You can eat in every day, eating the same thing over again without any problems.
I, despite being a size 4, have no will power when it comes to food. If I want to eat out, I will. If I try to ignore a craving it will last for two weeks until I give in. I eat very healthy things and very unhealthy things. I never can eat anything more than a couple times and if I manage to force myself to choke it down more, I won't eat it for another couple months or years.
If I was obese, people would tell me to join overeaters anonymous. Because I am thin, they just comment on the amount and frequency of my eating as an eccentricity.
We can make greek foods, morrocan foods, french and italian foods. We make homemade artisan bread and do many foods from scratch. Still I love to eat out. What the heck is wrong with me? What is it about junk food or simply food made by someone else that makes it so attractive.
There has got to be a way to control my obsession with food. Maybe I need more calories in the homemade stuff so I don't crave the junk?
I envy you...
January 8th, 2009 at 03:59 pm
January 8th, 2009 at 04:43 pm 1231432993
Same goes for stuff from cans, frozen vegetables, etc.... All the "staples" people seem to load up on and eat every day.
Quality in food is paramount to both of us. So we end up spending a fortune in gourmet supermarkets on European imports and specialty foods.
No, bread is not supposed to last for weeks and stay in the freezer. It is supposed to be made fresh every day, in small loafs, and does not stay good for more than 2 days if in its natural state.
Anyway, there are absolutely no coupons in existence for any foods we buy. These supermarkets don't even accept coupons. So I also find repeated "use coupons" advice annoying.
January 8th, 2009 at 04:51 pm 1231433460
Nika, if you're going to talk about what's "supposed" to happen with food, I guess you should say you're supposed to eat the food that is grown and lives near you, not get imports. Is that food imported from Europe brand new and fresh? Is it natural to eat food transported from other continents? Just sayin'; I totally get you having strong food desires, but to say such and such is "supposed" to be this way is kind of hard to back up if you're not 100% consistent...
As for saving money, you do what works for you, but you also do what your budget allows. Any way to pretend you make much less money than you do?
January 8th, 2009 at 04:52 pm 1231433535
January 8th, 2009 at 05:06 pm 1231434406
I try to buy fresh veggies/produce/organic diary from the farmers market.
The imported things I buy are not always healthy (cheeses, smoked fish, prosciutto, olive oil, not enriched pastas, etc.) But they taste better and generally are of better quality(everything is evaluated on a case by case basis, of course). And EU has much stricter standards for pesticides, fertilizers and use of these things in foods it imports.
January 8th, 2009 at 05:24 pm 1231435476
My big issue is I need to figure out how to mild out the cravings. Part of it is that when I eat at home, I make extremely healthy food (quite by accident but still) so I think that after a little bit of that, the lack of calories makes me go nuts and crave high calorie foods.
Example, had eggs and scones with jam, then for lunch had cottage cheese, baked potato with sour cream and corn. By the time I got home for supper, I not only ate a whopper with half a medium fry, later that night I ate some cheesy hashbrown casserole that we had made for leftovers. Maybe I just need to add a 3pm snack in there so I don't come home starving. *Sigh* I just don't do well eating only 3 times per day...
January 8th, 2009 at 06:14 pm 1231438454
A couple of rykrispy crackers and hummus will usually turn it off for me. Must be the combo of the protein and fiber?
January 8th, 2009 at 06:32 pm 1231439571
You might be right about being less strictly healthy with your home cooking. I don't shy away from fat when I'm cooking, because it's so integral to feeling satisfied. I am fairly consistent about using whole-grain instead of processed-white ingredients, though. And I've actually gotten to the point where I don't enjoy restaurant food that's got white pasta, white-flour pizza crusts or other white breads! Also, I don't cook with much salt because of AS's high blood pressure, and even though I usually sprinkle a bit on my own portion, I find restaurant food incredibly salty by comparison.
January 8th, 2009 at 08:00 pm 1231444825
Its common for me to eat a large bowl of popcorn in the evening. I don't shy away from cooking with fat but the fastest items to grab and go are veggies (potato can be cooked in microwave, frozen veggies can too).
I need to make higher protein dishes since those help (think beans, meat is one of those things I can't eat too often without getting sick of it). I don't add butter or salt to any veggies. Butter is for cooking and I use other seasonings for flavor since they have more punch.
Another thing that may not be obvious is that I have a high metabolism. With my activity levels I burn 2500 calories during a normal day and way more on weekends and vacations. I actually lose 5-10 pounds on vacations because I can't eat enough to keep up with the burn. Some of those days I mentioned, I am only getting 1000 calories in the early part of the day. I think I need to go back to tracking my food intake so that I can get it more balanced.
As to boxing half my food, no worries. I only eat half of what's on my plate usually (sometimes much less). My problem isn't eating too much, its eating out when I want to eat in. I want to turn eating out into an occasional thing. Its cheaper and I get better nutrition that way.
January 8th, 2009 at 08:03 pm 1231445018