ArcaMax

I started dieting at age 12. Some of you may know that already.

I know now that 12 years old is too early to go on a diet. At the time, I was worried because I was going to be in my big sister’s wedding and I was afraid of what I’d look like in the pictures. Even then I knew that ‘wedding pictures are forever.” I look at those pictures now and I can clearly see I didn’t need a diet. I was a normal 12 year old budding, little woman.

At the time that I decided to start dieting was the same time those little calorie counting books started popping up near the check out in the grocery store. They were about 3” x 4” and listed just about every food in the grocery store. Next to the food item it listed the number of calories in that item. Nothing else; just the calories.

I bought one of those books with my babysitting money and set about memorizing it. All I really knew was that if I chose to eat the items with the fewest calories I’d lose weight and I’d be “healthy.” That’s what all the commercials on TV were saying.

That methodology of dieting didn’t work for me. Little did I know that even at 12 years old, if you continually restrict what you eat you’ll just slow down your metabolism as your body hangs on for dear life. Your body thinks the famine has hit and tries to survive.

By the time I was 15, I tried eating every three days to lose weight. That worked. I lost 30 pounds in a month. I passed out 3 times in the process. I never told my parents. They had no clue I was teetering on a very dangerous slope in my efforts to fit the image I saw in the magazines.

Fast forward. Over the years, I learned a lot of other things about diet and dieting. I fell into the trap of believing what I heard on TV, read in magazines or the newspaper, or even learned in school, was ‘gospel.’ It had been published so it must be true. It must be correct. It must be right.

Well, much of it, (as well intentioned as the authors might have been), was wrong. Dead wrong.

Here is a piece we just released at Plan Z on the Five Biggest Weight Loss Lies...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Related Recipes at PlanZDiet.com:

Pesto
Cheesy Green Bean Casserole

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Much better than soup from a can.

Servings: Makes 4 cups or 2 bowls. Can be easily doubled or tripled.

Ingredients:

1 pound of sliced mushrooms. I used wild mushrooms, but you can use any you like best.
1 large leek, cleaned and sliced. White part only. Or you can use regular onion or shallot. You want about a cup.
1-1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of heavy cream
2 Tbl of butter
1 Tbl of flour
¼ tsp of fresh thyme leaves
Grated sea salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbl of bourbon (optional)
Parsley for garnish

Instructions:

In a medium saute pan, add the butter, mushrooms and leeks. Saute on medium high until the mushrooms just begin to brown on the edges. This gives the soup a richer flavor. Add the flour and stir until the flour disappears.

Add the salt and pepper and thyme. Immediately add the chicken broth. Let bubble a few minutes. Then add the cream. Let the cream gently bubble for a few minutes while it thickens the soup. Stir often. Get it to your liking and stop the cooking. If it gets too thick, you can always add more chicken broth.

If you are adding the bourbon, add it now.

Let the soup cool down. Then use your blender to puree half of it. I like my mushroom soup to still have some slices of mushrooms in it. You decide. If you want, you can puree the whole batch.

Be careful not to puree it when it’s really hot. That can blow the top off the blender and be very dangerous. Let it cool down pretty well and use a towel on top of the blender top. Hold the top down with your hand and begin with the blender on slow to blend it up. Then you can turn it up when you feel it’s safe. If you let it cool completely, you won’t have this issue. I’m just adding this extra advice to keep you safe.

You can store this in the refrigerator overnight if you want and then just reheat before serving. When you reheat it, keep it on low so it doesn’t boil again.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola