I have a Gefu Spiralizer, and we loooooooove it. I had to get a little brush to clean it out, at first but we typically use it for spaghetti with zuchinni. If I want to be fancy I'll do a carrot or sweet potato.

But mainly zuchinni noodles for spaghetti.

Agreed about the day you want to throw a salad at the wall!!! :bigsmile: I don't have as much willpower as some do on/in here, but if I fix a negative emotion to a food (like I'm angry that I have to eat a packet of tuna, or whatever I brought for lunch that I don't want becuase i'm just so sick of repeats) I say "ok, it's time for a cheat" but I have to be very conscience about when the last "cheat" was.

Like today. I promised the ladies at work last week that I'd go to lunch with them today. (The one is retiring and this is her last payday friday with us) - Ok, Is it gonna blow my day....yep....is it gonna blow my week....maybe....but is it gonna last forever and will I do it this frequently in the future. Nope. This weekend and next week I'll be back on track....and I might gain a little but I'll work to take it back off.

They are eating healthier.. but I don't think they will ever join my bandwagon.

Agreed, I'm trying to get an 8 and a 7 year old to eat a little healthier, so I haven't completely taken away their bread...yet....eh Idk....probably won't...but gosh some days it's hard to not open the bag and grab a slice. Same thing with pasta.

My youngest likes the zoodles, but the oldest....I still make her a handful of wheat pasta.

That's the frustrating part about all of it, is it's hard to do that whole family sit down pass the meat and potatoes meal anymore.

Oh one other tool that I'm a huge fan of....my mandolin! LOOOOOVE it, slicing apples and such with it. layering them out like a pretty and making a "makeshift" pie. LOL.

I have a 9 year old boy. I'm happy if he eats a serving of veggies! He loves meat and fish. I'm very happy he loves salmon. But he won't give up his pasta!

I use the Gefu, as well. I need to buy a couple of extra bottles and mix up more homemade salad dressings. Nothing compare to fresh homemade and yes, mixing up the dressings helps!

I have a question about the kids mentioned in this post. Are they overweight or do they have diabetes? Do they struggle with binge eating or have troubles eating proper portion. If not, I just don't see what the point would be taking healthy foods like pasta, bread, rice, etc., away. I really believe that MOST kids have a natural way of moderating their intake. I understand there are exceptions.


I truly am curious as to the thinking about taking pasta and bread and rice away from healthy, active, children. Wouldn't this create some unnecessary demonizing of foods? Making better choices of those items seems very wise to me. For instance, instead of white bread, mostly choose 100% whole grain breads, brown or mixed rices, spelt or whole grain pasta, baked sweet potato fries instead of fried white potato fries...but even those former foods aren't bad for them in moderation in appropriate serving sizes.

Please share your opinions on this further.

When I was a child, my mother would rarely serve any pasta. If we had pasta, it was because we were having a really bad time financially. I'm talking food pantry level bad time. I don't think my mom actually paid for pasta at any point of my childhood. She would always tell us, "Spaghetti is poor-people food." What did we eat? Rice and chicken. Sometimes we had rice, beans, and chicken. Can you guess what my ethnicity is? ;-)

Anyway, I never developed a taste for pasta dishes. I've tried some. I'm not a fan. They're not something I can say I crave. If anything, I like white sauces. But, I don't need the pasta for that. This is where my fiancee and I differ a lot. She was raised on pasta. She can barely live without it.

Tonight we invited her parents and my mom over for dinner (spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread). My mom expressed surprise that I would eat pasta. I told her, "nah, I am having a steak." She commented, "Won't everyone else be jealous that you get steak and they're stuck with pasta?" LOL, I had to remind her that not everyone thinks pasta is a punishment like we do.

My comment had more to do with vitamins and minerals ... not grains but the sugar. There are no kids that I am directly responsible for feeding.. but I do the shopping for my sweetie and his daughter who is with us 50% of the time.

My sweetheart is overweight, and could lose a little weight .. but his daughter is at a perfectly healthy weight at 17 ... but she eats a lot of sugar and will skimp at meals. This is her idea of dieting. Less meat, grain and vegetables and cut the cupcake into two pieces before she eats it. So I'd rather see her not diet at meals.. but maybe with the extras. However I am not her parent. In my own life, i was like that at 17 .. butterfinger and cocacola lunches .. it did eventually catch up to me as my metabolism slowed down. So I wish I had healthier models,

I was simply saying that I forget to buy the grain products that they want to eat at dinner.. and must be reminded. "If I must" was a joke... We totally have one main dish and several alternative side dishes for every meal. That seems to work fine.



When it comes to zoodles... the 17 year old will not try it AT ALL..

kkimpel - thank you for responding with your experiences. That is very helpful. I have a 16 year old at home that has decided to be a vegetarian. We end up focusing on her getting enough protein. She found an app on the phone called a protein tracker, so she is trying to get enough. I do think teens in general tend to pick "junk" foods over healthier foods because they are easy, and many teens are just lazy. I try to break my daughter of this laziness on a daily basis. She'll ask me to buy yogurt and fruit so she can make smoothies with protein powder, but if I don't remind her to take out the blender, she'll just reach in the pantry and pick some cheez-its or something easy like Pop-Tarts or a granola bar. Not that any of those foods are BAD for her, but they aren't optimal for her chosen path of vegetarianism either.

She'll also ask me to buy other healthier foods like lentils and beans and such, but won't be bothered to actually make them, or doesn't want to wait for them to cook. She'll just cook a box of mac n' cheese with that powdered yellow packet. It's definitely something I strive for to get a healthy meal in her at least at dinner time.