Forte, I wouldn't be surprised if eating later in the day has something to do with it...because that is what happened to me. My boyfriend that lived with me at the time was Taiwanese, and his parents owned a restaurant. He would stop and get crab rangoon, fried rice and lobster sauce, lo mein and bring it home, where we would sit in bed and eat, all while watching TV and drinking regular Coke(and I WONDER where the 105 pounds came from, silly ME!) Even after I stopped with that whole scenario, I continued to skip breakfast and eat more after lunch and dinner. I keep hearing over and over to consume the majority of your calories early in the day. It went something like this -'At Breakfast, dine like a King, lunch like a Prince, and dinner as a Pauper.'
So, even tough I just did the opposite because of my bizarre schedule (for 'breakfast' at 1:30 pm today I had whole grain toast with PB and ground flax sprinkled on, lunch was spread out several hours and I had raspberries and blackberries (about a cup), a bunch of celery chunks, coffee, and an apple, and for dinner after I got home at 11:30 tonight, I had 3 0z of boneless skinless chicken, steamed broccoli and asparagus, and a bit of 'healthy' apple crisp.
i also make deliberate meals that I plan out when I have the time - like steak and a salad with goatcheese, basil, tomato, red onion and cucumber. I couldn't get that out of my head one day (was POSSESSED by it) and I had it, enjoyed it immensley, and made a deal with myself to do that more often. I feel I deserve a 'me' meal once a month or so.
I think if eating was done more 'consciously', then that might nip the problem in the bud for some people, so you have a point there!
Your steak and salad with goatcheese sounds wonderful, like something I'd enjoy a lot too! This morning, in fact, I had a kind of "un-breakfast," as I enjoy strong tastes. I normally don't eat white bread, but I found a recipe of sorts in an old vegetarian cookbook which I have around, and so I did that. It consists of 1/4 loaf of the skinniest French baguette, make a v-cut in that then rub it all over with sliced garlic clove,and line the sandwich with the freshest thin sliced half tomato and some fresh picked basil leaves, and then into the middle put a mixture of 1 ounce fresh mozzarilla cubed (the kind so fresh it's still in the liquid, 1/2 t capers, 1/2 t extra virgin olive oil, and fresh cracked pepper, sea salt! Oh, my gosh....was that good. The cookbook says this has 292 calories, and obviously reasonably low fat...so I'm a happy camper today.
You know that I like to watch the cooking shows, whenever I have time. And a while back Rachael Ray had a steak salad which, also, I'm having today (my big meal for lunch today) and I guess great minds think alike because I planned it yesterday and here your steak salad is *something* similar, though obviously not exactly.
I'm grilling some thin sliced steak in the Foreman. Then a combination of baby greens, lots of cilantro, shredded carrot, steamed crisp broccoli. The dressing is a fresh mixture of lime juice, red pepper flakes, a little duck sauce, and scant olive oil. I made this before, and it was so good that I had to repeat it the following day. So I'm really looking forward to lunch today. It's her version of skinnied down Chinese beef and broccoli, only in a salad. I've also taken the same thing and substituted chicken breast and cashews.
You're right about the eating breakfast like a queen, lunch like a princess, dinner like a pauper (or the king, prince thing). That is the ideal, I think. In my old days, my big problem was I waited too long. I'd skip breakfast (under the guise of being too "busy and needing sleep") and then busy again at lunch, so either eating very little or skipping it entirely....but then, by dinner time if I were stuck in traffic (which here you can practically guarantee will happen every single night, traffic is so bad) I'd stop for take-out, and then we'd knosh through the evening too. And you know, after a long day the last thing on earth I'd want to do is get "exercise" and so that wouldn't happen either. For me it's taken a complete re-engineering of my life, and I MAKE TIME to sit down for mealtime, and actually ENJOY it.
Would you believe, I haven't been to take-out, or even to McDonalds, even ONCE since I started losing weight last year!! And I wonder what I EVER saw in eating that rubbish! Problem is, once you start planning your own meals and controlling the QUALITY of what goes into the tummy....well, eating out even at the nicest places really doesn't have the allure any more. I find other ways to amuse myself these days.
I try to avoid fast food as much as possible, because I can't control what goes into it. But I have done the skip the meal thing and go bananas later, and feel disgusting, and fall asleep, so no exercise for me!
Yeah , the steak salad was perfect, because I really wanted it. I got some herbed Chevre soft goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, red onion, fresh basil and topped it with steak that I pan fried in olive oil, sea salt and cracked peppercorns, and put olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top. The sweet mixed with the pungent and astringent was really good. We don't own a grill, but I have perfected (in my eyes at least) pan frying steak. A big help is not freezing it first - I'll just use it the day I buy it, or buy a big one and hack off pieces for a few days till it's gone.
Okee dokee, need to stop talking about that salad now...getting thoughts...
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So, even tough I just did the opposite because of my bizarre schedule (for 'breakfast' at 1:30 pm today I had whole grain toast with PB and ground flax sprinkled on, lunch was spread out several hours and I had raspberries and blackberries (about a cup), a bunch of celery chunks, coffee, and an apple, and for dinner after I got home at 11:30 tonight, I had 3 0z of boneless skinless chicken, steamed broccoli and asparagus, and a bit of 'healthy' apple crisp.
i also make deliberate meals that I plan out when I have the time - like steak and a salad with goatcheese, basil, tomato, red onion and cucumber. I couldn't get that out of my head one day (was POSSESSED by it) and I had it, enjoyed it immensley, and made a deal with myself to do that more often. I feel I deserve a 'me' meal once a month or so.
I think if eating was done more 'consciously', then that might nip the problem in the bud for some people, so you have a point there!
Amy
You know that I like to watch the cooking shows, whenever I have time. And a while back Rachael Ray had a steak salad which, also, I'm having today (my big meal for lunch today) and I guess great minds think alike because I planned it yesterday and here your steak salad is *something* similar, though obviously not exactly.
I'm grilling some thin sliced steak in the Foreman. Then a combination of baby greens, lots of cilantro, shredded carrot, steamed crisp broccoli. The dressing is a fresh mixture of lime juice, red pepper flakes, a little duck sauce, and scant olive oil. I made this before, and it was so good that I had to repeat it the following day. So I'm really looking forward to lunch today. It's her version of skinnied down Chinese beef and broccoli, only in a salad. I've also taken the same thing and substituted chicken breast and cashews.
You're right about the eating breakfast like a queen, lunch like a princess, dinner like a pauper (or the king, prince thing). That is the ideal, I think. In my old days, my big problem was I waited too long. I'd skip breakfast (under the guise of being too "busy and needing sleep") and then busy again at lunch, so either eating very little or skipping it entirely....but then, by dinner time if I were stuck in traffic (which here you can practically guarantee will happen every single night, traffic is so bad) I'd stop for take-out, and then we'd knosh through the evening too. And you know, after a long day the last thing on earth I'd want to do is get "exercise" and so that wouldn't happen either. For me it's taken a complete re-engineering of my life, and I MAKE TIME to sit down for mealtime, and actually ENJOY it.
Would you believe, I haven't been to take-out, or even to McDonalds, even ONCE since I started losing weight last year!! And I wonder what I EVER saw in eating that rubbish! Problem is, once you start planning your own meals and controlling the QUALITY of what goes into the tummy....well, eating out even at the nicest places really doesn't have the allure any more. I find other ways to amuse myself these days.
Forte
Yeah , the steak salad was perfect, because I really wanted it. I got some herbed Chevre soft goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, red onion, fresh basil and topped it with steak that I pan fried in olive oil, sea salt and cracked peppercorns, and put olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top. The sweet mixed with the pungent and astringent was really good. We don't own a grill, but I have perfected (in my eyes at least) pan frying steak. A big help is not freezing it first - I'll just use it the day I buy it, or buy a big one and hack off pieces for a few days till it's gone.
Okee dokee, need to stop talking about that salad now...getting thoughts...
Pages