinner:

I do enjoy cooking full meals for the family. When I eat dinner, this is probably my smallest meal of the day calorie wise. I load my plate up with salad, and veggies, and just have a little bit of the main course.

• •Chicken Parisienne, rolls, salad, fresh green beans, watermelon
• •3 bean & corn dip (same as lunch), watermelon, salsa, and brown rice
• •Homemade Pizza (like lunch)
• •Penne Marinara, whole wheat french bread, great salad, zucchini
• Grits, Omelets and Toast – we have this a lot when John is working late. Since I don’t usually cook breakfast, it’s nice to have it in the evening sometimes
• Chicken Paprika – another easy, low fat dish that my whole family loves. I served this with mixed veggies, sliced cucumbers & carrots and noodles.

I’m drawing a blank on the last thing we had this week. – I’m sure it was really good though!

For Snacks:

Here’s what I love about weight maintenance. I’ve learned how much of things I can eat without gaining weight, so I still enjoy food, and love to snack. When I was in process of losing weight, I would literally eat 5 or 6 times a day, and that worked for me! Here are some typical snacks for me throughout the week. Remember – I don’t eat all of these every day. In the past – yes. Now – no.

• popcorn
• baked chips
• cheese sticks
• graham crackers (chocolate of course)
• carrot sticks dipped in salsa
• yogurt
• fruit (apples, watermelon, banana or grapes)
• apple cinnamon rice cakes
• granola bars
• pretzel sticks

I hope that gives you an idea of what maintenance food looks like for me. Like most of you who share with me their weight loss programs, I lost weight eating real food. And because I did it that way, it certainly made the transition to maintenance much easier. Are there any favorite meals, tricks or tips that you’d like to share? I’d love to hear them! Have a great Sunday. Diane  P.S. – Thanks Angie for letting me know I hadn’t linked in the pizza crust recipe - I just did!

What foods trigger that kind of strong reaction in you? I read somewhere, (I can’t remember where), that most trigger foods seem to be those made with refined, white sugar. That certainly was true for me. It’s important during your weight loss journey to know what foods trigger undesirable responses for you, and what, if any, foods trigger positive reactions. I guess really, it’s not the foods that trigger the reactions, but rather the emotions behind your desire for that particular food.

What are some things that you can do to identify your trigger foods? Ask yourself these questions:  Portion control goes out the window with what food?  What food would you be embarrassed to show someone how much you eat when you are “on a roll.” And what food is hard for you to turn down?

For me, my trigger food was, and still is to some extent, chocolate. I loved it, and still do. It could be anything, as long as chocolate was the main ingredient  - cookies, cakes, pies, candy, fudge, or brownies. No matter where I was in my weight loss journey, chocolate was always a problem for me. So how did I go from being completely unable to control my chocolate intake, to being able to enjoy chocolate desserts without fearing failure.

In the beginning:

I rid the house of chocolate, and cocoa powder. This might not be your choice, but this is what worked for me. I got rid of any food item containing chocolate, or any food item capable of being combined to make a chocolate treat. After several weeks, I was able to reintroduce chocolate into the house, but still in small amounts, for I still didn’t have good control.

I wrote down all the things I could eat instead of chocolate. This was hard, because I wasn’t a big fan of veggies and fruits, but I learned to appreciate them. Some of the things on my list besides fruits and veggies were popscicles, ginger snaps, tootsie rolls (or chocolate wax as John calls them), pudding, and hard candy. 

I became aware of the situations involving my trigger food. It wasn’t just a picture of chocolate that would send me running to the pantry, there were also emotional triggers that made me desire chocolate. Becoming cognizant of these emotions helped me resist the urge to overeat.

Over time, I was able to have chocolate treats, always keeping them small and manageable. This was so I didn’t deprive myself of a food I genuinely loved, but wasn’t able to trust myself to have around the house in unlimited quantities. For me, the important thing about trigger foods was becoming aware of them, and having a plan to help overcome the temptation they held.

As you work through your weight loss journey, always keep in mind that “diet land” often isn’t part of “real life land.” When I lost weight by using my Fit to the Finish plan, I knew I wanted to do something that I could continue forever. Strive to keep that in mind as you plan your program, and live your life. You can get ahead of your trigger foods, and avoid the “gotcha!”  I’d love it if you’d share any strategies you have for avoiding the trigger food trap.   Diane

I just wrapped up teaching my weight loss class Fit to the Finish on Thursday, and the wonderful ladies gave me these plates as a little thank you.

If you look at the words on the plates you will probably laugh out loud as I did. There is a lot of truth in the sayings on these cute dessert plates. Besides appealing to the eye, they fit right in with my weight loss and weight maintenance philosophy. You can have the occasional dessert, you just can’t have the whole thing, or have it everyday. As I lost my weight and got healthy, a lot of old habits fell by the wayside. I replaced the old habits with new ones that were good for me and life affirming. One habit that was near and dear to me was eating large amounts of sweets and treats. Rarely a day went by where I didn’t load myself up with chocolate, cookies, brownies, cakes or pie. I just couldn’t get enough to satisfy my relentless sweet tooth. Time after time I’d swear to myself I wouldn’t buy the big value bag of M&M’s, yet I’d see myself handing them to the cashier, eagerly anticipating eating half the bag in the car on the way home from the store. I had been known to get in my car, drive 3 miles to Wendy’s, buy two large Frosty’s and eat them on the way back home, never telling anyone what I had done. And yes, it is possible to eat a Frosty while driving, but it can be a little messy!

Sweet obsession is a common problem among those of us who struggle with our weight. I hear it all the time, “What about chocolate? What do you suggest I do about my love of candy?” My advice is simple. You can have the occasional sweet treat – a sliver of cake or a small chocolate, but you can’t have it every day, and you can’t have a large quantity of it. If you eat too many sweets, or too much of anything for that matter, you will have a hard time losing weight, and will probably gain weight. Moderation in all things is a common saying, but even moderation needs to be monitored carefully. If you know you are going to have a bit of dessert at dinner, plan ahead during the day what you will eat to compensate for the extra calories. If you “mess up” and eat a King Sized Mr. Goodbar for a snack, just have a salad for dinner. It’s okay to adjust your eating schedule and plan for unforseen situations and mistakes.

The ladies in my class this time lost an average of 15 pounds. They communicated to me that they felt they were better equipped to continue on their journey to lose weight and get healthy. Their feelings about dieting had changed from “temporary fix” to “changing for a lifetime.” As you journey towards your goals, I hope that you too will look at the changes you are making as lifetime changes, and not just temporary fixes. Diane

I’d like to share a little story with you about how we came to call a particular dessert in our house “confession brownies.”  It all started years ago when I would make a pan of brownies early in the day, planning on serving them for dessert that night.  Sadly, there were many times when the brownies didn’t last past lunchtime, as over the course of several hours I would have a corner here, a bite there and before I knew it, and entire row was gone.  Well, then I needed to go ahead and get rid of the rest of them, so John wouldn’t know I had eaten a whole row.  Before I knew it, they were all gone.  I would then race around like a mad woman trying to get another pan out of the oven before John came home so he wouldn’t know I had eaten an entire 9”x13” pan of brownies by myself.  Fortunately for me, he would often remark how nice it was to have the dessert warm.

I usually don’t make the large 9”x13” pan of brownies anymore, because I realized that leftover brownies are hard to resist.  These days, I make the smaller 8”x8” pan, and with a family of nine, the brownies are gone fairly quickly.  I also have learned to control my urge to eat the entire pan, which is a good thing.

Confession brownies came about by accident.  I was making brownies one time late in the day.  This time, I even added chocolate frosting, since the brownies weren’t enough by themselves.  The pan looked beautiful, with the smooth, shiny chocolate frosting glistening as it dried.  Although I tried to resist, I began my usual picking at the corners.  Without even realizing it, I had eaten about half of the row.  On this day I had a problem, because I didn’t have enough time to make an additional pan.  The beautiful smooth, shiny frosting was now a globby mess, as I unsuccessfully tried to resmooth it into the gap where brownies used to be.  The more I moved it around the worse it got.  Slam!  The door opened and closed and John was home.  Yikes. 

He said, “Is that brownies I smell?”  I nodded, and he was excited, as were the children.  We sat down to eat dinner.  The whole time I was sitting there I was wondering how I could avoid confessing what I had done.  When everyone had eaten their dinner, I got up to cut the brownies.  As I stood at the kitchen counter looking at the globby frosting I realized you can’t cover up mistakes.  So I bravely walked back over to the table and plopped the whole pan down.  I told the family, “I have a confession to make.”  I explained what I had done, and how I tried to cover up my mistake by moving the frosting around, but it hadn’t worked.  We all had a good laugh about it, and began to call brownies with frosting “confession brownies. “

Now, when I make confession brownies, anyone who wants to, can confess something without any repercussions.  The kids are usually funny, and tell stories on themselves and each other.  It’s become a fun, family time and we all end up laughing and talking at once.

The lesson I learned from confession brownies is this.  You may think, as I did, that no one sees what you are doing.  And they might not.  But you see what mistakes you make with your food choices, and the repercussions are both external and internal.  External as your weight slowly creeps up, and internal, as you feel guilt for making bad choices.  I would encourage you to not beat yourself up over poor choices, but rather use those choices as a learning tool to do better next time.   Diane