Food!!

The BIGGEST part of losing weight is FOOD. Someone said to me the other day, "I just wish I didn't have to workout in order to lose weight." I sort of wanted to laugh. Because you don't! Working out helps you build muscle tone, which DOES burn calories faster than fat. But it isn't very affective for weight loss if your eating isn't in check.

On the other hand, I could do no physical activity and eat healthy within the right calorie limit and I'd drop pounds. Obviously, that wouldn't be optimally healthy, but it's true. So I focus more of my energy on what I eat and do a little exercise on the side.

When I first started trying to lose weight (about four million years ago) I thought the only way to eat was like a rabbit. Vegetables. Salads. A little fruit. No carbs. Brothy soups. Blech. Boring. I just can't eat that way! I like food that TASTES good! I want food that makes me excited to eat, that I can enjoy! I don't want to force myself to eat foods that I don't like.

So I don't! If it doesn't taste good, I'm not going to eat it. If it doesn't fill me up, it's not worth it. Does this mean I absolutely crave and love everything I eat? Like pizza and cheesecake? No. Sometimes I just really, really love things. Sometimes I just like them okay. But most of the time I eat foods that I really, really, really like!

The other thing is getting the family to eat it. I have a somewhat picky family. My hubby will try anything I ask him to (almost). He may not request it on a regular basis, but he'll eat it. And the kids will try it because I make them. :) I will not make them eat something they really, honestly don't like. But I also won't cook two separate meals. And I can tell the difference between "I reeeeeally hate mushrooms!" and "I would so rather be eating pizza right now!" with the kids.

I don't expect them to love everything I make. I made a vegetable stir fry tonight (recipe coming soon!) full of cabbage and green onions and bell peppers and water chestnuts. I don't expect them to pick this for their birthday dinner. But unless it's making them gag, they can probably handle it just fine. Know what I mean?

Also, my kids are really good at seeing vegetables on their plates and immediately starting to whine that they don't like this. I'll remind them that they haven't tried it yet, or they've had it before and liked it just fine. But they continue to whine. I always promise that I am only going to make them try it. And USUALLY they end up eating everything.

This happened the other day at Tiffany's house. I had a huge pot of minestrone soup (recipe also coming soon!) and I took it to her house to share. Payson immediately whined about how she hated this stuff. I promised her she'd live if she tried it. She continued to whine. And then she ate the whole bowl. Awesome!

I plan to start sharing my favorite recipes soon. I could share them right this very second, but who wants just a recipe? Everyone wants pictures. And I don't have those. Yet. But as I start making each of those recipes I will take pictures and promise to post recipes and photos of the foods we eat around here on a regular basis to help you plan healthy meals and to show you that healthy eating doesn't have to taste like rabbit food!