Good Morning,

Just thought I'd start this up for the week. Hope everyone is cooking away. Whatcha all got planned for the week?

Well plan 1 is to get up early and fly home! I'm pretty sure I've packed on 10 pounds in the past 3 weeks, so eating and the gym will be my priorities obviously. I also have 93 horses to look after for the next week or so, so that will keep me busy until I head out to Alberta to work on the 6th. Phew!

WOW 93 horses, where do you go and why do you have that many horses, are they yours? It sound so neat !!!! I love animals.

I did really well over the Christmas holiday. I just wasn't around much temptation, so it was easy. I am hoping to get my book today! I have to go to the store today and grab a few things and I am going to find a good med recipe to have for dinner...a few of the recipes I have found online give 8 oz. of dried pasta as enough to serve 5 people...my family is in for a shock! Usually I cook a 1 pound box of pasta! Portion control is my new motto and it is so key to a healthy and slim life, for me as well as my kids into their future. We just eat too much darned food!
I have a recipe called Corsican beef stew that is absolutely out of this world. It is in one of my Italian cookbooks and I think it would qualify as a Med recipe. Honestly, it is drop dead delicious. I will make it next weekend when the inlaws come to visit. This means that I will impress the mother-in-law and also stick to our new, healthy lifestyle. I know beef is limited, so it will prolly be our only beef for the month of Jan. I will post the recipe in the recipe section.
Good luck this week, girls!

Great going, MojoJodie! I also believe in portion control I agree that it's easy to overdo pasta, especially when we go to restaurants and they serve it by the platter! We tend to take those habits home with us. I eat pasta (good old fashioned white pasta) but I don't eat much at a time. It's easy to stretch out the meal around the pasta by adding large chunks of vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, etc. Ooooh, I read your recipe for the beef stew and it sounds delicious!! I'm almost tempted to add beef back to my diet I'm going to send the recipe to my son, he likes to cook, and he eats beef.

Does anyone drink wine? Red wine is recommended on the Med diet, and it's also been linked to a reduction in heart disease risk (see this thread for more info). I'm going to try to work it into my diet, but the problem is that I just don't like wine. I cook with white wine, but I'm almost positive that the wine recommended for drinking must be red, due to specific antioxidants. Can anyone advise me how to choose a wine?

Had a big post but i guess I took too long and got logged out. It got eaten by czberspace. I am having keyboard trouble today so excuse typos. I have to type the Z key for y and the Y key for z Darned crazy lap top.

Ive tried the red wine thing myself a few times with limited success. I dont care for the taste either. What Ive heard about picking wine is, toss out the least expensive and the most expensive, toss out ones youve seen on tv and any wines that remind you of ex bf-hubbys Honestly, I just pick ones that are sort of in the middle. One thing to keep in mind is cooking will concentrate the flavor so pick one that doesnt taste awful because it will be worse when zou cook with it. Try mixing wine with seltzer water the flavored ones maybe. I dont know if cooking with the red wine would deplete the benefits or not, but zou can use it with beef and pork dishes just fine. Dont know how red would taste in chicken or fish dishes though

I easilz use to eat 5 to 6 ounces of pasta at a sitting. Now I weigh out 2 oiunces at a time, 1 ounce if it is as a side dishes. i add scads and scads of veggies and it does help. I am a big fan of shredded cole slaw mix or broccoli slaw.. that can plump up anz meal with big chunks of zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli, eggplant etc

Less than an hour to go and I am leaving. nothing for me to do todaz at all. The next spreadsheet for me to work on has not arrived so I am sitting here with zippo to do. I emailed mz boss and let him know id be leaving if nothing showed up. Might as well be comfy at home instead of sitting here like a lump.

Have a nice Monday everyone. Go sweat! I got in 50 mins this morning b4 work and will get in 20 more tonight. yesterday was 93 minutes., YAY

I too am circling the whole red wine thing. I see people on tv slavering over wine, and they look so sophisticated drinking it with their meals. But, wine tastes gross to me. It's just nasty. But, I think to myself, maybe I will get used to it? My husband likes it and would like to have it at meals, so I am trying to keep an open mind, and am hoping that I can find one I think tastes good at some point. I almost feel there is something wrong with me for not appreciating the "flavors" to be found in wine, the bottle will say it has cherry notes or vanilla notes and I think "yummy!" but then I drink it and it tastes like kaka vinegar just like every other wine I have ever had.
I think I will give it another try though, for my good ole heart.

I'm going out later to buy some. I'll definitely use LindaT's advice I also found this chart which explains the differences in red wines (scroll to bottom) http://www.the-wine-list.net/wines.html Several people have recommended a cabernet sauvignon, which is probably what I'll buy today.


On another topic, who's eating grains? I'm not referring to breads, but the whole grains you dish out onto your plate I'd like to try quinoa, and have never had it before. I've heard it's an "acquired taste" lol, and want to make sure I fix it right the first time, and ensure there will be a second time Does anyone here eat quinoa?

It's official, I have weighed on my home scale for consitancy...I gained 10 pounds while I was home... again! (2 years in a row) Last year it camce off fast so lets hope I'm lucky again. *sigh*

Quinoa is goood stuff, provided it is cooked correctly. The first time I bought it, I didn't have a recipe. I proceeded to make a very thick glue with my first attempts. Nasty nasty. I have a couple of quinoa recipes on my recipe page at allrecipes that are really tasty, IMHO of course.

http://www.geocities.com/lindat3fc/recipes.html and them click on Allrecipes to get to my review page. They may be buried in the long list, but they are there along with any modifications I made. Another good grain is bulgur wheat. I eat a lot of the stuff and that I can find at my regular grocery store. The brand I get comes in a yellowish box and is great grains brand I believe. Of course a pot of brown rice is always good. I use brown rice with my chinese food now instead of white. I know it sacriledge but you do get use to changes.

There are several alternative pastas out there, aside from whole wheat that are also good. Lentil pasta is tasty, but it foams up like beans So you have to watch it. Another one I have is brown rice pasta. I haven't tried it yet but I intend to soon.

I had a yummy Mexican salmon for dinner last night, along with some calabacitas and brown rice. For dessert, I had some of the sugar free eggnog I made from a recipe that I found here at 3FC... skim mlik, sugar free pudding, cinnamon, nutmeg.. etc. Not bad at all. Of course, to make sure I got my allotment of sugar I ate a cookie and a piece of fudge. The stuff is almost gone.. thank God. I still have urges to eat it all at once, but I am not. I am eating treats like a normal person.. one or two here and there. It's amazing I can do that now, but gosh if it isn't TOUGH sometimes.

Today I sit at work again with nothing to do. No new spreadsheet to work on so i am waiting for four hours to be up and then I am outta here. I have a conference call at 10am that will go from 60-90 minutes so I wouldn't be surprised that I'll be heading out after that. Since my boss will be on the same call as I am, afterwards i'll ask him if he even wants me to bother coming in tomorrow. I like the money but sitting here for four hours with nuttin to do when I could be sleeping in is a drag Everyone will be back to work next week from the shutdown so i will have things to do then.

What's everyone else up to today? Are you all getting some exercise? No waiting until the first.. no time like NOW to get moving. The sooner you start, the sooner it will be a habit and that is when it gets easy.

Well well well, 2004 will be just a memory in a few hours....can't believe how fast it goes.

Whats everyone doing in the last part of 2004? I'll be cleaning and getting ready for neighbors tonight. No med foods not even spinach dip LOLOLOL.

The older we get, the faster it goes. What my parents said is true...

Not doing anything today other than some errands. I want to go look for a bathrobe and a toaster, so that will be first, followed by cat food for the brat, a stop to refill the gas tank and then grocery shopping. I should be getting ready right now, but I have more important things to do at the moment: posting and drinking my iced mocha. Got my menu for next week all made so am good to go.

We had a great group in fat chat last night. Wish more could have made it, but it was fun for those of us who were there (even though I was late )

With the new year coming, I hope more people will join this forum. It's a great way to become healthier AND lose weight in the bargain.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Chat was wonderful, I had forgotten how much chatting with you all kept me out of the kitchen. Sitting there trying to keep up with the fast chat was WONDERFUL!!! my brain loved it. And even thought we talked about food, I never wanted to get up and get some hmmmmmmmmmm Leenie discovers new weight loss program

WOW, its 1 pm I slept until 8:30, DD didn't go to bed until 11:30 last night and behaved so well for a tired 3 year old lol. We had wonderful guests, food and fun. Today I have taken down all the Christmas decorations and put them away. I'm washing and vacuuming from yesterdays mess (gotta work on monday ick). House looks brandy new and smells wonderful. I bought those plug in air freshners, I think Glade makes them, boy are they ever nice, you walk in the house and the smell is so soothing it makes your shoulders drop lol. Now I have to clean my bedroom (not really just make the bed) and thats about it. Laundry can wait until later on in the evening. Its 60 degrees out and sunny....I GOTTA get outside.

LindaT, I will chat w/you later.... here's to another wonderful year, Happy New Year.

HUGS !!

Well tomorrow is the day I start planning my weekly menu and monday is ....... CHARGE!!! diet & exercise.

2005 will be good to me

I haven't been around much. Been in denial with eating and my diabetes has been out of control. I have to call the doc and think insulin may be my fate.
ugh

On the bright side(and not so bright side..LOL) my sons bought me a puppy for Christmas. They think it will get me moving after work which is the worst time for me. I have a tendency to plop in front of the tv. Not anymore. Between chasing piddle puddles around the house ...OMG where does it come from, and taking him out, I am moving more. Plus it's forcing me to clean this very neglected house up....baby proofing

Well, Wishes for a happy, healthy New Year to all.