How do you stay at a healthy weight and also pursue a passion of cooking?

True2marie

True2marie

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The only people I know that are passionate about cooking who are 'skinny minis' are on TV. Outside of Hollywood, the males and females I am acquainted with who constantly cook are at least medium in size. Admittedly, this isn't good health-wise.

So, how do you stay healthy and also pursue your passion of cooking?

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Firstly, I do a fair amount of cardio and am part of a local runners club and compete in a weekly fun run on Saturday mornings which motivates me to keep up my workouts throughout the week.

As for cooking I remember portion control and try to eat balanced meals. Or if one meal is a little unhealthy, I'll make sure that my next meal is full of healthy ingredients. I also use lots of herbs and spices to make healthy ingredients like vegetables a little tastier and I also make a mental list of healthy ingredients I enjoy, which I can add to recipes e.g gherkins, chilli, olives, quinoa, broccoli, grapefruit ect..
 
Well, first of all I am not on my healthy weight right now! I still need to lose 10 pounds or even more to get to a healthy weight. So right now I am a little bit overweight. That being said, I think when you cook yourself, its easier to maintain your healthy weight and a healthier diet, because you are the one making the choices! Instead of making a really heavy pasta with cheese sauce, why not go for whole wheat with spinach and cherry tomatoes? Maybe some light tomato sauce with it..... you can decide! you can make a cake with oat and whole grains, you can choose brown rice, you can make grilled fish with very little oil.
Being healthy and having a passion for cooking are a match made in heaven!!
 
Hmm... I honestly think that having a passion for cooking is THE best way to keep yourself in a normal weight. If you cook all your meals yourself, then surely you know what you are putting in them... and there is always the option of making a healthier version, which you will also be able to do since you have the expertise and most of all the will to experiment.

Being passionate about food is just about the worst excuse for being overweight. Some blame fast food, others blame their passion for cooking, the third one blames the governments secret "make everyone fat conspiracy" whereas most of the time getting their ass of the couch would be all that is necessary.
 
True2marie said:
The only people I know that are passionate about cooking who are 'skinny minis' are on TV. Outside of Hollywood, the males and females I am acquainted with who constantly cook are at least medium in size. Admittedly, this isn't good health-wise.

So, how do you stay healthy and also pursue your passion of cooking?

7-weight-scale.jpg
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I think this is easy when you have the resources and nutritional knowledge regarding the health of foods. It's easy to eat WELL and still maintain a nice weight. The main goal is ditching all the bad and incorporating all the good. And like with vegan(ism) and vegetarian(ism), you will have to get a little creative with substitutions!
 
I agree with a lot of the above posters. I think having a passion for cooking actually makes it easier to maintain a health weight. Eating out and buying processed foods doesn't give you the ability to play around with the ingredients to make the dish healthier. Also I think their's a difference between having a passion for cooking vs. a passion for baking. I do have a couple gal friends who love to bake (cakes, cookies, breads etc.) but don't really like to cook and they are above their ideal weight. To me cooking is a process of chopping, pinch of this pinch of that, more chopping, stirring, etc. It takes more effort in my opinion. Most people know the basics of how to lose weight. Eat more veggies, and then eat some more veggies and go way easy on the processed food and sugar! Additionally, of course, movement is important. I like to exercise and do a lot of HIIT type workouts and running. I love the endorphins I get from exercise.
 
I think portion control is everything.

I've actually increased my home cooking more and more every year of marriage, and have maintained an optimum healthy weight. And the more I cook, in fact, the easier it is for my husband to maintain his weight. I think it is far easier than people let on to be creative in the kitchen and yet still be healthy. Eating out is what kills me.

The stuff I prepare in my kitchen for my family, while always delicious and very rarely "from a box" is far healthier than what I could get a restaurant or pre-prepared from the grocery store. It helps to cook "in season" which means preparing sides that are as fresh and local as possible. It helps me to meal plan around my meat, and to keep my side dishes as predominantly veggies rather than starches.

I've just begun experimenting with different food pairings and growing my own herbs. I've also completely stopped using vegetable oil and swapped olive oil for many requirements for butter.

We don't eat pasta more than once a week.
The holidays are the most full of butter and fat around here, but daily cooking is very often light and healthy, and yet still delicious.
 
I always had the passion to cook and innovate healthy recipes for my family but I had always a normal weight. What I am doing is that I always eat in moderation and I do tried to eat all foods but just with the right amount and quantity. And one thing I eat more vegetables and fish dishes and meats and sweets only occasionally that is why I am able to maintained my ideal weight.
 
Mine is all about moderation. I love, love, love to indulge in food, but I know it'll make me miserable if I put on too much weight. So while I might try out new dessert recipes, I also experiment with healthy dishes. I try to keep a mixture of different types of foods in my diet and never swing too far in one direction for too long so that I can remain healthy.

That's not to say I don't ever stay on one side for too long and put on 10 pounds, ha. But then I just focus on the other side with healthier dishes for a while in order to balance it out.
 
Jessi said:
Mine is all about moderation. I love, love, love to indulge in food, but I know it'll make me miserable if I put on too much weight. So while I might try out new dessert recipes, I also experiment with healthy dishes. I try to keep a mixture of different types of foods in my diet and never swing too far in one direction for too long so that I can remain healthy.
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Great point. When you love cooking it's so much easier to have a varied diet since you probably don't mind trying to cook new and different things. You can also easily make a more healthy version of a popular dish by changing a couple of ingredients.
 
For me, I have to be really careful. I am steroid dependant because my body does not produce enough natural steroids. But I also combine my love of cooking with my love of exercise which pretty much allows me to eat more or less what I want without the need to worry about counting calories, without the need to worry about 'did I over eat today' and without the need to worry about one of the main side effects of taking steroids - namely putting on weight easily!


We only have the 1 car (and currently 7 bikes between 2 of us) and I am used to not having access to a vehicle during the week and also living rurally.
So for me, if like yesterday I needed to get down to my doctors to collect my repeat prescription, I cycled down. Its a 12-13 mile round trip normally, but the weather was so mild and nice that I added another 10 miles and came home a different way (+500 calories 'taken care of'). I also cycle over to my parents' home 2-3 times a week which is a 45 mile round trip (there's a 1,000 calories used) and I will be cycling to my severe asthma consultant's appointment on Monday. That's 55 miles and a few more calories taken care of. Today because my husband has already said he is feeling really tired and has a lot of bits to bring home on his bike, I will cycle over to his work place for 5pm and ride home with him with some of his kit - that will be roughly 25 miles round trip, if I go out via the direct route which I probably won't. Yes I could drive to his work place and pick him and the bike up, but it would waste well over an hour of my time each way hitting rush hour traffic, when I can use the same 2 hours and ride my bike and help him home instead in the same time frame and more to the point enjoy it rather than getting stressed in heavy Friday evening traffic!

So far this week I have cycled 115 miles which is still well below my weekly average, but it allows me to eat what I want, when I want and enjoy cooking without putting weight on.
 
Wow, that's impressive. I do a fair bit of walking because I don't have a vehicle most days either, but I've never really gotten into biking. I always have great intentions to.... like when I moved away to college, sold my car, and made plans to buy a bike to get around. Turns out, I could walk or bus to most places a lot more conveniently than I could bike, so I never got around to purchasing one. And then where I am now, I figured I would bike, but the roads aren't exactly the safest for me to be on, so I haven't done it yet. It's such a great way to exercise, though, and would make it so much easier to burn off calories so I could indulge more later, hehe.
 
Try to get passionate about creating and cooking healthy food, and exercise regularly. I also agree with all the posts above. The most important thing is to find what works for you. For me, when I cook at home, I know what is going into my food. When you eat out or purchase processed foods from the store, you are most likely buying a mystery of chemicals and hidden sugars. But that doesn't mean that I don't slip off the bandwagon. Moderation is key, and when you fall off, get back on. :)
 
I'll start out by saying that I'm diabetic so I've grown accustomed to getting around things regarding food. I know there's a misconception that diabetics can't have anything and have to basically eat like rabbits, but that's just not true. Since I HAVE to manage certain aspects of my life, I do a lot of my own cooking because I just don't trust other people to do it for me. Like, at restaurants, I have no idea what's going in their food and chances are, I can make a healthier version at home. That being said, I've learned to swap certain things for other things. For example, I love BLT sandwiches but the bread just kills my blood sugar. So, I've learned to switch out regular bread for flat bread and I've even been known to eat lettuce wrap BLT sandwiches. I also walk a lot and try to get exercise. I avoid sugar and look for the good carbs in things. I control my portions. Don't get me wrong, there are days that I'm just plain hungry and all I can think about is delicious hot bread. Those days are hard and sometimes I slip, but for the most part, I try to eat better versions of the things I love. If you're looking for really great ways to make and eat healthier food, look at what controlled diabetics eat. The most important thing is finding what feels right to you. If you want some healthier alternatives to things such as pasta, just let me know! I can give you plenty of ideas!
 
I watch what I cook. I make sure every time I cook that they are not way too much of what would maintain my desired current weight. Also, I try to cook with the same ingredients and mix and match them until I get exhausted with them before I change or add something new. Another thing to keep in mind when you are just cooking anything, not concerning with the calories it has is just eat not much. In other words, keep maintaining your calorie intake. If what you cooked were really high in calories, then you would have to eat very few of it or until that it has filled the allocated calorie for it in your body. One which you are to set.
 
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