Why are WE so fat?

I went to out to dinner the other night.  As I looked down the rows of tables, I noticed obese person after obese person, then maybe a "just" overweight person and occasionally someone at a healthy weight.  Trust me I'm not judging, just noticing that I'm not the only one with a problem here.

So why are WE so fat?  I've been thinking about this question a lot lately.  I'm a firm believer (thanks to having an engineer for a husband) that if you don't know what's really broken, you can't fix it reliably. 

I know I've changed my diet and I work out now and I'm thrilled that I have lost so much weight.  But what made me so fat to start with??

Was I eating too much?  Was I eating the wrong things?  Was I just not getting enough exercise?? Why does this diet work, when NONE of the others did for me?  Is it possible that we've just been fed a lie and 10 or 20 years from now we'll look back at the experts and shake our fists at their ignorance of today?

Can you believe 50 years ago they didn't realize that smoking was dangerous??  Seriously what were they thinking, or not thinking??  So what is the thing now that we're doing NOW that's making us so fat? Will we figure it out and fix it??

As I think through my life I think it's a combination of factors.  Did I eat too much.  Yes!  Not a ton too much, but quite often more than I needed.  A little extra over a long period of time.

Did I exercise too little?  Exercise, what was that??  Guilty as charged.

Did I eat the wrong things??  Yes, apparently I did.  But isn't a calorie a just a calorie??  I don't think so.  I think the food we are eating today is so nutritionally defunct, but yet emotionally addictive that even though we eat more than any other generation in history, we're still starving nutritionally. 

I've been watching a lot of food related documentaries lately and reading a few book about eating, trying to figure out what it was that made me so fat (so I can be sure I don't ever go back there)!  They talk a lot about the combination of salt, fat and sugar and how addictive that combination is to us.  There is also a lot of discussion about diet pop and it's addictive qualities.  All along I was drinking diet thinking I was saving myself so many calories, now I learn it was doing just the opposite, that it was actually helping make me fat.  And it's sooooo addictive, I still haven't completely shaken its stronghold from my life ...not yet anyway!

I'm sorry this post has a lot more questions than answers.  That's kind of where I'm at right now.  I'm in the process of evaluating everything I used to believe about food and healthy eating.   I'm learning that a lot of what I used to believe is just wrong!  I'm convinced that if you eat the typical fast food American diet that unless you have incredible portion control or incredible genes, then you will be fat!

Oh, then add in all those other factors?!?!  Am I a stress eater (YES)?  Am I eating because something's eating me?   Am I eating to fill an emotional need or to make up for the fact that I never got the special toy I had asked Santa for??  Or was I eating too much to keep things away??  Or could I just be addicted to food??  YES - Absolutely YES.  I do love to eat and cook. 

I'm learning to love eat on my healthy weight loss plan and praying for strength to stay on the plan.  But I will admit while most people say "TGIF" for Friday, I say "TGICM" Thanking God its Cheat Meal time.   I get one cheat meal each week!

So why do you think we're so fat?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, because I do NOT have it all figured out, not by a long shot!

Also check out this article about obesity and restaurant eating!

Better than Bagged - Baked Corn Tortilla Chips!

One of the few carbs I'm allowed on my eating plan is corn tortillas.  I'm NOT allowed to have any bread (GASP - I know, how do I even survive!).  Ok, the problem is I don't like corn tortillas, they're gross and all rubbery....yuck!  But then one day I got the brilliant idea to bake them to see if they would turn into something resembling a chip??

So I got out my trusty baking sheet and using my pizza cutter (oh pizza, how I miss pizza!) and cut them into 6 wedges.

I generously spray them with non-stick cooking spray, flip, repeat on other side.  Place them on a single layer on your baking sheet.  Add favorite seasoning (try taco, garlic salt, buffalo chicken, Italian, etc).  Bake in a 400' pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.  Pull them out, flip them over and return to oven, watch and wait.  Seriously, this is important, they go from DONE to OOPS WELL DONE in a flash, so you need to watch them for a couple minutes and pull them out at the peek of lightly browned crispy perfection.  Wait too long and even your chickens won't eat them.

On my eating plan I can have these with hummus, beans or guacamole, not very many, but enough to satisfy my need for crunch!  However I encourage you to make a bunch of them they keep for several days in a plastic baggie....if your kids and spouse don't find them :(

This one of those foods I would make even if I wasn't trying to lose weight.  In fact we actually like them more than bagged tortilla chips and they're super cheap, you can get a huge stack of rubbery corn tortillas at the grocery store for $2 or less and turn them into tortilla chips in a jiffy.

Now if I could just find Doritos Nacho Cheese seasoning mix, I'd be in heaven!  Suggestions anyone?

Thankful for the little things!

This hasn't been the greatest week or two for weight loss (other than what I lost with the FLU!), but I have a lot to be thankful for and I'm really starting to notice some great little changes!

The Towel - we had gone to a resort over Thanksgiving week.  After a shower I had wrapped up in the hotel towel and was getting ready.  Then it hit me...I wrapped myself up in the hotel towel!  And it fit around my body!!!  Without parts playing peek-a-boo!  Woooo hooo!  Average hotel towels are usually 27 x 52", which didn't used to fit all the way around me.  But now, piece of cake!  Oh wait, I don't eat cake, well you get the idea! 

Tall Boots - It's been ages since I've been able to wear a pair of tall boots.  It's usually not worth the battle that pursues to get them over my "sturdy" calves.  I've even tried the "wide calf" boots in the past, but guess what, my calves were WIDER.  Not any more, I ordered a regular pair of brown leather tall boots and they look great.  Still a little tight, but after one wearing they adjusted nicely.

Weight really creeps up on you and you tend to forget what kind of things you have adjust or go without in your life because of your extra size.  As I'm losing weight and inches, I'm losing some baggage as well.  I'm appreciating the little things like towels and boots that fit the new me.  Especially enjoying shopping in the "regular" section of the clothing store!

Best wishes on your journey to health!