My new lifestyle

[Trishlovesdolphins]

If you like your sweets and miss them, I have a really good (I've been told, I didn't even get a piece!) recipe for diabetic pumpkin cheesecake. I made it at Thanksgiving. It does have some sugar in it, but it's mostly made up of low/no fat items. Let me know if you're interested and I'll PM it to you. I didn't think it came out very pretty, but I think with a little tweaking the way it's mixed it could be prettier.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Save your indulgences for the special occasions and only eat the stuff you really love that you don't get any other time of year. Aunt Jane's famous Christmas cookies - sure, have a few. Random chocolate chip cookies you can have anytime, skip it.

[Seshat]

Alternate family punch recipes with water. Alternate Aunt June's Christmas Cookies with a bit of good cheese or a nice healthy salad.

You still get your treats, but your stomach-bulk becomes mostly good healthy stuff.

[Food Lady]

Quoth TelephoneAngel

avocado in a salad....has a lot of fat

Don't worry about how much fat, but what kind. Limit saturated fat to 20 grams a day or less; it triggers your body to produce bad cholesterol. Avocadoes are almost all monounsaturated fat, which is the best and will keep you full, which cuts down on overeating. My advice is seek out foods with a lot of fiber and/or monounsaturated fats. Try to cut down on sugar. I use a half/half mixture of sugar/stevia in coffee, baking (unless it's a problem for texture). If you want holiday treats, make them; then you know what goes in them. I use Smart Balance instead of butter and it works perfectly.

[telecom_goddess]

My daughter has been using Baummel and Brown spread for a while, it's not pure margarine (gag) but part yogurt and part butter I think with pretty decent butter flavor. I tried it on toast and it was ok.

I'm using Stevia now instead of sugar...not that I used that much to begine with

[BookstoreEscapee]

There's a book by Michael Pollan called Food Rules, which has one that I like: [paraphrased] Eat all the junk food you want as long as you make it yourself. If you have to make those french fries from scratch...are you really gonna do that very often?

[BarbieGirl]

I've heard that people confuse hunger for thirst so drink a glass of water before getting any snacks and see if that satisfies you. Also before you go out to a party make sure you eat a filling healthy snack so that when you do hit the goody table you'll be less likely to over eat.

[telecom_goddess]

Society is not helping with this ....for example at Walgreens I went looking for the sugar free/calorie free flavor packets that you flavor bottles of water with...so I will drink more water with no calories and keep hydrated....and they are SEASONAL so they no longer have them out. But soda is everywhere I look. WTF? This is a drugstore for god's sake....they should know better. And right here at work they are serving free donuts/pastries/hot chocolate etc...none of which I can have. Where are the goddamn healthy snacks and drinks I ask you......

[ArcticChicken]

I've found that just carrying a water bottle massively increases the amount of water I drink.

[TelephoneAngel]

Quoth BookstoreEscapee

There's a book by Michael Pollan called Food Rules, which has one that I like: [paraphrased] Eat all the junk food you want as long as you make it yourself. If you have to make those french fries from scratch...are you really gonna do that very often?

This is such a good idea............like if I want a slice of cake I will have to assemble the ingrediants and bake the cake............gives you time to think better of having it.

I did well over the holidays and did not eat as much bad stuff as I was dreading.
Now to continue over the course of this next year and see exactly how much of a difference it will make, I have high hopes for my health.

All my shopping lists are so different to what they were before.Mostly fruit and vegetables, very little ready made food on there.No choclates or cookies or candies.If I want something sweet i have yoghurt with some pureed fruit now.