I am making zucchini chips in the oven with onion powder/ garlic powder and sea salt. Mandolin slicer for the win.

I made the same thing last night! one of my fave snacks. it's crazy how an entire zucchini can be just a small handful of chips, though. Does anyone know for sure if they have the same nutritional content as fresh?

You are just dehydrating out the water, so they should. But you are right, it makes a SMALL amount. We sure have to get used to smaller portions, don't we?

Just found this forum again...glad to be on a hometown board..GO HAWKS!!

So.... How did they turn out? My husband made radish chips the other night and um no, they did not go over well.

What a game, guys! I was emotionally up, down, scared, angry, elated, tense. Wow, good old fashioned nail biting football.

My husband wanted to go out for lunch before the game and I was nervous about eating so I laid down the law, politely. I knew because it was football day that I would be hard put to find something OP.

We found a new, small restaurant and had the most delicious salad with a chicken breast marinated in rosemary. I ordered no cheese, oil and vinegar on the side. It was so fresh with lots of different greens and delicious. I told my husband how much I appreciated his understanding that I could not eat in a place full of buffalo wings and beer kind of food.

That, and the victory, made my day. Love Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson and the individual efforts of each guy to push to make special plays. GO HAWKS.

Good job on keeping your resolve schenectady! You go girl!

And hooray for the Seahawks! I was on the edge of my seat most of the game - that was a great game!

HAWKS!!!


It was a great game. A little too stressful, but fun! My family ate tons of pizza rolls around me. Then they wanted chili cheese dip and chips, which is one on my favorites and I knew I wouldn't be able to be good. I asked them to please not make that...the kids kind of got mad, but understood. It's not like I was telling them they couldn't eat (which they were acting like I said) but just not that. Oh well...HOW are we going to handle the Super Bowl?! My kids saw a picture of a huge stadium like thing made out of sandwich fixings last year. They asked me to make it and I said I would if the Seahawks went to the Super Bowl...and of course they know remember that.

How old are your kids? Mine are in their mid-late teens and I have gradually changed what groceries I bring into the house. It took about six months, but I no longer buy any processed foods or anything with white flour/sugar...not even bread of any kind, cereal, chips, etc. I buy tons of veggies and a small amount of fruit. I still purchase milk, but I would love to switch them to almond milk, greek yogurt, eggs & cheese. I no longer cook meat...I'm a vegetarian. I will purchase it occasionally for my husband to BBQ. It does put a burden on me, because I am cooking, chopping, prepping, cleaning, etc. it seems all the time, but I think it is worth it. They still eat bread & stuff when they go to a restaurant so I'm not all military about it. Sorry to go on & on...

My kids that still are at home are 16, 14, and 10...and all serious athletes. So I feel like they need calories and carbs still. My son is growing like crazy (14). I've cut down A LOT on the processed foods for them, but still have crackers and breads around. Those are usually my downfalls. They are very healthy kids, weight has never been an issue for them. If anything, they don't get enough. I don't feel like I want to deprive them of anything, but yet we are gradually switching their eating habits. Frankly, I'm just not cooking anything creamy, saucy, yucky stuff. But they are still getting occasional sugar. I've made cookies for their lunches and not had ANY myself...that was a huge NSV. I just make a small batch, enough for them to have a few in their lunch and that's it. And that only happens once in a while. I don't buy the big packages of oreos and put in their lunch anymore. Or the little bags of chips. I ate those in the past.

Jendilly - I appreciate the challenge you are facing, both with trying to do the best for your children and at the same time look out for yourself.

I was never able to successfully do both. I love to cook and bake and making things for the boys was always a way to show them how much I love them. Crazy. but true.

Only when the youngest boy went off to college was I able to seriously focus on myself. I cleaned out the pantry and went on this journey, somewhat complicated by a husband who ate things I could not. Fortunately, most of what he eats does not particularly interest me although it did sidetrack me at times when I was weak.

I started at nearly 300 when my son left for school and I cannot convey in words how unhappy I was about my health and my happiness. I managed to get down to about 170 on my own but I began to flounder.

IP has given me back my life, my energy, and my health. I still have a ways to go but I know now that I can face this challenge and win.

Good luck with those delightful kids and treasure them while you have them.

Jendilly- it is a challenge...you and anyone with kids at home definitely are not as "able" to just go and revamp the grocery list or pantry as easily. "Elana's Pantry" is a paleo blog/ site that focuses on good eating and using healthy ingredients. She has young sons, one has celiac which got her into the healthy way to do things so he was not missing what he needed or should experience as a child or young person growing up. Paleo of course uses NO processed foods and refined flour or sugar are not part of how it's done...you may want to have a look at her site..or some of the other Paleo blogs. A lot of moms have decided this is the way to go ..and are eliminating refined sugar and processed ingredients for their families and the movement is really pretty big... There are a lot of really creative people out there who are sharing their knowledge!

It is amazing how much mother's choices for their kids' food has come. Although my Mom cooked most of our food, the 1950's were full of the great 'advances' in dinner food that would free up the mom from the household.

I was born when TV dinners came out in the '50s. Worse were products like Velveeta still around from its founding in the late 1920's. I use the word founding carefully because it is hardly a natural food.

When it hit the American mainstream markets, Kraft touted Velveeta for its nutrition, with it even gaining the AMA Seal of Approval!

Look at where we are now, trying to improve our health with IP. Do not know what my mother would have made of it....

From the windy and dry Tri-Cities! It's so awesome to see fellow ipers from Washington State . Restarted January 1st after quitting last year for financial reasons.

Doing it on my own through Nashua Nutrition and weighing myself weekly.
wk 1: 4.0lbs (was drinking crystal light..bad bad bad. gives me a nasty headache)
wk 2: 5.0lbs