Everyday Systems

Blithe Morning

Losing weight the No S way is slow. Losing two pounds a week for 18 weeks is a LOT, especially as you have been rollercoastering with your weight. (gaining and losing 10lbs in a week is very extreme). I won't say it's impossible, but setting a goal like that seems to be setting you up for disappoint...

Blithe Morning

I have this book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day requested from Inter-library Loan The basic recipe is thus: Basic crusty bread recipe from â€œArtisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,â€ by Jeff Hertzberg and ZoÃ« FranÃ§ois (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007) 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher sal...

Blithe Morning

CREAMY SLOW-COOKER BEANS Introduce your family to the nothing-like-canned taste of home-cooked dried beans. Just stir eight ounces of rinsed dried black (or navy or red kidney) beans, a chopped white onion, a tablespoon of bacon fat or butter with five cups hot water in a slow cooker. Cook on high ...

Blithe Morning

When I ran the benevolence ministry at church, I learned to spot alcoholics by the huge holes in their stories. I came to the conclusion that these holes were caused by a tangle of shame, denial, self pity, deception and a willful lack of self awareness that made it difficult for them to say certain...

Blithe Morning

I broke my plate.

But I will go to the thrift store after work and buy another one!

Blithe Morning

I put them on low. Let's see... I put them on at 7AMish and usually they get turned off around 5PMish. I wonder if I should use a timer that would turn them off at 4 or maybe even 3. 8 hours is probably enough for cooking on low?

Blithe Morning

I am trying to find a good chili gravy recipe for pinto beans. I put my pintos (washed and picked over but not soaked) in the slow cooker/crockpot in the morning when I leave for work and so by the time I come home they are done. Too done as they are a little too soft for us, probably perfect for Mr...

Blithe Morning

Nichole, of course, there is always the library to test run your cookbooks. Thalia, cookbooks are like sirens to me, singing their wooing song of gourmet meals made in short amounts of time with inexpensive and easy to find ingredients. (sigh) I've learned to resist (kinda) and put a moratorium on p...

Blithe Morning

Also, if you make sweet tea by the gallon is it possible to consider your consumption excessive? BR, sweet tea is an institution in the American South. The ONLY way to make it is by the gallon. I'm sure KCCC and others can more fully explain That Nectar Which Is Sweet Tea. As a Yankee, I've only ha...

Blithe Morning

Blithe, I think your math is off. 1/2 cup is 8 tablespoons or 24 teaspoons, so it would be 1 1/2 teaspoons per 8 ounces for about 21 calories. Indeed it is. Good catch. I still wouldn't drink even a lightly sweetened beverage more than once a day since that would just make me crave more sweets. But...

Blithe Morning

Here's something I discovered serendipitously: that a scant half cup of ground beef makes a quarter pound. So, I buy ground beef on sale in 3lb packs and scoop it out in half cup measures on a cookie sheet. I pop it into the freezer for about 20 minutes (or longer if I forget) :oops: then move it to...

Blithe Morning

Dave, ... that paying attention to things like the nature of the foods they're consuming is less important than just reducing the total amount consumed. 100% agreed. Some of us here have started threads talking about the nature of food mainly because once we started paying attention, really started ...

Blithe Morning

Ok, I'm nerdy enough but I did the math with the help of onlineconversion.com There are 16 cups of tea in a gallon. In that 16 cups of tea, you put the equivalent of 48 teaspoons (.5 cups) sugar or 3 teaspoons per 8 oz which works out to 42 calories per glass. Assuming you drank only ONE 8oz sweet t...

Blithe Morning

Oh, my dear. Why on earth would you want to skip a meal? You only eat three times a day, I can't see intentionally foregoing a meal unless it was for religious fasting reasons. You can't lose a lot of weight quickly on this diet... or perhaps I should say eating plan. The other diets that have promi...

Blithe Morning

I still think the original article had some valid points. People tend to overestimate the role of exercise in losing weight, especially given some of the psychological foibles we humans are prone to. Some of these foibles may even be hard wired - like eating more after working out hard. Although I, ...

Blithe Morning

We are a "add nothing to the burger" family except pepper and garlic salt. We use 85% lean chuck. Anything leaner than that it's too dry.

Blithe Morning

Diet nutters. I like that term.

Blithe Morning

Eat more at meal times.
Eat food you really like at meal times to avoid feeling deprived.
If there is a particular non-sweet "snacky" food you like, leave a bit of space for it on the mealtime plate.
Make sure you are getting enough protein at meal times, especially breakfast.
Stay hydrated.

Blithe Morning

I've heard not so great things about the pinch tests too. Way too much variability. I can change how much I can pinch just by varying my posture and flexing my muscles.

See how we can make ourselves crazy?

I won't say ignore the number but it's just that, ONE number.

Blithe Morning

I checked both my BMI and waist hip ratios. Both say I'm healthy - at the high end - but still healthy.

Which is nice but I know that these measurements don't always tell the accurate story for every person.

Blithe Morning

Well, if you think cooking is going to be your "thing", then I say buy the cookbook and dink around with the recipes on weekends and holidays. If it's too advanced, then set it up on the shelf until you are ready for it. Try another classic like The Joy of Cooking which has EVERYTHING from scratch. ...

Blithe Morning

Obviously, he is one of the "Blue Zoners" who have an extremely limited caloric intake.

Blithe Morning

The article wasn't about the author's anemic workouts, it was about research coming out of LSU which showed that hard exercise doesn't contribute as much to weight loss as previously thought. As with all research, you can't say this is applicable to everybody, everywhere but rather an overall patter...

Blithe Morning

I didn't read this as a "don't go to the gym" missive, but rather "going to the gym isn't going to cause you to lose weight". What stood out to me is that one reason that going to the gym won't help you lose weight is because you've already shot your self control wad on exercising rather than what y...

Blithe Morning

A book club! Yes, I can see it. At first I couldn't grok it but there is enough content in there that I think some pretty lively discussions could be had.

Which brings me to another point. Have you ever thought about developing a book club guide to No S?

Blithe Morning

This book is something of a meld between Mark Bittman and Clara. The cover reads: Food of a Younger Land. A portrait of American food - before the national highway system, before chain restaurants, and before frozen food, when the nation's food was seasonal, regional and traditional - from the lost ...

Blithe Morning

I've started eating lunch off a real plate. I used to just eat it from my the little plastic tubs I would use to carry my lunch. I swear I feel fuller. I know I eat slower (though still not slow). And I enjoy my food so much more even though it's the same thing I've always eaten. There's more to the...

Blithe Morning

Hunh. I make fried potatoes every week to have in lieu of meat with tacos. You take white potatoes, rinse well, dry even better, slice (not too thin, not too thick) and drop them into a cast iron sauce pan about 2/3 full of hot (375Â° - 400Â°) canola oil. A few stirs with a slotted spoon and about 1...

Blithe Morning

I think I'm part of the dump and stir club. I don't like cooking much. But, I don't like take out either. When you factor in ordering, driving and waiting, more often than not it's quicker to make something at home. And after reading The End of Overeating, I like to have a little more control over t...

Blithe Morning

... you can't see the person on the other side of the table. ... your Chinette* plate collapses ... you can't cut your meat because there is not enough room to move your knife back and forth. *For our non-US friends, Chinette is an especially heavy duty paper plate. It's actually more like some sor...

Blithe Morning

With all due respect to this school of thought, I've never really bought into the idea that after 21 days a new behavior automatically becomes habit. And after hearing David Kessler author of The End of Overeating talking about brain chemistry in response to eating certain kinds of food, I am convin...

Blithe Morning

With all due respect, I think one of your struggles is that you are still dieting and what you are dealing with is a bad case of Diet Head. A banana with peanut butter, and yogurt with honey and blueberries do not seem to be especially satiating meals. And I really didn't see anything wrong with you...

Blithe Morning

Two kilos in five days is pretty amazing. I can understand the thrill. I am a little concerned about what will happen when you start adding back in carbs, though. I'm not familiar with the diet. I assume it has a maintenance phase. Can you go straight to maintenance (which I assume is low carbish wi...

Blithe Morning

On a simple living message board. You would think this would be a natural audience but there's plenty of diet head thinking there, too.

Blithe Morning

Ugh. Just reading that WebMD article made me flash back to When Diet Head Ruled My World.

And guidelines about when to snack. Seriously? Do we have too much food in this country or what.

I need a vigorous walk or something. I really do feel icky.

Blithe Morning

I eat normal meals. I had mayo on my Subway sandwich for dinner AND a bag of chips. I ate TWO cheese stuffed noodles (long tubular ones, what are they called?) and a roll and a dollop of veggies for my lunch at a conference today. I put a banana in my smoothie in the morning (Full disclosure: I add ...

Blithe Morning

Tiffani, I'm glad you can see that your struggles are, in large part, very much a function of what's going on with your brain and not some defect within your moral character. Given your especially stressful home situation with DH deployed, I can see why you might even be more vulnerable to the impac...

Blithe Morning

I caught Dr. Kessler talking about TEoO on Book TV (video linked below). He spends a lot of time talking about the brain's response circuitry to sugar, fat and salt, and how it's necessary to "cool the response down" in order to successfully break out of overeating. Reinhard, if you haven't already ...

Blithe Morning

I like those additions. I'm putting those on my guidelines list, which are different than rules.

Blithe Morning

You are probably also missing adult interaction. Going day after day with mostly kids to talk to is brain draining. Do what you must to get yourself some grown up time. This is a priority. And I mean it. I'm sorry the family support has not panned out as hoped. In the end, it's their loss since they...

Blithe Morning

I read once that honeymoon got its name because a new couple would eat honey for an entire lunar cycle to celebrate the new marriage. I don't know if it's true or not but it sounds nice.

Since a honeymoon is - for most of us - a once in a lifetime event, it's ok to treat yourself.

Blithe Morning

Very interesting. I've been reading a lot about early childhood education lately and self regulation is an extremely important skill.

Blithe Morning

I can relate. My son is in 'Stan. I do ok during the day but I've had sweets.

We can do this.

Blithe Morning

If you want to eat dinner together, it may require some compromise. Can you move back your dinner time to 6PM? That's about the time I eat and with a plate the includes protein I rarely have trouble making it to breakfast.

Blithe Morning

Congrats and even though I'm not Canadian, thank you for your service. I suspect that part of your weight loss is due to the fact that you aren't eating so much salt. Whenever I'm off NoS, I gain 5lbs or so of bloat that I knock out pretty quickly.

Blithe Morning

The reason the original link wouldn't work is that there is a period at the end of the sentence which is read as being part of the URL.

Blithe Morning

You could always set your salad plate on your big plate and fill in around it. I'm a salad on the main plate person myself but I can understand why some prefer a salad off the plate.

Blithe Morning

9 Inch Plate Diet may or may not be a good mod. I have no idea and no intention of finding out since I am quite satisfied with No S. I guess what I was asking was about the similarity in tone between NoS and 9IP. I know "soft skills" writing is what's hot in business these days as most writing appar...

Blithe Morning

The way I see it, there are only three options:
- unrestricted eating
- restrictive eating diets
- No S

Pick yourself, brush yourself off, start all over again.

I know, it's corny as Kansas in August, but that's just who I am.

Blithe Morning

I was in Barnes and Noble yesterday and saw a book entitled The 9 Inch Plate Diet. It's an oversized trade paper book with a very visual layout, graphics, charts and lots of white space. The premise of the author is that you can lose weight by switching to a 9 inch plate. The author, Alex Bogusky, c...

Blithe Morning

Winter:
Toast or English muffin with "natural" peanut butter
Banana
OJ (sometimes)

Summer:
Fruit smoothie w/ 1 cup OJ, 1 cup fruit, 1 banana, 1 scoop protein powder.

Blithe Morning

A couple of thoughts: Your weight and height sound fine. I rather doubt you are chubby but merely comparing yourself to an unrealistic standard. Exercise isn't something to do be done until you reach a goal. It's lifetime habit. The benefits of exercise go way past weight loss/management. NO S will ...

Blithe Morning

I think those would be fine. You'll see on the homepage that a dab of sugar added to beverages is even allowable. My personal rule of thumb (prot) on beverages is this: If sugar is a small addition I add then the beverage is allowed. If it's an essential ingredient, it's not. Juice has a lot of natu...

Blithe Morning

Stop Reading all the other Diet Books!!! Yep. That. You have enough on your figurative plate without having to pile on di*t stuff on top of that. (censored because it's a four letter word and since you have small kids, we don't want them to be traumatized if they read over your shoulder) And with y...

Blithe Morning

Deb, I too just want to offer my encouragement. You have given so much to this board in terms of support and encouragement. If there was anyone that deserves No S to be a success in their life, it's you! Flylady has a book called Body Clutter and she deals with some of the emotional aspects of eatin...

Blithe Morning

Deb, I hesitate to mention this but I am just putting this out there as something to think about. It seems to me that NoS is meant to address out of control eating that is default or mindless. Middle of the night eating seems to be a different beast with a different cause. There is an intentionality...

Blithe Morning

I hear ya, Deb. This is one of the reasons I like my fitness classes. Put on the music and GO.

Have fun and keep dancing.

Blithe Morning

Jeanne, can you pump up your strength training? Building muscle mass is a great way to increase your metabolism. I'm not talking about increasing by a huge amount but if you've been doing strength training for a while, then maybe you've hit a plateau. Also, I am a big advocate of getting outdoors. I...

Blithe Morning

Glad to be of assistance Winnie. Years ago I went to a conference that featured a motivational speaker for one of the sessions. Motivational speakers stick with me for about... oh, 32 minutes before I need motivating again. But the speaker had an illustration that has stuck with me. She said that in...

Blithe Morning

Failure IS part of the process. Part of the diet head mentality is that failure is a shameful thing that will totally derail us. This can happen but that doesn't HAVE to happen. If you keep failure an event instead of a value judgment, it's easier to get going again. I was on No S, got lax, and now ...

Blithe Morning

Egg white only omelet? Chicken breast with no sauce? Constantly feeling hungry?

This would be a very grim way to live, I think.

Blithe Morning

That's a great post. Very inspirational.

Blithe Morning

I had to look up kettlebell. It looks like fun and rather akin to shovel glove. Maybe you could adapt the shovelglove regimen to kettlebelling. Go with a slightly lighter weight with more frequency? I know the feeling of going backwards by going down in weight, but sometimes, it's good to shake thin...

Blithe Morning

A couple of thoughts: How much do you need to lose? Could it be that you really are at a healthy weight? Twice a week exercise even if it's heavy seems like not enough if you want to lose weight. You probably need exercise more frequently albeit at a lower intensity or for shorter amounts of time. A...

Blithe Morning

Hi Richard, don't worry about the scale or even how your clothes fit. At your age, your body is doing all kinds of crazy things. You are still growing so you could very well put on weight even though you follow the rules and exercise perfectly. And then there are the hormones. I have three sons and ...

Blithe Morning

Winnie, what an inspirational post! One of the reasons I like No S is that I feel it fits in very well with my life philosophy of "enough" be it stuff or food or whatever. There comes a point when I've reached a state where I am satisfied and to go beyond that does not yield much enjoyment. Women's ...

Blithe Morning

No, I have never tried a jump start, by which I assume you mean a week of an accounting or restrictive diet.

It's tempting sometimes but I really, really don't want to go back to Diet Head.

Blithe Morning

Welcome! One of the parts I really like about No S is that once it's habit life is easier. I'm sure you will do well and have lots to offer others.

Blithe Morning

I remember those days that would not end. I honestly remember once thinking about my oldest that I could throw him out the house when he was 21 with a clear conscience. Knowing that there was an end kept me going some days. Guess who's 21 now? He's a Marine and will be deployed to Afghanistan in the...

Blithe Morning

I searched Google Scholar for frequent eating metabolism. It seems you would need to have access to some British journals for full text of the first two. Neither my University or of my local library have many British journals. Do any of our board members from across the pond have access through work...

Blithe Morning

Hah! I probably wouldn't have said anything either... unless I was feeling feisty. Then I probably would have commented it was a terribly rude thing to say.

The value of zingers is that they usually make me laugh and realize just how outrageous the other person was.

Blithe Morning

Aw Deb. I'm so sorry. Here are some zingers if this should ever happen again: And you are a tactless boor. I am losing weight and will one day be thin, but sadly, you will still be a tactless boor. (said with a smile and even tone of voice). Why, what a terribly rude thing to say. Have you no manner...

Blithe Morning

A broken cookie, or one that's fallen on the floor, or food left on someone else's plate has fewer calories. If I've been deprived of anything at all, I deserve a food treat. These seem like magical thinking; believing something to be true just because you wish it so. The No S Diet SAID I can have ...

Blithe Morning

No S is simple but it isn't always easy because it deals with behavior. Habit is powerful in managing behavior but don't forget we are hardwired to eat; it's how we stay alive. Add all the positive reinforcements both emotional and physical that come with eating and you can see why sometimes it's ha...

Blithe Morning

Thanks Reinhard. Very helpful. Since most of this will be short talks to accommodate the aural learners I won't need much in the way of editing. No swelling scores or funky bass beats although they might make the topic more interesting. I've been to a few trainings which would have benefited from a ...

Blithe Morning

Some cultures eat two meals. Some eat four (breakfast, noon, tea and a late dinner). Three is traditional for most of us but if your life requires four than by all means make it four.

Blithe Morning

Well done, Tiffani. What's that old adage... if you fail to plan, then plan to fail? It's something of a sweeping generalization as are most adages, but I find it more true than not in my life. The other thing I do which helps me not dash off for take out or eating out is to keep some ingredients an...

Blithe Morning

Connor, The one thing about research is that something that bears out for a significant per centage of the study group under controlled conditions is often reported as absolute. So even if this psyschologist is citing peer reviewed research, it doesn't mean it's true for all people all the time. Whe...

Blithe Morning

Ugh. That's hard. Good to hear you are taking care of yourself. I know it feels like you aren't making progress but the fact that you are even facing in this direction is huge. Hang in there.

Blithe Morning

Well, I don't think there is wrong with intentionally choosing less calorie dense foods to fill your plate. So, if you want broth and greens and maybe a bit of bread for a night or two, then by all means do so. My father, who lived NO S, would often lighten up for a few days after rich foods. I am b...

Blithe Morning

I would practice carbo loading (w/ protein) the day before and morning of your training run.

Blithe Morning

In poking around how to utilize Facebook for my work at a science center, I found the following: Facebook Share: I put some code, a logo, and some tags into a table on the Center's website and voila, people can click on it and the Center's logo will post to their profiles. http://www.facebook.com/fa...

Blithe Morning

I'm interested in incorporating podcasts as part of trainings I conduct for work. What do I need in terms of software and hardware? Is there a Podcasts for Idiots in Need of a Guide out there somewhere?

Blithe Morning

I agree, we don't want to recreate the group. Rather, we want to send people here. In my original post, I threw out the idea of widgets, apps and groups as if they there the same and they aren't. I checked out what it would take to make a Facebook App. Those are those annoying invitations and "gifts...

Blithe Morning

She says that me doing No S is just another diet with rules to follow, break and blow, and that I have to learn to nurture myself from within and set limits with myself and the food stuff will iron itself out, instead of following whatever external rules I decide to impose upon myself. I guess I do...

Blithe Morning

I've never kept a food log. But the question I have in thinking about it is what is the purpose? As a tool to monitor compliance or accountability, I would think the Habitcal would be better (I don't use that, either). Monitoring compliance w/ a food journal means going back and re-reading the entri...

Blithe Morning

I see on a lot of websites a widget to post to Facebook. Could we get something like that? Does anyone know if there is a Facebook Group dedicated to No S? I am thinking that with the New Year, people will be looking for diets.

Blithe Morning

KWIM = Know What I Mean

Blithe Morning

I just realized that I have one NWS days between now and Christmas. Our office Christmas party is usually a potluck and someone always brings a yummy treat. Since I will make this an S event rather than a day, I feel I am getting off easy. All the other holiday celebrations I know about are on regul...

Blithe Morning

Cheery diet advice articles are full of great suggestions like snacking on a half cup of frozen grapes or grabbing* an apple. Even the previous version of the food pyramid almost required a fruit or veg snack in order to get your 5-7 servings. I have fruit and a glass of juice in the morning, a sala...

Blithe Morning

Excellent insights, Noel. The right amount of food nourishes us physically and emotionally. The wrong amount wrecks us both ways as well.

Blithe Morning

The other night I was ravenous at bed time. I went to bed and couldn't sleep because I was so hungry. I mentally reviewed everything I ate that day and it was mostly carbs. I got up and had a protein powder drink (I don't much care for water). Did the trick.

Blithe Morning

Betty, being that you started at 140, losing five pounds is wonderful!

Blithe Morning

I pack my lunch and find that enough of a chore without having to portion out even more food for yet another mini-meal. Frankly, some of those options represent about half of what I eat for lunch.

I'm too lazy to snack, I guess.

Blithe Morning

I think it's residual "old way" overthinking food choices; tiny bits, one piece, 60 calories, "healthy" food (dark cocoa), it's not that much, it's my treat... And so on. Quite frankly, none of that matters because it's a snack and therefore, technically, not allowed. No S says what you eat isn't as...

Blithe Morning

Tonight I was cold. I warmed up a bit of half and half and mixed it with hot Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice. Very nice and satisfying.

Blithe Morning

This is a sincere question. How does one fall off over a weekend? Was it that you didn't pick up the habit on Monday?

Anyway, glad you are back.

Blithe Morning

Matt, This plan will work for even a sedentary computer programmer. A lot of people find that the initial success breeds more success so that after a while, instead of looking for ways to cheat, you look for ways to challenge yourself more (add workouts, tweak what goes on your plate to make it heal...

Blithe Morning

Noel, sounds like you've had some rough months. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. A tragedy can really knock you back on your heels. But it sounds like you are ready to stand up, brush yourself off and resume the march. Personally, I think the holidays are the perfect time to resume No S. I ca...

Blithe Morning

I would make it an S event. You follow the rules for most of the day but relax them a little at dinner in honor of your guests. Dinner guests are a Special event.

If you are concerned about too many S days/events coming on top of each other, just follow the modification about "earning" S days.

Everyday Systems

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Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

The Food of a Younger Land

What a difference a plate makes

9 inch plate diet

Re: Common Sense

Waaaaayyy off topic

No S Facebook App

Holiday NWS days