Two successful desserts!

I've tried out two new recipes in the past week. One that is from Swedish well-known foodie René Voltaire's book and the other one is my own invention (pretty proud actually). So here you go, have a try:

Pinaple Ricotta rip-off!

5 slices of fresh pineable without the peel
1 dl cashew nuts (soak before if you want a softer taste)
juice from 2 limes
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp raw honey (if you wish)
Half vanilla stick


Place all in blender, blend until completely smooth (I had to change from one blender to the juicer to do the trick). Place in small glasses and top off with fresh or frozen strawberries. Cool in fridge for an hour to get maximum taste out of the vanilla.

This was just sooo good! And our Argentinean guests thought it was Ricotta cheese! :-))

Rhubarb pie

For the crust:

• 2 dl walnuts (you can soak in water first if you want to avoid the walnut bittery taste)
• 0,5 dl pecan  nuts
• 0,5 dl almonds
• 3 tblsp ghee (or melted butter if you can handle milk)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• vanilla powder
• 50 g dates
• 1 egg

Add all ingredients except the egg in a blender. Blend until smooth dough. Add egg and blend a bit more. Place in the bottom of a mold and bake in oven on 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the rhubarb (I used two big ones) : peel and slice into a pot add water just to barely cover, if even. Add 100-150 g of dates. Cook until soft and mixed (the rhubarb should dissolve itself). Filter out the extra water. Add some sliced almonds (optional) and vanilla powder. Add this mix to the crust and bake in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Enjoy with cold whipped coconut cream!

Kombucha

I went to the better grocery store today and got myself a bottle of Kombucha (fermented green tea). It tastes like "sima" to me. Actually a bit too sweet for my taste these days, but I am sure "sima" would completely set me off.

The bottle said, "one small glass per day for seven days and then as much as you like. Not for children under five." Darn, I had hoped I had found a way to get the propiotics in to the place were they belong. But now - will have to keep on trying with the other stuff.

Again exhausted. Feels like a failure when  the children's friend is over for dinner and she eats two plates while my own kids eat nothing. Really, I need to get a grip...

Am I in the wrong field?

... when I become excited about this conferences...(should have studied medicine after all...)

Summer Meeting in Memory of the Late Dr David Freed Dr DLJ Freed Novelties and Controversies in Allergy and Hypersensitivity
Date: Friday 29th June 2012
Venue: Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JU
Organisers: Professor Jonathan Brostoff and Dr Shideh Pouria

08.30-09.15	Registration and tea
Chairman:	Professor Jonathon Brostoff
09.15-09.30	In memory of David Freed - Prof Jonathon Brostoff
09.30-10.15	Gut mucosal response to food antigens - Prof Stephen Challacombe
10.15-11.00	Role of Lectins in Allergy - Dr Amir Ghaemmaghami
11.00-11.30	Tea
11.30-12.15	Relationship between raw milk and atopy - Prof C Braun-Fahrlander
12.15-13.00	Role of Adjuvants in Autoimmunity - Prof Yehuda Shoenfeld
13.00-14.00	Lunch
Chairman:	Dr Shideh Pouria
14.00-14.45	Metals and hypersensitivity reactions - Dr Vera Stejskal
14.45-15.30	Role of environmental factors in gene blocking and hypersensitivity - Dr John McLaren-Howard
15.30-16.00	Tea
16.00-17.00	Intradermal Provocation and Neutralization - Dr Doris Rapp TBC
17.00	Closing remarks and feedback forms

The future of the next generation - depends on YOU, woman!

This is so important. All you women about to start preparing to become a parent. Please, please, please, take this advice seriously. Start eating the right food. Cut the crap. Cut your sugar addiction, NOW. Do a detox. Start eating healthy foods!

 

And please WOMEN, please understand (sorry, I'll yell now) : IT'S NOT ONLY ABOUT OBESITY!

 Everything starts from your gut! Get you gut bacteria in balance. If your gut is healthy, chances are that your child will also be healthy... not stuck on sweets, not picky eater, no milk allergy, no ear infections, no ADHD, no autism...and on and on and on! So please, for the health of you future children, cut the crap out of your diet, evict whatever bugs might be residing in your belly and give the little one a higher chance of starting off healthy!

I know there's probably not that many scientific articles on this subject (and if there are, they are probably being hid away) but I just think it is better to be safe than sorry.

Acidity

This morning I woke up with the feeling that I need to figure out how to balance out the acidity of what I am eating. Haha, as if somebody heard my my thoughts,  I was served this fantastic article on the subject: acid-alkaline-tips-for-balancing-your-diet

To not to have to refrase, here the first extract from that link: "Almost all foods that we eat, after being digested, absorbed, and metabolised, release either an acid or an alkaline base (bicarbonate) into blood. Grains, fish, meat, poultry, shellfish, cheese, milk, and salt all produce acid. The mass consumption of these foods have caused our bodies to become overly acidic, which strips it of minerals."
 
In short, this process is harmful as you will end up with mineral deficiencies. To alkalize the body (neutralize it maybe is what most healthy persons should aim at) we need to eat more veggies and fruits. This is why raw food diets are so successful for many (particularly apparently cancer patients). It does the trick! Well, further into my day, my Facebook News feed was populated with this blogpost on the topic: raw-nice-and-easy.

I will be increasing veggies in my diet. I am already trying to make a green smoothie for hubby and me every morning (when inspired... as you've seen, there has been a dip in my inspiration lately). I will also try to add some more (green) veggies to the plate. I might even do a raw week this summer as local vegetables start populating our grocery stores again. But my concern is, yes, the children. I read so many different strategies on this one but I still have to confess, getting a 2- year old to embrace lettuce is no easy task. Or to make an almost 5 year old drink a deep green smoothie. Really bugs me, because I am sure the so much talked about D-vitamin deficiency (amongst other) could be cured if we found the way to trick the little ones into cheering with greens.

Have  a nice start of the week y'all!

Liberating Reflexivity

Made it home yesterday after a whole (work) week abroad. It felt liberating. From everything. I even allowed myself many treats. Staying with relatives and on top of that being involved in intense socializing with academia isn't exactly the place where I determine the ingredients on my plate. Coping strategy? As long as it wasn't wheat (or candy), it passed. It meant me eating rye bread (delicious!), vanilla ice cream, gluten free pizza (!) and to top it all off: a nice kebab + french fries lunch on Friday (this was my first real junk food in more than a year, I blame the previous night's dinner for that). Oh, and a lot of coffee. Didn't feel like the food affected me a whole lot. I hade much more muscle cramps than normal though (blaming the coffee) and ironically enough today my normal breakfast had me off balance for half a day.

Still, I had some strategies that DID work. Like my avocado/egg breacky on the morning plane. Or my two morning runs in a lovely park next to the place I was staying at. Or focusing on the topping of my glutenfree pizza when dining out at an Italian place with ONLY pasta and pizza on the menu. Or my snack on hazelnuts, dark chocolates and an apple (and wine and water) while my fellow colleagues enjoyed a Burger King meal at the airport yesterday evening (didn't really feel like another french fries plate on the same day...).

Except for this, this week has been liberating in more than one dimension. It has got me out of my home office bubble, given me the opportunity to debate ideas with people with similar ideas and this has led to a major leap in my work progress. Unbelievable really. But sometimes magic happens - even on abstract levels.

At home, hubby has kept the feeding business going. I've understood the kids have been behaving well and eating well (how do they do that? the fathers, I mean. How do they manage to avoid conflicts?!?!). Well, this just strengthened my conviction that I really need to liberate myself more often. It's good for all of us.

Next week, I'll be back in charge as hubby goes on another business trip for the whole week. Kind of practical from the perspective of the usage of our one and only car! And I'll be working my ass off again, day and night. So good for my adrenals...Well, one think I've learned this week is that it is all about reflexivity, being aware and reflecting upon it, it's the first step towards action (read on adrenals here: How to tell if your adrenals are fatigued)... so maybe one day I'll do something about it, hopefully before it is too late.

To hint a bit what is going on in my head after this week, I end by quoting Kennedy, yes the president:
 

“For the greatest enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” 

Post from abroad

I am away this week. The reports from home are so encouraging that I am considering staying away for a good while.

While kids are eating double plates at home, I am enjoying full summer and several glases of red every evening. And do I need to add that I bended my rules on food this week? Ok, no wheat, that is not a good thing to be experimenting with while abroad... but some rye bread - seems to be ok. Then some coffee....quit that today as I was cramping in the night in my legs and could not sleep properly.

I love fresh veggies....tell me again why we are living so far up north? Crazy, its all so green down here!

Merry Go Round!

We are heading towards the entertainment park today. To celebrate Kidone having passed 100 cm! Last year we had to skip this entertainment because I did not want to see my girl crying at the ticket shop when she did not pass the length requirment for getting to go in the bigger carousels. This year we will do it with a vengence, and this is the food we'll take with us:

 The entertainment park is filled with only crappy junk food - I even hated it before I became a health freak, only way to stay away from those is to be prepared.

I also want to let you know that I made my first "grainfree" porridge today. Look at this:

Weekend breakfast

Here you can see what a morning with an inspired mom can have to offer in this residence (it's from some weeks back, as I am right now limboing I do not get this inspired...read: oatmeal for the kids, if they are lucky some berries to go with it, if not... well...too bad.).

 Check out "Finn McMissile", he has a prominant place at the breakfast table... even when the party is over.

The smoothies are raw inspired, in the green one I just added whatever leafy green I could find, some lemon and a teaspoon of siprulina. The organge one was supposed to be for the kids, with pomegranade and vitamine c and some probiotics. Surprise surprise, rejection and so hub and I got another set of drinks.

When the black book from the past saves the day!

Ok, I am still in a limbo mode. I think it is because Kidtwo has bad allergies and a stomach that is not working and I feel GUILTY! Kids are not eating very well, and after 10 days alone with them (and some hectic times with deadlines coming up, so night shift everyday) I am also EXHAUSTED. I so need a break - but there is no such thing as a break if you're wheat and milk free... All premade junk either has wheat or milk. Well almost all. Yesterday I took Dani's advice (thanks for the support my friend!) and went to buy the kids premade food "Pyttipanna" - that is potatoe cubes with sausage cubes and some onion, all ready to be fried in the frying pan. Gluten and milk free (but helluva list of additives in the ingredient list, I spotted maltodextrin, corn starch, several E-codes, and much more that I just want to forget).

The funny thing was that as I was so tired of having the kids in front of the telly all day I decided to go and visit a friend, and I said we'd bring food. Well, the only place open was a gas station, and the only things they have are these deep frozen pyttipanna, deep frozen french fries and pizzas... Ha, lucky me they had pyttipanna! But the funny thing is that the friend is Chilean, and as I wrote on my other blog, the Chilean cuisine is not one that favors premade food. You make your dinner from scratch, either you yourself, your mother, or an employed nanny. So obviously my friend was not familiar with this Finnish dish and both she and her daughter were amazed. I laughed, said here I am running a blog about the connection between food and health and what do I do in real life? I go and introduce junkfood to a little toddler. Now she'll be screaming for pyttipanna for the next weeks to come! ;-) Lovely.
 
Today, still without having been to the grocery store (I do not count the Shell gas station in the category of grocery stores...), I managed to still make spinach pancakes for breakfast, minced meat soup for lunch for me and dinner for the kids (and friend), another oven baked cinnamon pancake (served with apple sauce and coconut cream). And only then did we go to the grocery store, by bike (big mistake!).

The minced meat soup was a keeper. Can you believe it, a recipe from our home cooking class anno 1992! Just love my black book from junior high - filled with information on basic cooking recipes and nutrition, minerals ... even how to clean clothes! Anyway, I made some modifications to the recipe because I lacked a big part of the ingredients (potatoes, celeriac, parsnip) - still it worked out quite well.

Here's a picture of the black book recipe (check out my writing style back then...charming!):

Minced meat soup a la Mia:
1 onion
3 (organic) carrots
1  (organic) sweet potatoe
1 red chili pepper (organic)
some celery (organic)
chicken bone broth (out of meat broth but will make some soon, have the pasteur fed meat down in the freezer)
400 grams minced meat
garlic
olive oil
paprika spice
organic tomatoe paste
oregano

Heat the frozen bone broth to boil, add some water (if necesary) and sea salt. Fry the minced meat. Chop the roots and boil, then chop the other vegetables and add after a while. Oh, I fried the onion on low grade in olive oil first, tought it would soften the taste for the kids, and worked. Add tomatoe paste and then the meat and crushed garlic, paprika spice, oregano. Serve hot (could be served with some kefir yogurt or coconut cream).

Minced meat soup (and in the right hand corner, the pancake)

Cardamom pancake  (I am making up the amounts, did not measure, sorry!)

1-2 tbsp Fiber Husk (psyllium husk)
3 dl water
1 dl coconut milk
2 eggs
2-3 tbsp maca powder
pinch of salt
rapseed oil
cardamom

Mix the husk with the water, let the husk do its job (mushy). add the coconut milk, the eggs then the maca powder, salt and some rapseed oil and of course the cardamom (according to your preferences). Add a little bit of oil to the baking mold and then poor the mix into the mold. Bake in 250 d celcius, for about 30 minutes. Serve with apple sauce and coconut cream. Success: Kidone ate two slices, Kidtwo one (note the reversed order now, usually it is the other way around) and I ate...ahmmmm.... the rest....=)))!

Denial stage

I have hit the denial stage. I am suddenly convinced that it's all in my head, and that the best thing would be to just continue with whatever is socially acceptable food. Forget all that bad stuff about wheat, forget the addictive properties of sugar and forget that someone in this family is reacting to milk. It's all in my head. Nobody else seem to be suffering, neither were we before I started trixing with the food... so why not just give up and give in.

Kids aren't eating that well what I am serving them right now. I am worried whether they get enough food here at home. Living without both bread and yogurt, and butter is HARD! And after having been alone with them for a week now I am slightly exhausted. To top it all off, I did not make it to the grocery store today and tomorrow the stores are closed. Our cupboards are empty and I wonder how the freaking h*ll we will make it through the day.  Wouldn't it be nice to just go to Hesburger, just once, forget about all this health food PROPAGANDA and let the kids have that Finnish equivalent to a happy meal.

I am posting this so that you can see that I have my doubts as well. I am no glossy mommy blogger. Yesterday I lost the temper with the kids and I do not know who of us yelled the loudest. Well, doesn't matter - all neighbor's heard ALL of us anyway.

My biggest frustration right now is Kidtwo's stomach. It just doesn't get better. He is on a milkfree diet right now. Waiting to do the tests. But this doesn't help and it makes me wonder what is behind his sensitive stomach... Have been thinking soy, cashew and even oatmeal milk... but now I am back suspecting the obvious: wheat (or gluten). And that my friends is why I want to shut my eyes and just sing lalalala... Really, I am so fed up thinking about what is eating my children. So fed up.

But happy "Kristi-flygare" to you all!

Yet another must have.

I think I'll do some big time shopping on Amazon soon. The wish list is getting long...all the books by the Spunky Coconut, Maria Emmerich's recipe book.... and then the Dinosaur cookbook, still waiting for me to click'em home!

Sweetdreamer goes Patiperra

Hubby is in Chile right now. The family is all curious about what we are doing over here...food-wise I mean. And so I started a food series on my other blog regarding the food that we are and that we aren't eating (www.lapatiperradelnorte.blogspot.com). Actually, this work started already some weeks back when my long time friend Dani (can you believe it, it's been a long time already!) asked me to guest write on her blog, in Portuguese (. So I wrote a few posts in Spanish, she translated them. Now I am only spreading the word, breaking language barriers...

Next topic: wheat. Getting geared...

Circles in the water

Yesterday I told my mom if she knew all the circles in the water originating from out disasterous day in Mariehamn one year ago (if you are curious, read this blogpost for the nasty details: Reclaiming the hoods)
 It was the day when I discovered the Pink "Wise Choice" Cookbook in the library. It was the day when I realized there might be away of getting rid off all those nasty foods marketed to kids.

Well my mom had no idea but I told her that the book did not only inspire me to do some changes in my children's diet it also changed the life for other kids in our surroundings. After sharing my experience and some recipes with friends, suddenly the pink book and its sugar/milkfree smoothies started appearing also elsewhere. I wasn't the only mommy charmed by the easy solution to healthier life proposed by this book.

I am happy to see a friend of mine blogging on the same topics as me, but in Swedish: Mat o mera
I really like her blog. Too bad for my foreign friends that she writes in Swedish. But I hope her blog will be widely shared around these places... because sharing is caring! And yes, if I would have figured out a better name than Patiperra for my blog in Swedish, I'd also be sharing some thoughts on the same subject for those living nearby. But the name is still under consideration. And for the time being, Patiperra has been kidnapped by my Spanish-alterego.

Hope you all had a nice mother's day. Mine was much better than I had ever thought was possible. Promised myself I will start to follow the first amendment soon: stop hanging here, start sleeping instead. Good night to you all!

Meat eating ethics

NY Times had a competition on who could write the best arguments on why eating meat is ethically a good thing...and the winner is...


NY Times article on ethics of meat eating

Strange enough, what is presented in the article isn't far from my own perspective. Which, by the way, if you missed it, was presented in a post last week (Is veganism the answer?)
Or maybe not so strange, considering the effort I have put into thinking about the same things - from the ecological and biosystem perspective as well...

Cruise food - had forgot to post this one!

I'd better document this one before I forget. I've been cruising this weekend. Me and the kiddos on a weekend trip ovder to see my mom and as I didn't come around to buying us plane tickets in time, I decided last minute that we would still do the trip, but by boat. My parents live on an island, which is interconnected with mainland Finland and with Sweden through a myriad of cruise ships, sailing the Baltic to provide us Finns and the Swedes with an easy gettaway, tax free booze and all other kind of cruise experiences.

Well, I think I've blogged about what cruising was all about when I was a kid. Eating those big candy bags, 1 kilo each. It was helluva heaven for a kid in the early stages of developing a sweet tooth. And yes, there was no stopping me as the years passed; cloetta, turkish pepper, salty pinguins, haribo mixes, I tried them all, one kilo at a time, one bag at a time. As I now think of it, I can't believe it. I was getting drunk before I even knew what alcohol is... getting drunk on sugar. How did my parents let that happen? Well, because they were not aware of the connections. Not aware of the true harms that sugar does to the body. Not aware of their daughter's body and mind being extra sensitive to sweet stuff. Well yes, they knew, they saw me in action....and I was a lot better at finishing my bag than my brother ever was - but I do not think my parents really understood how harmful that sweet tooth of mine could be.


Anyway, I am not that surprised to see that not much has changed on those cruises. Kids still carry around big bags of candy. Adults (and children) still overeat in the buffet, both for breakfast and dinner...What surprises me though, is how hard it is to go on a cruise with children, who are not supposed to overeat on sugar, not supposed to eat any wheat at all, and who might be developing ear infections by ingesting milk products. My goodness. These are the times you realize how much of that stuff is just in ALL our most common foods! No wonder people are getting sick....

What did I do? Well, I took the kids to the "upper class" breakfast and I stocked up on fresh fruits for them. I let them eat as much glutenfree bread as they wanted, with some ham and veggies and I got them some cooked eggs. Funny part is that in the midst of this morning breakfast buffet offering, filled with wheat croissants, cookies, freshly baked breads, cakes and cookies, I managed to keep the kids happy by only offering them one thing they normally do not get: apple juice (mixed with water, they wouldn't tell). They were jumping up and down when they realized they were getting juice. I would probably be labeled as a cruel parent by some, but I myself take that as an achievement, and really that is all that count for me.

I was annoyed that they gave out chocolate covered caramell lollypops to the kids in the playroom but after checking the label of kidone's treat I decided to let her have it. It did not contain wheat and taking it away would have been very cruel towards her, but luckily kidtwo was too occupied in the ball sea to even know of the lollypop existence.

On they way back, the other cruise company was kind enough to only have toys included in their givaways (well givaway is maybe not the right word, I had to pay them 2 euros each for the fishing experience...). However, as it was afternoon and the kids were tired, there were also a whole lot more temptations of sweets in their surroundings (other kids eating sweets). We did the buffet to kill time. And I let them eat nachos, all they could eat. Then they had a sorbet ice cream, all they could eat. It was 2 hours before hitting land so I gathered we'd make before the sugar low. And we did. The kids were sleeping within 5 minutes of getting into the car. It was a good trip. We all enjoyed it. In our own way.

14 sweet facts about sugar

This one comes from http://www.thetotalhealthblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/infographic-sugars.jpg,

Thanking a friend for this one!

Is veganism the answer?

This week has been another knowledge intensive week for me. Balancing my normal knowledge intensive daily job with my interest in food can mean knowledge overload sometimes. But sometimes my thoughts on the two subjects actually intersect, even go parallell with each other. The more I think about it, the more they intersect. And this is what happened when I read this article on a new book on veganism for children: Are kids too young to understand veganism?.

I have had a couple of closer friends who have been vegans, and I totally respect their decision. I also understand that due to their conviction that it is wrong to use animals for our own purpose they would have a hard time bringing up children on anything else than vegetable-based foods. I am also fascinated by the fact that small children brought up on a vegetarian/vegan diet probably are better at eating leafy greens. Anyone with experience, is it so?

However, this article that I read stand in sharp, and I mean sharpísimo, contrast with what is being preeched in other food movements. I am now thinking about how the animals are treated, and that being the reason to why to turn vegan. I completely disagree on this issue. And I actually think it is wrong to write a  children's book referring to ALL meat as being produced in such horrible circumstances and that is why its morally wrong for us humans to consume it. 

This week the movie Food Inc was broadcasted on Finnish national television (proud of national broadcasting company). The message? Profit goes before any consideration of human health, wellbeing of animals, consideration of nature. The conditions for chicken and beef alike are so sick that they do not stand being shown in day light. But for those vegans about to claim victory over meat I have to say hold your horses. The way conventional vegetables and staple foods (i.e. corn, soy, wheat) are grown is just as bad and harmful for the nature. The message in the movie is not to ditch animal food all together. Its about caring for the animal, showing them respect, bringing back dignity to farming in general and returning to the organic roots of farming. This is something that is also preached by other food movements (paleo, weston price, gaps) who have adopted an omnivore lifestyle. Eating animal does not necessarily need to be about buying into the massprouction, massabuse of animals these days. Assuring that the animal on your plate has had a "happy life" and treated with respect, you can eat your dinner with dignity and even include respect for the whole ecosystem in they way you consume food. Humans have eaten animals for tens of thousands of years, it's only in the past 50 it turned controversial. Not because of us eating animal but because of the Food Industry's focus on large scale in the name of profit.

Why create an aversion in kids to perfectly good food before they can decide for themselves? Yes, I believe leafy greens to be healthy, as most fruits and other veggies. But I also think meet is an excellent source of protein, and bone broth the best medicine for delicate guts. Why spoil such food for the new generation? If we want a sustainable future, we have to restore local ecosystems. I would believe that up in the north, it is necessary to stay dependent on domesticated animal to stay local in our food supply. But by domesticated I do not say abused. I am a strong believer of  the argument that animals treated with respect during their lifetime will also provide better sources of nutrients thourgh their by-products (dairy and eggs) and meat on our dinner table.

I am not saying that being vegan would be unhealthy. However, I think there are enough anecdotal evidence out there that going on a strict vegan diet might have longterm consequences for you health. I actually think that you can do it on two conditions: 1) you REALLY know what you are doing  (not only substituting meat with wheat and soy but really getting informed on human nutrition) and 2) your body is apt for such a diet (which I would guess depend on a mixture of your genes and health history).

To sum up, I'd like to post a link which illustrates the opposite of the vegan diet: bone broth. I have been feeding my family bone broth from "ecological" chicken and beef bones in the past 6 months. It's amazing what this miracle medicine can do to the apetite and the gut!

Seven minutes

Seven minutes is what it takes to watch this clip and get an understanding of why its so hard to follow the doctor's advice on loosing weight.The outlook for those suffering could be different if the medical society would accept this message that Lustig is preaching; the urge to eat unhealthy food is a biochemical drive. The focus is here on sweet sugary stuff, it could just as well be on wheat-based foods such as bread and pizza.

This is what I have been trying to say to those who advoate "eating a balanced (low fat) diet": Such a diet makes it impossible for those with food addictions to overcome their cravings. It's just not possible. And I speak from my own experience...

Robert Lustig is explicit on the issue:
"Nobody chooses obesity, obesity chooses them"  Then he goes on saying "... these are all hormonal driven...What we call behavior is not behavior at all, it is a cognitive inhibition on that biochemical drive, the question is how long do you think you can excert a cognitive inhibition on a biochemical drive that is going on 24-7-365, getting worse every single day that you perform it. Nobody can excert a cognitivie inhibiotion, wil-power, over a biochemical drive that goes on every minute of every day, it's just not possible."

When I was for the first time trying to get rid of my extra kilos back in high school (after a year in high school in the U.S. I got home, hmmm, a little bit swelled...), I remember getting mad at my dad for buying home ice cream while I was trying to loose weight. I gave him a lecture right there, that if I was to succeed, he'd better only buy healthy food for us. He obeyed. And I was back in my normal size in time for graduation.

Later with hubby, or boyfriend at that time, I remember having had a similar conversation regarding, yes, icecream. We used to have the cozy habit of sharing one of those ultra-sweet one-liter packages of icecream (caramel with marshmallows), each with a table spoon in our hand, digging in while watching tv. I wanted us to stop eating that way, he didn't think much of it and said if I wanted to stop it was just a matter of will-power. I said it was not - I could not stop once the ice cream was in front of me. It was impossible. I don't know how many times after that we've gone through this exact discussion again and again, particularly discussing my obsession with (milk) chocolate.

I always knew it was an addiction. The problem was that my surrounding did not understand the severity of my cravings. Today, I thank hubby and others around me for being supportive on this issue. Not having had any of this junk food around at home for the past year has saved me from temptations. On those few occassion when it has been around, my conviction that one bite of the wrong kind of food could spark a series of serious cravings has kept me from even trying. It's just not worth it. Actually, now coming to think of it, there has been milkchocolate in our cupboard several times, and although I am home alone during the day I never touch it anymore...still, I do not consider myself cured, for me, overcoming my sweet tooth will be a lifetime battle, one that I am planning to win.

So for all of those out there who are in the position of giving advice to fat people on how to eat; give this video clip seven minutes of your time. And if you understand Swedish, and have another 60 minutes to spare, then I'd suggest you watch Bitten Johnsons lecture on the different levels of sugar cravings and how to work on sugar (on any) addiction. Well spent time I'd say.