Tinypliny's Journal

05/17/2010 10:03 #51668

Fancy and Delicious
Category: eating in

My Sunday was super fancy and delicious because I baked this:

Yes!! I can't believe it either. It is the MOST delicious and fancy looking thing I have ever baked. Thank you, Maura. m/ You rock! m/

PS: More about the bread workshop later... (and possibly more photos, depending on whether I get them.)

PPS: Maura posted about the workshop on the fancy and delicious bakery blog:

ladycroft - 05/18/10 09:12
I didn't realize you could make bread with quinoa!

tinypliny - 05/17/10 21:56
I have finished half of it already! (e:libertad), maybe you should come next time. We did hang out from 12 to nearly 5 but it was a tonload of fun. We also made pizza, all sort of crazy-fun teas, talked a lot, shared jokes and generally had a lot of fun. :-)

I have had slices with
- mascarpone and granny-smiths
- mascarpone and strawberries
- hummus and mesclun
- hummus and carrots
- yellow split peas, greens and stir-fried green beans
- toasted with mascarpone
- just raw. :-)

I didn't know I liked bread so much!

libertad - 05/17/10 21:37
Do you put butter on it? How do you eat it?

libertad - 05/17/10 21:36
That looks amazing. How did you get there? Did you need to stay 4 hours to wait for it to be done?

tinypliny - 05/17/10 11:05
It's a 100% whole wheat + multigrain (quinoa, oats, barley, rye, flax seeds, buckwheat, sesame, red-wheat... I think.) + honey + whole milk + rosemary + lemon-mint + olive oil + salt bread! :-)

My whole flat smelled like this yesterday and I didn't even bake at my place. Seriously, Maura = Magic. I wish everyone at (e:strip) had come to the workshop... There will be one every month and we could possibly bake a low carb bread next time. :-)

james - 05/17/10 10:23
What kind of bread is that? It looks delicious.

05/13/2010 22:11 #51553

Monsoon Whatever Food: Hated it
Category: eating out

The votes are in. (e:libertad) and I tried the monsoon food at the Roswell Cafeteria today and the unanimous vote is: Ehh! HATE IT.

Many reasons:

1. For something that is touted as "Indian", WHAT THE WHAT?! It's not vegetarian friendly! When I requested more samosas and bread instead of the chicken "curry" and rice, they said they would omit the rice and "curry" but could not give me more samosas and bread. The price for a reduced meal (sans rice and "curry") was the same as the price for the whole meal. They probably have some sort of instructions on how to sell the whole "monsoon entree" but not having any sort of alternative arrangements for people who don't eat meat (and having the audacity to call it "Indian") is inexcusable. And yes. I am authorized to criticize because I am Indian.

2. The shredded (cooked in some awful way) vegetables were an enormous disgrace to all self-respecting vegetables on the planet. I can finally see where all the hatred for veggies comes from. I really feel sorry for any kid that has to eat vegetables like that. It smelled like GRASS and was lukewarm. I think whatever they did to veggies today should be outlawed.

3. I didn't take the rice and "curry" but (e:libertad) wasn't too enthused about them either. He later got a heartburn because of the food. Indian spices promote digestion and don't give you heartburn. Another sign that calling something "Indian" and naming it after the monsoons doesn't make it even remotely "Indian".

I hope this ill-conceived fling with "Indian" food is short-lived. I will not be surprised if it gives real Indian food a bad reputation among people for whom this is an introduction to "Indian" cuisine.

Badly done indeed.

PS: That they called menu items "curry" should have tipped me about how un-Indian it would be, but I totally ignored my cranky assertive internal voice today. Shouldn't have...

PPS: Loved trashing the whole thing with beady eyes and whatnots with (e:libertad) ofcourse. :-)

PPPS: OMG, Fern is half my height, and she is hardly 3 (We ran into (e:enknot) and (e:megan) at lunch.)

tinypliny - 05/14/10 18:58
Man, did you not read the Curry post, (e:metalpeter)!!!?? :::link:::

Seems like no one really read it. Oh well.

metalpeter - 05/14/10 17:43
I didn't have it but I just wanted to see if my understanding is correct about something. There are many different kinds of Curries in Indian Food. However This is where I my question comes in, isn't there curry non exclusive to Indian food. What I mean is that other types of food have curries also.........

dragonlady7 - 05/14/10 00:22
I took the survey here:
:::link:::
Very wordy, sorry. But potatoes!!!! Not a vegetable, a starch. And I love them and could live on them almost exclusively. And the skin is my favorite part.

05/09/2010 20:39 #51533

What do you eat?
Category: eating in

I know this is a very unscientific way of going about things, but I am just very curious about what all of you eat. Take this poll if you dare:

Dairy:

1. How many gallons of milk do you drink per week? What kind?

2. How frequently do you eat any kind of cheese in a week?

3. How much half/half or creamer do you drink in a week?

Staples:

4. How much rice do you consume in a week?

5. How many loaves of bread do you eat in a week?

6. How many times do you eat any pasta in a week?

Meat:

7. How many times a week do you eat meat of any kind (including fish)?

8. How many times a week do you eat eggs?

ladycroft - 05/13/10 09:31
Hmmm.
1. 1/2 - soy or regular
2. almost daily. i love cheese. goat, emmental, haloumi, cheddar, mozerella
3. none
4. sometimes none, sometimes 1 cup
5. maybe 4 slices of bread
6. usually twice
7. don't do the meat thing
8. maybe twice

jacob - 05/11/10 22:04

1. I don't drink milk, I haven't in years. I usually drink rice milk, almond milk and occasionally soy milk.

2. I eat cheese all the time. I love it. I put it on things usually. I'd say about a half to a pound a week.

3. I don't drink coffee, so I never use half/half.

Staples:

4. I usually eat about 6 to 7 cups of brown rice a week. I alose eat about the same in steel cut oats.

5. I eat about 1 and half loaves of ezekiel bread. I make alot of sandwiches for work and to take with me.

6. I eat pasta once or twice a week, usually brown rice pasta or pho noodles.

Meat:

7. I usually eat meat everyday. I avoid red meat mostly. I eat mostly fish and eggs and some chicken.

8. I eat eggs 3 to 5 days a week. Luckily I have a friend who has her own chickens. She just lets them browse in her yard and then feeds them omega rich grains. I buy eggs from her.

I've got the same question as (e:paul), what's up with the couscous and no rice?

libertad - 05/11/10 21:34
1) I hardly ever drink milk. I use it in some things but it always goes bad when I buy it and I only get 1/4 gallon. I do eat a lot of yogurt or keifer, probably 3-4 times a week. I like whole milk if I am drinking it but try to get it from cows that are not given hormones.

2) I love cheeses. I eat cheese in some form almost every day.

3) I drink my coffee black now. Sometimes, if I am somewhere that has creamer available I use a little to cool my coffee down.

4) I don't consume a ton of rice, maybe about a cup a week. Rice is awesome.

5) Bread is so delicious. I like it slathered with butter or olive oil or to make a sandwich with mayo or mustard. Probably a loaf a week, maybe more.

6) Pasta is another favorite, maybe 2-3 times a week?

7) I eat meat in some form almost every day of the week. I can cook a fair amount of stuff without meat in it. Today I had no meat but that is unusual.

8) Love to fry eggs. I usually do that once a week. I also like egg salad and deviled eggs. Eggs are in so many things so it is hard to track.

I just know that you are judging me with beady eyes of disapproval.

theecarey - 05/11/10 19:19
1. Milk for me is usually in the form of unsweetened Almond milk (used to do soy, but switched for various reasons). So, not quite a half gallon per week. If I am broke, then maybe a pint of skim for cereal.

2. Cheese- almost daily whether cow cheese or vegan cheese. Just depends on what I am in the mood for.

3. Creamer- pretty much never. I almost always drink my coffee black and have no use for creamer otherwise. Though sometimes I go for a special flavored one.. but this would be a small bottle or two year.

4. Rice- again, almost never unless as part of a dish I order while out (or out at a friends house)..and I rarely eat out and even then it is rare to order it. I like rice enough and I own a few varieties, but I pretty much choose something else before I choose rice. Like quinoa, lentils, bulgar, beans etc. These aren't weekly consumptions either. I love quinoa though!

5. Bread- varies. I own a loaf or two of stone ground whole wheat, most of which is stored in the freezer. I vacillate between any of the Ezekiel products or Wegmans products such as whole wheat english muffins (I like to make mini "pizzas"), whole wheat wraps, whole wheat pitas and whole wheat bread depending on what I need it for. Most days I consume some form of those products, but not daily.

6. Pasta- rarely, so my answer for most weeks is zero. I have to be in the mood for it. I had it a couple of weeks back as I was in the mood for some elbows and sauce w/ cottage cheese.

7. Meat- I had some today, but not yesterday. Maybe 3 times a week? Often less, sometimes more.

8. Eggs- most days of the week. 1-2 whole egg and a couple of egg whites. I use them as a means for making some semblance of an omlette or accidental Frittata. Eggs are a good vehicle for lots of yummy veggies, herbs and other seasonings.

jenks - 05/11/10 17:09
Ugh, this makes me feel really unhealthy.

1- I usually can't finish 1/2 gallon before it goes bad. I have about 1/2c on cereal just about every morning.

2- 1? usually goat cheese on a salad

3- half and half in coffee maybe 4-5x /week

4- once, if that.

5- I always have stale bread in my fridge, because I never eat it.

6- maybe once

7- once or twice, maybe?

8- once, if that.

Really I just barely eat these days. :( I have a bowl of cheerios with skim milk and berries every morning before work. Maybe an egg white something on the weekend if I'm 'splurging'.

I never get to eat lunch at work.

I usually have some pretzels or triscuits when I get home. Maybe carrots and dip.

And dinner... also often gets skipped. Or I make some soup or veggie dish and eat leftovers all week. If I go out I pretty much only eat salad, or some lean meat and veggies. But then of course on my birthday I had salad and swordfish and veggies and potatoes and wine and cake and then more cake at work...

I'm trying to eat 'healthy', but really it's just become a starvation diet. :(

(I know I know, that's 'bad'. BUT, it's working. (weight-loss wise).

As my sister says 'I like results that are fast and dangerous. It's the Max Power way.)

Oh, and I've made exercise a non-negotiable part of life. I started out saying I am going to ride my bike ten miles every day. But that become unreasonable. So now it's 50 miles a week.

metalpeter - 05/11/10 15:32
I never drink Milk. The way I get milk is through like other things made of it like chesse on a burger or something like that.

Eating Cheese is maybe once or twice a week I'm guessing it all depends.

Never use creamer in anything

Don't eat rice or Bread, I love bread but I never eat it, well it might be like a roll with a burger but I don't buy it.

I like Rice but never eat it

6 I love Pasta. How many times I eat it though is tough some times it has been 7 or more times a week. Pasta has so many great forms yum pasta.

7. Meat makes Pasta even better . I would guess any where from 5 to 12 times a week but not sure I don't really count.

Eggs I don't eat. That being said many things like cookies and all kinds of things are made with them so it is hard to say.

What I eat is:
Eating out at Taco, and Burger and Pizza Places

All different Frozen foods

Canned Pasta (some of them are pretty good)

Snack Food, A bag of Tostitos or Doritos and drinks are great for sports.

Then there is also event food like at a concert or what ever.......

jbeatty - 05/11/10 10:45
1. I don't drink milk ever. I only use it to cook so < 1/2 gallon/week. Usually I will buy whole milk to cook with.

2. Cheese is liberally eaten here. We probably go through 1 lb/week for both of us.

3. We only use half and half in our coffee. But we tend to go through 2 pints/week

4. Rice is eaten less than pasta here. Some weeks we eat none. I would say 2lbs/month

5. 1 - 2 loaves of bread/week. I love five points bakery and all but sometimes I need a plain old loaf of sourdough.

6. Pasta is a once or twice a week thing for us. Its our quick meal here. If neither of us feel like cooking its easy to whip out a pasta dish with some vegetables or a quick tomato sauce.

7. I personally eat meat 4-5 times a week. I know that is probably a lot. But I don't really care. I love the taste flesh.

8. We go through a lot of eggs here. We make lots of dishes with eggs. I would say we go though 1 dozen to 1.5 dozen per week.

tinypliny - 05/10/10 22:45
Wow - this is turning out to be a fascinating survey!
Everyone's habits are so subtly different. The influences on each choice of dairy/staples/meat are very interesting.

janelle - 05/10/10 21:30
1. 2-3 C. of Milk with cereal. I get the Byrne Dairy milk, mostly because it's at Price Rite now.

2. I probably eat a little cheese every day with either dinner or lunch. We really like cheese.

3. A lot of the fake creamer with my coffee every day. I like it really strong with lots of creamer.

4. 1-2 cups of rice.

5. 1/2 to 1 loaf depending on whether I'm eating sandwiches for lunch at work.

6. Once a week and usually whole wheat pasta. Sometimes egg noodles.

7. These days 4-5 times a week because of the kids. Prior to the kids, 2-3 times a week.

8. These days, almost no eggs because FS is allergic to eggs. Prior to the FC, probably a couple of eggs a week. And sometimes I would eat a hardboiled egg a day.

In addition, tofu, tempeh, tvp used to be a regular part of my diet and I'm going to slowly introduce it to the kids, so it can be a regular part of my diet again.

Lots of frozen veggies and fresh/canned fruits. Salad almost every night.

The kids changed our diet and we changed the kids diet. They used to eat nothing but Mac and Cheese and hot dogs and we used to eat a big plate of veggies cooked up in some sauce. We're meeting in the middle of our different eating habits.

joshua - 05/10/10 15:52
1. Half a gallon per week, I buy the NY organic milk at the co-op
2. 3-4 times per week
3. Hmm... I dunno... maybe half a cup a week with my coffee. I am a light cream kind of guy and use it sparingly
4. Once per week, I should probably increase this
5. How many loaves? Do individuals eat more than one loaf in a week? I'd say maybe half a loaf per week
6. Almost none, rarely eat pasta.
7. 4-5 times per week, maybe more... pretty close to a daily basis most weeks
8. 5 times per week, we like eggs.

james - 05/10/10 09:57
1) the better part of a gallon of skim
2) a few ounces a week
3) none
4) none
5) none
6) none
7) 5-8
8) 5-8

jason - 05/10/10 09:39
1. 0.25 gal maybe? The Organic 2% NYMilk.
2. A few times a week.
3. Very little. Couple of spoonfuls perhaps.
4. Basically none. Would like to eat more rice.
5. One loaf a week, at best.
6. Very little. Like to make bolognese sometimes.
7. Plenty, probably 5 or 6.
8. Plenty, probably 5 or 6. Love eggs!!!

heidi - 05/09/10 23:55
1. I buy .5 gal about every two weeks, whole milk because if I'm cooking with it, that's what recipes are built on. I also go to Taza for hot chocolate a couple times a week, so there's more milk that I drink than I buy.

2. Every day. Probably several times. I currently have queso fresco, pepper jack, romano, goat cheese and mozzarella.

3. none.

4. dunno 1 c.?

5. I keep a loaf of bread in the freezer for when I really want fried eggs. I think I've bought two in the past year. However, I do keep pitas and tortillas around and I eat bread as part of sandwiches (eating out) and pizza.

6. 2-3 times/week. Sometimes more. Pierogi, ravioli. Usually with pesto or red sauce, or just olive oil & romano.

7. none.

8. 1-2x/mo. I'm more likely to use eggs in baking.

Generally I have no idea what I eat and cooking & eating are a pain in the butt. I like organic freezer food a lot (Kashi, Amy's, those amazing samosas). I make a lot of soup, which may contain rice and always contains beans. I eat lots of nuts. I eat salad; I add nuts, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, dressing. I make quesadillas frequently. I usually have salsa & chips and hummus & pitas around. I drink juice, water, milk, and hot chocolate regularly, with beer and/or wine about once a week (unless it's during a party season).

himay - 05/09/10 23:47
1.) ~1/2 gallon whole milk
2.) I'll snack on a 1/2lb block of cheese until it's gone (typically 3-4 days, hence I never buy more than that for a week's worth of food...I'd never stop eating it).
3.) None.

4.) 1-2 cups (uncooked) worth, averaging half white and half brown
5.) 3/4 of a loaf (depends on the number of slices...Wegmans' potato bread loaf will last me just over a week, but PriceRite's generic wheat bread will go nearly two weeks).
6.) Pasta and rice usually sub each other out in my diet...if I have the pasta, I'll eat about 1.5x as much of it in lieu of what I would have normally eaten for rice.

7.) 2-3 times a week (usually averaging less than a pound of meat a week, except for weeks like this coming one).
8.) Nearly every day (easily 5-6 days a week)! I love eggs!

paul - 05/09/10 22:25
I answered my answers on (e:paul,51534)

What!? you dropped rice from your diet? What is wrong with you. Rice is so superior to couscous. Think about how much more processed couscous is than rice. Plus rice comes in so many yummy varieties.

vincent - 05/09/10 22:23
1 Quart skim and that is for cereal.

2. Pretty much every day, as I may grab a cheest sick or include it in a meal.

3. None, I use skim or soy milk for the 3-4 times I have a coffee during the week.

4. Only one serving a week. It is usually with my weekly Chipotle Run

5. 1/2 at most

6. Once maybe twice a week.

7. about 5 times a week.

8. 1 or 2 That is usually one day during the week when I am up early enough or once during the weekend.

tinypliny - 05/09/10 20:45
Let's see. My answers.
1. 2. Mostly skim, sometimes 1 gallon of 1% and sometimes 1 gallon of soymilk.
2. Rarely. When I buy cheese I eat it all the time till it is finished. But I buy cheese like once in a couple months or so.
3. None.
4. None. I dropped rice from my diet early this year.
5. Around 1/3rd to a 1/2
6. Maybe once a week - couscous mainly
7. None.
8. None. I am still kind of unclear about how to bake/cook with eggs.

05/09/2010 13:25 #51529

The best cup of coffee ever.
Category: eating in

The best cup of coffee:

- Brew Trader Joe's house blend in any coffee machine
- Add fat-free/1% milk in blender
- Add a heaped tablespoon of mascarpone to blender
- Blend and blend till foamy
- Heat 1/2 mug blended milk in microwave for a minute
- Fill rest of the mug with brewed coffee
- Stir vigorously
- Enjoy with homemade speculoos!

tinypliny - 05/09/10 19:49
LOL because adding mascarpone to whole milk makes it too thick and crazy. It takes away the sharpness of the coffee flavour.

I mainly drink skim milk for the protein and calcium and I drink nearly 2 gallons per week. If I drank 2 gallons of whole milk every week, I would seriously not fit through any doors in a month (well, except you know, church doors, legal doors etc).

paul - 05/09/10 19:41
Seriously sounds delicious but why bother with fat-free or 1% milk if you are going to add mascarpone to it. I am all about whole milk. Skim milk seems like milk flavored water to me.

05/09/2010 09:27 #51527

Acai Berry and the logic of creationism.
Category: science

Ever wondered about the nutrient profile of the berry that promises to be the "one weird trick" and the "one ancient rule" to recurrent $80 dollar losses?

From: Schauss GA et al. Phytochemical and Nutrient Composition of the Freeze-Dried Amazonian Palm Berry, Euterpe oleraceae Mart. (Acai). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2006 54 (22), 8598-8603

None of the claims about Acai Berry have been scientifically proved. The berry doesn't taste exceptionally awesome either. It's a berry, just like any of the zillion other berries. The people in the Amazon eat it for subsistence just like the Irish eat potatoes. A look at the nutritional profile tells you why. Eating 100 g of this berry gives you nearly 534 calories - the amount you get from 5 100g small potatoes.

The people of Amazon live in tropical forestlands and don't drive cars all the time. They probably don't have 24 hour access to pizza delivery, fast-food, potato chips and all kinds of high-sugar snacks that were heaped in the cart during a recent grocery visit. They are not being force-fed high-fructose corn syrup through EVERY conceivable product on grocery shelves. They probably eat a lot of vegetables because they don't have as many staple-cereal farmlands.

But all that doesn't really matter, correct? We could totally have a million cakes in our pantry, eat a billion more, drink a zillion bottles of this "magic berry" and voila! - we will be magically moulded in the form of the lean and fit Amazonians. Sure, and we were all created from scratch in 7 days flat. It just wasn't enough time to give us a functional brain.

tinypliny - 05/09/10 17:28
LOL @(e:metalpeter). If you put the evil genius of the fast food companies and diet companies together, I am sure you could sell those 3 ideas to people. hahaha

@(e:james) Sounds like a good strategy. You could get your carbs *and* proteins from legumes/lentils and get a bonus of fibre. Why were you avoiding fava beans? They seem comparable with other legumes (slighly less fibre, though...).

Rice is plainly evil with respect to the type and density of carbohydrates you get. So are other refined grains. Potatoes are another big carbohydrate cesspit. Bananas might be good for potassium but in terms of carbohydrates, they give you too much.

james - 05/09/10 15:17
Yeah, I am a type one diabetic, so this diet makes even more sense.

My old macronutrient break down was roughly 10/60/30 fat/carbs/protein. I now try to keep it 30/30/40. I do that by getting almost all my carbs from fruit. Most of my fat comes from nuts and avocado, as my protein is lean meat, soy, or dairy.

But, I also love to cheat. I am cooking up some fava beans because I have been fiending for them for weeks!

metalpeter - 05/09/10 14:19
Berries are healthy but stuff made from them wouldn't mean that it is healthy but most people don't think of that.

For some people there are things that can help them lose weight. If that don't ever have caffeine it will help speed up their metabolism hence why it is in diet pills. Also ephedrine worked great but it also caused Heart Attacks so that is illegal now.

There are 3 things that other then changing your diet will cause weight lose.

Sound the drums
1. Get a crack Problem
2. do lots of Heroin and coke
3. Go around people who have the flu until you catch it and are sick for a week in bed not moving that always seems to take some weight off

tinypliny - 05/09/10 12:04
heheh - ask anyone to increase their water intake and decrease their cookies etc and I bet 40% would complain that they don't like that they have to pee all the time. There is always some crazy excuse.

tinypliny - 05/09/10 11:59
Also, eating out is a major problem that no one seems to care about. You just can't control what you eat if you eat out more than even 40% of the time. You will have to compensate for eating out the rest of the 60% of the time with drastic measures - that are just not practical.

tinypliny - 05/09/10 11:57
@(e:james): Missed your comment. :-) So what is your diet like? I am interested, because you have Type I DM, correct? What were you eating before? What are you eating now?

tinypliny - 05/09/10 11:53
I think the volume of 100g dried Acai berries is roughly 1/4th of a pint box of blueberries. So non-dried volume will be about 1/2 of that box. The fibre value is pretty surprising. Interestingly, it is used as an antidiarrhoeal agent in parts of rural South America. I guess that makes sense then. :)

I don't think antioxidants can do anything to increase anyone's BMR. BMR is determined by the size of the major metabolic organs (liver mainly) and of course, the metabolic status of the body.

I agree with the "eat less than you can burn" strategy. It is true that the net harvest of calories is much higher from fat but carbohydrates and fats affect the satiety centres of the body a bit differently.

It is usually tough for people to eat several large portions of fat all the time. Lesser quantities of fat are required to reach satiety. (Recall how famous French foods that consist of maybe 90% butter are served - in tiny portions. And people don't really ask for more, because they can't generally eat more. That, and the frogs are boorish snobs. hehehe)

Carbohydrates are a bit tricky. Their metabolism is through the insulin pathways and pretty quick. These pathways control the glucose levels in blood - a the major driver of hunger. Even if there is a minor insulin resistance (common in nearly everyone nowadays, because they are fat to begin with) you continue to feel hungry. The result is that you can continue to eat nearly 5-10 times as much carbohydrate based foods as fat based foods. You can end up with 2-5 times more calories than eating a fat-based (but very much smaller) diet.

It's so typical however, that fast-food joints distort this whole idea. They might as well serve Acai berry shakes with the avocado-cheese "healthy" burgers.

james - 05/09/10 11:36
Meh, I do think carbs are evil. I am on a diet now that is low carb and high fat, it makes controlling how hungry I am real easy because carbs get turned into blood sugar real fast. Fat and protein has to take up space for a while before that happens.

But, this berry - like the goji berry, the blue berry, the mangostein - isn't going to do anything magical. Less calories in than out.

And metabolism.. you want to increase metabolism? Fucking jog. GHA!

People are stupid.

jenks - 05/09/10 10:08
32g of fat per 100g?? These magic berries are 32% fat?? Wow.
I thought most fruits and vegetables, while loaded with sugars, were low in fat... except maybe avocados... Yikes. And 44g fiber?? How much is 100g?! I thought that was like a big handful.

But yes, we are always suckers for any sort of "get (rich/thin/famous/etc) quick" scam. I don't know why people haven't figured it out yet... if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. there is no magic pill.

When I was in med school, our dean lost about 100lb. Everyone kept asking him his secret. He would stop what he was doing and say "want to know my secret? are you ready? I burned more calories than I ate."

I thought the claim with all these new magic super foods was that they have 'antioxidants' etc and are supposed to increase your basal metabolic rate.

I dunno. Perhaps I'm just too simple minded, but that's how see it. You need to consume less calories than you burn. I see fat as the biggest culprit, simply since it has more calories per gram than carbs. I don't understand why carbs are seen as so 'evil' and this low-carb craze. Are the calories in carbs somehow 'worse' than the calories in fat? I'd think the opposite- because of cholesterol etc.

Like when restaurants offer their 'healthy' burgers. Load it up with avocado and cheese- but take away the bun, and now it's good for you?! Huh?

I still think that if you take a vitamin and drink lots of water you could starve the weight off without .

Anyway, this comment is way too long. But, I'm with you tiny.