The Healthy Weight and Eating Thread

[seastarr]

During my summer vacation, I came across this simple but delicious hot beverage that really curbed my appetite for hours. I asked the waitstaff at my hotel how to make it and it turns out it is really simple, just a bit time consuming.

Balinese Ginger Tea

Peel a large chunk of ginger root or galangal (about the size of your hand or so)

Chop into small pieces and press into 2 quarts of water (I used a well-cleaned garlic press).

Put the pressed chunks into the water with the juice and pulp.

Bring water to boil, and then simmer the ginger for 1+ hour until water turns opaque and yellowish. This is the ginger tea base that you can store in the refrigerator.

When you are ready for some tea, heat ginger base with a generous squeeze of lemon juice (I used half a lemon per cup of tea) Stir in a small amount of honey to taste for sweetness.

I would drink a pot of this at breakfast and pot of it in the afternoon on my trip, and I literally wouldn't even consider being hungry until after dark. The ginger has a spicy heat to it that made my stomach feel full for a long time. It was also soothing to a sore throat.

[Angalin]

WQ, I need to know what mousseline bearnaise is. It sounds like bearnaise sauce whipped to airy almost-nothingness. Am I right? :drool: There's a reason I grow tarragon in my garden, and it ain't chicken.

eta: seastarr, that's what I always have for a sore throat or cough and it is miraculous. Lucky you!

[WhiteQueen]

WQ, I need to know what mousseline bearnaise is. It sounds like bearnaise sauce whipped to airy almost-nothingness. Am I right? :drool: There's a reason I grow tarragon in my garden, and it ain't chicken.

You are absolutely correct! It is bearnaise sauce, but it was not your usual yellow bearnaise - it was whipped to soft peaks (amybe they substitute water with cream?) and was completely airy, yet you still could taste a touch of terragon and shallots. It was wonderful.

[Rubies & Jade]

oy--it was my bday yesterday and I've had 3 days of chocolate, wine, beer, cheese, bacon, pork & lamb (I'm an ex-vegetarian and I seem to be making up for loss time) and more chocolate. oh my. Its so hard for me to get back on a healthy wagon when I go crazy like that! I'm glad I'm back to work today after a couple of days off--it helps me get back on schedule! :stunned:

[Starkess]

Today wasn't a good day...we had to be out of the apartment to get the carpets cleaned, so lunch was Hooters wings with 2 accompanying margaritas...that's about as many calories as I've been eating per DAY. Then I ate about half of the tenderloin at dinner (the package contained 4.5 servings...) and I've already given up on not having ice cream tonight. But still, that isn't TOO bad of a day, and I know better now than to let one bad day ruin another...so tomorrow will be better!

[Muttering Bill]

I'm going to really have to work on curbing the eating of food at work. Last week, people were bringing in cake every day, and then there was "cannoli bread" from a bakery down the street yesterday - since it didn't have artificial ingredients or preservatives, I had a huge slice. *regret*.

Offices are terrible with cakes. We'll get at least one a week, and the occasional bombardment that you had. But I remain unaffected because I don't like cake. The boss (for whatever reason) will sometimes treat everyone to some other dessert from the bakery down the road. But I luck out again, because the few times I've eaten something from there, I thought it was terrible. So I let the vultures have at it. If someone makes a home-baked treat though, I'm in trouble. Well, if certain people do; half of these people I wouldn't trust anything they touched.

I'm not even trying to diet right now. I've got a vacation coming up after next week; I'll get back on program more strictly after that. Not that I'm being deliberately bad. I'm eating pretty much the same foods, except that I've been stuffing in a couple of lattes every day (instead of just on the weekends). And I've been going to the gym only 3 days a week, but that's mostly because I've been oversleeping.

[Minaku]

Lucky you. I love cake. I fucking love cake. It is hard to determine whether or not I want cake because I'm craving sweets, craving sweets because of pregnancy, or am genuinely just wanting cake because I haven't had it in a while and should treat myself (the last option is the least likely). It is very easy to just go fuck it, I'm pregnant, let me eat the goddamned cake.

And this is why the only sweets at my house are fruits. I have mangoes, plums, cherries, and bananas waiting for me. The bananas will go with my yogurt and oatmeal at breakfast, which I should have eaten two hours ago and put off.

[Muttering Bill]

Well, tbh, it's more a matter of I don't like frosting. But since they come together, that makes it easy to resist.

I'd much rather some fresh fruit myself. But the gf does the grocery shopping - she's goes while I'm at work, because I have no patience for all of the ignorant jackasses who block up half the isle causing traffic jams, or just meander around deciding what they want as they go. I go with a list and get in and out as fast as possible, but not a single trip goes by without me wanting to punch several people. I don't do it, but sometimes it hard to hold back. I will run them down with the cart if they get in the way. Ummm... yeah, back to the point. The gf does the shopping, and she sucks at picking out fruit (vegetables too). She went yesterday and bought bananas (I eat one for breakfast every day), and they are blatantly rotten - soft spots and brown patches all over, and a couple of them fallen from the stem (pre-bagged). I don't think she even looks at them, just grabs whatever is on the top of the pile.

It used to be that she'd go and get everything except fruits and vegetables, and I'd go to a different (less infuriating) store to get those. But we stopped doing that since it was taking me an extra hour to get home on Fridays (not counting the time spent in the store). Considering her yield this week, it may be worth the extra time.

[Minaku]

I hate frosting too, unless it's litewhip or cream cheese frosting. I peel the frosting off. I used to work in a bakery so I know exactly what the grocery store buttercream arrives as and what you do to it to get it into its soft and fluffy final form. No thanks.

Your girlfriend SERIOUSLY needs to learn how to pick out fruits and vegetables. How is it possible to get shitty bananas?

[Nichole]

I love cake and frosting. I don't care what it is made out of, I love it. My grocery store has pieces of cake in individual portions. It is hard for me to resist it sometimes, but it has been a loooong time since I gave in.

I don't understand "I'm going on vacation, so I'll pick up on my diet afterward." To me, when I don't have to work and have all the annoying distractions that sometimes make you eat bad is when I eat healthier. Sure, you may want to go out and eat something good, but the rest of the time you can make healthier foods and have more time to exercise. That is just my mentality on vacation though.

[Starkess]

I love real cake, but sheet cake with that gross frosting? PASS.

Ice cream cakes....:drool:

Okay so today I am back on track, whoo! Drinking some coffee right now, gonna do a little resistance cord workout, have a little breakfast, finish the very last of my unpacking, watch my awesome new TV, have a little lunch...good day.

The only problem is that when we planned the menu this week, I allowed my boyfriend to put "ordering pizza" for Friday night since we have been cooking at home all week. On the one hand, I haven't had pizza in a while and I'm excited, but on the other...it's gonna make my calorie count difficult for today! But I can do it! I believe in me! :)

[Minaku]

I will eat grocery store cake but without frosting, even though grocery cake has the bad baking soda and freezer taste to it. Cake is cake. Damn, I want some cake.

Nichole, the buttercream that's used in grocery store cakes is delivered in a block in a cardboard box. In order to get it into its final form, you throw it into the mixer and add a gallon or two of water. It arrives essentially as a 5 pound lump of lard and trans-fats. It is solid, waxy, and utterly disgusting.

The solution is to make your own buttercream. At least those ingredients can be named.

[Nichole]

I will eat grocery store cake but without frosting, even though grocery cake has the bad baking soda and freezer taste to it. Cake is cake. Damn, I want some cake.

Nichole, the buttercream that's used in grocery store cakes is delivered in a block in a cardboard box. In order to get it into its final form, you throw it into the mixer and add a gallon or two of water. It arrives essentially as a 5 pound lump of lard and trans-fats. It is solid, waxy, and utterly disgusting.

The solution is to make your own buttercream. At least those ingredients can be named.

Really, that doesn't gross me out. I prefer homemade, but have eaten grocery store cake and frosting before, and probably will again at some point in my life.

Am having a snack of almonds and raspberries right now. Yum.

[Stego]

It arrives essentially as a 5 pound lump of lard and trans-fats.

Yeah, sorry Mina, but that sounds incredibly delicious. Had you said sugar as well, I'd probably be salivating.

Anyway, folks... I've been doing pretty well with the eating. I finally began to lose again last week, after my plateau. Four pounds this week, and I *know* I am putting on muscle as I'm getting stronger and stronger in the gym. So I'm staying pretty motivated.

I *am* eating a lot, though. My appetite has been insane since I started working out six days a week with my cousins. I'm jusdt doing a really good job of keeping the food intake in the healthy column.

[Minaku]

Yeah, sorry Mina, but that sounds incredibly delicious. Had you said sugar as well, I'd probably be salivating.

Sugar is all pre-mixed. It's basically a block of shortening and sugar. That shit is foul. I imagine it goes STRAIGHT to your arteries. Enjoy eating that for however many years, then enjoy your heart attack and quadruple bypass.

Maybe it's the wet slop of the water sloshing as the paddle churns the block into what people think is food that turns me off, or the fact that the shit never melts, or that if it ever, ever curdles all you have to do is whip it to get it back into edible format, or washing countless tons of the shit off plates, spoons, icing tips, etc. that have gotten me to be so anti-buttercream. DO NOT WANT. You know when you eat something and you put the bowl in the sink and run hot water over it, and the water turns creamy and CHUNKS of fat float out and clog your fucking drain? THAT'S THE STUFF GOING TO YOUR ARTERIES. THAT IS THE SAME STUFF CAUSING SEWERS IN NYC TO BACK UP. EW. EW. EW. EW. EW.

You guys can have my share and then some.

ETA: Much like Twinkie filling, it looks like plastic and has the consistency of plastic as well.

[needle]

I'm so glad I hate cake and chocolate :)

On the other hand, I ate mussels swimming in garlic butter last night, followed by confit de canard ( duck leg fried in it's own fat). It was heavenly and I thought I'd done enough yesterday to balance it out..but the scales said otherwise this morning :( If my srteries could cry, they would be crying. Salad tonight, even though it's a restaurant meal again..

[Minaku]

When I made my own buttercream icing for some cupcakes once, I was really shocked at the recipe:

One pound bag of powdered sugar

Half a cup (one stick) of butter

1/4 cup milk

Cream together; add more milk to get consistency as preferred.

It sounds better than the crap that Mina is talking about. Thank you, Mina, because I will remember that the next time my co-workers bring a nasty-a$$ Costco cake to work. I can imagine the "schlop" sound of the industrial beaters.

Anytime, Chats. Feel secure in the fact that you are likely eating half the fat and the calories as everyone else just by peeling off the icing.

I'm probably going to make cupcakes today, thanks to all the cake talk. I will try to hold off on that for as long as possible. Perhaps instead of cupcakes, I will make strawberry clafouti instead.

[Stego]

I'm going to eat plain chicken breasts today. And some peanuts. And some broccoli. And maybe a can of tuna fish in water.

Sigh, cake.

[Mudguard]

When I made my own buttercream icing for some cupcakes once, I was really shocked at the recipe:

One pound bag of powdered sugar

Half a cup (one stick) of butter

1/4 cup milk

Cream together; add more milk to get consistency as preferred.

It sounds better than the crap that Mina is talking about, because at least the ingredients can be named and there's no trans fats. Thank you, Mina, because I will remember that the next time my co-workers bring a nasty-a$$ Costco cake to work. I can imagine the "schlop" sound of the industrial beaters.

Uh, wow. How much frosting does that make? Enough to cover dozens of cupcakes or several cakes? This makes me sad because I often like chocolate frosting, depending on the level of sweetness.

[Starkess]

I was dutifully doing my workout this morning when my resistance band snapped!! Guess I'll have to go pick up a new one. I had the easiest one, I think I might get the medium one now. So instead I just did 20 minutes of some basic workout stuff (push ups, lunges, etc). Have so far kept eating well so I can actually enjoy my pizza tonight! (Still feeling a little guilty about yesterday, which ended up at ~4000 calories, but one day of backsliding isn't so bad!)