I've made a "cookie" similar to this but it had more to it. It was OK. I liked to eat it in place of cereal in the morning, just as a very quick something to eat for breakfast. I don't feel like they would satisfy a real cookie craving. They aren't nasty or gross though, just not really a cookie. These could be use in place of the, not so healthy, cereal bars that you buy in the store that have high fructose corn syrup and other bad stuff.

I'm pretty sure that this is the recipe that I made without any chocolate: healthy cookie recipe

There are lots of cookies that are healthy as in they have ingredients that have lots of nutrients in them, but a cookie, to be a cookie, is mostly lots of sugar (or honey, dates, fruit juice, etc., which provide sugar), starch (which can be from flour, beans, etc.) and fat. It's not ever going to be a weight loss food and still be a cookie.

The real trick is to find other snacks for munching on which better promote your healthy diet goals, and find the very best sweets you like the most but won't binge on to satisfy your cravings with the smallest quantity. So, whole nuts and seeds, make great snacks. They're well balanced with protein, fats and carbs as they come. Dry roasted and unsalted or lightly salted is better. If you really want chocolate, try some extra dark, high fat, so that one square gives you a big shot of chocolate satisfaction. Or maybe a small handful of trail mix, so to get to the chocolate you have to eat food (nuts and dried fruit (i.e, concentrated sugar with healthy minerals)) first. Too much salt and you tend to eat more. Dry means they're not covered in extra oil. I also like freeze dried vegetables and mushrooms for the crunch, but be aware of the carbs/calories and figure them into your plan.

Check out apples from different sources. A lot of the ones they breed for shipping are sold at the big box and discount grocery stores and aren't very good, but at high end or gourmet grocers, and sometimes at farmers' markets, you can find really delicious apples. They're sweet (sugary, actually), crunchy, and full of vitamins (mostly in the skin) and fiber which is very good for you. If you're craving the sugar, an apple (or pear) is a nutritious way to get it.

Portion control is key, but don't deprive yourself. If you have a favorite ice cream. or cookie, or other treat, allow yourself a little. Figure out how much you can reasonably have while making good choices for the rest of your food, and treat yourself to one every few days. Go without, and the promise that you'll get it tomorrow, to train your body not to get the cravings daily. Try using a melon baller on the ice cream. Limit yourself to one cookie, or even half of one. Or make a beautiful, composed dessert with a few berries, a mint leaf, and a little ball of ice cream and a quarter of a cookie.

Any of the above is better than a "diet cookie"!

Thanks Arkansas Girl, your recipe looks a bit more appealing.

Pillog, agree with everything you wrote, but reality is that neither hubby nor I have much willpower. If it's in the house, we will eat it. So I am looking for healthier substitutes that I can keep on hand without the danger of overindulging in something high calorie.

One square of very dark, high quality chocolate may be more satisfying than a strange non-cookie.

I've never made that recipe, but I did try a couple of others from her site and they disappointed bigly every time.

I've made those cookies and didn't like the texture or taste. I threw them into the freezer hoping to improve its consistency; they're still in there. Must throw them out...don't bother wasting time or materials.

I've seen over 15 recipes of basically the same recipe! I've made them, I personally don't like them too much but my family does. Sometimes I add in 2 tablespoons peanut butter and 3 tablespoons chocolate chips.

I also made those, along with that banana/egg/baking powder pancake recipe. They were both refused by my family and got thrown out. (sigh) I was trying to make gluten free "quick" recipes for my oldest daughter who has celiac disease. They were abysmal. (sigh)

The closest I've come to a "healthy" cookie is using a recipe that requires oatmeal instead of flour, applesauce in place of the fat, and enough fruit to make it sweet enough to cut down the sugar. They are "OMG, this is an amazing cookie", but they kind of resemble cookies.....

Applesauce Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce

• ¾ cup chopped dates (from about 13 dates)

• ⅓ cup raisins

• 1 cup old fashioned oats

• ½ cup oat flour (you can blend rolled oats in the blender to make oat flour)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ginger

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted, or oil of choice

• 1 egg

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

• Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.

• Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

• Form into small or medium balls (small balls will yield 2 dozen cookies, medium balls will yield 1 dozen), flatten, and place on the cookie sheet.

• Bake in the preheated oven about 12-15 minutes, until they are just starting to get golden brown.

• I've also used a low fat molasses cookie recipe and a peanut butter cookie recipe, thinking that at least healthy ingredients make the treat a little more justifiable.

• Good luck!

• Annie

Petra,

So...you're trying to make unappealing cookies? If you're having trouble giving up the sugar, try sweet fruit, like grapes, bananas and melon. Lots of fiber and some vitamins with the sugar. Almonds are particularly healthy nuts, and can be as satisfying as cookies. Cashews are sweet and fatty for nuts, but as a "treat" they're awesome. Yeah, you should be eating almonds, but if you indulge in cashews they're still nuts!

Since you don't have the willpower, and both of you are participating, the best thing to do is purge all the things you know you shouldn't be eating and stock up on a wide variety of things you should be eating.

Kale chips are nothing like potato chips or cookies, but they crunch and munch in a similar way. I haven't found any I liked that were packaged, but they're dead easy to make. Buy curly kale. Dino kale is too thick and the curly edges improve the crunch. Use herb shears or a sharp paring knife to cut them into 1.5" pieces, removing the heavy stems and making sure there's at least a little of the curly edge on each piece. Line a baking tray (with sides is easier but not required) with parchment for ease of cleanup. Put the kale in a mound in the center and drizzle with extra light olive oil or safflower oil (i.e., light weight and light taste), and spread finely ground pepper and salt, or your favorite seasoning all over. Ease your fingers under the pile and fluff a few times to distribute, then repeat the oil and seasoning, and fluffing. Spread out so that pieces aren't completely underneath others. Bake at 240° F. for 20 minutes and use flat tongs to rush across turning them. It doesn't matter if each piece turns. You're mostly letting the steam out from underneath. Bake for another 20 minutes and check one from the center to make sure it's light and crunchy. If it's "wet"--chewy or tender--give it another five minutes and test again. Put the baking tray on a rack or trivet to cool. Store in an air tight container. If you make a lot, a few containers is better than one big one. If the air is humid, they can get soggy with a lot of opening and closing.

There are a lot of alternative cookies that I know that don't have flour or refined sugar, but they have just as many calories as any other cookies and if they're good they'll require just as much will power.

Are you taking vitamins? A good daily multivitamin can help with a lot of random cravings and feelings of hunger when you should be satisfied.

Also, some people get hunger feelings when they're actually thirsty. You've heard people say drink a cup of water before you eat something? It's not that water makes you full. It's that if the hunger feeling was really thirst, it satisfies it. Do a water tasting, and find waters that taste really good.

Oh! You also might look into things like Raincoast Crisps. They're crackers, really, but not dense or greasy, and might satisfy the "healthy cookie" idea. The cranberry hazelnut are my favorites, but they're all good. There are way fewer calories than in a cookie, and they're crunchy, delicious and slightly sweet. Just don't binge!

You're trying to lose weight and ultimately give yourself a fighting chance of a long and healthy life. I have to do it too. It's an important thing to do. So, the best and easiest thing is to forget cookies. You won't stop and 2. You don't need them. If I don't have stuff in the house, I can't eat it. Simples. It's torture trying to be disciplined when you have a sweet tooth - if it's there, it will call to you!

Have your 3 healthy meals a day and get out and exercise if you feel the urge to nibble. Just walk and count your steps.

Ah, man's constant struggle to hold the waistline in check. I'm with you. I'm in the game. Yeah, call me Sisyphus. I love cookies and fortunately I can rarely eat more than two a day, so I've never baked, in culinary terms, a healthy cookie. However, there's no reason you can't tweak many good recipes and make them less, again in culinary terms, unhealthy.

For example...

Sugar can be replaced with sugar substitutes. They don't taste the same, some substitutes will even impart a chemical flavor. You can increase vanilla, add mint or lemon zest to offset the flavor, so no worries.

Eliminate the salt. You won't notice that it's gone, but your body will thank you.

You gotta have fat, but you can replace some of it with sugar-free applesauce. Do not use margarine or other fake fat, you need butter and make sure you buy unsalted!

Flour is going to give you the carbs and you can sub for it, but you'll be better off practicing some intake control.

Chocolate should be high percent cocoa, no white and no milk. Carob does not taste like chocolate, at least to me, but give it a try.

Intake control is the most important part of any diet. There are plenty of documented cases of people losing weight on a diet of chocolate chip cookies and YooHoo. Make smaller batches of cookies. Good luck.

Islay - I made some "healthy" cookies several weeks ago, using all the substitutions. They were horrible.

That recipe doesn't sound very appealing. Even if the goal is to not want to eat a lot of them, it seems to me that the time spent baking these "cookies" could be better spent having a nice walk. When I'm really checking my calories and need something sweet, I go for a small portion of really good dark chocolate and dried fruit. Both are fairly calorie dense, but they're also very satisfying in small portions and reasonably healthy beyond that. If it's a frozen treat you want, check out sorbets or frozen fruit bars like Outshine's. Both typically run just under 100 calories per serving.

You can make quick, pretty healthy desserts: slice banana, freeze for 15 minutes, dip in melted dark chocolate (at the very least 52%), and freeze until solid.

you can make energy bites containing: 1 cup oats, 2 tablespoons honey, 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter, 1/2 cup chia seeds, and 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (at least 52%). Roll into balls, freeze! They are filled with protein, and not that much sugar.

Buy berries! Berries are low in sugar compared to apples, peaches, and watermelon, but taste just as good as a sugary candy bar!

you can have a healthier diet by just swapping out something for a healthy option!

This tread reminds me that I need to make some more of these to eat as a quick breakfast. I can't stand to go without eating something for breakfast and these are better than cheeries.

Just make a small portion of a batch and taste them.

Annie, I wonder if the dates and raisins could be replaced with peanut butter??? Thinking of a good treat for fussy grandsons.

Thanks, everyone. Blubird, Annie and Season, that's pretty much what I suspected, that the cookies would be kinda yucky. Annie, thanks for your recipe, that looks more appealing.

Arkansas, I might also try the recipe you linked, that does not look weird/scary like the one I posted.

Writersblock, good to know several of the recipes from that blog are iffy. Am not going to try any.

Rita, I love milk chocolate, wish I loved dark. I've tried various good quality dark brands and I can easily not eat them, which is good. :)

Marymd7 and Season55, I actually sometimes make a really tasty blender "ice cream" with frozen bananas, strawberries and other fruit and a touch of honey, if needed. We are definitely going back to that instead of fattening ice cream. Season55, I've made those banana bites before, but they disappeared too quickly.

Pillog, we both eat nuts regularly. Thanks for the kale chip suggestion. I made them a couple times several years ago and hub hates them and I can tolerate them, but don't like them enough to make them again. He is the one with the chip cravings anyway, I can easily eat just one potato chip and be done. He has to eat the whole bag. I am that way with chocolate which he can resist without problem. No vitamins for now, we have daily smoothies with greens and kefir and flax seed and fruit and generally eat plenty of fruit and veggies, so hopefully that will cover it. We both drink enough water, mainly because I am always nagging. :) Thanks for the crisps link, those look good but the price, wow.

Fawnridge, you are right, portion control. Which both husband and I sadly lack when it comes to yummy snacks. So sorry you are struggling too. What happened to the good old "eat it and burn it off immediately" days?

Islay, I agree. Something has to be done before the muffin tops grow any bigger and affect health. And the only thing that has worked before is to just avoid baking and/or buying all the delicious goodies that are so tasty, sob. So, back to eating healthy again, ugh.

I can't bake or buy cookies because I can't stay out of them, but I do sometimes like something like that for a treat. I recently started buying Think Thin protein bars at Trader Joes.

They have these Salted Caramel Bars (and some other flavors) that only have 150 calories. I find that I can cut one of these in half and for 75 calories, have a really satisfying sweet snack that keeps me from wanting to eat another piece.

eta: they aren't a TJ's product and when I was searching for nutrition info for this post I found the ThinkThin website which has many more options than what they sell at TJ's. http://thinkproducts.com/

petra, I just changed my post, I meant to say they were NOT an "OMG" cookie, but they were OK.

I think everyone has those foods they can't avoid if they are available. Elery easily eats an entire bag of chips, and I don't dare bake lemon bars. Fortunately I can bake cookies, eat a couple and then send them to the grandkids and have them out of the house. If they are here, I eat them.

Yes, healthy eating is definitely "ugh" here too. I don't know what it is, but if I know I'm going to change my eating habits, I get disgusted. Then I don't want to cook or look at recipes or think about food. I'd rather just not eat at all, and my mood is horrible. People say "don't think of it as a diet, think of it as a lifestyle". Now THAT'S really depressing, nothing good for the rest of your life, EVER? Definitely "ugh".

To make it worse, I really don't like fruit. Bananas are the worst. So I get the lecture on the sweetness of fruit or adding berries or whatever, but it doesn't work for me, I don't even like the stuff unless it's baked into pies!

Sheila, I don't know if peanut butter would work or not. The fruit is to add sweetness in addition to the fat replacement, so they might not be sweet enough without it. They aren't very sweet anyway, but they are gluten free.

Annie

The problem with bananas dipped in a little chocolate and frozen may be a healthier alternative, as are nuts, pureed fruits etc but you're inhaling a ton if calories that are surplus to meals, hence NOT necessary. We're talking about losing weight. It would make great snacks for a sports freak! We're so used to thinking that we can have a treat every day...... you can't. Join Ww to get a good perspective on calories. Eat whole fruit, not pureed. No more than 2 fruit a day. Lots of veg. A few starches..... lots of fish and lean meat -not fried.....

So if you're both already eating healthy snacks, then it sounds like you're at the point where it's time to say no. Just don't allow them in the house. If you're hungry, have a (healthy) sandwich, a piece of chicken or a meatball. Meatballs are great to keep around, because if you're only a little hungry, you can have one, or if you want a small meal you can have three.

Your "blender ice cream" sounds very sugary. You might actually be better off with real ice cream, refined sugar and all. One of the worst things for a diet is sugary foods that aren't combined with proteins and fats. Think about nuts and seeds. They have it all. The best way not to overdo is to make sure your foods have similar balance. Maybe add some yoghurt to the fruit, so you're getting more nutrients. Or just eat the ice cream.

Re the Raincoast Crisps, I still think they might make a good alternative to a cookie--if you can keep it to one or two and not go looking for a cookie or other treat later. If you were looking at the Amazon price, that's for shipping them. The real price is $8 per box. They have them at Whole Foods and many other grocery stores, but often in weird places.

BTW, another great way to keep to a diet is to buy expensive foods on a tight budget! Forced portion control! :)

Oly, same here, if I bake it or buy it, we'll eat it. The Trader Joe's option looks good, but I don't think I'd be able to just eat half. *hanging my head in shame*

Annie, same here, not being able to eat what I want sure takes the fun out of cooking and baking. I think it's the old "eat to live or live to eat" thing. I definitely fall into the latter category.

Islay, yes, it's just extra calories and best to be avoided if you are trying to lose weight and eat healthier. I know we can do it, a couple years ago we were gearing up for a very active vacation and ate 100% healthy for several months. I found after a while, you don't even crave the "bad stuff" anymore. But once we returned we both slowly slid back into eating what should be avoided.

Pillog, the blender ice cream isn't all that sweet but you are right that it has no fats. I could always add some cream to make it healthier, haha. But I haven't made it in ages and we'll be avoiding treats for a good while anyway. Went shopping last night and bought peppers and other veggies for a crunchy treat, berries and pineapples and other fruit and stocked up on nuts again plus unsweetened yogurt and kefir, so hopefully we'll be set for snacks. I wish there was some sort of nutritionally balanced people kibble that could be measured and poured out so there would be no agonizing over all this nutritional stuff.

Petra, I was going off of frozen bananas, strawberries and other fruit and a touch of honey. Bananas have a ton of sugar, ripe pineapple and strawberries do too. Apples and pears and stone fruits have a lot of sugar. Honey is sugar. Your smoothies with the kefir greens and fruit, especially if it's whole milk kefir and limited sweet fruit (cucumber is also a fruit but not sugary), sound potentially healthy (though even better if you chew it all rather than drinking it). The "blender ice cream" sounds like a sugar bomb.

Your purchases sound good! And like food it would be nice to eat.

For people kibble, look around. There actually is some. But people aren't meant to eat kibble. We need real foods that satisfy hunger. Most animal kibble isn't very nutritious, either.

Re the fun of cooking and baking, I know what you mean. I love baking but don't have enough people who want to eat sweets to feed it to anymore, including myself. So I just don't bake much. For the cooking, however, find some simple, enjoyable meals that you like that don't take long to make and that you both like to eat. For me, that's roast chicken and root vegetables. Five minutes of prep and an hour and a half in the oven. Sometimes I'll add a green vegetable to the chicken, others I'll just put out some dark green leafies and a few cherry tomatoes and call it salad.

Oven baked meatballs is another dead easy one but it's more like 15 min. prep. I use the food processor to mince a big onion and some other veg, so the mix is about equal lean ground meat and veg, one egg per pound of meat plus one for a partial pound (i.e., 2 for 1.25-2 lbs.), one sheet of matzah whirred up in the FP (or equivalent dry crumbs, rolled oats, etc.) per half pound of meat, plus big handfuls of herbs (fresh or dry) and some seasoning. Scoop out with a food scoop onto a parchment lined pan. Bake at 350° F. until they're brown on top. They're a bit soft, but tasty, and aren't a big trouble to make. Then they can go in pasta, sandwiches, tacos, etc.

Keep at it! Once you really learn the nutrition stuff, and you both learn what you like and want to live eating always (as opposed to "diet food"), that is well balanced and nutritious, the easier it will be. The downside is if you get too healthy with too good a diet, birthday cake may give you a headache. The upside is that you'll only have a few bites of the cake (sharing a piece, if you and your husband have that kind of relationship is nicer than asking for "just a sliver").

I don't think there is any danger of getting too healthy or having too good of a diet, ha. But we are both getting too old to slide back into constant indulgence. I do make the smoothies with whole milk kefir or unsweetened whole milk yogurt, so that is covered. And I add lots of greens. Husband is not a fan of greens and it is much easier to get him to consume them by including them in smoothies. From what I've read, smoothies are okay because, unlike juices, they still contain the fruit/veggie fiber.

Yes, kibble is a bad idea for most life forms, but if it was healthy, it would be so easy. :)

I make roasted root veggies a lot in winter, beets and sweet potatoes and onions and brussels sprouts and whatever else is handy. Very tasty and healthy. Summer should be mostly salads with some sort of protein, like it used to be. Have to get back in the swing of eating well.

Thanks for the meatball recipe, I already make meatballs with chicken and matzo meal or panko crumbs and spices, but I sautee them in coconut oil or a little kerrygold instead of baking. They are great in home-made sauce or even in soups.

The thing about chewing is the addition of saliva and its part of the digestion process. You're absolutely right--if drinking them is what's getting them in it's good!

A nice alternative to roasted vegetables for Summer is grilled. They can be done on a grill plate/pan in the oven if out of doors doesn't sound good. Sliced or chunked Summer squash, asparagus, bell peppers, sliced carrots, parsnips and onions, broccoli florets, cauliflower "steaks", even kale or arugula. Just a misting of oil will do it. Brings out all the flavor and natural sweetness. Add some herbs and/or seasonings. SO good! And leftovers are great in sandwiches, chopped up into chicken salad, or minced and stirred into yoghurt.

Bread needs to be seriously limited so sandwiches are a no-no. 40 to 50g per day is the limit - a tiny sandwich. WW say that you should have 2/3 of your plate veggies, 1/3 lean meat/fish and 1/3 starches like pasta (30g) or potatoes (100g). For example, of you'reon 30 points a day ; a sandwich of turkey breast, veggies and a little mayo is 16 points - half your daily allowance so it's not worth it.

Whereas you can have 100g no skin turkey breast for 2, unlimited veggies (all except avocados) and 100g potatoes for 2. So then you can have a salad with a little dressing (1 coffee spoon oil 1 point) and a serving of cheese (30g) cheddar (5) or Gouda (4) or goat (3) if fresh, 6 if dry. One ball icecream is 4 so you can have a really good meal for 14 or so and not need a snack until your next meal.

When I entered middle age I found the only thing I could eat lots and lots of was vegetables, so, that's what I ate, along with moderate quantities of everything else. Fortunately I have a history of only mild interest in sweets, though it's pleasant to have a bit of something after lunch with coffee or tea, and healthy-but-treatlike is difficult. Exercise matters at least as much as diet in weight control and for health. I don't think good health is possible without exercise, and not as little as possible, but as much as possible. Human beings are designed to be in motion a good deal of the time. If you go out on a brisk two hour walk you can allow yourself more food afterward, too.

I found shasha cocoa snaps in whole foods. They're a crisp cookie and 3 are only 1 point for WW. So if I want to splurge, I have 6 cookies for only 2 points. They have both probiotics and prebiotics in them too. I tried the lemon, but I prefer the chocolate. Haven't tried their ginger snaps yet.

Annie, thanks for the link, those look pretty good. Maybe once the muffin tops have reduced. :)

pillog, yes, grilled veggies and even fruit are great. Last night we had gouda and sliced chicken and raw peppers for dinner. And a small peach each for dessert and no snack cravings. I am starting to think maybe we weren't getting enough protein and fat and that's why the snack cravings. Am going to keep up with more balanced meals and see if it makes a difference.

Islay, agree about bread, especially for carb addicts such as hubby. He could put away an entire loaf of bread. A couple years ago I replaced bread with wasa crisp breads. One satisfies and it is crunchy too. And you can choose from high fiber, rye, etc. Darn, we were eating so healthy, no idea why I slid back into not so healthy meals and snacks. It's my fault because I am in charge of cooking.

Melissa, you are lucky to not have a sweet tooth. Sweets are my downfall unless I don't keep them around. Agree that exercise is very important, but for weight reduction, food choices and portion control are way more vital. It takes so much exercise to burn off even a small amount of calories, you can't outrun your fork.

Petra, excellent news on the filling dinner! Years ago I was influenced by the fat is bad movement, and it was not good. The other problem is low fiber. I've never been big on rice or potatoes, though love whole grain bread, but I was struck by a mom conversation in the media somewhere about kids eating way too much starch--one mom said she gave her kids brown rice and they always knew when they were full. Fiber fills you and is necessary for good health. Peaches have a good amount of fiber along with the sugar! Good luck with your balanced meals. It sounds like you've made a great start.

BTW, the exercise thing isn't about burning calories so much as it's about efficiently using what you have. Circulating the blood (moving), mixing it with plenty of air (breathing deep), and building muscle mass, makes your body healthy which makes you burn fuel better. More muscle mass usually means a higher metabolism, which means you burn more fuel. More muscle mass moving tells your body it's time to release some fat.

Another thing that struck me was the TV experiment/show Frontier House. One participant was a city gent who wasn't what most people would call "fat" but he was well fleshed out. He asked to see a doctor well into his time living as a pioneer in Montana, farming and working the land. He was shedding a lot of weight and getting bony, and worried about his health. The doctor said he was healthy, he just didn't need all the weight he'd been carrying and had worked it off. Even active city folk who exercise generally don't get to that extreme, but exercise does help the weight come off, even if you can't see it right away. And it's good for you in general, no matter what.

Pillog, agree that exercise is vital, but for weight reduction it has to be combined with lower calories, at least for husband and I. We mostly walk and it takes 30 mins of brisk walking to burn just 130 calories. Which is about half a cup of ice cream. So if we eat more ice cream than that, plus larger portions of other stuff, it won't help with weight reduction. So in our case we have to do both. Which is much better than continuing to slide into worse eating habits. As for fiber, daily ground flax seeds sure help with that and have other benefits too.

Oh, yes. You're absolutely right. You can't deflect calories with exercise. And walks are good for the constitution, but aren't going to build a lot of muscle mass. Another story I remember was when tennis star Lindsay Davenport, who is a large framed woman, wanted to lose a little weight. No one was going to say she didn't exercise enough! Determined, disciplined and careful dieting did work for her in the end.

I'm on the fence on the diet-exercise debate. On the one hand, I have a suspicion I've put on a couple of pounds in the last year or so, and I don't like it or think it's a good trend. (N.b. that makes me about twelve pounds heavier than I was when I was twenty.) I don't want to put on a couple of pounds a year as I head toward old age, and I do have a tendency to stuff myself, albeit with healthy food. I need to correct that. On the other hand, I do exercise a lot, and it does make a difference. I'm not talking about half an hour of brisk walking, though that's good and helpful. A normal medium length walk for me is an hour and a half. A long walk is 3 1/2 to 5 hours, in hilly country. I promise you, it burns off some calories. My recent, and only suspected, weight gain is owing in part to conditions for some time now having been unsuitable for walking. (I think I need to get up early tomorrow and go on a long walk.)

What I dislike the idea of is having to count every calory. For those for whom it works, good for you! But I'd hate to dine off a carefully weighed portion of this and a little sliver of that: I would think it would take away a good deal of the pleasure of food. I'm a vegetarian and a healthy eater, but I find the food I eat quite hearty. Breakfast this morning: a slice of toasted homemade whole-wheat raisin bread, made without added sugar, a bowl of cherries, which I picked yesterday perched on a ladder, and a pot of coffee, espresso lengthened with milk and water. And a glass of water.

For exercise, I love the Kathy Smith walking workouts. It takes 30minutes and is much more than just walking for half an hour.

https://www.kathysmith.com/store/workouts/walking-workouts

It's wonderful if you have time to walk for 5 hours, but I work so for me, 30 minutes is ideal.

Melissa, when we get older it gets harder to eat whatever crosses our paths. You don't want to do a diet, but you admit "I do have a tendency to stuff myself". Don't do that! When there's that last little bit that you know you shouldn't eat, just say no and push it away. That might be all you need. If you're stuffing yourself with steamed squash (no sauce), still don't do it anyway because if your stomach is used to feeling stuffed, it'll want to be stuffed.

If you can manage to stop stuffing, if you can get to just about full and could eat another bite but won't, and adjust to how that feels, and if you want to take off those new extra pounds, you can try the "eat all day diet". You don't have to count or plan or anything. Just eat a little something as soon as you get up, but not much. Like a petit déjeuner, coffee and a small roll or today's toast. Then a few hours later, have the cherries. Same at each meal. Just eat half of what you might otherwise, whether half a sandwich or the quiche now and the salad later and put a few hours between each piece. You might get hunger pangs (it's working!), but know if you just hang on for another couple hours, you can have something more. You end up eating the same amount but burning more, and if you can stick to it, even with a social life, the hunger pangs will go away and you'll start feeling stuffed just from a half meal.

Something else you can do is look at the same kind of balance Petra is looking at. It's hard to feel satisfied by a defective meal. All protein or all carbs or all veg or all fat (e.g., cheese which is much more fat than anything, though people like to pretend it's protein). When you have all at once, you're more likely to feel full and satisfied. Toast and cherries are both mostly carbs, especially with the raisins (sugar bombs). As a vegetarian, it's harder to get concentrated protein other than eggwhites, so make sure you're getting enough.

Good luck! I envy your rambles.

All very true, plllog, and I acknowledge the problem with stuffing myself: it's a habit I need to unlearn. I do some of the eating a bit between meals, and find it a good practice. I think my diet is more balanced than you think. My bread of this morning is made with milk and oil and whole wheat (made that way on purpose! for the nutrition!), and the coffee is lengthened with half milk, half water. Some sugar, some fat, some fiber, some protein. It works: I walked five miles to town this morning, moving quickly and easily over hilly country, and arrived not in the least tired. Right now it's six hours since I finished breakfast and I'm only just starting to get hungry. I've eaten this kind of breakfast for years and find it quite substantial and satisfying. I've been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for about twenty-five years and have overall enjoyed good health and good energy while keeping a healthy weight. I was also never anemic, which many women in their fertile years complain of.

I want to talk more about exercise. I walk, just because I like it and have the time, and it's more than exercise, since I love to see the country this way: I live in a beautiful part of the world. Not everybody has the time for or enjoys walking. A different kind of exercise may be more intensive and burn more calories; may have a larger aerobic component (though my heart was pumping this morning after a mile of steady uphill) or build more muscle. All that's good. But I think that even people who exercise rarely get a lot of exercise. That guy on the pioneer show did: he worked dawn to dusk, physical labor, but few people do that. If you want to eat heartily, and I do, you need to exercise a lot more than the minimum. A place where you'll see average citizens of the western world who are thin and fit is Venice. They can't drive cars--no roads--they can't even ride motor scooters or bicycles on account of the bridges, which are steep little humps with steps. They have to walk everywhere, and they're the fittest people you ever saw. And they speed along: I was out during rush hour, and though I'm a good walker they left me in the dust. It was remarkable. Motion is part of their lives, not something they do for their health. And that's the easiest way to stay thin and be able to enjoy your food--if you can manage it; not everybody can--make physical activity part of your commute, part of your chores, part of your hobby, or part of your job.

The last two jobs I had, I commuted on foot and then by bike part of the time. I did make an effort to find places to live that allowed me to walk to work, and succeeded. When I got a new job further away I worked out a bike route, and then biked part of the time. Sometimes, if you think about it and make it a priority, you can do these things. I got much of my exercise in those days going to and from work, and have happy memories of the experience.

Melissa, you are so lucky to live in an area that naturally facilitates walking and exercise. We live approx. 18 miles from town and there are only busy roads and highways to walk along. Much too dangerous. We have to drive to a park to walk. And walks in general are starting to be impossible because daytime temps are in the 90's now. So, back to the indoor exercycle while the air conditioner runs, blech.

Petra, I have one word for you: Salsa. Make salsa frescas with all kinds of different vegetables, and you might sneak them into your husband. And Salsa dancing is a great way to while away Summer nights. Great on a patio, or screen porch if you live where there are a lot of night bugs. If you and your husband don't dance already, you can start by holding hands and just stepping back and forth to the beat, then start adding steps (lessons, books, videos online, etc.) when that gets to be old hat. Ease into it. But a lot more fun than the exercycle!

Did you ever make any of the "healthy cookies"? This thread got way off course...HAHA!

pillog, we have a Wii with dance move apps, could go back to that. It's silly, but probably effective because I huff like a steam engine after a few mins. I already use salsa for lots of cooking and meals, I had a nice patch of cilantro in the backyard until it finally bolted due to the heat.

Arkansas, no, after reading reviews of these and similar recipes have decided to not waste the ingredients. I've put much more effort into balanced meals this week and that has really cut down on snack attacks for both of us. Husband's crunchy munchies are dealt with via raw peppers and other veggies now. Milk chocolate is like crack to me, so I am just not going to buy it. And the same for husband and potato chips. And, baked goods for both of us. If I don't buy it or bake it we can't eat it. That's probably going to be the safest approach for now. :)

Petra, I get what you mean about having a living situation that doesn't favor walking. I hope you find something else! Swimming is good for those who can. We're having temperatures in the nineties, too, so this morning I got up groaning at 4 a.m. for my three hour walk: it's the only time possible. If I don't get out then to burn off some energy I feel trapped in my house for the rest of the day. I live in a largely non-air-conditioned world, so can't go from air-conditioning to air-conditioning. Home is about the only comfortable place to be in this weather.

I find that one of my weak spots in eating, that often leads to excess, is a need formally to finish off my dinner/main meal in some fashion. This leads to tea and cookies (not very sweet or rich) or fruit, that aren't bad in themselves but that I just don't need. An espresso would do it, but we're all too lazy to wash the pot afterwards. What I've had a couple of times recently is a single square of very dark chocolate: the kind that's 72 percent cocoa. This seems to work.

I think the approach you describe in your last post is a sound one. By and large I find that "healthy" versions of unhealthy foods just don't work. Better just to ditch them completely and find something that's different but that you truly like. Though I'm still looking for a reasonable cookie recipe.

Melissa, I admire your dedication to walk at 4 a.m., yikes. We could theoretically walk at night, but the parks close at sunset and sometimes it doesn't cool off until 11 pm or later, if at all.

I can totally relate to the temptation to finish off main meals with something sweet. The dark chocolate solution sounds good and healthy. It is so easy to slide into bad eating habits and not much fun to go back to eating sensibly.