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!!

Ah, but in Greece now you see laods of giant obese children because they have discovered the joys of processed food and of course there is no exercise because everything is dangerous to a Greek parent.

Oh no it's not, think of Icarus

I am thinking of ex-soviet union/baltic region

I'd agree that, in genreal, young people in those regions are thinner than their British counterparts.

This is noticeable on a hot summer evening in any Polish city.

genreal? Buggerit.

All right, apart from Icarus...

I don't think Icarus tried to get his mum's permission...

It was his dad's idea.

Typical.

His dad made his wings though ...

I have to say that your diet sounds remarkably like the one that the midwife has suggested I follow to ensure I gain weight...which isn't a problem because I like cereal, chocolate and bread but it's not what I would eat to lose weight.

This is in France, pregnancy-weight-control capital of the world!

Lol - what Pagwatch said!

And I won't go into the all Iphigenia accident.

I'm not sure about Spain, but I don't think you could call the Italian diet low on carbs! "Mediterranean" diets do vary a lot by country and by region.

I still think that a diet full of animal proteins is not healthy in the long run.

I think the problem in this country is also the weather. It's much colder here than in Spain so we naturally crave stodgy carbs to give us instant energy and heat our bodies.
It's much easier to low carb it in a hot country where your appetite is somewhat suppressed by the heat anyway.
Who could resist lovely hot salty chips when they're freezing cold and hungry???

I'm really trying to do low carb at the moment but I find that I'm still always hungry and feel low on energy. Maybe I'm just really addicted to carbs. Or perhaps I'm eating the wrong stuff?

Today I had porridge fro breakfast,a big boiled egg and tuna salad for lunch and a couple of Brazil nuts and I'm bloody starving again already :(

What am I doing wrong?

And I won't go into the all Iphigenia accident.

Best not, I reckon.

Totally agree with Pagwatch. Cereal is shite. White carbs are shite. It's all about fruit, veg, lean protein and good fats. And a bit of exercise.

muesli for HipHopopotomus

Exercise is also key. And that's where in hotter climates like Spain, it helps. When the sun is shining, you want to go out more.

In the UK where its often raining, snowing, whatever. Often we end up sitting indoors drinking & eating crap.

I've been following a 'don't eat beige food' genius!

Is peanut butter always the devil?

I've taken to eating a v small amount of Waitrose crunchy stuff on apples.

Yes - is lovely, silky, salty peanut butter so bad?

I bought some for DD and have been having the odd bit too (a spoonful )

Very bad.

Palm oil - v bad, including for the environment. Salt and sugar.

The devil.

Lame. I thought the protein content might balance it out as I smear the tiniest, tiniest amount on slices of apple rather than toast.

Right.

I want an unequivocal answer.

What the fuck do I eat for my breakfast? Have to have it early, no time to mess about, working full time soon so need to stay full until lunch.

At the moment am having one slice wholemeal toast with butter and marmalade. I know, I know, but it does keep me going and it's quick. The fact that it's wholemeal makes me think it's healthy.

Is it?

And what about lunch? Work in a school, so easy to get a wholemeal egg mayo sandwich and some fruit. But that's bread followed by bread, isn't it?

I've got dinner down to a fine art. Always cook from scratch, lots of veg, etc. No problem. But breakfast and lunch are a nightmare.

I would take a packed lunch, but there's no fridge at work and I don't fancy eating a warm chicken salad - although the food poisoning would help with the weight loss.

I've always been a bit fat - because my diet is a bit wrong.

I need to do it right! I like food, but I find all the conflicting information so confusing.

Help!

Many ordinary takeaways have over 1000 cals per meal. If she declines that kind of eating 12 times a year, while you eat one takeaway a month, that is more than 4 - 5 lbs of body weight for starters.

Olive oil goes a long way - you can drizzle on 2 teaspoons and that is probably less butter than you put on toast.

Cereal AND toast isn't a diet breakfast! I only have cereal (meusli with semi-skimmed milk) OR toast (wholemeal, 1 slice) when I am not on a diet.