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Old 11-23-2009, 11:15 AM   #1  
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Default Baked goods equal love-challenging myself not to bake

Somewhere along the way, I internalized the idea that homemade baked goods equal love. This can mean love for other people, or as a way to treat myself.

I know that baked goods don't really equal love in any way. It's just such a habit. I also noticed an interesting thing a few days ago: when we get low on groceries in the house, it's usually that we run low on things to make actual meals. I rarely let us run out of something to bake.

I've been baking way too much lately, sometimes even whipping up something every day, and it isn't helpful, so this morning I thought I'd challenge myself to NOT BAKE for awhile, at least for a month or two, maybe longer. Who knows?

Even though we're heading into the holiday season, I'm still going to try this.

Have any of you ever quit baking, for a long time, or a little? Did it help?
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Old 11-23-2009, 11:44 AM   #2  
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I hear you on this one. I used to bake like a maniac around the holidays (as gifts and for us), and I used to love baking bread. I've stopped with the bread, and cut way back with the holiday baking.

I agree with you there are other ways to love yourself and your family and friends.
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Old 11-23-2009, 12:47 PM   #3  
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I swore off the usual huge trays of assorted Christmas cookies this year (my coworkers are NOT happy). Last year I made 10 varieties, I think, including fudge and some bars. This year they are getting one cake-type-thing and that's it. I just can't have all that stuff in my house; it's impossible for me to keep from 'taste testing', and I'm supposed to be sugar-free right now.

I come from the 'food equals love' school as well, so it's been hard to give up baking. I was really baking a lot for awhile there, though, and when I realized I was just pushing food on other people because I can't have it myself, I knew I had to stop. I tell myself it's not really fair of me to eat healthy and give 'junk' to others, no matter how much they enjoy it. Not that homemade baked goods are junk, but telling myself that works for me at the moment.
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Old 11-23-2009, 01:02 PM   #4  
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Home baked goods was something I COMPLETELY banned initially. It is without a doubt the hardest thing for me to resist. I needed to set myself up for success, which meant not throwing needless temptation in my face. Baking, which I did frequently WAS OUT OF THE QUESTION. OUT OF THE QUESTION. It was no longer an option.

And you're right - IT DOESN'T EQUAL LOVE. Giving your children a happy, well adjusted, healthy weight mom who is productive, energetic, fit, strong, confident, healthy and happy - THAT'S love. And the biggest "treat" of all. Not some calorie/fat/sugar laden "food". Read a book with them, play a game, do a puzzle, go for a walk, talk to them. BE with them.

Love yourself enough to do what is best for you and your family. Make them healthy meals. Healthy and DELICIOUS. Educate them on good nutrition. Show them how nutritious, yet delicious healthy eating really can and should be. Fabulous soups, scrumptious roasted veggies, delectable stews and chilis, sauted chicken, turkey breast, baked apples, poached pears, fruit kabobs.

Believe me, they won't miss the stuff. It's more in our heads then theirs.
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Old 11-23-2009, 01:14 PM   #5  
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I am a fantastic baker. I had a reputation as a great cook. I used to bake EVERY week, many times a week: cakes, breads, rolls, cookies... constantly. It was part of my identity. It was VERY hard to stop baking. I felt like I lost a part of myself. But over time it did get easier and I focused on learning to cook delicious, healthy meals, veggies, fruits, whole grains, etc. It is NOT the same but after 2 years I do not miss it like I used to. My kids, on the other hand, do miss it terribly. They are teens and remember when I used to bake all the time and they KNOW I am a great baker. They have pretty much stopped asking but they tell me how much they miss it. And healthy baked items don't really take the place of those things I used to make.

My compromise is that on their birthday I will make them ANY cake or pie they want, from scratch, as their birthday cake. They all look forward to it a lot. In fact they ask for things like cakes and pies as their Christmas gifts but I can't go there!

I used to bake for every holiday (and all the time in between) but now the ONLY holiday I bake for is Christmas. I whittled it down quite a bit but we make about 5 kinds of cookies together, make plates, and take them to friends. I'll probably keep doing that as the one year I didn't, I got phone calls asking if I was sick

We all have to find the balance that works for us... if it is Zero Tolerance, or special occasions, or what, but I feel like it's almost a miracle that I don't bake every week anymore! Maybe twice a year I make banana muffins or pumpkin bread (no fat, less sugar, whole grain) but that's it!
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Old 11-23-2009, 01:27 PM   #6  
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I scaled my usual epic Christmas baking way back last year, although I did some, mainly for giving away. I made it through the holiday season with a small loss of weight, but I certainly did sample my baked goods, and I have no doubt I'd have lost more weight over the holiday season had I refrained from baking.

This year? No. I was still over 300 lbs last Christmas, and had a much bigger margin for error in my eating than I do at my present weight. I'm very sorry if the people I used to bake for will be disappointed -- I am still making the Christmas pudding, but I'm not particularly keen on it, it can't really be sampled, and thus, it's not going to be a temptation, and the surplus dried fruit will go to feed the birds in my garden -- but you know, there is already tons of sweet stuff sitting around during that time of year, so those who want to indulge are going to have plenty to choose from already.

I can't have that stuff in my house, not even long enough to bake it and send it out the door. I get my regular baking jollies from making our weekly loaf of multi-grain bread, which doesn't trigger me, and as often as not, my husband is the only one who eats it.
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Old 11-23-2009, 01:34 PM   #7  
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Lyn, I felt the same way as you. I was/still am a great baker and a cook and was "known" for it and felt as if was losing a part of me. But ya know what, it was time. It was time to lose that part of me in order to find different and better parts of me.

And I used that love of baking and cooking to my advantage. I just switched it around and now focus on HEALTHY cooking. I make FABULOUS healthy meals. People LOVE coming to my home for a delicious meal - that also happens to be health conscious. And now, wouldn't you know it - I'm known for THAT. It's a wonderful, wonderful feeling.

Oh. And when there's a birthday in the house, I bake cupcakes. Just enough so that everyone gets ONE. Depending if it's a splurge time for me, I'll either bake one for me as well, or not. Another thing I use to bake in order to maintain portion control is ramekins. I make individual cakes, fruit crisps, etc in them. It took me many months to get to this stage. Many. I was taking NO chances. I needed to do things "different" this time. So like I said earlier, baking was totally and completely banned. And they all lived happily ever after....
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Old 11-23-2009, 02:43 PM   #8  
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There are some interesting replies and methods here.

I guess I can't say that I'll be all or nothing. I'm just going to cut WAY back on the baking, and the easiest way to do that right now is to challenge myself to do none at all for awhile.

There aren't any kids in the house, except for when our grandchildren visit, which is often, but the funny thing is, I make goodies for them and many times, they don't get eaten because other fun and interesting things are going on.

For several years, I baked and sold homemade pies, cookies, brownies... I got used to having huge bags of sugar and flour and chocolate chips and stuff around. I'm glad I "retired" from baking to sell a few years ago, or I'd be in even worse shape now than I am.

My husband wants/needs to lose weight too, and finds it hard to resist baked goods, so I'm really doing us both a favor by cutting back.
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Old 11-23-2009, 03:00 PM   #9  
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This is interesting! I *started* the bulk of my baking while losing weight, as a way to improve the quality of food we ate. Previously I baked the occasional box dessert and white bread in the bread maker, but now I do everything by hand and from scratch, from freshly milled whole grain flours. I focus on nutrient dense, high fiber bread and reworkings of traditional desserts with the same great taste but much healthier, whole ingredients.

BECAUSE I love them and want us all to be healthy I have taught myself how to make the health food I love from stores at home, with a better price, better taste, and all my love poured into it. They love breads, so I am satisfying their tooth for that in the most beneficial way possible.

It hasn't been too hard to control my consumption of the vast majority of what I bake, as it is more filling with the whole grain flour and agave nectar (which doesn't spike my blood sugar or cravings like cane sugar), and since I log and calculate the calories of what I am making, the accountability of seeing it on the screen limits my consumption handily.

It works for me, anyway! They WILL eat baked goods, and so it is up to me to maximize the nutrition they are consuming with them. The only item I bake as a giveaway or gift is my (sinful but still healthy) spice bread, and I only bake that because it is from starter I have to constantly feed, so every ten days we have a batch. But I usually just take my piece or two, log it, give my family their servings and then take it into church, work with husband, bible studies, or anywhere else I can share it, so it will not be such a temptation.


This works great for me, anyway, and I get great satisfaction out of fermenting, kneading, rising, and then baking our delicious daily bread. I am becoming an amazing baker while working with health-improving ingredients that many other bakers shy away from, because they can be difficult to use without white flour. So perfecting my sprouted seed breads and kamut sandwich loaves? Of that, I am proud! It's my healthy new challenge and not negatively impacting my weight
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Old 11-23-2009, 03:21 PM   #10  
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I'm going away for Christmas with my family to my inlaws so YAYYYY! I don't have to worry about baking.

The one thing I am known for though is my "christmas crack" or soda cracker candy. I won't give you descriptions but picture loads of butter, brown sugar and TONS of chocolate. Yah. So not make it this year.
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Old 11-23-2009, 03:46 PM   #11  
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I love baking, and holiday baking especially!! I still do a LOT of it, the only difference is the past 2 years I DON"T EAT IT!!! lol, I give it all away, all but a few ginger cookies ~ they're good, but not so good that i'd splurge and eat 6 of them...now, my shortbread with homemade raspberry jam filling....yah they gotta leave the house pretty quick LOL
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Old 11-23-2009, 09:31 PM   #12  
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Around here, we joke that my dh is the "quality control man". When something comes out of the oven, I announce it to him, and he usually takes a large portion to "test", for example: 6 cookies. That's just for the taste test. Then we have more for dessert after supper, and I'm terrible for eating stuff like that for breakfast.

That's why I say, for now, in this house, it's better to "just say no" to baking anything at all for awhile. Our track record hasn't been very good at practicing moderation.
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Old 11-23-2009, 10:50 PM   #13  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Truffle View Post

That's why I say, for now, in this house, it's better to "just say no" to baking anything at all for awhile. Our track record hasn't been very good at practicing moderation.
Most people's track record ISN'T good at practicing moderation either. I had some BIG problems with certain foods. Once I started eating them, it was difficult (impossible even) to stop. My solution - don't START. Banning many foods initially, including baked goods was the best decision I"ve ever made. It wasn't restrictive at all. It was time. It needed to be done. Once I made these rules, these foods no longer held power over me. I didn't need to think about them anymore. They no longer ruled me. I ruled them. It was marvelous, freeing. In fact, it freed me up to lose 165 lbs. Which completely turned my life around. My life is a complete one eighty of what it used to be. Don't dread these changes. Embrace them. Look forward to them. Once you see those results, start reaping those rewards, I am certain that you will never, ever regret doing so and will wonder why you didn't do so earlier.
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Old 11-23-2009, 11:21 PM   #14  
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I used to bake for friends all the time. People would come over and I'd make three dozen cookies, just for an afternoon. I'm not even that great a baker, but I'm better than most; starving college students will eat almost anything.

I honestly told people to stop expecting it. I don't keep the stuff in my house any longer, I refuse to buy it...and shockingly, my friends still like me and still come over. I realized that baking doesn't equal love or friendship, just a higher pants size.
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