happy birthday , bonny.

First tip - chose sugar deliberatly. Drop the fruit juice - o cut it with water. Stop eating foods that have sugar in them for no good reason ( why does peanut butter have sugar in it? eat natural peanut butter because it has no added sugar)

I like fruit cobblers . I up the spices like ginger , cinnamon, nutmeg and drop the sugar .I use very ripe fruit . it works.

So are you folks aiming for sugar per se or all carbs? Because I am blessed in not having a sweet tooth, but dear god, the salty-starchy cravings are insane. I look at the dessert trays at restaurants and think "You know, an inch-by-inch square of that chocolate cake would be all I want." To me, the ideal dessert would be garlic mashed potatoes with lots of cheese and butter.

Sugar for me, although I'm given to understand that carbs, especially grains, are DEATH. (The paleo thing is getting a little strident on my FB friends list.)

probably is: I like chocolate cake AND potatoes in just about any variety. I'm like Oprah in that way - and perhaps the only way.

I've never met a potato I didn't like.

But, you know, I eat things other than potatoes, so I'm not fussed about carbs being DEATH for me, because my diet is pretty varied.

My diet got a bit out of whack and I'm having to get back on the horse with careful tracking. Anyway, the low carb (low like Atkins) may be really good for diabetics (or pre-diabetics) in terms of blood sugar, but medical studies have shown that have so few carbs can be demoralizing to people on the long term. Hard to sustain a day to day diet in which you only consume like 50 grams of carb in a day.

Most people can do a low carb diet of 2x that or 3x that and still get enormous benefits. My previous doctor told me this in so many words.

If you want to cut down on anything, don't make it so it feels abusive or dispiriting or you won't do it for long. I don't think our eating habits need to be self-abuse.

For the record: something to sing about.

darn those allergies!

My diet got a bit out of whack and I'm having to get back on the horse with careful tracking. Anyway, the low carb (low like Atkins) may be really good for diabetics (or pre-diabetics) in terms of blood sugar, but medical studies have shown that have so few carbs can be demoralizing to people on the long term. Hard to sustain a day to day diet in which you only consume like 50 grams of carb in a day.

The super-low carbohydrate portion of the Atkins diet only lasts for two weeks. After that it works its way up at 5-10 grams a week as long as you're losing weight. Somehow the first two weeks have come to represent the entire thing.

You have a pickle guy? Cool. Although, for awkward pick-up potential, nothing beats Stanley Bolander going up to that Aussie ME in the first year of Homicide all "My partner says you tend to have crabs."

Trudy, but even then, some people can't do it for 4 weeks. I know what you mean, because I was on modified Atkins for 6 weeks years ago.