QueenWino

In my world the hardest part is definitely all of the wonderful cocktails. Mulled wine, spiked apple cider, champagne, egg nog, beautiful dinners w/ice wine and port, parties w/martinis and manhattans. The food part is just a small part of the caloric equation.

Eating an organic, non GMO, heavily seasonal diet is more expensive but eating a frozen veggie, bulk meat on sale, best options at a major supermarket diet is, depending on one's views, just as healthy. I prefer the former, I am willing to spend a ton for it, but it works for my viewpoint in life. My food cost for the…

My gardening hands are healing enough that I need to focus on this to avoid stress later (ha ha!) I swore I'd get a baby blanket done and now the lil one is 3 months old and I've yet to stop debating over which pattern I want to use.

I've had a lot of dogs, all from a shelter or another form of rescue, and I've had a range of mixed mutts. The breed was irrelevant for me; what mattered was the love and bond formed between the dogs and myself, whether the dog was a handsome prince or a terrible devil. I had to put our old Beagle, pug mix down 3 months…

I love the confessional! Also, I do much better when I read the forums and at times respond - the connection to others struggling or on the same journey is important to me and I am the only person in my very large social & work network who is obese. I've had things I've said taken in ways I never intended and felt…

A study came out this year regarding weight loss and keeping it off - the gist of it was that willpower is not a crutch that can be relied on; the best results came from actively removing temptation from the environment. No, I'm not taking the time to find the thread here to be heckled and thrashed about, but I read the…

A piece of toast made from homemade sourdough bread w/jam and a bit of butter on it. Pure love. On the better side of the treat world, I made some greek yogurt, fresh fruit mix that I froze on a bit of crushed graham cracker and cut into bars.

A piece of toast made from homemade sourdough bread w/jam and a bit of butter on it. Pure love. On the better side of the treat world, I made some greek yogurt, fresh fruit mix that I froze on a bit of crushed graham cracker and cut into bars. One of those is delicious.

Trashing what is considered by the poster 'garbage' is a strong choice. Whether the support will be there to continue the non junk food entrenched pantry (which is the poster's current ambition) is anybody's guess. I had to throw out some beautiful homemade cookies and cake in my freezer to start to take my weight…

Some of these threads are great in that people can really argue or feel their way to a topic answer but others are just too hard to swallow; I really hoped what I thought as an observation wouldn't be berated, etc/ I attended UC Davis, top ag school in the US, I know science, and my decision to offer up anecdotal…

You just took a step off the path, you didn't stop MFP. If you don't have a life filled w/potentially incredibly fun or fulfilling social interactions that might cause you to go over your cals, what is the point? My rule is to not punish myself ahead of time for fun I know I will have in a few days; instead, I might skip…

I have friends from diverse backgrounds who eat clean 95% (I am probably at 80-simply because I cook a ton, love farmer's markets and ancient grains, but I use white flour upon occasion, as well as the devil wheat thins or ruffles when weakened), and my observation is you could pick a clean eater out of a group of same…

We do a lot of small crock pot steel cut oats overnight & then mix in some fruit, cinnamon into a small thermos and off to work. I also like to make energy bars and am planning to make something called Oatcakes, a filling breakfast bar that is in the book Simply Natural Everyday.

When I am entertaining (which I do a lot!), almost the only time I find to eat is while preparing the foods. Yes I have to taste things here and there to decide if I'm happy w/the dish, but that second piece or spoonful is usually just because I really wanted it. I usually have no appetite when my guests are here so I feel…

I think your sister is desperately wanting you to be in control of your food and your health because she doesn't want to lose you too young to a weight related illness. You are the only one in the world who can decide you are going to limit your calories and get your weight to a safe zone, but your sister can decide she…

Serious foodie as well as frequent hostess to small and large dinner parties, open houses, etc. I refuse to use non-fat or skim anything, but I weigh the cheese, portion everything out, and account for the calories accordingly. The best thing I am doing now is buying cookbooks with delicious healthy recipes in them from…

I think it comes down to fear. People don't want to believe the boxed easy food or mass quantity meat products available at every huge store can be bad, because then they might have to put a ton of effort into working out new ways to eat, new ways to cook, taking time to learn how to shop, how to meal plan. It is a huge…

My weekend will be hopefully a gardening one but today am having my weekly open house swim party for friends and have 20-30 people to cook for. Time to get some cherry tomatoes hollowed out, jalapeno peppers prepped, and rub some ribs.

I've followed clean eating guidelines for years semi-haphazardly; not enough of a permanent lifestyle to overtake my depression lazy days, eating out 5 days in a row days, and then over indulging and feeling like crap days. When I would cook, I was very conscious of the health factor of the food. Somehow my days of cooking…

I put them in yogurt mixed w/other things to rotate between cereal and oatmeal a few mornings a week. I can't ever do one thing everyday, I get bored too quickly. I don't believe in miracle type foods but I think they have enough good benefits to justify using them.

I told myself this time is real - life is here right now and I need to live! So I eat really well most days and if I go over cals on 1-2 days a week, I make sure to still eat well before and after the splurges, no penance low cal days. I am not here to crash and burn, this is going to be a slow, bumpy plane ride that never…

A favorite of mine is a pasta bowl. Brown wheat linguine and brown rice pasta. 8 oz for for people total. Grate coarsely 2 zucchini, wrap in a towel w/a little salt to expel liquid. Cook your pasta while zucchini dries. In lg skillet heat olive oil on med-hi. Add a few thinly sliced cloves of garlic and 1/4 tsp chili…

Mine is open. I figure accountability and vulnerability are part of the process & lessons I need to learn.

I have one or two drinks a day, 3/4 of the week. One day of the week is usually a lot more (I have a bar & alcohol w/entertaining is part of my life). So far, it's been okay (although I did cut myself off from alcohol 100% for a few weeks before getting serious enough about my goals to join this site and maintained no…

Don't hate yourself! A lot of us make some crazy impulse decisions or binge out of the blue, but maybe a bit of the pressure just gets to us and takes over. I decide on a day when I can't seem to do the right thing, or I just feel such cravings, that it will be the day to cheat and that is my life. I don't look back now…

I love cheese as well. I will eat it if I weigh it out and add it to an apple or crackers, unless it's a huge indulgence meal, which is a St. Andre triple cream w/amazing rosemary focaccia and a big beautiful bottle of wine. Then it's just what it needs to be, deliciousness. Maybe once every two months I can do that.…

Kale salad (from Simply Natural Everyday) 1/3 c ev olive oil 1 tsp sesame oil 2 Tbs tamari or soy sauce 3 1/2 cups chopped, trimmed kale (I use lacinato or Tuscan because they are local) 1 1/2 cups large flake unsweetened coconut 2 cups cooked farro (or barley or quinoa) oven 350-coat kale and coconut in 2/3 of the oils…

I have to have days of bad foods or lots of wonderful drinking and nibbling, but what is balancing that is a freezer w/a bunch of homemade kale, chickpea soups, lentil soups, homemade sweet potato goat cheese casserole squares, vegetarian lasagna squares, and in my fridge I am only on track when I make a large delicious…

Whole Foods Market has some great recipes as does Fine Cooking.

I struggle with will all the time. I started this w/o the will to succeed, just sort of going through the motions as I really couldn't stand how I felt every single day, but I didn't think I'd do well. That whole 'fake it till you make it' mantra proved to be true w/me as I am slowly losing weight, checking into the…