How to Start Let's Do Lunch by First Eliminating All Your Cravings

[abundantlyblessed]

Roger, I *know* you are right about this but I have to admit, it is hard NOT to think about losing weight.    After all, I'm eating this way because I want and need to lose weight. But when I read what Niki wrote about scales being only for fish, something clicked inside of me. Actually, it finally downloaded this morning. I have a lot of weight to lose, so I really don't *need* to know how much I weigh until I'm done.

What I *need* to do is just eat LEGAL and then the scales have NOTHING to tell me. I will lose as God intends for me to lose, IF I do my part and stay legal.

So, thanks for the advice. I will not worry about when I eat eggs and will eat LOTS of fruit first and then have my eggs if hungry. I try to conserve on the food/fruit to make it last but if I run out, I'll just have to ask my dh to stop and pick up some more.

I appreciate the advice and I am actually looking forward to seeing God help me overcome on Thanksgiving by stuffing myself in the morning before leaving the house! 

God bless,
Michele ºÜº

[margo]

This is so true...it's amazing.  LDL never ceases to amaze me...i don't spend so much time obsessing about weight any more.  I just keep eating LDL foods and do that day after day...one foot in front of the other....and i see the weight just falling away.  Hubby told me today that he is down to 196 which is so great!  He's so thrilled to be losing weight and NOT being hungry.  I HATE to be hungry...LDL allows us to be full and satisfied with really delicious food..

this afternoon i had that sweet potato squash with butter spray, italian parsley with some broiled steak and string beans.  It was so delicious.  I do not miss rice or pasta or anything like that...

Yesterday i met a man at immigration and i have been praying about him.  I've seen him other times i have been at that office and have been thinking about him....so yesterday when he was assigned to my client's case, after the interview, i gave him the website of LDL and i pray that he has checked it out and that he'll see that it's easy to start LDL and that it may be the biggest blessing ever in his life.  I see that he has had some amputations of his fingers...i'm figuring that he has diabetes...Wouldn't it be great if he could get his under control like so many LDLers???

Please keep this man in your prayers....

God Bless...
margo

[niki]

I try to conserve on the food/fruit to make it last but if I run out, I'll just have to ask my dh to stop and pick up some more.

  absolutely don't do this...eat ALL you want at the right times.....don't not eat to conserve supplies of food....just add up all the money you've spent on all the bad stuff and remind yourself that the money you spend is an investment in your prolonged life and happiness.....niki 

[abundantlyblessed]

Well, I agree that I will save money in the long run, as I eventually eat less. But let's face it, pasta, rice, corn muffin mix, and potatoes are cheap and filling. AND I still have to buy rice, potatoes, and other stuff for my husband and children. See, we stopped buying cookies and snack cakes and most chips long ago; so no savings there. The rest of my family is NOT doing strict LDL. They will eat the main meal I fix but get extra stuff throughout the day, plus they eat the fruit, which is good for them and I encourage but is more expensive than toast or whatever.

I generally don't have any regular butter or flour in the house (other than popcorn flour) or sugar for that matter. But I had to buy those this week also because I'm in charge of making desserts for Thanksgiving. So to make my husband, children, and the rest of the family happy, I'm making 3 desserts for them and Jim's Crustless Pumpkin Pie and cooked apples somehow, for myself. I don't usually take anything else, but this year I will be taking LDL Green Bean Casserole for me. I was going to take the Wild Rice Stuffing but couldn't find wild rice.  Hmmm, I don't think I can make Wild Rice Stuffing without wild rice. Old me would have just substituted brown rice or the wild rice mixed with long grain but I wouldn't do it...I'm DETERMINED!!!!

So you see, I'm not really SAVING money YET. BUT I WILL!!! 

Michele ºÜº

[xmasgirl43]

Hi Michelle!  I just wanted to say how hard it is to have to cook for children and do your eating plan as well...I remember.  My life doing this now is so much easier since my kids are grown and nearly all gone!  The only thing I wanted to tell you is to try thinking of certain things like bread, pasta, corn muffins and cheese as poison!  It would be hard for me to cook those things for anyone I love now.  Like Roger Troy says though, sometimes you have to make the best choices for what is available, and you have to make some things like this for kids...but maybe still bulk of it can be fruits and vegies!  I end up going to the store at least 3 times a week to get more fruits especially.  I bet your kids would love canned mandarin oranges and chunk pineapple just to eat with their fingers.  This is my fav...I keep the cans stocked in the refrig so the fruit is VERY cold, and it is so sweet and juicy...really the best!!!
The only other point I want to make ...not to just you, but to everyone...is...why do we feel as humans that we have to eat a traditional Thanksgiving meal?  I refuse to be in charge of cooking anything I will not eat (like pies, etc)...I only will take things I can eat (that way also, you are sure there will be something there you can eat)!!!  It is quite liberating, and it keeps you in charge of your own happiness!
Check out the inspirational song I posted!  It really helps me to stay connected to the fact that it is God that can help us through all of this...and probably Him alone.
Best wishes...Julie

[BradyBunchMom]

Michele,

Have you thought of just cooking LDL for everyone?  It really is so much easier without having the other stuff to tempt you around and w/o having to cook that stuff for everyone else.  And, even if they don't need to lose weight, it's healthy for everyone.  My crew hardly misses the potatoes, pasta and rice and I used to serve those things all of the time.  It is costly and difficult at first to lose the sugar cravings (we purchased truck loads of fruit there for a while) but sooooooo worth it once your family doesn't crave sugar anymore!

Lovin LDL (Family Style),
Julie

[niki]

The only other point I want to make ...not to just you, but to everyone...is...why do we feel as humans that we have to eat a traditional Thanksgiving meal? 

  i TOTALLY agree with you....i'm going to make the same traditional meal i make every year, which i did last year while on let's do lunch....they ate stuffing with gravy and sweet potatoes fried in butter and honey with their turkey and i had some slices of turkey breast with the vegetables...i REALLY didn't care....i was TOTALLY FINE with that........niki

[niki]

The rest of my family is NOT doing strict LDL. They will eat the main meal I fix but get extra stuff throughout the day, plus they eat the fruit, which is good for them and I encourage but is more expensive than toast or whatever.

  so you DON'T have to fix 2 different meals which i think is GREAT...and i don't understand..you should be glad that everyone likes to eat fruit...THAT'S something that EVERYONE should eat all the time...you mean that when you weren't on let's do lunch, noone ate ANYTHING healthy?...in that case, you are twofold blessed that now your family DOES eat something healthy like fruit...
  when i'm trying to go back on let's do lunch, i don't go out to eat in the first 7 days..i need to be totally grounded...and in the first few months when i was first on let's do lunch, i avoided going out to eat when i could so i would have more control over what i ate, because once i realized that this REALLY worked, i wanted to MAKE it work and not compromise and go off.......and if my eating healthier also made my family eat healthier, i would be thrilled because that's setting my family up for good heatlh throughout their lives....

[abundantlyblessed]

Well, I guess I didn't explain this very good. Last year when we first started LDL, EVERYONE ate only LDL foods except when they were offered food away from home. However, my dh has had some weird health issues and he feels he *needs* some whole grains and likes to have potatoes occassionally. Well, baked potatoes is a cheap family meal, so I went ahead and ate some in the past. But that was the past.

Last time I fixed baked potatoes for dinner, I served it with leftover taco soup. SO I've decided that when he wants potatoes, I'll just fix some taco soup too; not anywhere as cheap but I can get by without eating potatoes.

It is during the day that more food is required for my non-LDLers. My husband eats Ezekiel toast each morning and a peanut butter and jelly Ezekiel bread sandwich and Chex mix each day. My kids eat peanut butter and jelly on corn thins or wasa. They will eat Tortilla chips and salsa, crackers, cornbread muffins, brown rice, and like spaghetti (I eat my sauce on spaghetti squash). The boys eat oatmeal for breakfast many mornings (with honey) and dd eats Ezekiel toast and eggs most days. My youngest two like to drink juice, so I buy a few concentrates for them each week. When I fix tacos, they have tortilla shells and I use lettuce leaves.

So you see, it isn't really a lot of differences but just enough extra stuff that has to be accounted for somewhere in the budget.  They do eat canned pears and pineapples for snacks. They will also eat air popped popcorn with Earth Balance 'butter' on it, in the evenings.

Hope that explains it a bit better,
Michele ºÜº

[abundantlyblessed]

Why would anyone want a baked potato over the LDL potato cakes or LDL mashed potatoes?...I like the taste of the LDL potatoes much better than regular baked or mashed potatoes.

Well, probably because when I make the LDL Potato Cakes, they don't turn out as 'cakes' or patties. They are a glop. I've not quite perfected this. However, he does like LDL Mashed Potatoes. As a matter of fact, my husband did ask me to take some to my parents' home for Thanksgiving day but I just told him last night that I don't need ANOTHER thing to take. My parents kindly provide the meal and since he will eat mashed potatoes anyway.

I have worked out how I can manage to eat a few of the items there. I can take out my portion of corn before she adds the butter and sugar; I can take out my portion of salad before she adds the dressing. I can eat the turkey. I'll take Sausage and Wild Rice Stuffing for me and maybe some LDL Mashed Potatoes. If she thickens the gravy with cornstarch, I can eat that, can't I?

We will serve the turkey, skinless...

On Friday I will cook a turkey for home, because I love leftovers. I can cook it with the skin on and then just not eat the skin, can't I? Just checking. 

I'd love to know what "other crustless pie" and other LDL friendly foods you'll be having, unless they will be in the new cookbook and are 'top secret'. 

Well, I better get ready to leave. Christmas shopping awaits!

God bless,
Michele ºÜº

[Queenie]

Here's the link to the Crustless Lemon Pie:

http://www.letsdolunch.com/boards/index.php?topic=104.0

Carolyn

[abundantlyblessed]

You all are great!!! Thanks so much. I appreciate all the info Roger!

God bless you real good!
Michele ºÜº

[vacoder]

I am new at this and I see you refer to so many meals - where do I get the receipes that will help me?  I have the book and have made many of the ones listed in there but seems I am missing something - can you help?

[robnveronica]

either do a "search" or look in the "recipe" section that you want (breakfast, snack, main dishes etc)

[niki]

where do I get the receipes that will help me?  I have the book and have made many of the ones listed in there but seems I am missing something - can you help?

  i have posted most of the things i cook on let's do lunch.....you can scroll through the soups or the main dishes and come up with anything that interests you.........most of the people here have also adapted their old favorites to the program omitting the ingredient or two that doesn't blend well with the program..........niki