I never eat the diet low fat version of ANYTHING. I’m not afraid of REAL butter. I no longer have an appetite for manufactured foods. I cook what I eat. I am not virtuous because I love traditional British puddings which use lashings of cream, suet and butter. but i make it. of course the usual mantra is that we should not eat this kind of food. However, I do. My weight only increases when I include alcohol and pasta. I am of the opinion that we should limit our consumption of starch and sugars as much as we can. When I do eat starch i eat brown rice, wholemeal pasta and wholemeal flour but rarely. I always have a good breakfast. For me this is a cooked breakfast. be it poached eggs on sourdough bread, liver and onions (yes i can hear the protests) or my leftover dinner. I never get hungry until 3 in the afternoon. I became a foodie in search of QUALITY (there are many out there egullet is a good start). When you look for quality believe me you don’t want to put all that pretend food in your mouth. and you certainly dont need to eat loads of it.

I’m afraid American portions (and sadly increasingly all over the globe) tend to be outrageous. I can remember the first time I saw a large sized bag of crisps I was amazed. Up until those appeared British crisps were very small. These large portions were advertised as family portions. It wasn’t long before we were greedily eating them all by ourselves. A lot of the time it is as if the food is so cheap to produce and with so little care they need to get rid of it. so we just got used to eating larger and larger portions of this rubbishy poisonous food.

yes this way of eating requires planning. but i will not listen to the protests that there is not enough time to cook. Well my mother raised four children, worked full time and we had a proper cooked meal EVERY DAy. It was manageable then, why not now?

Walk to the grocery store. Walk a mile a day. Consider taking up cycling or yoga. You should be doing 30 minutes of exercise five times a week and probably more, but you don’t want to over do it at first.

That food cravings link is great! Thanks. Have fun at the festival!

Also, I find that if I want some kind of dessert, it is better to go out and buy a single serving (just a slice of cake or just a couple Subway cookies) and eat it as opposed to buying a whole bag with the intention of “Oh, I’ll just have a little.” A bag of cookies in the house will all get eaten in 2-3 days. It’s best to not bring that bag into the house in the first place!!

Before you write the Food Network off, check out Elie Krieger and her show “healthy living”. She is about adding vegetables, MEASURING the oil you use, and taking the healthy shortcuts where and when you can. She makes a mean mac and cheese that uses 4 cheeses and sneaks in a veggie that you wouldn’t even know was there unless you cooked it. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/macaroni-and-4-cheeses-recipe2/index.html

Also, for more great tips check out hungry-girl.com She has some great breakfast ideas that are quick.

You’re an inspiration Bella!