Cooking, an indicator of success?

Last Spring my wife and I purchased a CSA 1/2 share and we've been getting a bag of seemingly random vegetables every week.  This past week we got: 1onion, 1 leek, 3 potatos, and 5 carrots along with a few other things.  Anyway, I'm looking in the bag thinking "What will I make?" and the answer was Root Soup!  We tolerate soups are very well and I make them quite often.

This got me to thinking: are WLS patients who cook or those that have access to a cook (wife/husband, etc.) more likely to be successful?  I'm thinking if you're not a cook you're more likely to eat take-out, fast food, etc.

I cook.  When I cook it's tasty, &large amounts to share w/ 3 families - but due to an extremely hectic lifestyle (teen & elder parent responsibilities) I'm eating out 70% of the time. . .  have been for most of the last 4 years of maintenance (9/6 I'll be 7 years post)

I think it's more about the moment to moment  "hand to mouth" choices we make...  I do think my cooking experience helps me to look at "fast food" as a fast "base" to create fast, balanced meals with -  like I'll pick up Wendy's chili to go - "doctor it up" to our taste, bake a few dinner potatos to stuff w/ the chili & dinner salad... 

Overall - in my experience it's been an opportunity to make good / wise choices on a choice by choice basis.  Don't get me wrong, I'm human and pretty "normal" (whatver that means!) and sometimes I don't choose wisely - but it's momentary - it's about developing a healthy LIFESTYLE.

Keep cooking - it's coming to SOUP SEASON!!!! Fall is where my true cooking begins... (actually that makes me think of baking and baking makes me think of apple slices... hmmm, maybe I should just eat out...)   ( haha)

We don't eat out nearly as often as we used to. I like being able to control what goes into what we eat. You just don't know what you're getting when you eat at a restaurant, usually lots of butter or something to make it taste better. It took me a while, but I've found that there's a lot of lower-calorie food that tastes just as good as the really fattening stuff. Hungry Girl cookies, for instance, made with pumpkin and ground-up Fiber One. I've had to start hiding them from my grown kids & kids-in-law because they eat them faster than I can make them, and they're only 100 calories each and soooo good for you. I'm also looking forward to some colder weather so we can have some soup and good comfort food.

Ooo. I want a recipe...it's getting to be baking season around here and that sounds awesome.

These cookies have roughly 100 calories each, 1 g fat, 28 g carbs, 9 g sugar, 5 g protein, and 5 g fiber. It should make about 12 cookies. I bake 6 at a time on parchment paper. They are a good size and they don't grow much when you bake them. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.

1 c rolled oats (not cooked)
12 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Fiber One cereal (ground in blender)
1/2 cup Splenda
2 small jars baby food peaches (I use 2 Motts SF peaches, sold with the applesauce)
1/2 can pumpkin (15 oz. size)
1/2 cup egg substitute (or 2 eggs)
2 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons craisins
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons SF French vanilla powdered creamer
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

I cook.  I didn't for the first year.  But I do now.  With the amt. of protein I need each day it's a lot less expensive to cook Sundays and freeze dinners for the week.  

freeze dinners for the week.

I understand that!  Usually we go out ot eat on Fridays.  A restaurant meal generates at least two more meals worth of leftovers.  For example: the Chichanga dinner often has THREE chimis so I eat one and bring two home.  Then we will cook on weekends, that makes leftovers too.

So in the end, Monday - Thursday is eating the leftovers and the cycle starts over on Fridays.  In a strange way, it works well for busy weekday suppers.

I do that too.  I always bring home half the sandwich or half the dinner meal.  Gives me another free meal.

I cook almost every night - my husband has me chained to the stove...

I'm pretty successful, so I guess I could attribute it to the cooking.  I make extra so my DH and I have leftovers for lunch.  I get lots of good quality protein that way, and I don't rely on a lot of prepackaged stuff.

I don't, however, cook breakfast.  I rely on Dunkin Donuts for that.