Anyone else obssesed with cooking now that you are counting calories?

Ever since I have been counting calories and excersizing more, I have been obsessive about cooking, baking, etc. Just this morning I made a batch of "healthy" cookies and prepared dinner before 10am (now I just have to put it in the oven at 5) and I'm contemplating making whole wheat rolls in the next few hours.

Anyone else have this problem, I find myself constantly looking through recipe books and cooking. What gives?

I have been cooking a little bit more, But haven't found any really great recipies or book I love yet... I find myself not even wanting to touch anything that comes in a box or anything' easier' to cook anymore.. Too many chemicals, too much stuff in them(cals included) that I can't control! YAY for you though! What books are you using? oh and low cal cookies? Sounds awesome!

Low cal cookie http://caloriecount.about.com/bite-apple-cook ies-recipe-r270474

I've been using Jane Brodey's Good Food Book as well as some "healthy snack" books that are geared towards getting small children to eat their vegitables. (figures, I have two small ones). 

If you're going to obsess about any part of dieting, I'd have thought cooking and baking healthy food is pretty positive thing to obsess about.    People make pretty lucrative careers out of less.   Personally, I find it one of life's nicer challenges to create interesting, tasty, filling meals that are still reasonably low in calories.   Makes weight-control a lot more fun than ripping open some packet of 'meal replacement shake' and sucking it down miserably just because it says it's '300 cals'.  And if you're prepping supper in the morning because... well... that's because you're getting better at time-management.

I have a little 'rule' which is that if I'm going to eat a-little-bit-more-fattening-than-normal food... I have to roll up my sleeves and make it myself.   Putting in a bit of effort means appreciating just how special genuine treats are when they come around .... a special cake made with dairy butter, a rich chocolate ice-cream home-made with fresh cream and Belgian chocolate, a roast leg of spring lamb flavoured with rosemary and garlic...   Mmmmmm

You say obsessed like it's a bad thing   My family eats much healthier since I started calorie counting.  I think that's why they like the fact that I'm not home 3 nights a week for dinner.  They get to eat fun, not so healthy foods.

Yeah, I am still absolutely obsessed with cooking. After all, I had to find new, healthy, tasty things to replace all those cakes and fried bread, right?

I love cooking now and finding new things to make.

My husband is the cook in our family (I often act as his assistant ), but I suppose I have influenced him into cooking healthier food. We have had lots of fun experimenting with ethnic foods as well.  I myself have always been a home baker (I hope to own a bakery one day).  I have delved into baking healthier things, and have made some lovely recipe discoveries, such as whole wheat pita bread.  I have also experimented with new kinds of flour in my breads...I now often grind up some rolled oats to replace some flour, or I use spelt flour sometimes as well.  It's quite enjoyable!

I 've always liked to cook, but since my new healthy, better life style I am making food that have alot more ingredients (veggies,spices) and no processed packaged foods.

I make all kinds of healthy whole wheat organic muffins...great time of year for apple & pumpkin. I use applesauce to replace the fat and egg whites instead of the whole eggs.  My husband loves them and mmmm the house smells so great.

Basically we eat chicken & fish and I'm making all my own soups.

Well ...I've have some garlic to roast for my twice baked potatoes.

Good Luck To Us All On Our New Healthy Lifestyle!!!!!

Totally! My new thing is taking "bad things" like cookies, brownies, muffins, etc, and finding yummy, healthier ways to make them. 

Also, when I cook my own meal, I feel so much better having made it myself and knowing exactly what went into it. That way, I feel like I can make meals that might not be deemed healthy if you ordered it in a restaurant, but since I can tweak the ingredients at home, I can make it healthy and still yummy. 

Now that it's Fall and getting colder out, I want to start experimenting with "healthier" comfort foods....mashed potatoes and gravy, mac & cheese, crock pot recipes, etc. 

Have to confess, I hated cooking before and I still hate it.  Rarely cook.  I basically just "heat things up."  If real cooking was a requirement, I wouldn't be able to stick to diet and I'd be back at fast food places and ordering pizza.  Strange, since my mom is a GREAT cook, as are my two sisters.  I just never was so inclined. 

I'm obsessed.  I love finding low-cal recipes and "fixing" recipes I already have.

For dinner tonight I had quiche with all low calorie high protein ingredients, and mixed veggies steamed with homemade low calorie alfredo sauce.  (Okay, it's not that low calorie, but it's better than store-bought in calories and taste.)

It's 11pm, and I am STILL looking for low cal, high nutrition tasty recipes online. Fairly sure the "hunting and gathering" part of cooking is one of my greatest calorie counting joys!  

I enjoy cooking and cook my lunch every day (I study from home) and my dinner about 5 days a week.

I wouldn't say I'm obsessed... I enjoy cooking while I'm doing it but don't spend much time thinking about it otherwise.

I would also add... food restriction has been shown to increase preoccupation with food, so your obsession is the natural result of dieting.

Original Post by melissapierce:

Ever since I have been counting calories and excersizing more, I have been obsessive about cooking, baking, etc. Just this morning I made a batch of "healthy" cookies and prepared dinner before 10am (now I just have to put it in the oven at 5) and I'm contemplating making whole wheat rolls in the next few hours.

Anyone else have this problem, I find myself constantly looking through recipe books and cooking. What gives?

What gives is that you have taken a positive control of your life.  I don't think you are obsessive--I feel you are excited about knowing that your cooking is a good thing and a fun thing.  I don't view what you are doing as a problem, either.  You made healthy cookies and whole wheat rolls.  That is part of a solution!  I find myself walking to the grocery store almost every day, deliberately just getting enough items to fix my meals, do my baking, etc. that particular day.  I love baking and cooking and preparing and planning meals.  I think it is for the same reason that you do--we feel good about our eating and our dieting (or if we don't want to use the word "dieting," we can say healthy eating). 

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity."  ~Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

I rather like this quote.  The current fashion in certain parts of the world (like the US) is to believe that taking any pleasure in food... cooking, eating, drinking.... is akin to gluttony or some other sinful excess.  Many try to suggest food should be 'medicine' or nothing more than 'fuel'.   Misguided purit anical throwback!   Voltaire, a frenchman of course, would have found that kind of thinking bizarre to say the least.    

Of course, moderation in all things could particularly apply to what we eat and drink.  I think back to The Galloping Gourmet, Graham Kerr, whose show used to air on some channel I got years ago.  He, at that time, included a heck of a lot of butter, heavy cream, and other fatty things in his cooking.  And he always seemed to joke about that.  Well, it happened that his wife, as I understand it, had a stroke or heart attack.  Then Kerr completely changed his style of cooking.  His newer shows were not as entertaining, for me, but they sure stressed more healthy eating.  So, I would say that, even though God may have made eating a pleasure, He would still caution us to use moderation as our guide.  Many of the Americans I see at restaurants, and particularly at buffets, may, indeed, be taking too much pleasure in their eating.

Original Post by pilgrimdude:

Many of the Americans I see at restaurants, and particularly at buffets, may, indeed, be taking too much pleasure in their eating.

I have to disagree there.....   Have you seen the way some fat people eat?   (I used to be a fat person, I can use that adjective)  They don't look like they're enjoying it in the slightest.  It's a distinctly miserable & workmanlike business.   Total silence, grimly set expressions,  jaws working, fork acting like a mechanical shovel... up, down, up, down.  Get it all in so we can go back and refill.   And then that evil thing... the  'Drive-Thru'... taking 1 minute to choose what to eat, 1 minute to have it posted through the window and another 1 minute to get it past the gums.  

Voltaire would have assumed the person listening would apply moderation as standard.  That's the french way.