Atkins Diet

"Crafting Mom" wrote in message
...
However, if said Indian or Japanese person went to their doctor, and
they discovered (as an extreme hypothetical example), a deadly allergy
to rice, said person would say "No problem!"

Maybe, or maybe not... Remind me of how many diabetics actually manage to
change their lifestyles?
And because he *must* make that change doesn't mean the change will be
without a cost. I don't know about the USA, but here it's not uncommon to
have people on anti-cholesterol diet becoming depressive after a while.
It's also not so rare for people with a strict diet to become overweight,
especially when that diet was forced on them as a kid, partly because of the
pain of being ostracized in their own familly (you know, having your special
meal, not being able to eat with the other kids...).

I used to be on a real low carb diet, but now I eat more variety in my
diet, and yes, I will eat something with my friends. The reason I feel
comfortable doing so, is because during times when for one reason or
another I said "no", they respected that.

But you live in a country where low carb is actually becoming the norm! So,
you are actually moving from one norm (industrialized version of the
traditionnal American diet) to another norm (low carb frenzy). You're also
in a country where the traditionnal cuisine has been destroyed by years of
industrial food and general surgeon good advices. People can't blame you for
not following traditions where there are not much traditions left to follow,
can they?

While food is a part of North American culture, it is not a means of
communication grin, people can say out loud, in verbal terms, that for
health reasons they are not eating certain ingredient at this time,
and if people are true friends they'll go "Hey no problem, I'm just glad
to have you here anyway".

What people say and what they think and what you think they think are
different things And what you feel about it is yet another issue. I mean,
even as someone who is on the process of losing weight, when I see the a
relative eat only a starter and nothing else at a restaurant, my first
thought is that she has no life (well, she *actually* has no life). Many
people will actually think that here, if you can't enjoy food, you're
obviously not enjoying life. I mean, if the goal of a gathering of friends
is to enjoy some food together, why invite you and your weird eating habits?

"Crafting Mom" wrote in message
...
However, if said Indian or Japanese person went to their doctor, and
they discovered (as an extreme hypothetical example), a deadly allergy
to rice, said person would say "No problem!"

Maybe, or maybe not... Remind me of how many diabetics actually manage to
change their lifestyles?
And because he *must* make that change doesn't mean the change will be
without a cost. I don't know about the USA, but here it's not uncommon to
have people on anti-cholesterol diet becoming depressive after a while.
It's also not so rare for people with a strict diet to become overweight,
especially when that diet was forced on them as a kid, partly because of the
pain of being ostracized in their own familly (you know, having your special
meal, not being able to eat with the other kids...).

I used to be on a real low carb diet, but now I eat more variety in my
diet, and yes, I will eat something with my friends. The reason I feel
comfortable doing so, is because during times when for one reason or
another I said "no", they respected that.

But you live in a country where low carb is actually becoming the norm! So,
you are actually moving from one norm (industrialized version of the
traditionnal American diet) to another norm (low carb frenzy). You're also
in a country where the traditionnal cuisine has been destroyed by years of
industrial food and general surgeon good advices. People can't blame you for
not following traditions where there are not much traditions left to follow,
can they?

While food is a part of North American culture, it is not a means of
communication grin, people can say out loud, in verbal terms, that for
health reasons they are not eating certain ingredient at this time,
and if people are true friends they'll go "Hey no problem, I'm just glad
to have you here anyway".

What people say and what they think and what you think they think are
different things And what you feel about it is yet another issue. I mean,
even as someone who is on the process of losing weight, when I see the a
relative eat only a starter and nothing else at a restaurant, my first
thought is that she has no life (well, she *actually* has no life). Many
people will actually think that here, if you can't enjoy food, you're
obviously not enjoying life. I mean, if the goal of a gathering of friends
is to enjoy some food together, why invite you and your weird eating habits?

Exactly. I looked in our grocery store and could not find real 100%
whole grain bread. All that bread was fake.

you guys should be eating ezekiel or spelt bread. both are in the health
section, far away from the regular breads. neither will be fluffy or sweet like
the 'fake' ones, but they are much better for you.

sara

hello teacher tell me what's my lesson,
look right through me, look right through me.

Exactly. I looked in our grocery store and could not find real 100%
whole grain bread. All that bread was fake.

you guys should be eating ezekiel or spelt bread. both are in the health
section, far away from the regular breads. neither will be fluffy or sweet like
the 'fake' ones, but they are much better for you.

sara

hello teacher tell me what's my lesson,
look right through me, look right through me.

Exactly. I looked in our grocery store and could not find real 100%
whole grain bread. All that bread was fake.

you guys should be eating ezekiel or spelt bread. both are in the health
section, far away from the regular breads. neither will be fluffy or sweet like
the 'fake' ones, but they are much better for you.

sara

hello teacher tell me what's my lesson,
look right through me, look right through me.

Lictor wrote:
obviously not enjoying life. I mean, if the goal of a gathering of friends
is to enjoy some food together, why invite you and your weird eating habits?

Well, I've been on all kinds of "weird diets", from vegan to vegetarian,
to "no this" and "no that", and I've never had a problem enjoying life
with friends!

I've been at wonderful gatherings with friends where an abundance of
delicious food was served, and I didn't know attending said party had an
admission fee of eating a food you don't like... grin. I just go
without. And I do so happily while respecting my friend's rights to eat
whatever they want.

See that is the thing. Respect. I go out of my way to cook things for
my friends "weird eating habits", even if I don't eat it. It's called
give and take. It's one of the things that hold friends together.

And if a woman has just a "starter" at a restaurant... so what? I've
seen the portion size of some "starters", and that's enough for a whole
entire meal! Maybe she is actually enjoying the taste of her starter,
and is exercising real self control by *stopping when full*

So which is it? It just seems there's no pleasing anybody (which is now
why I stop trying, where my own body is concerned). If a person is too
fat, they're looked upon with disgust with a sneering upturned nose, and
the person (sometimes verbally saying) "Ewww doesn't this woman have ANY
self control???" OR, when they are thinner and more energetic and
healthier due to their eating habits it's "Look at this chick, she's
gone all weird and will not eat anything we offer!!"

But what else is new, life is full of double standards.

Lictor wrote:
obviously not enjoying life. I mean, if the goal of a gathering of friends
is to enjoy some food together, why invite you and your weird eating habits?

Well, I've been on all kinds of "weird diets", from vegan to vegetarian,
to "no this" and "no that", and I've never had a problem enjoying life
with friends!

I've been at wonderful gatherings with friends where an abundance of
delicious food was served, and I didn't know attending said party had an
admission fee of eating a food you don't like... grin. I just go
without. And I do so happily while respecting my friend's rights to eat
whatever they want.

See that is the thing. Respect. I go out of my way to cook things for
my friends "weird eating habits", even if I don't eat it. It's called
give and take. It's one of the things that hold friends together.

And if a woman has just a "starter" at a restaurant... so what? I've
seen the portion size of some "starters", and that's enough for a whole
entire meal! Maybe she is actually enjoying the taste of her starter,
and is exercising real self control by *stopping when full*

So which is it? It just seems there's no pleasing anybody (which is now
why I stop trying, where my own body is concerned). If a person is too
fat, they're looked upon with disgust with a sneering upturned nose, and
the person (sometimes verbally saying) "Ewww doesn't this woman have ANY
self control???" OR, when they are thinner and more energetic and
healthier due to their eating habits it's "Look at this chick, she's
gone all weird and will not eat anything we offer!!"

But what else is new, life is full of double standards.

Lictor wrote:
obviously not enjoying life. I mean, if the goal of a gathering of friends
is to enjoy some food together, why invite you and your weird eating habits?

Well, I've been on all kinds of "weird diets", from vegan to vegetarian,
to "no this" and "no that", and I've never had a problem enjoying life
with friends!

I've been at wonderful gatherings with friends where an abundance of
delicious food was served, and I didn't know attending said party had an
admission fee of eating a food you don't like... grin. I just go
without. And I do so happily while respecting my friend's rights to eat
whatever they want.

See that is the thing. Respect. I go out of my way to cook things for
my friends "weird eating habits", even if I don't eat it. It's called
give and take. It's one of the things that hold friends together.

And if a woman has just a "starter" at a restaurant... so what? I've
seen the portion size of some "starters", and that's enough for a whole
entire meal! Maybe she is actually enjoying the taste of her starter,
and is exercising real self control by *stopping when full*

So which is it? It just seems there's no pleasing anybody (which is now
why I stop trying, where my own body is concerned). If a person is too
fat, they're looked upon with disgust with a sneering upturned nose, and
the person (sometimes verbally saying) "Ewww doesn't this woman have ANY
self control???" OR, when they are thinner and more energetic and
healthier due to their eating habits it's "Look at this chick, she's
gone all weird and will not eat anything we offer!!"

But what else is new, life is full of double standards.

On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 at 19:13:32, Lictor wrote:

I think that's still a huge difference between the USA and Europe, and
that's what you're seeing. We buy our bread in bakeries, while most
Americans seem to buy it at groceries. I haven't visited the UK for a while,
so I don't know how the situation has evolved there. But in France, even
when shopping in a large supermarket, I can buy my bread at a bakery booth
where they do cook their bread (though they don't bake it, they receive raw
frozen bread sticks and cook them - legally, they're not allowed to call
themselves a "bakery").

It's the same here in the UK - the larger supermarkets have their own
in-store bakeries, although how much they cook from scratch and how much
they have delivered as dough, who knows? You can also buy pre-packed,
sliced bread - the awful white muck, true, but also proper wholemeal,
granary, multi-grain, etc, either the store's own brand or a brand name.

Mind you, when I was in the USA, I had *the* most delicious sourdough
bread that I've ever tasted. I think I bought it in a Trader Joe's?
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 7 August 2004 - for a limited time, be bored by my holiday
snaps!

On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 at 19:13:32, Lictor wrote:

I think that's still a huge difference between the USA and Europe, and
that's what you're seeing. We buy our bread in bakeries, while most
Americans seem to buy it at groceries. I haven't visited the UK for a while,
so I don't know how the situation has evolved there. But in France, even
when shopping in a large supermarket, I can buy my bread at a bakery booth
where they do cook their bread (though they don't bake it, they receive raw
frozen bread sticks and cook them - legally, they're not allowed to call
themselves a "bakery").

It's the same here in the UK - the larger supermarkets have their own
in-store bakeries, although how much they cook from scratch and how much
they have delivered as dough, who knows? You can also buy pre-packed,
sliced bread - the awful white muck, true, but also proper wholemeal,
granary, multi-grain, etc, either the store's own brand or a brand name.

Mind you, when I was in the USA, I had *the* most delicious sourdough
bread that I've ever tasted. I think I bought it in a Trader Joe's?
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 7 August 2004 - for a limited time, be bored by my holiday
snaps!