to wonder how the hell she stays so slim??

[SequinsAndSparkles]

My BIL is engaged to a spanish woman, and we spent the weekend at MIL's, all of us together.

She is very slim, I'd guess a size 6/8. Her skin is glowing and she is stunning, yet her diet perplexes me?

On the first morning, we were all having breakfast, MIL made a fry up for everyone, but I am on a diet so I had special K and some toast. SIL prepared her own breakfast (they are currently staying at MILs while they have some work done on their house), and she had some kind of cheese, can't remember what she said it was, about 10 olives and a slice of ham! Yet she said that my breakfast of Special K and toast was stodgy and apparently English women have 'very strange ideas about nutrition'.

For lunch, she had a chicken salad, but it involved lots of extra virgin olive oil, all over the peppers and a big dollop of salsa. And then for dinner she had chicken smeared in pesto, with green beans in salt, more salsa and a slice of cheese.

How is she so slim??

I didn't have a particuarly healthy weekend in the end, we ended up having a takeaway on the Saturday evening, and SIL wouldn't eat any of it, she wasn't rude, she politely declined but I just find it hypocrytical that she eats all this fatty stuff and made the comment about England having strange ideas about nutrition when I was eating Special K and toast!!

Yep, protein for breakfast is a Good Thing. And if she is eating bread at dinner, she is still only eating stodgy carbs once a day. You can afford to have a glass of wine if you're not eating much bread, pasta, potatoes etc.

Special K sucks. Swap that for one piece of wholegrain toast with scrambled eggs (made with a tiny smear of oil) - or better yet, just have the eggs- they're much better for you.

it's quite hard to find a nice muesli with no added sugar though isn't it? The best I've found is the Dorset with nuts. I mistakenly opted for an 'extra fruit' Dorset one last time and all the dried fruit tastes like it's been soaked in sugar syrup - it's VERY sweet.

Niceguy2, how weird! That's not been my experience of Eastern Europe at all (I have many relatives there and visit at least once a year). Well, I guess some people have better genes than others and my lot weren't so lucky as yours!

I find muesli inedible.

this thread has really made me think actually - we (my family) eat crap breakfasts in this house, there is so much going on in the mornings, and i do do a homemade fairly healthy dinner every day (almost) but I eat breakfast on the hop and its always grab whatever is there (toast/tea cakes/malt loaf etc)

I think we would all be healthier with a better quality breakfast

am going to try getting up 15 mins earlier to get more time to do proper breakfasts for us all

It's a bit time-consuming but you can make up your own muesli/cereal mix to avoid sugar/oil/things you don't like . And you could always make a big batch and keep it in a big airtight jar so you don't have to make it very often.

Hey sequins, I haven't eaten bread, cereal, potatoes, pasta and rice since December and have lost one and a half stone. Can't say I feel gorgeous and glowing though, I have constant headache, constipation and miss hot buttery toast sooo much you cannot imagine. There is no way I have given up the wine though, or I would be a right miserable cow! At least you can enjoy a meal without being paranoid about eating a bloody carb

Oh and some fat is good for you, especially for women of childbearing age. Plus it stops you aging badly by helping you keep wrinkle free

I have to admit though, I genuinely like Special K ... but cannot buy it as I hate the thought of anyone thinking I'm on a diet.

HipHop I eat the dorset one, it's gorgeous. I'd never buy muesli usually but DP has gone away for work so I'm eating all his food

this is made up
as if a thin woman can eat food

When I worked in the City there was the most amazing breakfast from a little cafe.

scrambled eggs with spinach, feta, tomatoes, red chili and pumpkin seeds. I live off it now.

Cereal has more micronutrients in it than cake, because flour is not fortified, whereas cereals are fortified with vitamins. Cereals tend also to be lower in fat and sugar than cake. So they are not the same in that regard.

In terms of impact on blood sugar, they fare better than cake as well, mainly because of their lower sugar content and higher fibre content. Fibre influences the glycemic impact of a food.

This is why fruit, although it contains sugars, is better than a biscuit, even if the calories are the same, due to the non-starch polysacchrides in the fruit (i.e, fibre)

However, cereal is a convenience food. I get miffed when people get snobby about using a jar of sauce when they have a box of cereal or loaf of bread in their cupboard.

Happiestblonde, that sounds yum!

Absolutely right about the serving size too. My husband was having Crunch Nut Cornflakes regularly for his pudding (at least he wasn't having them for breakfast!) but he said he was getting porky (he wasn't really) so I weighed up his portion size (this did not include the fistfuls of it he would shove in his gob as he was about to pour them out) and it worked out to be 500 calories. He could have had a good slice of cake for the same calories!

Her diet sounds lovely. My favourites!

There seems to be an emphasis on fat free diet food that's full of artificial sweeteners and is so processed it doesn't really resemble real food- it doesn't even need chewing properly!

You can lose weight eating any food by calorie counting - you could eat nothing but chocolate as long as you drop your usual calorie intake. If you change what you eat though you can eat lots of food and still lose weight. If you usually have a sandwich for lunch, try having the filling with a big salad. If you enjoy pasta for dinner, try cutting the portion by a third and adding a big bowl of veg on the side.

Thanks :)

LOVE food threads.

Re. the muesli questions: I make up my own when I fancy it (about 2 or 3 times a week). Just a handful of jumbo oats, whatever dried fruit's in the cupboard (raisins/sultans/posh dries berries), spoonful of coconut flakes, few spoons of chopped hazelnuts.

Takes a couple of mins and I know there's no sugar or funny stale nuts in it. I just add milk but you could add fresh fruit and yoghurt if you wanted. < Handy hint >

My problem is that I have gallstones, so if I try a truly low-carb diet it brings on an attack. I thoroughly agree with what's been said about oils, protein and satiation, though - I try and keep my carbs 'brown' and eat plenty of protein and refuse to go down the processed low-fat/high sugar route.

CheekyMonkey you need fibre!!! You need both soluble and insoluble fibre in your diet for a healthy bowel and constipation can make you feel awful.

I've been following a 'don't eat beige food' diet since new year. It's really simple - if it's beige (bread pastry cake - all the carb stuff - don't eat it!)
I've lost just over two stones so far (shed loads to go though)

On holiday in Greece last year I was expecting to put on weight but didn't and I think that was down to having greek salads (sometimes without the Feta, sometimes with) each day followed by oily fish & veg for dinners in the evening. Would love to follow that kind of diet here but the weather tends to put me off and want more stodgy warm foods.

Are you joking?

If not, then you really need to learn about nutrition. 'Fat free diet food' may help you lose weight (although the evidence for sustained weight loss on this type of diet is, ahem, vanishingly slim) but it is NOT nutritious.

Chicken, olive oil, olives, peppers, beans and salsa - not necessarily low calorie (but certainly not too high if your portions are reasonable) but definitely nutritious. 'Nutritious' DOES not equal 'diet food'.

So many people seem confused about the difference between 'designed to help you lose weight' and 'nutritious component of balanced diet'.

@rinabean

I think its because when I say "Eastern Europe", I am thinking of ex-soviet union/baltic region whereas I think you are thinking of more Mediterranean region.