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. […]

When Romance Becomes Deadly

Believe it or not, this post isn’t about vampires. But I can see why you might think so. 🙂 I was thinking recently about romantic books in which the hero or heroine is already married (to someone else) before they find their true love. It usually happens in historical romance, probably because in modern times […]

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 […]

Follow Friday: Best Fictional Mom

Q: Happy Mother’s Day! Who is your favorite mom from fiction? A: I’m going to be curious to read what everyone else has to say on this one! When I think of fictional moms, my mind immediately slips from the cliche of perfection to the cliches of evil with little room in between for raw […]

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 […]