The random recipe bag.

[musosian]

I have, for some time now, been addicted to food pr0n. I would only buy one of those food magazines once every 3 months or so, but they still stacked up - I'd cook 4-5 things from one then put it away for 'later', which very rarely came

Comments

[daharja]

I've been doing a LOT of research on weight gain, weight loss and food, and portion size doesn't really seem to be the issue. The key factors seem to be:

- what you eat on a day to day basis
- the balance of foods (e.g. proportion of different food groups on your plate)
- avoiding/limiting key foods.

For instance, I have been really suprised to find that bread basically halts my weight loss. Not any other form of carb - I'm still eating plenty of potatoes, pasta, and even chocolate cake from time to time - but bread seems to be the crucial food. Weird. I don't know why. But my weight loss ground to a halt, and I plateaud for weeks, then I cut out all bread (even the wholegrain healthy stuff I was eatin), and have dropped 2 1/2 kilos in a week. Go figure.

Dairy is also a big nasty, far more so than meat when it comesto losing weight. You may as well pour oil down your throat and onto your hips/butt/wherever. It is basically pure fat - even the 'low fat' milk gets most of its calories from the fat content, it just contains more water.

The secret, I'm finding, is balance. Eat heaps of fruit and veggies (don't limit yourself), drink lots of water (avoid soft drink and juices), and eat reasonable amounts of protein foods (if you eat meat, grill it or dry-fry it with no oil - use herbs etc for flavour).

And don't deprive yourself of chocolate and other yummies - just buy the best stuff you can afford in small quantities, and savour it! Be a gourmet, not a gros gourmand!

Enjoy your cooking, and good luck if you decide to lose weight!

If you think it will help, join our new community over at permanent_wl - it's still under construction, but I'm putting what I hope will be useful info there for everyone :-)

[musosian]

I'm already reading permanent_wl and your journal, which is part of the reason I've started this :)

I haven't been going long enough to find out if I have any foods like bread is for you (I don't eat much bread as it is, maybe once a week at most), but the diary is a small step in the right direction from the look of things.

[daharja]

A diary is an excellent step. Most people don't realise how much they're eating, and where the problems in their diet really are (I certainly didn't!), until they do a food diary.

If you want to meet and fo me to have a look at it and offer any help, I'd be really glad to. I'm not going to suggest on the spot that you go vegan or anything (!!), but I might be able to see ongoing trends that aren't as visible to you. It's always easier to see things when you're not the person doing the diary.

If not, I'd really suggest you get a close friend to have a look at the iary and se ifthey can spot problems, trends, and recurring habits that might be a problem for you.

Anyway, email me at daharja at gmail dot com if you want to meet up and get me to have a look at it, after a couple of weeks of regular diary keeping.