A Chocolate Snob’s Favorite Winter Drink

Hot Chocolate Taste Test VS The leaves have almost left the trees, cold fronts are on their way, and the news is predicting snow in the next couple of weeks. That can mean only one thing — It’s time to stock up on HOT CHOCOLATE! As a chocolate snob, I disagree that Swiss Miss or […]

Mindful Eating: 5-Star Desserts

When I first embarked on my mindful eating journey a couple of months ago I had a set of rules that I’ve more or less stuck to, but from time to time they evolve. One of my rules was that there’s no point eating anything that I don’t think is less than a 4-star dish. […]

The Least Important Meal of the Day

Dinner Americans have their dietary days backwards. I’ve known this intellectually for years but on a deeply ingrained cultural and social level I’m still working hard to know this in my heart. We save the biggest meal, the one with the most calories, for the end of the day. We’re just about to use up […]

The Most Important Meal of the Day

You know what’s coming right? Breakfast! It’s not just a cliche, it really is the most important meal of the day. Yet overwhelmingly dieters trying to save calories have no breakfast or have a pitiful scrap of a meal that barely counts. The studies back me up on this — go look it up. Overwhelmingly […]

Fear of Food

Whenever you start talking about dieting, there are always a series of questions that come up… What do you do when you eat out? What do you do at a party? What do I do when I’m on the road? How do you avoid all the foods people bring in to work? How do I […]

Restaurants and Serving Size

Let me just start with an extra large helping of reality: A “serving” at a typical American restaurant is so far outside the realm of sanity that it makes the sorcery in my fantasy novels seem reasonable by comparison. If you think your body needs the calories in a half-pound cheeseburger, 32-oz soft drink, and […]

Dieting Psychology: I Quit!

I can’t even count the number of diets I’ve quit over the years. I don’t have enough fingers and toes! It happens for any number of reasons, and level of devotion at the beginning is only part of the equation. Especially as I get older and week-to-week weight loss is harder, I find that frustration […]

How Often Should You Step on a Scale?

Not often. How often do you get to the doctor’s office for your annual checkup? That’s probably good enough. One of my biggest challenges with mindful eating has been the numbers on the scale. Those numbers have dictated my actions for far too long, and it’s time to stop giving them power over me. Have […]

Mindful Eating Revelations: Do I really want to eat this?

I don’t really like waffles. I certainly don’t love them. Oh, they’re okay. I don’t DISlike them. They’re fine. Just… just fine. Really. Fine. One of the things I’m working on doing as part of my mindful eating approach is to stop eating foods I don’t thoroughly enjoy. Mindful eating isn’t about counting calories (though […]

Daily Indulgences: Why I Won’t Settle for Pale Imitation Dieting

One of the first things that happens when I go on a diet is people start suggesting low-calorie, low-fat, low-carb, or generally pick-your-favorite-low recipes. “You’ve got to try my cherry pie with Splenda! You’ll never notice the difference!” (Yes, I will.) “These black bean brownies are delicious!” (I’m thinking of another word that begins with […]