The weight loss craze is nothing new in Hollywood. We all know that size 0 doesn’t equal good looks, but rather an eating disorder. It is a shame that despite everyone knowing that the weight of most Hollywood actresses and other celebrities is far from healthy and more and more young and famous women are taking on this lifestyle. This post is to show what the dieting craze has done to them:

Courtney Love

Curt Cobain’s former wife is known as an enfant terrible. If she is around you never know what happens. Courtney’s weight has been almost as unstable as her mood. In 2007 she lost 55 pounds within just a couple of months and looked awfully skinny afterwards as you can see in the picture. Recent newspaper reports feature pictures of her that show Courtney looking really annorexic. I guess now she can’t deny that she has weight issues anymore. Her body looks dangerously thin! I hope that the latest news reports wake her up, so that she understands that her weight isn’t healthy anymore!

Nicole Richie

Nicole Richie, daughter of famous singer Lionel Richie, is fortunately already doing better now. In 2006 after doing two seasons of “The simple life” with her BFF Paris Hilton she was really scary thin. In the reality TV show she obviously was the heavier one of the two which led to her thinking that she needed to lose weight. At 90lbs you saw all of her bones sticking out and luckily she also realized that she was too thin and put on weight with the help of a nutritionist. Let’s hope that we never see her like that again.

Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham, former Spice Girl and wife of British David Beckham, has just recently been named celebrity with the worst body – and I completely agree. When Victoria was still Posh Spice she had a nice and normal physique, but after becoming wife of David she focused all her energy on becoming a role model concerning fashion and also followed the “skinny celebrity” trend when she and her hubby moved to America. Because of her weight at around 68lbs it was often speculated that she has an eating disorder but she always denies it – we don’t believe you Victoria!

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay has appeared in movies and films from a very early age on. Like most child actors she is trying to continue to stay popular as a celebrity, but it seems that the scandals around her drinking problems, relationships and her weight are giving her more headlines than her movies. She says that the weight loss is just due to stress and unintentional – but who believes that? The 22 year old actress looks like skin and bones - gain some weight girl!

Amy Winehouse

Next is the sad, sad story of a very gifted young musician: Amy Winehouse. We all know that she could have become one of the world’s most famous singers, but when drugs and alcohol crossed her way at celebrity partys she basically started destroying herself. Every now and then you see her emaciated body in the news, but the stories always focus on her behaviour rather than her music. I guess if she goes on like that she won’t survive much longer!

Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley hasn’t got any eating disorder – her skinny frame is just due to good genes – yes, sure!! How often have we heard that story? I look at her ribs and hip bones sticking out and can’t help to think that this young, talented actress has a problem. In the before and after picture you can see how much better Keira would look with just a few pounds more. Another actress who’s fallen vitctim to Hollywood’s skinny craze. What a shame!

Teri Hatcher

Teri Hatcher was flying high alongside superman in the 1990s TV series Lois and Clark and everyone thought that this had been the peak of her career.  She gloriously returned as Susan Mayer in the TV Series desperate housewives. Teri has proven that she is still the awesome actress she used to be, but I guess somehow she felt the need to prove to herself that she can be just as thin as Hollywood’s younger actresses. Diets and lots of sport gave her a ultra trim and skinny physique. But do these legs look lovely? I don’t think so.

Tori Spelling

Tori Spelling the famous 90210 actress shocked the world with her extremely thin frame. At under 90 pounds petite Tori doesn’t look healthy any more. She lost weight really fast after giving birth to her second child. Like so many mothers in Hollywood the first thing she focused her energy on was her weight, not her newborn. A trend that is definitely scary! In the side by side pictures she looks already skinny on the left, but the right picture makes you wonder if the anorexia rumors are true!

Whitney Houston

She’s definitely one of my all time favourite singers and her voice is unique, but just like many other celebrities Whitney Houston is suffering from some serious eating disorders. Otherwise she wouldn’t have ended up with the body she has in the above picture. This is what stress, alcohol, drugs and an abusive husband can make out of a beautiful, beautiful woman. It’s a shame! I really hope that she’ll be able to start her career again so that the world can enjoy her amazing voice and probably also see her in a better condition on stage again.

Allegra Versace

As the daughter of a world-famous fashion designer you’d expect you’d have no problems, but Allegra Versace has a big one: her weight. Over the years there were lots of speculations that Allegra was suffering from an eating disorder and it was finally confirmed that the niece of Gianni Versace was anorexic in 2007. She is now undergoing treatment and we should hope that we won’t see pictures of her so horribly skinny again in the future.

Calista Flockhart

The fiance of Harrison Ford is a successful actress and at 45 years of age already a mature celebrity. Unfortunately like many of her young colleagues Calista has also fallen into the skinny celebrities trap. To the allegations that her weight isn’t healthy anymore Flockhart answers that she has a healthy lifestyle and eats three balanced meals a day.  However, it seems that she would be better if she included some more calories in her diet plan judging on her skinny frame. She is simply “small boned” Calista Flockhart says – funny that so many Hollywood actresses are, isn’t it?

Kate Bosworth

The aspiring actress has also suffered from server weight issues in the past. Looking back she says it was a dark time in her life and that she found it scary to lose so much weight. At least she noticed that her stick-thin figure wasn’t healthy anymore unlike many other Hollywood starlets and set out a plan again. Luckily she succeeded and looks much more healthy today.

         

Back at the beginning of the 1990s I love the “Look who’s talking” movies with Kirstie Alley. I think she is a fantastic comedian. She probably doesn’t fit Hollywood’s beauty stereotype, but that was never a problem for me. There is just something about her that makes you instantly like her.

It seems, however, unlike me and many of her friends Kirstie had a problem with her looks and especially her weight. The weight roller coaster that she went on already started back in the 90s. Then the weight ups and downs were only small, but in recent years they have become much more dramatic. She became spokeswoman for Jenny Craig and lost amazing 75 pounds with this program. Proudly she showed off her trim body at all talk shows in this countries. Kirstie also said that she wanted to start her own weight loss programs, but looking at the photos of her that emerged lately it seems quite unlikely that the “Alley Method” is working.

In fact at 228 lbs she now weighs more than ever before. That makes me question if the Jenny Craig method is really as good as it claims, as such a yoyo effect are usually the result of unhealthy crash diets.

After she had parted from Jenny Craig and was free of all responsibilities it seems she let herself go. Kirstie went back to her old habits eating lots of Chinese food, lots of butter, bread and enchiladas. Basically all the fatty and unhealthy food that was forbidden during her time with Jenny Craig.

Alley pursued a vegetarian diet but seems to have substituted meat with other fatty or sweet food items. Many people have the misconception that being a vegetarian automatically means having a healthy diet and losing weight, but I guess Kristie Alley is the best example that this is not true.

Now she is desperate and promises that she will lose weight again. I think that’s the wrong way. She has already proven that she can lose lots of weight when she wants to, but what she needs is stable and balanced weight loss plus she needs to start loving her body.

The more I read up on her I get the feeling she has never been happy and confident with her body. That’s the way to start.

In an interview it Kirstie was reported as saying: “I’m resigned that I’ll never be like Cindy Crawford or Claudia Schiffer. I’m a full-figured woman – and dammit, I’m happy that way! To hell with what the rest of the world thinks.”, but it seems that deep inside she doesn’t really believe in that. Kirstie Alley has struggled with her weight all her life and I really hope that she will now win the battle and get to a medium weight level that she can keep and at which she feels comfortable.

Yours,

Dieting Delilah

         

Believe me after reading this post and especially after looking at those pictures all you want will be a big bowl of salad or other vegetables. The reason for that is that I’ve decided to identify the top 10 most fatty fast food items by you to serve as motivation and deterrence at the same time.

1. The Corn Dog

The corn dog – an all American invention – is a hot dog coated in cornbread batter and deep fried in hot oil. The story goes that it was invented at the Texas State fair by a smart business man who wanted to sell his hot dogs quicker and got the idea to deep fry them and sell them on a stick. A typical American tradition – we tend to deep fry everything, don’t we? There are many different corn role recipes available all having one thing in common: they are yummy and greasy and contain 250 calories per serving or more!

2. Burgers

Another fast food item many people love to eat is a burger. There are so many fast food restaurants all over the place offering burgers that you simply can’t get around them and they always look so yummy on the pretty advertising displays. But the pictures below show you the reality. Burgers are not a healthy meal and you will find many containing up to 4520Kj which is half of the recommended calorie intake for women. Most of them contain by far too much fat and salt. Interestingly, not an American, but an Australian is selling the world’s most unhealthy burger.

3. Pizza

Pizza is Italian so it can’t be unhealthy right? Well, we Americans also add our usual unhealthy touch to pizza, a popular fast food dished served everywhere in the world. But only we Americans love to deep fry our pizza to add that special kind of flavor and fat. Most pizzas are loaded with carbs, greasy meats and high fat cheese which make them a real calorie bomb with often more than 300 calories per slice.

4. Philadelphia Cheese Sandwich

As the name says the iconic cheese sandwich was invented in Philadelphia using only the most unhealthy ingredients: fatty, stringy meat and high fat cheese. It is another calorie buster with 720 calories per 100g serving. And if that wasn’t enough some people even like to deep fry their cheese steaks. I guess you gain weight just by looking at one of these sandwiches!

5. Tacos

Tacos are one of the Americans’ favorite tex-mex foods. You would expect that they are quite healthy as they contain quite a variety of ingredients also including veggies and salad. Think again! Big tacos can easily contain up to 570 calories. Most tacos share the common problems of burgers: they are made with too fatty meat, too much salt, too fatty toppings and too much cheese giving you a hard time shedding the weight you gain when eating them.

6. Breakfast Sandwich

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I guess some people take this way to serious and it seems they are trying to combine all their meals for one day in a single dish. Just look at this breakfast sandwich containing eggs, sausage, ham, cheese, bacon, blueberries and maple syrup. It may easily contains about 500 calories. Not sure if I would be able to swallow that!

7. Waffles

You are rather after something sweet for breakfast. No problem! What about some yummy waffles with extra cream and extra chocolate sauce. Add some brownie and multicolored sprinkle and you have got the worst start into the day possible providing you with an amount of calories (about 70 per serving) impossible to work off during that day.

8. Fries and Cheese

They are called French fries and that alone lets us know that they’re bad. Still fries enjoy high popularity and are the standard side dish for every junk food meal. Small sized fries already contain almost 300 calories. Add some high fat cheese and voila – you’ve got the unhealthiest side dish you can think of!

9. Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme doughnuts are extremely popular and extremely high in calories (up to 450). Of course a doughnut alone is not exciting enough. That’s why people like to add bacon and cheddar or sloppy joe fillings. Yuck! I could never eat that – not a fan of the sweet and savory mixture.

10. Cheesecake

You still want some desert? There are many low calorie cheese cake recipes out there, but the traditional recipe for cheesecake will produce a cake loaded with calories. Just one piece of cheesecake will easily contain about 300cal. There are also delicious varieties of the cake – deep fry it, cover it in chocolate or add any other high calorie toppings. You will probably love it but your body won’t.

I have to admit that after compiling this post with all these disgusting pictures I feel slightly sick. No way I will eat anything for the next hours. Hope that you feel the same and will abstain from unhealthy fatty foods today and in the future!

Yours,

Dieting Delilah

         

Actor and model Ashton Kutcher is not only known for his many movie roles, his fabulous wife Demi Moore, but also his sleek and trimmed body. Who of you girls doesn’t envy Demi seeing that young fellow at her side?

As Asthon started out as a model he always has a nicely trimmed body, but the young actor first started working out really heavily when he got his role in “The Guardian” alongside Kevin Costner. He knew that the movie would challenge him physically and so he started training about eight months before they started filming.

Because of his role as a coast guard he mainly concentrated on swimming, which is an excellent sport to lose weight and tone your body. It gives a real boost to your metabolic rate thereby causing your body fat to be burned. Ashton Kutcher followed a strict daily workout routine with a personal trainer consisting out of many different exercises.

As swimming has little effects on weight loss in the absence of a controlled diet all Ashton ate for three months was chicken, brown rice and broccoli as part of a low carb diet similar to the South Beach diet. Obviously he now doesn’t feel very fond of chicken, rice and broccoli anymore. Many celebrities use similar diets to slim down for movie roles.

Could you imagine eating the same dishes for three months over and over again? I can’t.

Demi and Ashton had another great idea to keep themselves motivated concerning their fitness and workout routine. They use Twitter to let others know about their eating and workout habits thereby ensuring that they will really stick to their plans. Yes, they are just using the same twitter program that everyone is using right now. Ashton is the user aplus. If you haven’t found me, dietingdelilah, on twitter yet – click here to add me and to get my regular updates.

Via Twitter Ashton let everyone know that he has stepped up his workouts as he is preparing for a new role and wants to look his best. He even tweeted that he is paranoid of doing scenes with his shirt off and that this makes him work out every harder. At the same time his wife Demi let the world know that she isn’t so dedicated to training at the moment only doing some yoga.

Ashton meanwhile has more followers on twitter than CNN. Good job Ashton! I am trying to but I guess it will still take some time until I get to the 1M mark

Anyway, I think sharing workout woes with your twitter followers might be a good way to get and stay motivated. Letting people know about your weight loss goals is always a good idea as you will immediately get support and feedback. For me writing down my dieting goals makes me commit to them more and sharing them with friends, family or your twitter followers for me means that it will be very likely that I’ll hang in there. Probably that’s something that will help you too!

Yours,
Dieting Delilah

         

I really admire strong and tough women. With Michelle Obama, our new first lady, America has yet another female role model to look up to.

I think it is really important that despite of being first lady she still sees being “mom-in-chief” for Malia and Sasha as her most important role. In interviews I always have the feeling that she really tries to understand and support America’s women to an extent that no other first lady before her has done.

But Michelle is not only a role model concerning her political involvement and her support of her husband, but also concerning having a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Mrs. Obama is working mom and first lady at the same time and still manages to stay in shape. You can immediately see that when you look at pictures of her. Lately Michelle Obama really shows off her amazing toned arms in sleeveless shirts and dresses. It seems that our first lady is really proud of them and she really has good reason for that.

Michelle says that she goes to the gym three times a week, which usually is the maximum on time she has to spend there. Obviously she has a personal trainer to support her for a session of an hour length. There they do lots of cardio and weight training that result in her perfectly toned arms. Reportedly the stair-stepper and the spin bike are her favourites, but she also likes kickboxing, jump rope and Pilates.

For Michelle Obama her workout routine goes beyond something physical. She sees it as therapeutic and I think this is the best way to approach it. If in your had working out is something negative you will always hate it. Find something positive about it, make it your way to get relief from stress and you will soon find that working out isn’t so bad after all.

Michelle admits that this work out routine also helps her to make up for snacking that she does on busy days. She also has a guilty pleasure – french fries. Generally however she is very fond of her family perusing a healthy and balanced diet that she thinks has immense mental and physical benefits. Michelle Obama says that this was a special challenging when the Obama family was traveling around the country campaigning before Barack’s election. Then she tried to make sure that her family ate well by eliminating junk food and adding seasonal fruits and vegetables to their diets.

She also sees educating children about food as a big issue. Therefore she also started an organic garden at the White House with the helpf of school children to give a signal against child obesity and for educating children about what they eat. Michelle has also taguht her daughter Sasha and Malia how to read food labels, which is incredibly important in today’s world I think. Michelle Obama also advocates locally grown organic foods and puts emphasize on the fact that it is not easy nowadays to get food that don’t contain artificial ingredients. For her it is important that her family eats “real” food.

Too many people find excuses for not paying attention to their fitness, weight and to what they eat because they are too busy. I think what Michelle Obama’s story shows us is that no matter how busy you are (can there be a more straining job than being a full time working mother and first lady at the same time?) there is always time for working out if you make it one of your priorities in life.

Everyone can lead a healthy life, but you have to want to! I don’t say it’s easy, but it can work – that’s what Michelle Obama has proven!

         

To me it seems that this year has just started but it’s already Easter time. Crazy how time flies by!

What are you guys doing for Easter?

For me it is always the same – Easter is a family holiday. The whole family gathers and in the morning of Easter Sunday we all go to church together. Then we meet at my mother’s house and we have a big Easter lunch and an egg hunt for the children. My daughter is already pretty old for this kind of custom, but my mother still insists that we hide plastic and chocolate eggs and small presents for the “little ones” in the garden. We always enjoy it anyway!

My mother also always prepares hard boiled eggs that we paint and eat later that day. At least one type of food I usually eat on that day that is quite healthy – hard boiled eggs are pretty nutritious!

For the Easter lunch my mother usually makes ham with lots of side dishes and all relatives invited bring a starter or dessert. This usually leads to the fact that we have loads of delicious food (too much for us to eat of course), which makes Easter a dangerous holiday for me.

To many Easter treats that I have to keep away from, too many temptations! Most of the holiday foods that I am so looking forward to and that belong to my family’s Easter tradition are loaded with fat, calories, cholesterol or sugar.

I really love my mother’s hot cross buns, but eating too many of them simply won’t support my weight loss intentions. The little chocolate Easter eggs don’t help either. I will try my best to stay away from them next weekend.

As my mother knows that I am trying hard to reduce my weight she has also promised that she will try to make some of the dishes on Easter Sunday lighter. Here are some tips on how to lighten dishes that she has taken out of a book on healthy cooking that I lent to her

• use reduced-fat dairy products instead of the regular versions


• use lean meats, light sausages and skinless poultry


• substitute olive and canola oil for vegetable oil and use half of the butter that a recipe calls for


• for baking recipes use nonfat sour cream, nonfat cream cheese, pureed fruit or fruit juice instead of fat or oil

It seems it is not so hard to lighten my favourite Easter dishes

I was told to bring a desert to this years Easter get-together and so I decided to go with a huge bowl of Easter fruit salad.  I have already written about fruit salad on my blog before – it is a delicious, low-calorie dessert and I bet no one will be disappointed.

Wishing everyone HAPPY EASTER!

Dieting Delilah

         

After sharing my mother’s recipe for my raspberry birthday cake with you I will today disclose another secret recipe.

I am very fond of Asian food. It not only tastes delicious but is also healthy. My favourite Asian cookbook is full of healthy recipes. Actually it is said that the Asian cuisine is amongst the most healthy cuisines in the world.  That’s because the meals there largely consist of rice, beans, fish, nuts, grains and lots of fresh veggies, but tables unlike our Western diet that includes lots of meat, poultry and eggs. This leads to the fact that Asian cultures enjoy greater health. No wonder Japan has the lowest rate of obesity in the world!

One of my favourite Asian foods is sushi. At first it seemed a bit odd to me to eat some raw fish on a ball of rice sprinkled with vinegar and sugar, but a friend persuaded me to visit a sushi restaurant in her city and ever since then I’ve been hooked!

But is sushi healthy or not? Well there are pros and cons to this delicious food:

Pros:

The raw fish used for making sushi preserves enzymes and other nutrients in the best way possible (as long as it is fresh). Fish is really healthy, low in calories and is high in protein, calcium and omega-3 fatty acids. Even  the seaweed used for the sushi roles is also contains protein, calcium and vitamins – it is also used as a digestive. Wasabi is powerful in killing bacteria and also contains Vitamin C. It is also suggested that eating sushi leads to healthy thyroid hormone levels.

Cons:

The rice presents pure starch that is converted into sugar quickly and is high in carbohydrates, but low in fiber and nutrients. A quarter cup of rice contains quarter cup about 160 calories.

So the only negative thing about sushi is the use of rice, which you can limit however, by eating sashimi or simply not eating all the rice that comes with the sushi. Every now and then some sushi won’t harm your diet plan!

As I love sushi so much I have tried out sweet sushi when I had some friends over for dinner. “Sweet sushi?“, you will ask yourself “What’s that?”

Let me explain. First look at this picture:

You think there is something fishy about this sushi? You are right it is sushi with fruit instead of fish. It is the perfect dessert for any Asian-themed evening or a sushi-themed party.

First you need to buy some sushi rice and cook it according to the description on the package, but with coconut milk instead of the water. You should also replace salt and vinegar with some sugar and lemon zest.

Then you need some seaweed to make sushi roles and you form the rice balls for the sushi just the way you would do it for normal sushi with fish. Don’t worry, you won’t really taste the seaweed once you’ve lined it with rice and fruit.

Concerning the fruit I used my favourite  mango together with banans, apples, lychees and pinapple, but of course you can use any fruit you like. If you cut and position them in a nice way they will really look like sushi. The sushi rolls in which you simply fill a mix of fruits will look great anyway.

You can serve your sweet sushi with chocolate sauce as the soy sauce and a mix of pistachio, sugar and cream as the wasabi.

If you liked that recipe just get a sushi kit and make your own sweet sushi. Believe me you will surprise your guests by serving a platter of sweet and healthy fruit sushi!

Yours,

Dieting Delilah

         

I can tell you being away from home for a couple of days was so relaxing. Now I am full of energy to tackle everything that is waiting for me in the next month!
After getting so many requests from my readers to disclose the recipe of the low-calorie birthday cake my mother baked for me I seized my chance and asked my mother for the recipe (I was staying at her place the last couple of days).
So I can now proudly present you with the low calorie cake recipe.  It is actually not a usual cake recipe but a charlotte recipe, which is a European dessert. For any of you not knowing what that is check out my best friend Wikipedia.
My mother found the recipe online on a wonderful little blog called La Cerise and simply adapted the recipe that can be found there a little bit.
What you need:

about 350g of frozen raspberries

90g of sugar or even less

7-9g of gelatine sheets

1/2 TB of lemon juice

3 egg whites

250g of ricotta

ladyfingers

• To start with you need a simple ring mold.


• Next you need some ladyfingers. In the original charlotte recipe the ladyfingers as well as the bottom of the cake are handmade, however, my mother said that this seemed too complicated for her. Therefore she just bought ladyfingers and used them for the sides and the bottom as well.


• You need to boil the sugar with some water to 118°C. Whip the egg whites until stiff and then add the sugar syrup in a stream while keeping on whisking until it is cool.


• Put the raspberries and lemon juice into a blender. As raspberries have so many small seeds you better filter them afterwards.


• Soak the gelatin, press out the water and let them melt in a small pan. My mother’s tip is to add the raspberry pulp to the gelatin spoon by spoon while stirring all the time. Thereby you will ensure that there are no lumps.


• Next blend the mousse with the ricotta and fold in the cream of whipped egg whites and sugar that you have produced before.


• Pour the final mixture into the cake pan that is lined with the ladyfingers on the bottom and on the sides. Smooth the top carefully and put it into the refrigerator for about 8 hours. You can also easily prepare it on the day before you actually need it.

Finally you can decorate the birthday cake any way you like.
My mother chose to use a special low calorie whipped topping made from 1 12-ounce can evaporated 2% milk, 1/4 cup of sugar, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. You pour everything together in a mixing bowl. Beware, the milk has to be chilled! Whip the mixture with a hand mixer until you get the usual whipped-cream consistency. This usually takes about 5 minutes.
Finally the birthday cake was decorated with some raspberries, my favourite berries!
Knowing the exact ingredients of the cake I have to admit that there are for sure some cake recipes with less calories out there. But I ensure you this cake will taste delicious. My mother tried to reduce calories by eliminating the usage of whipped cream from the recipe. In the mousse she used ricotta instead of it and finally for the topping she also replaced the whipped cream and thereby cut down on calories a lot.
So finally the secret of my birthday cake recipe was disclosed! I hope you like it!
Yours,
Dieting Delilah

Photocredits/@lacerise.blogspot.com

         

Just a quick new post for you, my dieting audience!
I am on vacation at my mother’s place with my daughter for a week – that’s why you are not hearing a lot of me at the moment. It’s just nice to relax for a couple of days with the family and leave all the day to day worries behind you. Wonderful!

I love reading and so my plan for the week is to finish some books, but also to read up on new diet topics and other interesting issues.

The latest news that caught my attention: First lady Michelle Obama has started digging a organic kitchen garden at the White House to grow her own veggies.

I have to admit I am a real fan of Mrs. Obama. She has made a lot of smart moves since her husband became president and planting her own vegetables in the backyard of the White House is another one.
Reportedly she planted fennel, spinach, broccoli and other vegetables together with a group of school children placing emphasize on the fact that children should be educated about food. It is meant to be a symbolic act against child obesity and America’s fast food culture!

I hope that Michelle Obama is setting an example for Americans all over the country to start their own vegetable garden. Organic gardening has so many advantages: first you know where your food comes from, second organically grown food is much more nutritious, third gardening means physical activity which is so important, fourth growing your own vegetable is a statement for environmental friendliness,.....

This list could continue on and on! Therefore, for everyone who is trying to lose weight organic vegetable gardening is definitely a topic to look at!

I have grown up in a family where a lot of emphasis was placed on the fact where food came from. My parents always bought locally grown food, to support the community and to ensure quality. I can still remember when I was allowed to grow my own tomato plant - I was so proud when the fragile green something grew into a healthy big plant that finally grew big, red tomatoes. Giving children an experience like that is really important!

Unluckily I didn’t give my daughter the chance to get involved with veggie gardening. But I am thinking about having a vegetable patch at home this year. My mother grows all kinds of vegetables and fruit here at her house so probably my daughter and I can get some inspiration!

I hope that either Mrs. Obama or I can inspire you too to think about growing your own food!

See you soon,

Dieting Delilah

PS: to all of you interested in the recipe for my low calorie birthday cake with raspberries – I am currently pumping my mother for information! A little more patience please

Photocredits/ @kdrv.com

         

First of all I want to thank everyone for the many birthday wishes I received via twitter, facebook, email and this homepage. I really had a wonderful day yesterday!

I had a big family lunch with lots of relatives, which was great as I hadn’t seen many of them for quite a long time. I think its really important to keep in touch so birthdays are always a good thing to do that.

We all had an awesome time and I also got lots of presents – the most important part of every birthday, isn’t it ? As most of my friends and family know that I am trying to watch my weight I got lots of dieting related gifts among them some diet books that I’ll soon write a review on.

My mother had even made me a special diet birthday cake with lots of raspberries as they are  my favorite fruit. It tasted really nice! Another proof that sweets and cakes don’t have to be loaded with fat and calories to taste yummy. A low calorie cake can be just as nice!

In the evening I went out with some of my best friends and – as usual – we had a blast. We were in a nice bar and also did a little bit of dancing. According to a calorie counter online I worked off about 1000 calories while dancing. Quite a bit, uh?

But I guess I won’t experience particular weight loss through that as we also had some cocktails in between.  People tend to think that those cocktails won’t have to much effect on their weight because they taste light and fruity. However, the mix of spirits and fruit juices in most results results in high calorie drinks. Most spirits even have a higher percentage of calories than beer and calories. I read in an article that nutritionist say that “alcohol and weight loss mix like whiskey and grapefruit juice“.

I guess that’s true, but for my birthday I feel I really deserved this treat!

Luckily the evening was just great and luckily none of us lost her purse or ended up in an embarrassing situation. We gave the taxi driver a hard time on the way back home tough – sorry Peter, we promise we will never take your taxi again – but that’s just what girls do, right?!

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday,

Dieting Delilah

Photocredits/@www.sotirov.com