I'm still laughing! Well, the dinner party went just fine. Thanks to all of you, I was able to relax and enjoy it all. There was no talk about dieting or that he was on a diet. I couldn't wait to tell you about what happened with the food, though. You know what's coming, don't you? Of course you do. Before dinner, I really didn't pay attention to whether "Cuthbert" ate the blintzes or not or if he ate nuts (I decided against serving the salmon spread), and I did overhear him choosing vodka rocks (as lindac predicted). At dinner, I decided just to serve him the same peanut soup as everyone else. He ate it (admirably slowly), although I noticed when I cleared the bowls that he left the coconut/scallion garnish. He was seated at the other end of the table from me, so I don't know whether he took any vegetables. I put that chicken breast on the table near his end of the table, without any comment. Someone else asked about it, and I just said something like, "Oh, that's just if someone wants something plainer." I served that chicken/pastry/mushroom/artichoke/rice dish individually, and Cuthbert did take a piece. Not only did he eat every bite, he later asked if there was enough chicken left for him to have another helping. He finished that one, too. No dessert for him, not even the meringues. My only comment when I served dessert was in answer to "What are those?": "These are sugarless cinnamon meringues; they're an Atkins recipe." "Mrs. Cuthbert" ate those and no pie. She was seated right next to me, so I couldn't help but notice that, and also that she ate all the chicken dish EXCEPT the chicken. Maybe she has become a vegetarian? I did not ask or comment, of course. The dog and cat were delighted, though! So look at all I learned. I worried about entirely the wrong things. Mrs. C had said, "He finds the diet much easier if he just never deviates. But evidently, he was ready to take a night off. I only hope he didn't think *I* was trying to get him to stick to his diet or commenting on his weight! Thank you all again from the bottom of my heart. You were great. I really wasn't as spazzed out as I seemed -- but I still really, really appreciated your support, sympathy, and suggestions. Oh, and by the way, the youth group didn't end up congregating here anyway; their program was cancelled due to the weather, even though it wasn't bad enough to delay our guests. To thank you all, I want to share that peanut soup recipe with you. It is SO delicious, and really easy and fast -- and always gets "Wow, this is amazing!" from guests. I cut it out of the newspaper 2 years ago; it's by J.M. Hirsch, who writes a vegetarian cooking column. (He and his mom have a cookbook out; I've loved his recipes from the paper so much that I plan to buy it.) I hope you all enjoy it, too. I always double this recipe, which serves only about 4-5. Polynesian Peanut Soup 1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut (I had shredded, so I used that) 1 T canola oil 1 c finely chopped onion 1/4 c finely chopped fresh ginger 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 14-oz. can light coconut milk 3/4 c vegetable stock 3/4 c smooth natural peanut butter 1/4 c mango chutney 1 T minced fresh jalapeno chili, or to taste salt to taste 1/4 c finely chopped green onions 2 T minced fresh cilantro [I omit this, as we are "tasters"] sesame oil, for garnish In a small dry skillet, toast the coconut over medium heat, stirring constantly, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes (took less for me). Transfer to a plate and cool. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat.* Add the onion, ginger, and garlic . Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion and ginger are very tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer the onion mixture to a blender or food processor. Add the coconut milk, vegetable stock, peanut butter, chutney, and jalapeno [I chopped the jalapeno in there first and then added the rest]. Puree until smooth (anticipate a little leakage if you're doubling the recipe!). If the peanut butter is too thick, it might be necessary to add more stock (I like it thick, though). Transfer the soup to the Dutch oven and cook over medium heat until heated through. Season with salt to taste. Meanwhile, toss the coconut with the green onions and cilantro, if using. To serve, drizzle each bowl with some sesame oil and top with a mound of the coconut mixture. *I found that the onions stuck too much, even though I stirred almost constantly, so I ended up using another pot after pureeing. Next time, I will use a nonstick pan first to toast the coconut, then use the same one to cook the onions, ginger, and garlic, and not use the soup pot (Dutch oven) until after pureeing. Still a total of 2 pans to wash.

Use whole-wheat pita bread stuffed full of tuna or turkey salad. Lo-fat pudding/fruit cups. A serving of pretzels/chips/lo-fat crackers in a sealed baggie. Or take one of the frozen dinners to heat up in micro. I keep dill pickles in the fridge at work to munch on. SharonG/FL

I am a farmer too, but 4 years ago became a vegan per a naturopaths recommendation. I was bloated, had chest pains, allergies since I was a child, my joints all hurt and I was so tired that I just didn't want to do anything. It was recommended that I eat No meat, no dairy, no salt (except an occasional sea salt) and No High Fructose Corn syrup or artificial sweeteners (equal, nutrisweet, aspartame, or sugar, etc.)....I now have more energy than I had as a child and I am 55 years old. I no longer have to take steroids for my lungs, allergy pills, inhalers. My joints don't hardly hurt at all any more. And I dropped 70 lbs. the first year. I feel great! Yes, there are days I would love a piece of bacon, but it really isn't worth feeling bad again. I have been working with people for the last 3 months who have had every kind of flu out there this year as well as bad head colds, etc. Guess what....I have not caught any of it and I use the same computers that they do and touch the same stuff they do. I was told that sugar and dairy break down your immune system and fresh fruits and vegetables(not cooked) build your immune system. I do know this to be true as I used to catch everything that came along. My regular doctor always teases me and says he can't make any money on me as I eat too healthy. LOL I do eat a small amount of dairy in the form of real butter or ranch dressing, but always make sure to keep it below 5% of my daily intake. If you have Netflix, there is a movie on there called forks over knives which is real informative. Some of the Doctors on there who did the research came from family dairy farms. My whole family does not eat as I do, so we still raise our own chickens and fresh eggs and they are chemical free and fed organic feed. We don't feed genetically modified products to our animals either. Quite expensive, but much healthier for us.

There are so many false ideas promoted in the posting by Springroz. I have pursued physical fitness for 4 decades. I won't even attempt to link all the articles that de-bunk the loss of femininity due to exercise and weight lifting. There are too many to list. Just do a Google search on Testosterone and women. We have it and we need it and we can't do without it. As far as the idea of reducing movement to increase weight loss. I can't let this pass without citing at least one link. Again please do your research. There isn't ANYTHING worse for the human body than reduced movement and exercise. Nothing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3567319/. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/downloads/growing_stronger.pdf