I hate nutritious food...in the winter anyway.

I find going into the day knowing I am going to have 1 treat allows me to get through. I also find working out more alows me more calories. I crave carbs when it is cold. Our bodies want to put on weight when it is cold to build fat to keep us warm.

Maybe you are just tired of the food you were eating so perhaps it is time to find some new ones.

Good Luck.

I know, once it gets cold, you really want the comfort of hot foods, not salads. Try homemade soups. They are nutritious, low in fat and calories and the warmth is very satifying. Also, try veggie stir fry (essentially warm salad) or roasted veggies with lots of spices. Hot tea helps too!

I so feel this way too. I have to say the idea of comfort food certainly does help, but alot of those traditionally have alot of fat, carbs, cals, or all three. I've been trying to do the low cal chunky soups (progresso or campbell's heart healthy). I buy alot of the Green Giant Steamers... microwave in under 7 min, and most come with a delicious healthy sauce built in. Just throw it over a baked potato and you have healthy dinner. Also, been looking up casserole dishes and making those.Sometimes (esp. if you feel like you wanna eat like a kid) I have a grilled cheese on a wheat english muffin with low sodium tomato or veggie soup. But my problem is that I want to basically hibernate. I eat all this warm food, then cuddle up under a blanket on the couch. After about an hour I feel hungry again (although I'm probably just bored) and I want to eat a roll, or second helpings, etc. I've been trying to get up and workout early in the morning, and get busy with the kids or housework when hunger strikes. It's definitely day by day. But it was no easier in the summer. I wanted soda all the time (it was the only thing I kept cold) and then heat affects my bp (which is already high) making me lethargic. Wanna sleep all day in the summer too, lol. This healthy lifestyle will certainly take some work.

I have the same problem! I want a big bowl of mashed potatoes with roast beef, and a jug of red wine!

I do find satisfaction in healthy soups and stews! Rather than using stew meat, I try to get the butcher to find a nice lean cut that I can cube into stew meat myself - although this year I'll have venison which is very lean! Here's my recipe for Chicken with dumplings!

1 fryer (small chicken)
1 med onion
1/3 cup olive oil
2TB your favorite herbs (I use rosemary)
1TB sea salt (regular salt is fine!)
2 med leeks
1 head of garlic
6 stalks of celery
1 cup of chopped carrots
optional - frozen peas and or corn
Additional olive oil for cooking
3 TB flour or 1 TB corn starch
3 cups low fat milk
1 box or 2 cans chicken broth (or make your own!)
1 cup baking mix like Jiffy or Bisquick

Preheat the oven to 350

Wash chicken, pat dry with paper towels (making sure giblet pack is removed!) Put the olive oil in a measuring cup and add the salt and herbs, whisk to mix (I never measure any of these). Brush or rub the oil mixture all over the chicken. If you're extra ambitious rub the oil mixture under the skin of the breast, and cut small holes in the skin over the thighs near the back and poke some of the herbs/salt/oil mix down around the thigh meat.

Cut off the top of the bulb of garlic, drizzle with a little olive oil, wrap in foil and place it in the oven on the lower rack! The garlic will be ready when the chicken is cooked

Quarter the onion and place inside the chicken cavity.

Roast the chicken BREAST SIDE DOWN until done - I usually check at one hour and then every 15 or 20 minutes after that - you want the thickest part of the thigh to read around 160 (you'll be cooking it more later so no fear!). When it's done remove from the oven and cover with foil (loosely ) and let it rest until its cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, clean the leeks. Cut off the roots just above where the connect, and cut off the dark green top. Slice the leek length wise so you can fan open the layers and rinse under cool water. Leeks have grit and sand in them so make sure you fan open the layers to wash between them. Dice up the leeks (I lay the cut side down and slice across them about 1/4 inch apart).

Wash and chop the celery and carrots and set them aside.

If the chicken had giblet you can put them in a medium sized pot of cold water along with the ends of the celery and leeks (after washing them!) and simmer for about 50 minutes to make chicken broth - add salt if you aren't used to salt free broth!

When the chicken has cooled, remove the skin, pull the meat off (you can cut it off or pull it off with a fork) and set meat aside. The skin and bones would make a GREAT chicken broth if you want to keep them - I toss them into a gallon bag and freeze until I am ready to make a broth!

Add stock back into pot and add celery and carrots, bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes - when the carrots are tender, add any frozen veggies and simmer for another 5 or 10 minutes. In a small sauce pan heat 2 Tb of olive oil and cook leeks, stirring often. Add more Olive Oil as needed. When the leeks have wilted and started to turn transparent, add the flour or corn starch and cook another five minutes. slowly stir one cup of milk into the flour mixture and continue adding more milk until the mixture thins, simmer another five minutes, and stir into the large pot of stock. Add the roasted chicken and bring back up to a simmer. Taste broth and add salt and pepper as needed. If someone has a cold I always add a pinch of red pepper. I also add more minced rosemary at this point!

While the chicken stew is simmering, mix baking mix with low fat milk until a thick sticky dough forms, when broth is simmering add spoon fulls of dough into the broth, dunking them a little until all of the dough has been added. Fit the pot with a lid, and turn down to low for ten minutes.

The dumplings will be fluffy and light, and you should have a slightly thick broth.

A friend just emailed me that she's been eating black beans with diced smoked turkey - in a bowl, with chopsticks, while sitting by the fire. The chopsticks slow her down so it lasts a long time and she feels full when she's done.

I have to say - that sounds mighty cozy to me!

This sounds yummy great way to get lots of veggies. How many people does this serve? I put it in as feeding 6 and came back with 539 cal, 22g fat, 1984mg sodium, and 28 g carbs. That's a little out of my goals, but may work for a splurge day.

Six is probably right - you can cut out calories by skimming any fat off the top of the broth (I make sure remove all visible fat when I'm taking off the meat). Also the chicken skin and most the olive oil goes away in the boning process! The oil helps keep the moisture in the chicken but you could eliminate it completely and just put sprigs of your favorite herb plus a under the skin, and rub it with a little salt!

The only reason you're using oil to saute the leeks is to make a (can't spell this) roe to thicken the broth - if you don't mind a thinner broth leave out the milk and just add the leeks into the broth with the celery and carrots and simmer! Or use cornstarch combined with a little cold water and add hot broth to it, stir, add a bit more, stir, then mix the cornstarch mixture back into the broth and add a little milk if you like! You'd have to let that simmer a bit to thicken but that would cut back on fat!

And *sob* you could leave out the dumplings completely - a nice hefty chicken stew isn't exactly a bad thing!