So the family decided to change dinner up a bit, and hamburgers on the George Forman, along with fries (homemade) and corn on the cob. I had one small burger, with one teaspoon of ketchup, and one teaspoon of yellow mustard. I also added a small tomato slice. I also had an ear of corn with very little butter melted on top. I did not have any fries. Despite eating a few small healthy meals today, did I mess up having the hamburger? I'm still well under my caloric intake for the day...

Caloric intake is only one part of the equation. If your goal is to lose weight, then being in caloric deficit is good. If your goal is to eat healthy then I would question where are the fresh fruit and vegetables, and healthy clean protein? Refined and processed food combined with high starch vegetables is not the most healthy. One meal does not wreck the whole day, just don't form bad habits that are difficult to break.

Sounds as if you are on the right track, so don't be overly concerned about one meal that did not go according to plan. We all have to adapt to the rest of the family and household.

Ok, let me ask you this ... and this is not to be snarky on my part, but I want you to think critically about this as part of learning how to eat healthy.

WHY do you think you might have messed up? What is it about a hamburger on the GF grill that you think might be bad? What about the meal you ate leads you to believe you might have screwed up for the day?

Like I said, I'm not asking to be snarky. Talk it out here if you need to ... and be logical about your question.

The idea here is not for US to tell you what's good and bad, but for YOU to learn how to determine if you "messed up" or not. Or to what degree.

this part concerns me. you should never be well under your calories for the day. and a buger + a few small meals sounds like you're way undereating.

No need to worry, I'm now 17 calories over my daily...so I'm done for the day!

Yes, the hamburger leads me to believe that I may have gone into the "no no" zone. I hate to come off as a witch, but I'm planning on making my own dinners. Over the past few days, dinner seems to be where all of the caloric intake happens, and that's where I'll commonly go over what's recommended. I don't like fried or greasy food anymore...which is a huge change. I used to love it, and now I could more than do without it. Hamburgers, hot dogs, fries...none if it is highly appealing anymore.

Yes, I'm eating to try to lose weight. I do eat fresh vegetables and fruits throughout the day, as well as a number of other healthy, diet-friendly foods. I just gave a rough example of "today".

Thanks for the help, it is truly appreciated.

Ok. So now I'm going to offer a counterpoint to that.

You said "I don't like fried or greasy food anymore...which is a huge change. I used to love it, and now I could more than do without it. Hamburgers, hot dogs, fries...none if it is highly appealing anymore."

Why do you think a hamburger is inherently bad?

This is a mindset that I think people get into that eventually causes failure. People who are just starting a diet get into this mindset that X food = evil and they will never eat it again. Hamburgers are evil. Hotdogs are evil. Fries are evil. Whatever.

Food is not evil. Hamburgers are not evil. A hot dog doesn't have to be evil. Fries are not evil.

If you like hamburgers and want one now and then, and it's healthily prepared - then for god's sake, eat it. Cooked on a GF grill, a lean burger is high in protein reasonably low in fat. You didn't glop it with mayo. You didn't eat fries. You added some veggies. You stayed within your calories. So ... um ... what's messed up about that?

Don't make the mistake of assigning some inherent "badness" to one form of food and then saying that every time you eat that food, you've screwed up. That's self-sabotage of the worst kind.

I eat hamburgers about once every two weeks. I make them at home. I cook them on the GF grill or on the outside grill which helps drain off the majority of the fat. I make them with lean beef and serve them on whole grain buns. Believe it or not, I even make homemade fries and eat them. I just make sure they fit into my calorie plan and that I'm not sacrificing other nutrients for them.

So I'm asking you again ... THINK CRITICALLY and not in a knee-jerk "hamburgers are evil" fashion ... did you *really* mess up by having a burger tonight?

Edited to add: Here's a blog post I made on the subject a while back: http://www.karacooks.com/2009/08/ham...ealthy-eating/

Ok, now I'm understanding more clearly. I can still have the above, but in moderation. My entire diet for quite some time consisted of about 95% fast food. Hence, the feeling that fast food (hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, etc) was "evil". I'm slowly learning here...bare with me!

That's why I wanted to talk you through it rather than just giving an answer.

Remember that a hamburger doesn't have to be "fast food".

That's why I wanted to make the point that very few foods are actually inherently bad. What you DO with them can be bad. You can make bad choices about them ... but the food itself is not bad.

This is part of learning to eat FOR LIFE. To me that's really important. There is no way that I'll go my entire life never ever ever eating a hamburger again. And if I felt like I screwed up every time I ate a hamburger - I would soon become seriously depressed.

Life is full of hamburgers - and cookouts, and pizzas, and potentially bad food choices. How you choose to incorporate them into your life - in a healthy homemade version, as an occasional treat ... that's the lifestyle change we all have to learn.

If I buy burgers I buy them at a butcher's shop. I know of a butcher that sells his normal recipe - but if you are willing to pay a higher price he also does a range of products which have been certified as fully lean by Slimming World (Weight Watchers main competitor in the UK). I can therefore get burgers that are as lean as I could make them (I do not have Kara's patience in the kitchen).

I know people who can get similarly good burgers from butchers over there. I think that talking to your butchers about what they have and can do is important.

Grilled they can be the basis of a pretty healthy meal with a heap of salad in the summer or even baked beans....

My only issue is that I cannot be certain of the sodium content - which is why I do not have them too often.

As far as incorporating fries into your healthy eating plan - the following may be of interest...

Good recipe, Margaret.

I do oven baked fries a lot. Another good variation is oven baked sweet potato fries. So yummy and you can sprinkle them with something spicy like a little cayenne or something and they're so delicious you don't even miss the salt.

Sprinkling with cayenne sounds good. I will try that because I have to be so vigilant about salt.