Obesity Can Be Healthy, Dammit! — Page 5

You're right Rath...funny how those healthy foods have far fewer calories...I started eating baby carrots with my sandwich instead of eating the whole bag of chips--now i eat about half the bag and fill it out with the veggies--plus you get all that fiber which takes longer to digest and cleans you out!

Rath, I make my own cookies. They are totally healthy, and tastier than any commercial cookie. My mother has me shipping them to Florida!

I know what you're saying and it's true.

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I was going to say, make your own cookies Jane--I'll even give you a tip to cut the fat--replace half of the butter in the recipe with low-fat cream cheese--you'll have to make sure you grease your cookie sheet or use a Silpat or parchment to make sure they don't stick. You won't notice a difference in taste, but you'll cut about half the fat from the batch.

There are plenty of healthy crabs too Jane--rice, quinoa (that's a hard sell granted) and whole wheat pastas are cheap and easy sources of nutrition.

I don't hear alot about nutrition on this thread either--don't forget the body needs a wide variety of foods to function at its best.

I’d love to be able to try the suggestions for low-fat cookies, but I cannot keep sweets around because I’ll eat them all in a couple of days. I admire those of you with the willpower not to eat all those sweets at once. Fried food, fast food, and soda I can go without, but sweets are my weakness and the only way I can ration them is if I don't take them home.

FYI to anyone interested in allergy free/organic foods, Cybele Pascal's book really is wonderful. I don't use all of her suggestions because I don't have food allergies, but she has great recipes for cookies and other unusual things that are catered for those with food allergies.

Anyway, regarding whole food and portion control - I am sort of born again about eating right. I did the South Beach diet a few years ago and lost almost 30 pounds. And while you can eat the right foods in greater quantities, it is still all about portion control. Sometimes its counter-intuitive, too. You can think eating a huge bag of baby carrots isnt bad, but the truth is that its actually a ton of sugar. Yes, its better for you than a supersized coke and apple pie from McDonalds, but still.

I have to say that I was raised eating almost entirely organic foods, no sugar or junk, etc and when I got to high school I went insane and started eating everything I was never allowed at home. And it caught up with me big time. Since I have cleaned up my diet I notice such a huge difference, but exercising also works wonders for your self esteem. When you feel stronger and see yourself making progress, you can't help but get a confidence boost. I dont want to sound like that weird Fitness Made Simple guy (who I still swear doesnt exist in real life) but its true. I mean honestly, I think people truly look good when they are on the firm/in shape side. I used to be a lot thinner last year because I was insanely stressed and not taking good care of myself - I have since gained weight and been working out more, and thus look a little larger. But I would rather be healthy looking than not. No, I'm not going to stop eating cake forever, and I'm not a zealot about it. I think its just a matter of balancing your life, which is hard, I admit.

I also don't buy the excuse about the gym. I hate the gym - I found a place I like better (a supportive dance studio) but for a good long time I used workout videos. Work out in the privacy of your home if the gym is an uncomfortable or inconvenient place.

Do you live in the NY area? Because I have been looking for a good dance studio that can accomodate beginner level adults

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Updated On: 4/27/07 at 10:21 PM

Just something helpful to keep in mind...

Take your weight and multiply it by 12. That is the amount of calories you have to ingest daily to MAINTAIN your current weight. Surpass it daily, you gain weight. Stay under it daily, the pounds come off.

It works. Count calories, don't eat out, prepare everything yourself, control alcohol consumption, etc.


And the most important thing: DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE CALORIES.

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I know! Now I feel fat!

misschung, i have cybele's cook book and have spoken to her over email several times... she even posted one of my (well, my grandmother's) recipies on her blog :)

my favorite recipie in it is the orange cake. we made it for my birthday in 05 and it was a huge hit.

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it was a recipe for my grandmother's vinigar chicken. it's her specialty. whenever there's any kind of family gathering, she cooks up a huge pot of it. in fact there's still a piece in the fridge that's calling my name...


most of the measurments, you do by how you like things, like if you like vinegar add more vinegar. also her measurments aren't by cups or anything... she goes by glasses.

clean chicken and dry it in a paper towel. we use thighs but i have heard that any kind of chicken tastes good with it cover the bottom of a wide pan with olive oil
brown the chicken on both sides in a single layer taking out the finished peices before adding more. after your done browning it, add all the chicken back in
chop up 4 or 5 cloves of garlic and throw it in the pan use about a teaspoon of oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary, or whatever other herbs you want to use
fill a juice glass with half apple cidar vinegar and half balsamic vinegar and add it to the pan add salt and pepper and mix it with a wooden spoon to cover all the chicken with the vinegar mixture add about a half a glass of water lower heat and cover cook for about a half hour add sliced mushrooms and olives at the end and cook for about 5 more minutes

if you have leftovers and put it in the refrigerater, the sauce becomes almost like a gel but if you heat it up again it turns back into sauce.

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it's amazing.

especially if you soak up the sauce at the end with a piece of bread

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i could eat a whole meal that consisted of rice bread and pasta sauce.

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i dont eat a lot of bread beacuse rice bread tends to get kind of crumbly but i eat alot of rice tortillas. i put them in the toaster oven and then cover them with jelly. they're really good.

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