I'll add that many 'annuals' will freely reseed; Madagas. spinach (vine), my Hyacinth bean pops up everywhere all on its lonesone, maypops and such. While not high in calories they do return on their own. And yes save those seed of crops that don't return naturally like corn. I'm in the S/E US so we have very different climates but the same problem with nut trees. We grow pecans and various oaks here that produce an edible nut but like ya say they can take decades to come into thier own. This is not so with fruit trees like figs, apples, pears, orential persimmons and all. They may take up to 5 years to really start doing their thing but thats not such a long wait. I sincerly hope we are in the forefront of a revolution and what we start will be of use to the furture generations. Thats the way I have to think on things here as I being a 40 guy will barely see the results of what I'm starting now. Mike

It all depends on the kind of fat or carbs you are talking about. Yes, 100 calories of healthy fats (containing large amounts of mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids) are better for your health than 100 calories worth of sugar. Some good fats can actually lower bad cholesterol. On the other hand, saturated fats and trans-fats are a lot worse than starch and fiber. Fiber is very important to keep the digestive tract working properly. Low-carb and protein rich diets are not healthy in the long run. The digestion of proteins creates some toxic by-products and the kidneys have to work hard to eliminate them in form of uric acid. Portion control is a big factor in any diet. Eating a wide variety of healthy foods and watching the total calorie intake is the best method of losing and/or maintaining weight.

I will hunt down Deliver and recommend it to dad's nurse. Hopefully she knows all about it since she is an experienced hospice caregiver. The most current info from the team of doctors working on him was that dad could recover to the point of being strong enough to care for himself but will be bed ridden and homebound for most of the day - that he will never be strong enough to walk great distances or take care of my mother (who has her own monumental health issues). But in order to achieve this level he must eat more and drink more and exercise every day - all of which he isn't doing! He is not in any pain, nor is he mentally impaired or even depressed. For some reason he just can't grasp how serious the situation is and that he doesn't have a choice about the eating and exercising demands - it's a 'do it or die' situation. I could understand his actions if he had recently injured himself but he got hurt in October of '05 and the year he spent in the hospital he wasn't in a coma. How can a person experience all that, the surgeries, the invasive tests, and not think they needed to follow the doctors orders? The entire time he has been in the various hospitals and now that he is home - one of us kids has been there with him. For the first 5 months we even stayed with him 24 hours a day because he often panicked when he slept (he kept thinking he was falling). Only my older brother lives in that state and he had to go to work during the day so my little sister and I (on leave from my job) took the day shifts and let my brother sit with him at night. In the past 14 months I have traveled back home 5 times, often for three weeks each visit. Needless to say this has really hurt my paycheck (since it is all leave without pay). We thought he was improving after he came home but he caught some sort of bug (digestive) and went downhill. So we changed our plan of attack and hired a live-in nurse who will stay with him until he either dies or gets sent to a nursing home (against his wishes) or improves to the point that he only needs a daytime caregiver. My other sister is there now and we have this rule that no ones gets to make demands unless they are there doing the work. So whatever she decides to do is what will happen, because I'm not going back for a while. After the dad crisis settles a bit we will all have to focus on mom who is also in need of major medical work. If this sounds like a classic old person situation, I am only in my 40's and my folks are in their 70's. If you had met my father before he broke his neck & back you would've thought he was in his early 60's. Now you'd think he was close to 100. We used to call him 'dynamo grandpa' because he was so healthy and athletic for his age. I've come to terms with all of this. Anything can happen now, it is beyond my control. In the end I will get to say that my dad died after falling through the roof and breaking his neck. The sad truth is that he really died after catching a bug while recuperating in the hospital.

I lost 40 pounds last year and the most important thing I learned was portion control. I ended up using a lot of frozen meals - Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, Healthy Choice, Honestly Good, etc.They are good, and there are a lot of choices now, and the calorie and fat counts are reasonable. And they are more interesting and tasty than most of the meals I would make myself I know some of you will snarl and post a few snarky comments, don't waste your time. I found these to be much more cost effective, filling and kept my daily calorie intake at about 1450 calories. I cut WAY back on meat, and used a lot of meatless meats, since I also needed to cut back on fat and cholesterol. One egg a week, max. Buying ingredients and not using them is so wasteful, and I can't afford to throw away food/money. I made my own breakfast - oatmeal or my own egg, cheese muffin or PB&J on toast. Lunch, at work, was a frozen meal, or some soup. I used the frozen meals for dinner. It was usually about six when I got home, I don't like to eat late. When my DD and her family moved it, it was a bit harder, since I was doing most of the cooking initially but I did it. I found a smartphone app called "My Fitness Pal" really helped. I've used it for about a year and a half and now I'm pretty comfortable with the portion sizes and do a pretty good job day by day. Good luck. This post was edited by momj47 on Wed, Oct 16, 13 at 23:54