I've gone on & off so many times

[texwife&mom]

Yes Mam!! I will work on it, but being 3 & 4 they have thier limitations!! :geek My husband, well, he is supportive, works his butt off and loves me and my boys to death, so I guess I will deal with his shortcomings!!! LOL I do make grilled chicken a lot, and we share the veggies, and I make the males rice or noodles, I am not tempted in the least. Thanks again for your advice guys. Momto3 you can do this babe!!!!!!!! :hug

[earlychildhoodeducator]

Actually, you can change their meals. You just have to lay down the law: Mom's cooking 1 dinner. If you want to eat it, fine. If not, you'll go without until breakfast.

Exactly! My famous line to my 4 year old son "If you don't like it, go have a piece of string cheese and wait for breakfast"

A healthy child WILL NOT let him self starve if pesented with a variety of healthy food.

So what if they don't eat the first few nights, they'll make up for it. You don't have to force them to eat anything. They'll figure out they will be hungry later if they don't eat now ....just by experience.

[not2late]

Exactly! My famous line to my 4 year old son "If you don't like it, go have a piece of string cheese and wait for breakfast"

wimper....you're tough! My mom was like that too. In fact, she still is like that in terms of family get togethers. She'll cook X, Y, and Z. If we don't like it, then we either starve or bring our own food.

[earlychildhoodeducator]

ensive He never really waits for breakfast, he always eats something at the table. I just make sure there is something on the table that everyone will eat, I don't make them eat kidney pie or anything :cop (disclaimer: to those who like kidney pie, no offense :eating ) after all it's a 4 year olds job to complain. You know what else works? Have the kids help you cook it, really! I've gotten my kids to eat crazy stuff just cause they helped me stir it or got to take it out of the oven (careful here :ThumbsUp ) and they get to sit on the counters when we cook which is a no, no any other time, they eat it up....literally :dancing

[momof3]

Thank you all so much!!!!!!! I am feeling better about it all today. I've been having a hard time the past 3 months because I lost a baby at 17 weeks and I guess I've been doing some serious emotional eating.

Not2late. . .you sound like my kind of girl. My kids eat what I make. . .period! There dad is a little harder about it than I am, if they don't eat it at dinner, guess what? They have breakfast all ready for the next morning. I'll just make them go without. I would love to give them Atkins meals with some added brown rice or wheat pasta, but one of them has allergies to dairy and eggs and there's a lot of dairy in Atkins foods. I will make this work though. By the way, you can train even a 3 year old to take his plate off of the table. Make sure it's a plastic plate though because they love to put them in the sink by themselves! :yikes

I realized last night that I am doing it for the wrong reasons. I want to look good for my husband, I don't want to be the fattest person in my group of friends. . .those are good reasons but they're my only reasons. I need to do it for ME! SO I feel better about how I look and I'm healthy.

Thank you for all of the encouragement. . . I'm ready now!
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[not2late]

Not2late. . .you sound like my kind of girl. My kids eat what I make. . .period! There dad is a little harder about it than I am, if they don't eat it at dinner, guess what? They have breakfast all ready for the next morning. I'll just make them go without. I would love to give them Atkins meals with some added brown rice or wheat pasta, but one of them has allergies to dairy and eggs and there's a lot of dairy in Atkins foods. I will make this work though. By the way, you can train even a 3 year old to take his plate off of the table. Make sure it's a plastic plate though because they love to put them in the sink by themselves! :yikes

You don't have to cook with dairy or eggs.

Just stick to the basics: grilled, roasted, broiled meats. Steamed, sauteed or raw veggies (saute in olive oil or a tasteless oil). You'll be able to customize your meal by sprinkling on some cheese or butter if you want. Or use olive oil. There are flavored olive oils on the market---basil, garlic, chili, lemon, etc. that will add flavor and fat to your diet without the dairy. I use flavored olive oils on my salads and steamed veggies all the time---I just pour some on toss and I'm ready to go.

Say you want to do a taco night. Make an Atkins-friendly taco meat filling and have the toppings (shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, cheese--for those who can eat it, sour cream---for those who can eat it). They have theirs in the shell. You have a taco salad. You can do the same thing for fajita night ---you roll your fajita and toppings in large lettuce leaves, they can have the tortillas (once you get to OWL, you can have a low carb tortilla!)

Lasagna night? No problem, make their lasagne the regular way. Make your lasagne using thinly sliced zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant, etc. in place of the noodles.

Spaghetti and meatball night? Make your meatballs and your sauce. They eat the meat balls with regular spaghetti, you eat your meatballs and sauce with spaghetti squash! (Refrigerate your leftover spaghetti squash, and form it into patties and fry them for a nice breakfast "hash brown" patty)

[momof3]

Now there's an idea. . .spaghetti squash Hash browns. People do become very creative on this diet! ensive Thanks for more ideas!!!

[texwife&mom]

WAY TO GO MOMOF3!!!!!!!!!!!! :dancingb: You can do it, and you can do it just for you!!!! As a mom I know it is hard to do things for yourself. But lets face it if Mama aint happy aint nobody happy!!!!!!!! :whip Keep up the great new outlook and attitude!!!!! ( I have my boys cleaning windows right now) jk .

[AllieCat0817]

then I get stressed out and binge and it gets so frustrating cooking food for my family that I can't have. .

WRONG! You CAN have any food you want. It is your CHOICE to not eat certain things. I wrote this 'article' on that same subject, from my heart:

I CAN eat anything I want!

Sounds crazy right. Well it's true. Anything I want to eat, I CAN. What really matters is, what I CHOOSE to eat, the things I DON'T eat by choice. I am not limited by what I CAN eat. If I want to eat a brownie, baked potato loaded, fries, burgers with buns, pizza, donuts, guess what-- I CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where did eating those things get me? In the fat house and in Lane Bryant.

If you keep thinking 'jeez, I am at the BBQ and everyone is eating potato salad and I CAN'T eat any'. WRONG! Yes you can! But you have read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and you realize what those high starch/sugar foods do to your body, so you are CHOOSING not to eat it. Do NOT say you CAN'T eat whatever. Say you DON'T eat it. Period. It is your choice. You control what goes into your body. You control how you view food.

You choose, voluntarily, to ONLY eat low glycemic foods, and nice amounts of proteins and fats to boost your metabolism so that it burns body fat instead of glucose. Not a soul is forcing you to avoid high glycemic sugary starchy foods. It is your choice, so do it! Dr. A isn't sitting next to you 24-7 yanking high carb foods from your hands. Neither is anyone else. This is YOUR effort, YOUR choice. You claim FULL responsibility and accountability. No one is holding you accountable. Make the absolute BEST choices for your body. Choose only the foods that fuel your body the most efficiently. That is what this is about.

Lose the emotional ties to 'jeez its my birthday and I CANT even have any cake'. BULL. How many recipes are there out there for cake using almond flour, and frosting using cream cheese? There's no excuse.

You are NOT limited here....... there is a low carb alternative to any junk high carb crap out there. And I'm not talking about the low carb 'products'/frankenfoods. I mean real food that you buy from the perimeter of the store, and hook UP for yourself.

Treat your bod right, you WILL be rewarded greatly, I promise!

[ttdriver]

Actually, you can change their meals. You just have to lay down the law: Mom's cooking 1 dinner. If you want to eat it, fine. If not, you'll go without until breakfast.

My mantra!!

Two choices for dinner: TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!

Betty

[AllieCat0817]

oh, and I'm the mom to a 5 year old, and the wife to a non-Atkins person and I cook for them almost every day.

What other folk put in their mouths has NOTHING to do with what goes in mine, period.

[ttdriver]

What other folk put in their mouths has NOTHING to do with what goes in mine, period.

AMEN TO THAT.

1. YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR DESTINY.
2. YOU ARE NOT A HELPLESS VICTIM.
3. YOUR CHOICES DETERMINE YOUR FUTURE.
4. STEP UP AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOURSELF CUZ IN THE END, NOBODY ELSE WILL.
5. IF ITS TO BE, ITS UP TO ME!!

Betty

[AllieCat0817]

I lost a baby at 17 weeks and I guess I've been doing some serious emotional eating.

I am sorry for your loss.