Food you just won't compromise on
 

I'm curious if other people have specific foods they won't compromise for the low fat or the 'healthier' versions of.

For me, it's butter. Sure, I don't use a lot of it anymore, and I'm careful to track what I do end up using, and do I ever enjoy it when I do have some!

If I switched to margarine, especially a diet version, I could have more of it. I just can't get myself to look past the ingredient lists (or the taste) when I compare the two.

What are your noncompromise foods?

I don't think there's anything unhealthy about butter, it's the margarine I would be more weary of lol.

I believe moderation is the key to life, not just food. There's room for everything in my diet, but not enough room for everything everyday lol. I like eating the foods that make me feel good first and foremost. But if I want chips I'm eating the good kind, the kettle cooked organic Utz! I won't buy naked chips or low fat mayo or low fat cheese. I eat 2% yogurt and full fat milk. But my portions are normal.

I won't compromise on my Timmy Ho's iced cappucino. LOL I just get a small now instead of a large, though I don't get them nearly as often anymore.

Diet Green Tea, I can give up soda, diet soda even, juice and regular tea but I can not and will not give up on diet green tea. Lots of people say that drinking anything diet is unhealthy for you but until diet green tea is on that list with a plausible reason why its wrong for me to drink, I will not give it up. Its my only alternative that I like to water when I have drunk too much and just want something flavorable to drink.

I love those kettle cooked Utz, mainly plain and sweet potato.

I've actually given up margarine in favor of butter. Even though it's more calories, it's made of better stuff, especially if it's organic. I prefer full fat dairy in general, but I like Turkey Hill All Natural ice cream, especially the vanilla/choc. I buy it because it doesn't have weird ingredients and it tastes good, not because it uses nonfat milk. I don't consider it healthier because it's still a sweet dessert. Ice cream is one of the few treats I can have a little bit of and not want to indulge.

i am finding that foods made primarily with wheat make me feel awful....so i've cut it entirely out (cake, pasta, noodles, cookies etc) even whole wheat...i often wonder how MUCH better i would feel if i scoured every label for wheat/gluten LOL but so far I haven't done that :)

but on what I WON'T compromise on....my husband makes this KILLER bread....omg fabulous!! so if i'm going to have something containing lots of wheat, it's going to be a slice of his bread fresh from the oven, or his homemade pizza

in general, the one thing i've never compromised on is my coffee....one 12 or 16 ounces nonfat mocha almost every day, usually after my workout....i'm not willing to forgo my coffee just yet :)

Hmmm...

Cheese. I love cheese. Not just cheddar: rochfort, gorgonzola, parmasan, mozzarella (buffalo mozzarella omg), fondue, raclette...all the cheese. Omnomnom.

I also wont have diet cream. Give me real cream or none at all, thanks.

Vchan,

It's simple- what every little kid loves- ICE CREAM!!! I have a bucket of Cookies N' Cream ice cream in my freezer. Yummm.

What- we need calcium and calories right? :)

Best,
-Daniela
Ice Cream Lover for Life :)

I came here to say just this! I will gladly give up the wrap or bread on a buffalo chicken sandwich so that I can have 100 calories of funky blue cheese on top. I'll eat zucchini noodles instead of real ones so I can pile on several tablespoons of parmesan. Cheese and crackers? I'll eat the cheese with the lowest calorie crackers available to mankind simply to allow myself one extra ounce of cheese.

I also love nut butters. I sacrifice the bread in favor of rice cakes and super light, essentially flavorless wasa crackers so that I can have my tbsp or two of PB a day. It is also really good mixed in to low fat cottage cheese with a tbsp of reduced sugar jelly, as well.

Pastries. I've tried making "healthy" desserts but they're just not the same for me. Literally everything else I've been able to modify and live with but not pastries. So once a week I go to my favorite bakery and buy a pastry and have it for breakfast :)

So funny you said this, I have issues with my blood sugar so store bought pasta, breads, etc. KILL ME, but when I make my own bread and pasta I can usually eat it with no sugar spikes! I noticed it's so much heartier and filling too. Second on homemade bread! With the full fat butter too! Moderation is the key for me putting a loving pat on a warm piece of bread out of the oven is heaven :angel:

Now that I make my own bread and have got rather good at it, I won't go back to commercial sliced bread. But since homemade bread is healthier, that's not a compromise in terms of my diet!

I also vastly prefer organic carrots. Non-organic ones taste bitter to me. Apparently this is a common thing if you have ME/CFS, which I do. I don't think it's as bad as it used to be for me.

I'm not going to fuss over either if people are feeding them to me, of course, though thankfully my friends who feed me seem to get nice quality bread when they're entertaining.

Oh yes, and I will not compromise on the correct way to make rice. You should get the right proportion of water to rice, bring it to the boil, and then cook it on a low heat until the water is all absorbed. Some people drown their rice and then strain the poor, soggy remains. *shudder*

There is more than one way to cook rice. Italians like to cook their rice like pasta as you describe. It really is very easy to do and after you strain it you let it steam for a bit and then it's not soggy anymore.

And then there's risotto, and fried rice. There's not just one way to cook it.

Very true about different methods! Although I haven't tried the Italian method you describe. I was talking about people who just make it horribly soggy and miserable. I haven't made risotto in years, I'm not really up to standing there stirring for all that time, but that's definitely a nice option. As for fried rice, isn't that just a case of cooking the rice as usual and then frying it or adding it to your stir-fry? That's how I generally do it, anyway. Sometimes I gently fry the rice in a small amount of oil before I add the water, but that's a different thing.

I once tried the Persian way of cooking rice, about eighteen years ago. Let's see, how did it go. I think it involved soaking the rice overnight, and a stage where there was salt and then a stage where the salt was rinsed out again, and steaming it with a cloth under the pan lid, and oil or butter was involved somewhere. It turned out fabulous, of course, but was far too much fuss for me to do all the time! The only food I'll make that starts the previous day is when I set up the bread machine at night and put the delay timer on it so that it's ready for breakfast.

I forgot to mention that I'm also fussy about what rice I buy. For white rice, I get a nice basmati, though sometimes I use jasmine rice for far Eastern food, especially sushi. For brown rice, I've found that brown Thai jasmine rice is the one I like the best. My local health food shop sells it in bulk. Brown rices can be a bit gritty or heavy. Perhaps there's a trick to cooking them so that they're lighter? I also like to get red rice, either red Thai rice or red Camargue rice, and mix them into the brown rice, about a third of the total. Red thai rice is tasty in miso soup, too, and holds together well when being boiled in broth rather than steamed. I've not used red rice in ages, this is reminding me to fish it out! Basic long-grain rice tastes odd to me, sort of overly sweet. I've never really got into wild rice (yep, not actually a rice), probably because it involves a longer cooking time than the other rice you pair it with, unless you get something horribly processed. Which rices do you like?

I like all kinds. My favorite is Bomba rice, it's perfect for paella but I also use it to make the best risotto, much better than arborio rice and even carnarolli.

I buy basmati rice at a local ethnic market, I forget the brand but it's the type that my Indian friend approves of lol. I like brown rice at chinese restaurant but when I make it myself it's not as good.

Except brown basmati rice - it's fabulous! Just soak it and then cook as usual. I like it even more than white basmati.

For stufffed tomatoes and grape leaves I like carolina (long grain) rice. For every day side dishes I'm a huge fan of Uncle Ben's.