[Thinfor5Minutes]

Has anyone read the Eating Clean book by Tosca Reno? She is a columnist for Oxygen Magazine. I am totally with her when she talks about eating foods as nature intended them, but she loses me when I read read her list of what to eat each day to lose weight. It's an awful lot of food! Chicken breast for a snack, egg whites, egg whites, egg whites! If I ate as much as she advocates, I think I'd be as big as a house. You are supposed to eat five "mini meals," but those minimeals are a lot of food, plus who has time to nuke egg whites at 3 in the afternoon? My boss would have a hissy fit!

[Mel]

I've read most of the book and eat that way. It's how I've eaten for the last five years. It's not a lot of food if you break it into minimeals rather than thinking in terms of 3 regular meals plus two. Another thing to keep in mind is that Tosca Reno is a figure competitor and lifts weights like a bodybuilder for probably an hour a day, at least 4-5 days a week and probably does cardio at least 6 days a week. She needs to eat to fuel her activity level.

Even if you aren't doing workouts at that intensity level, eating 5 small meals is still an ideal way to fuel your body. Don't let yourself get ravenously hungry, don't let the blood sugar levels drop or create insulin spikes.

I don't nuke egg whites all day long The real secret to eating this way is PLANNING and cooking ahead. I cook a large pot of brown rice each weekend and put portions in small plastic bags and toss them in the freezer. Same with chicken breast. Cook a large batch, then freeze it in portions. Cut up your vegies ahead of time. Cook egg white/oatmeal pancakes in bulk, then freeze them individually so that you just need to nuke it and toss a few blueberries on top. Hardboil eggs ahead of time, then take them to work in plastic containers (in a cooler if you don't have access to a refrigerator!) Plan, plan,plan!

Mel

[srmb60]

A gal I work with boils a bunch of eggs and just brings the whites in a bag to work ... for nibbling.

[CinnamonGirl]

Wow, he would get mad at you for nuking an egg? It only takes one minute to nuke one egg. What a creepy boss. Does he let smokers take a ciggy break? Your treating you body not hurting it which is good for him in the long run.

[SASCS]

I bought an egg cooker at Target for $19.99 that cooks 7 eggs at a time. I found a better one at Bed Bath and Beyond for $29.99 from Cuisinart. With either one, all you do is prick the eggs with a poker that comes on a the bottom of a little measuring cup, measure in the right amount of water according to the cup, put the eggs in the cooker, put the lid on it, and turn it on. When the buzzer goes off, the eggs are done. The more expensive model has an egg poacher thingy that my husband likes. Depending on the amount of water you put in, you get poached, soft, medium or hard boiled eggs. No mess to clean up. It is all self timed too. It has really helped me eat more eggs. I now make a lot of hard boiled eggs for egg whites.