Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

the million dollar question! it's so hard.... especially when you like your own cooking.

i've learned how to train my palate away from desserts and carb laden meals.... (believe me, it ain't easy) ... and luckily for me i LOVE salad. i can make a meal on a huge salad and a piece of chicken or steak or lambchop or salmon or whatever protein.... or sometimes just a nice piece of cheese.

the bread, desserts, risotto, pasta, scalloped potatoes, arroz con pollo, mashed potatoes and all that other good stuff is for when company comes over. and if i make it for the fam, i just have learned to forgo.

it's a way of life for me.... and i feel okay about it.

My mother recently was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, I went vegetarian, and my sister-in-law constantly diets. Thus, my father and brother are stuck with 'rabbit food'. I do most of the cooking, so it's been my challenge to find happy mediums. For us, we make a lot of assemble-yourself meals, i.e. taco bar, stir fry/ mongolian grill night, kabobs and rice, etc. Have lots of variety available, and maybe only one 'bad' dish. That way, everyone is bound to like something at the table.

If you still have picky eaters, maybe try a hidden-diet. Switch to that whole wheat bread that looks/tastes white. I've started putting sweet potatoes in pretty much everything. Jerry Seinfeld's wife, Jessica put out a book that I'm sure you're familiar with, Deceptively Delicious. While most of the recipes are too time consuming (I can only puree for so long!), she has really good ideas for a happy, healthy balance.

stay vegan/whole grain for breakfast and lunch and then eat tons of vegetables before you start eating the calorie dense portions of dinner. don't drink your calories. make a list of foods that you eat that you don't really love and cut them out of your diet. roast your veggies tossed in lemon juice and salt on a non stick baking sheet and you won't even need to oil the sheet.

Some people suggest chewing gum while you're cooking so you aren't tempted to taste everything. I've never actually tried it, but it's worth a shot. Also, try keeping a food journal and be religious about it. If you taste five spoonfuls of mashed potatoes before they're on the table, write it down. I find that to be helpful psychologically. Search out healthy but still tasty recipes. Look in magazines like Cooking Light, Health, etc., and from individual chefs such as Ellie Krieger on the FN. And joyyy is right - exercise is KEY. People would be amazed at how they wouldn't have to follow such an extremely severe diet if they'd just get up and move a little.

Taste what you need to taste while you're cooking, but don't make it a whole meal. Eat your meals on plates, and pay attention to what you're eating. Enjoy it. Don't sneak bites here and there when no one is looking. Put it on a plate and see how much it is.

Eat when you're hungry. Don't wait until you're ready to gnaw a leg off. If you're hungry an hour before dinner, sit down and have a little snack. Have a piece of fruit, or a slice of toast. Make yourself a pretty little appetizer. Eat a salad. Have a piece of candy and a hot drink (it will curb your appetite). And that's just one piece of a delicious, decadent candy that you will eat slowly and savor, not a whole bag of peeps that you've got stashed in your sock drawer.

Don't eat when you're not hungry.

Eat slowly. Enjoy every bite. Taste what you're eating. Don't eat things that don't taste good. Put your fork down between bites. Release it from your grasp and actually let it sit still for a moment. Chew and swallow before you pick up the fork again.

Stop eating when you aren't hungry any more. Note that I didn't say, "when you're full." If you keep eating until you feel full -- as opposed to not hungry any more -- you will have eaten too much. You want to satisfy the hunger, not gorge yourself.

If you want dessert, have it. But have it only if you're still hungry. So that means you eat less at dinner to save room for dessert, or you save the dessert for when you're hungry again. Which could be breakfast.

Don't deny yourself things that you love, but if the things that you love are insanely calorie dense, don't overindulge. And savor it. Don't inhale it.

Eat as much as you want as long as you expend enough energy to burn that much fuel. Have that super-sized sundae, but exercise enough to burn it off.

Choose food wisely. Do you really love that cheesecake enough for it to be worth giving up half your dinner, or dessert for the rest of the week, or doing 5 laps around the track? Or whatever the equivalent is. If the cheesecake is worth it, then eat it. But eat only as much as you need to satisfy your craving. You can put the other 3/4 of the slice back in the fridge and look forward to eating it later.

Have plenty of healthy foods readily available and make sure there are plenty of filling low-cal items on the dinner table. Eat salads. Eat veggies. Become friendly with whole grains. Change the proportions of what you eat. Take seconds of the zucchini instead of the ravioli.

You know how much you're eating, now, to keep you at your current weight. You know how much you move around. Eat less, move around more. It's that simple.

Heheh, and consider how much exercise it takes to burn off food. Those 5 laps around a standard outdoor track that @dbcurrie mentioned equates to 2000m, or about 125 calories for a 150lb person (More calories for a heavier person, less for a lighter person. Additionally, more for a beginner runner, less for a seasoned runner). That's a large apple. A banana. Not quite a 1/2 cup of plain oatmeal. A slice and a half of cheese. A slice of good, hearty, non-Wonder bread. A third of a large, bakery-sized bagel with no toppings. Definitely not a piece of cheesecake though, unless we're only talking a forkful or two. That statistic will either shock you into eating less or exercising more (the latter for me...love exercise and love food, so it's win-win as far as I'm concerned).

I'm not the dieting type, but I think paying attention to your hunger is the most important thing. Find a physical activity you like, make sure there's a vegetable dish at every meal, and learn to eat when hungry / stop when full.

I've also seen "stop when no longer hungry" but ymmv - that leaves me ravenous an hour after dinner especially if I've had water-filled food like veggies and soup. I like to aim to finish a meal and think that I don't have any desire to eat more food, but I probably could without pain. (of course, it's harder when there's super yummy food around, but that food will taste even yummier next time I'm hungry).

Bottom line - listen to your body and make sure there's good options around. Frankly, there's no reason the people you're cooking for shouldn't eat healthy food if you are. It's not like exercise, vegetables, and the like are only good for you if you weigh more than you want to.

I keep a pile of carrot and celery sticks on the counter while I'm cooking. That way I can taste a little of what I'm making to check for seasoning, but I don't accidentally eat my whole meal before we sit down. I nibble on the sticks instead.

Learn to eyeball an "appropriate" portion size (deck of cards for protein, for example) and measure out what you're going to eat instead of taking from a central dish.

And learning to cook healthier choices is a great opportunity for a cook -- make the most of it! You can do awesome things with pork tenderloin, for example. You might benefit from a subscription to Cooking Light for a year. Small price to pay, and lots of ideas.

If you want a "plan" to follow I highly recommend Weight Watchers. Other than that, the suggestions above pretty much cover it.

You have to learn how to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. Relearn your fats, portions, carbs and when to stop eating. Lots of books on it introduce yourself to a library.

As much an oxymoron as it seems, it's not impossible. Take advantage of the fact that you know what's healthy and what's not. Limit "tasting while cooking" to when it's necessary. Fill up on greens, salads and veg. And here's a swear word no one wants to hear - You MUST exercise. This will benefit your body in so many ways. It makes you strong so you'll have stamina in the kitchen, even if you cut back on the amount of food you eat. There's also that little side benefit of being able to lift heavy saucepans full of food. Your heart is your most important muscle and you need cardio to keep it in shape.

There IS enough time. Find some - make some, but get exercise into your life and you'll reap many benefits.