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.

We are a family of nine, and not surprisingly everyone likes to eat. Whereas I used to be a drive thru queen, these days we rarely eat out. That leaves two options – either everyone is one their own, which isn’t practical, or someone has to cook. Fortunately, over the years I have moved from being ambivalent about cooking to finding joy in preparing meals for my family. I collect and adapt recipes like other people collect shoes, and often try new recipes, even if we are having company. (Sometimes with less than stellar results.)

This begs the obvious question. How do you prepare healthy, appealing meals while either losing weight, or maintaining a healthy weight? There are several strategies you can use to prepare food for other people or for your own family while watching what you eat. Here are some simple ideas that I used while I was in process of losing 150 pounds and still use today.

Plan your meals- By simply planning what you and/or your family will eat for all meals during the week you will have taken your best first step at controlling your food and calorie intake. I got in the most trouble when I didn’t know what we were having for dinner. That is when we would order pizza, run through a drive thru or pick up something quick to prepare from the grocery store, like fried chicken nuggets, etc. (Here’s a meal planning worksheet you can use)

Adapt your recipes – Are there family favorites you don’t want to kick off the menu? In most cases you don’t have to. By looking at each ingredient you use and changing them or adapting them when necessary you can still enjoy your family’s favorites without blowing your weight loss plan. I’ve put together a tip sheet you can print for adapting recipes. As long as your portion size is appropriate you can eat without guilt.

Involve your family- Family support is one of the greatest gifts. My class participants who have support from family and friends undoubtedly have an easier time than those who don’t. Before changing everything you eat, sit down with the people who you are cooking for and discuss the changes you’d like to make. This could involve the cessation of purchasing high calorie/high sugar snacks, etc. By gathering input from everyone, it will make transitioning from fatty foods to healthier foods easier. This is what I did when I started losing weight. I explained my plan and asked for input. We decided together on a plan of action. We gradually changed some of our snacking habits, choosing to attack one thing at a time rather than changing everything at once. This worked well for us.

Believe me, I cook for a lot of people and I don’t always make everyone happy. (Especially the little guys!) By planning meals, adapting recipes and involving the family I think you will find that you are able to successfully cook meals that everyone appreciates – and usually likes!! 

Question: What techniques do you use when cooking for other people?  Diane

I came across this great article, Healthy Eating Begins at the Supermarket that you might find interesting.

There were many a day where I started eating before breakfast with a little brownie or two, had some sort of sweet breakfast, ate a snack or two, or three; then had a McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger, large fries (or two) and a diet coke for lunch. A few more snacking episodes happened between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. then I went off somewhere for dinner, and back home later to enjoy yet another healthy, filling snack of chips, cheese, and ice cream. Why did I eat so much? I was hungry.

Or so I said. But I wasn’t that hungry. I didn’t need 4000 calories a day to keep me healthy, nor did those 4000 calories sustain my health or move me anywhere near where I wanted to be.

I had fallen into the trap of false hunger. I was eating when I wasn’t really physically hungry, and did so by using the “hunger excuse.” Are you familiar with that excuse? I need these crackers because I’m starving. I “need” this extra biscuit because I’m hungry.  I “need” this King Sized Hershey bar because I’ve had a bad day. I did this all day long for years. I used the hunger excuse instead of really looking behind my excuse at the reason for my over-eating. For me, learning to disassociate myself from the excuses and work on the behind-the-scenes emotions was difficult. But as hard as it was, staying in the place where I had landed would have been harder.

Hunger is an important signal. It’s wise to learn the difference between the feeling of true physical hunger and the feeling of the hunger excuse. Here’s some things that I did when I was learning to eat because I truly needed food and how I learned to make a different choice when what I needed wasn’t food, but rather another type of comfort.

1.  Gave myself permission to “feel” the emotions of the moment. This may sound strange, but I found that I often turned to food when I was upset. So by telling myself, “Yes, that situation is bad, but you don’t need to eat through it.” I was able to learn to disassociate the hunger excuses I was trying to use with the emotion of the desire to eat.

2. Waited before I ate between meals. I literally ate all day long. If I started to graze mindlessly between meals I put the timer on for 15 minutes and made myself wait. I really thought about whether I was really hungry or not. If I was, then I had something healthy.

3. Carefully planned my food.  Before I started to get healthy, when the feeling of hunger struck I just ate. Anything. Instead of eating just anything, I began planning for snacks, meals, and even treats. It helped remind me to eat because I needed to eat, and not because I thought I should.

I pulled out the hunger excuse as a reason to fill any emotions I didn’t like with food. You may use the hunger excuse in a different way, or if you are lucky, this isn’t even a problem for you. But in my experience, most of us who are weight challenged often struggle with eating when we are not really hungry.

Do you relate to the “hunger excuse?” How have you overcome it?  Diane

Have you ever eagerly anticipated a food? Maybe it’s not chocolate for you, but some other confection or savory food that you always look forward to eating. What happens to you when you have the chance to eat that food? Can you almost taste it even before you put it in your mouth? Can you imagine how the cookies will taste as their smell fills the kitchen? Or while in the mall, do the smells of pizza or Asian food lure you in for a bite?

One thing I learned about myself as I was losing my weight, was that I could still enjoy chocolate without eating an entire package of Oreos in one sitting. How? I learned to anticipate the taste, savor the experience, and really taste the food.

In my fat days, I don’t think I really tasted my food. I was so busy shoveling it in, that I didn’t appreciate the textures, the sensations or the flavors of the foods I was eating. Even though I was the one who prepared the meals in the family, and took the time to make tasty, albeit it fattening food, I ate so fast that even I couldn’t have described the flavor of the chicken parmesan in detail if you had asked me.

And if I couldn’t describe the meal because I ate it so fast, I certainly couldn’t describe the taste of the 500th M&M I had just eaten. As I lost weight, I knew that I didn’t want to cut chocolate, or some of my other favorite foods out of my life. So instead of getting rid of them completely, I determined to enjoy them more.

For me this involved slowing everything down a little bit. And not buying one pound bags of candy anymore. But when I really wanted something chocolate, I had it. But instead of grabbing a handful of chocolate and shoving it in my mouth. And then reaching my hand in the bag for more before I had even swallowed the first mouthful, I took one at a time. I still remember sitting in my kitchen with one M&M in my hand, putting it in my mouth. I took my time and really tasted the candy. I loved it even more slow than I had fast. And the best part? The taste stayed with me longer.

There is a book out called French Women Don’t Get Fat, which although I haven’t read it, gives similar advice. To really take the time to savor your food, and enjoy it to its fullest. As I tried this, I was surprised how quickly I was satisfied, not only from a physical hunger point of view, but from an emotional standpoint as well.

Because food is wrapped up in emotions for many of us. I didn’t eat too many pieces of chocolate candy, and dozens of chocolate cookies because I was physically hungry – but rather because of an emotional need. By slowing down, and really taking the time to taste my food, both treats and not, I was able to soothe the emotional hunger, while at the same time satisfying the physical hunger.

Have you ever tried this technique? If you haven’t, I’d encourage you to try it next time you are faced with the desire for the food you have a hard time resisting. Instead of telling yourself, “NO,” trying telling yourself, “Yes, but slowly.” Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that you can’t eat twelve Oreos slowly and say to me, “But Diane, I enjoyed every slow bite!” Try it the right way, and see if it helps you satisfy both the emotional and the physical hunger. Diane

I love to save money, and for years I struggled to keep up with coupons. I’d often give up, and just buy whatever was on sale. One day, I was once again trying to figure out how to organize my coupons and came across several sites that offered tips and ideas. Here is my current favorite: The Coupon Mom. You can get store specific information on sale items, what coupons to use, and other tips on saving money. But, the absolute best thing I ever did was buy this binder, make some sleeves for the coupons, and organize them by category. It has saved me time, effort and best of all cash!!

This great binder has a plastic pocket in the front, which is where I put the coupons I will use for that shopping trip. When I get up to the cashier, no fumbling around for last minute coupons. They are all ready to go. One more little coupon tip – don’t throw those old expired coupons away. Most stores scan the bar codes, and they really aren’t expired at all! (I’ve never had a grocery store turn an expired coupon down.)

And finally, I wanted to thank Hadley and Tammy and Alissa for the Lovely Blog Awards. There are so many people that I follow and admire, that I found it absolutely impossible to pass them on without hurting feelings. So, just know that I truly am honored, and appreciative of all the nice comments.

I hope everyone has a fabulous Saturday. My oldest is going through college orientation. But I’m so thankful she is staying home!!  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

In a lot of families Sunday morning is a time of sleeping in, reading the paper, and relaxing.  For us, early Sunday morning is not always the most relaxing time of the week.  With seven children, a dog, and a cat, John and I spend a lot of time bouncing around like ping pong balls from one little child to the next.  We do our best to be on time for the 8:30 am church service.  Breakfast food is a quick affair of cereal or toast.  And for the youngest son, at 18 months, a cereal bar.  Once we arrive at church we sing, worship and try to keep the younger children happy.