Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I was on high doses of Prednisone for about 5 months last year and created a diet that worked for me - obviously, you should talk with your doctor first and everyone's situation is different. I am lucky that I am small to begin with. However, I did a lot of research to create this diet and did not gain any weight or get the facial swelling that is common. Even my doctors were very surprised...I actually lost a few pounds!! I was very strict about it, and it worked for me, but it might be difficult for some.

The biggest thing I did was to avoid white foods with the exception of cheese. I can tell you I did not have even one piece of bread, not one french fry. That also means steering clear of sugar and salt. It's pretty hard, but I found that ultimately it changed my eating habits for the better! If you go to health food stores and look for gluten free products, you can find lots of yummy crackers that don't have all that processed flour. For breakfast every day I had Arrowhead Mills Organic Wheat Free 7 Grain Hot Cereal. On its own, it's not so good - but I added dried blueberries and almonds and it really filled me up. Sometimes I also made poached eggs with tarragon, olive oil, and goat cheese served over Kavli crisps and it is one of my favorite things to eat! I also ate a lot of yogurt (unsweetened) with fresh fruit. No granola.

Surprisingly, I actually ate a lot of cheese (steroids deplete calcium, as I'm sure you know) and had no issues with weight gain. For my other meals, I stuck with lots of proteins and veggies (lots of chicken and fish, grilled vegetables, sauteed spinach, that sort of thing). I also ate a lot of sushi (no soy sauce). If I wanted sweets I would have ginger slices or sometimes dried figs with goat cheese. I also never, ever drink soda anyway, so as others have mentioned, lots of water is always a good thing.

As a snack, I always kept (and still do) a stash of almonds with me. I find that when I need a snack, it gives the crunch I need and fills me up.
I also read a book "Coping with Prednisone" as part of my research - it has some recipes - but honestly the book mostly scared me so I'm not so sure I would recommend reading it beyond the food part.

One last thing. I also regularly started going to acupuncture. I'm not sure if that was a factor in my weight but it certainly helped with my overall well being, in my opinion.
I hope this info is helpful. Good luck!

I made an enormously popular Oreo truffle dessert from a recipe that one of your readers had posted awhile ago.
But of course, I had to eat it with a side of humble pie being from New England and all.

How fun was that?! I was in Paris June 3-8 and happened upon a side street with tight security. YES! Meryl Streep was on the set, and all I could see were black screens with a lot of crew members hanging around. If only I had known the dress code, perhaps I could have been an extra, too. Maybe next time.

I just finished her Bad about My Neck book. I'm sure I could be an extra in that one! If only I had some pull....other than on the wattle, I mean!

#47, in a Sherlock Holmes coat, hm? Anyone else out there hearing the Maxwell Smart voiceover? "Salsa, I was shopping for salsa. Would you believe...?"

Ed, I think your new nom de plume should be Agent 47, after all being an extra is sort of like subterfuge, non?

Jacqueline Church
aka The Leather District Gourmet

First Thomas Keller consults on Ratatouille, now this! Excellent!

Maybe the SE crowd knows the answer to this... Some time back, Joan Cusack was slated to portray beloved Julia Child in a movie but nothing ever came of it... Anyone know the movie or why nothing happened?

I am a New Yorker who has been living in Boston for some 25 years. New York has always been a world-class food town. Who could really argue. When I was growing up in New York in mid-20th century, New York was the capital of the world, and where food was concerned there were some truly great things I simply took for granted.

Many of these are as unobtainable now in New York as they are elsewhere. Is New York pastrami still great at Katz's? - yes but it's not like it used to be, and it's made in Albany. Is New York cheesecake wonderful? - not like it used to be when Leonard's of 2nd Avenue was still supplying the best to restaurants and hotels so anonymously. Today you can barely find any mention of the place or its extraordinary product anywhere on the web. You'll notice my name here: "noshstalgic" - I've been blogging about this stuff for a while now at noshstalgia.blogspot.com.

After a while, ranting into the blogosphere didn't seem a sufficient response. So I began an effort at culinary archeology to recreate the things I so missed. And even though I still love many of New York's signature items, I am here to make a claim. The best pastrami in the land is now hand-made in Boston, MA - to my specifications. My recent blog postings at Noshstalgia extolled the virtues of pastrami as the ideal Super Bowl food. Not nachos, not chicken wings. Quoting now:
"Nothing else so distills the essentials of football sustenance - Beef, Spice, Warmth, Smoke, and Beer Affinity."

So - confining ourselves to the dual questions of pastrami as football food - and as quintessential New York food - who's wrong here - Ed or Sheryl?
Both...
Sheryl because pastrami is perfect for football.
And Ed because the best is actually to be found here in Boston. If you don't believe me, (and please pardon the commercial plug) stop on by to Savenor's or John Dewar's (Boston's two premier meat purveyors) and ask for some of Boston's Deli Arts brand pastrami. Take it home, steam it up as directed, and slice it down. It's like a time machine. You'll smile.

I also made white truffle popcorn! It's been a while since I COULD NOT stop eating something.