Why do I have to be such a good cook?

tcmay72

No seriously, I have learned all the good tasting tricks... Thanks Grandma, Thanks Mom. I dont know how to undo all I have learned. Yes bacon grease makes the best beans, gravy its a must. How do fix this. Anyone out there feel the same.

WadeLam

Oh yeah - I feel your pain. It's a struggle. You almost have to re-learn everything.

I'm actually the cook at our house. And not to brag on myself, but I'm darn good at it. I usually make everything "normal" - with full fat dairy products and without substitutions - for my wife and children (although I'll sneak in low-fat ingredients and disguised veggies when I can). But for me, I usually have to cook my meals separate. For example...I made mashed potatoes as a side dish for dinner yesterday. For theirs, I used russet potatoes boiled in chicken broth, regular butter, whole milk, and full-fat sour cream (as well as some seasonings). For mine, I weighed my potato serving (boiled separately in water), added fresh basil, cracked pepper and salt, and added 1 tbsp of low fat sour cream to help them fluff when mashing. I also spritzed them with 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter' spray.

To be honest, cooking a separate, healthier low-calorie meal for myself isn't going to be a permanent solution. But I'm hoping that after a little while, the rest of the family will see that little changes can make a big difference.

But on another note, I stick to full-fat ingredients whenever I'm having company over or cooking for an event. I'm known for my cooking and baking among family and friends, and I strive to never disappoint in presentation or taste. On those occasions, it's all about portion control.

Adefowler

I also suffer from being an great cook. I'm also a CIA certified pastry chef. Trust me, it's painful.

Channel your awesomeness into new flavor combos and making the dishes you love into healthier versions. Consider it a challenge. Healthy food doesn't have to suck.

phil6707

ok, time to kill the myth fat is bad for you thing

natural fat is not bad for you (else most French, Italian and Spanish will be dead from obesity)

I was born and lived in France most of my life, we use butter, fat, etc and we dont have the weight problem. Only they are the real stuff, not processed products.

The problem of today is to find good quality products. the obesity problem, even in US, is not a 80 year old issue, so we need to think, what is it that is different today that we get obese...

WadeLam

I also suffer from being an great cook. I'm also a CIA certified pastry chef. Trust me, it's painful.

Channel your awesomeness into new flavor combos and making the dishes you love into healthier versions. Consider it a challenge. Healthy food doesn't have to suck.

^^So true. I've found several lighter recipes that I love, and I'm also in the process of lightening up some of my tried-and-true classics. Adding some great spices to your spice rack helps tremendously as well.

Lleldiranne

Yes, I learned a lot of the tricks, too. My suggestions

#1 Portion control. There's nothing wrong with a good butter-based white sauce, or veggies sauteed in bacon grease, or delicious cake with home-made butter cream frosting. The biggest problem is when we eat too much. All of these can fit into a well-rounded healthful diet, but I wouldn't suggest serving them all in the same meal. Also, smaller portions are going to make a huge difference. Serve yourself less of the cooked foods you worry about, and add fresh steamed veggies, fresh fruits, etc to your plate to fill the difference.

#2 Use seasonings! Garlic, onion or onion powder, pepper, rosemary, nutmeg, basil, etc. Adding more flavor from these seasonings helps you rely less on the high-calorie flavorings.

#3 Substitute. I often use 2% instead of whole milk, sour cream or plain yogurt instead of mayonnaise, olive oil instead of bacon grease (they have the same calories per gram, but olive oil has more "healthy fats" and a good flavor, too), etc. And, when combined with #2, use less.

#4 Pick your battles. I usually use olive oil for sauteeing, but reserve bacon grease for those special dishes. I cut back on the sugar I use in pancakes and waffles, but not in my child's birthday cake.


You can also enter your recipe into the recipe builder here on MFP and see how much of a difference it makes in calories to use the traditional "good tasting tricks" or to substitute and/or cut back. You can see where it's worth it for the taste (1 Tb of butter or bacon grease in a dish that serves 5 will only add about 20 calories to each serving) and where it's better to cut back a bit.

Lleldiranne

ok, time to kill the myth fat is bad for you thing

natural fat is not bad for you (else most French, Italian and Spanish will be dead from obesity)

I was born and lived in France most of my life, we use butter, fat, etc and we dont have the weight problem. Only they are the real stuff, not processed products.

The problem of today is to find good quality products. the obesity problem, even in US, is not a 80 year old issue, so we need to think, what is it that is different today that we get obese...

This is true, as well. Fat isn't necessarily bad. But added fats can really increase the calories. And it's a surplus of calories that causes weight gain.

To answer the last part - what is different from 80 years ago - is our portion sizes have drastically increased and our activity levels have plummeted. (In France, they use a lot of full-fat ingredients in cooking, but they eat a lot less overall than the "typical" American)

Spnneil06

My problem too! I cook great and was also taught to clear my plate...even if I'm full. Thank goodness I've learned to put LESS on my plate, and I don't taste any more.

HellyFaye

My boyfriend loves, loves, loves to cook with full fat ingredients. I'm perfectly fine with that. It is a rare occasion for him to cook which is a fantastic thing for my waistline. I do a whole lot of the cooking.

I'm using a lot of recipes from: Oh She Glows, Oh My Veggies, Two Peas and Their Pod, and Appetite for Reduction. Whenever I cook, I am finding ways to sneak in vegetables. The other night I made sloppy joes. No one, but me, knew that they had lentils and carrots in there. No one asked and everybody went back for seconds.

I'm learning for the most part that everything really comes down to portion control. Learning to pick my battles is also hard. On the 4th of July, my boyfriends Mother and sister made breakfast for everyone. I got a whole lot of weird looks for measuring out all of my food. Oh well.

You can re-learn and do better for it. I'm finding I like chickpea gravy a whole lot more than regular brown gravy.

Good luck!:flowerforyou:

martinel2099

Being a good cook is a good problem to have. Do you define being a good cook as knowing all of the tricks and short cuts or is it because you have good taste and know how to make a dish shine?

I consider myself a decent cook and while I did have to make some minor adjustments, I found that most of my cooking is already decent calories. I learned how to make a mean meat loaf from my grandmother, now I'm going to take a spin on it with turkey instead.

tcmay72

chick pea gravy? what the heck I must know more:0)

DamieAnne

I'm unfortunately also a good cook - with a particular skill and love of baking.

My way of coping - i still bake, but i take it in to work so that i can treat myself with one little thing, and everyone else can have them. If i don't lose much weight at least everyone else will have put it on so i will still look good

I am however learning to add new things into my baking - black beans, bananas, beetroots etc...but these tend to be for things i bake for myself

qmmanager69

My husband is an amazing cook. Since we've started changing our eating habits he's made it his mission to make healthier versions of our favorite foods so we stick to our plan. It's working wonderfully.