This is the United States where eating out is a national pastime. When I was growing up, there were only a couple of places in Brookhaven open for breakfast – Kerns Cafe and Brown’s Cafe (neither of which exist anymore).  The Round Table and Dog N Suds were open at lunch.  The Dog N Suds was also open for dinner. Sometimes, we would drive to Hazelhust to have dinner at Max’s or over to Georgetown for fried catfish at Al’s Fish Camp.  I think we might have had a Kentucky Fried Chicken in those days, as well.  But, you get the picture.  We ate out infrequently and had few choices when we did.  Now, I have a choice between Backyard Burger, fried chicken, eggrolls and Dunkin Donuts all at a single truck stop in the middle of nowhere!

Marketing students hear how Corning Glass nearly failed because it didn’t see that Americans weren’t cooking at home anymore.  My grandmother and my mother both had complete sets of Corning casserole dishes.  You know the ones I’m talking about – white with either white flowers or vegetables on the side and that heavy, heavy glass lid.  Every pot luck, church dinner, holiday meal, supper club and family get-together saw tables laden with them. Check your cabinets. Do you have any of them?  I don’t.

And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we cook less but are fatter than ever.

I’ve talked before about cooking and how cooking your own food is vital to weight loss success and a healthier body.  I am convinced that this is true.  Hidden sugar, salt, and god-knows-what make us gain weight and retain water.  They subject us to cravings.  They alter our body chemistries in ways we don’t even understand.

Friends encouraged me to start this blog because while Valerie Bertinelli and Oprah Winfrey can lose weight and look great, most of us do not have personal trainers, chefs or life coaches on speed dial.  Pre-packaged diets are successful because we don’t have time to plan.  We don’t know what to plan.  We just don’t know where to start.

I am coming to believe that a great part of my earlier success was that I was working from home.  Planning nutritious, balanced meals was much easier then than it is for me now and, frankly, I’m not doing all that great a job of it yet.  However, this weekend, I began to take my personal life back in hand.  I am a creature of habit, a person of routine.  I am still developing one that contains time for housework, laundry, exercise, meal planning and preparation, work time and networking time.  Oh, and sleep.  Sleep would be good, too.  While I’m nowhere near done, I made significant progress this weekend and that feels good.

I would love it, though, if you would continue to share what works for you!