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Healthy Life Confessions

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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34 Comments

  1. Kiki

    Oh, man. Do I need to try cottage cheese and greek yogurt again? I have avoided cottage cheese/cream cheese/sour cream my entire life…I’m proud of you for being open to new things.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I think you should try it again! Like I said, there were things I used to hate but learned to really like them. Our palates do change over time, so maybe you might like it? You never know. (Oh and I tried a mushroom recently just to make sure I still hate them. Yep, still hate them!)

  2. Jenna

    I adore your honesty!!! This is so great! When I lost weight I learned to really love veggies! I also started disliking mayo. Now I can’t stomache it! Spa love!!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thank you, Jenna. You know what’s funny, I hated mayo for most of my life (I always ate the weird diet stuff) and recently switched to real mayo and actually like it a lot now. I think eating a little bit of something real is better than eating a lot of something fake. Or at least, my body thinks so. I feel so much better.

  3. Carbzilla

    Yes, True Confessions was a “tabloid” magazine before there was such a thing a bajillion years ago. That’s the kind of crap I know because I’m old.

    Green tea makes my stomach jumpy, and I’m never eating oysters EVER, even if I’m on Survivor.

    OMG I want to go to Red Mountain soooo badly. It’s even more than we paid per night for our honeymoon, but that was our HONEYMOON! It’s almost as much as we paid for Spain, but that was SPAIN! I guess you can’t put a price on health. (Just don’t tell my bank account that)

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thanks for clearing up the mystery!

      I know! I wish that resort/spa wasn’t so un-affordable. It sounds like paradise.

  4. Yum Yucky

    I give up on the cottage cheese. I tried and tried and tried. No dice. Spinach almost everyday, though. Now what the hell is “oats in a jar”? I have no idea about this weirdness.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I understand that. There are still some things I just can’t do.

  5. Diane, fit to the finish

    I don’t like kale or green smoothies. I know I “should” but I just can’t do it!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Have you tried kale chips? I made those all summer long and loved them!

      I was doing green smoothies for a long time and what helped me was using a lot of fruit in it. Bananas, frozen strawberries, some yogurt. Made it less bitter.

  6. Lisa

    I can’t eat oatmeal any longer. The texture was always an issue and I didn’t eat it too often, but after my last pregnancy the thought of it grosses me out. The oats in a jar thing doesn’t make since to me either, but salad in a jar doesn’t make since either.
    I did discover as an adult that I love asparagus and have developed a toleration for peas. I will not eat a serving of peas, but don’t pick them out of things and I actually like them in cold salads. I tried collard greens, parsnips and turnips recently and have determined that I definitely don’t like them.
    After recently buying store brand yogurt my son complained that it was sour. When I tried it I realized it probably was sour to him, because I normally buy Yoplait! The yogurt just tasted more like plain yogurt than he’s used to. I realized how much sugary artificial sweetners I’m getting in yogurt, so I should probably by more store brand “sour” yogurt.

    True Confessions was an enormously popular magazine in the 40’s!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Michael can’t eat oatmeal because of a texture thing too. For me, I try to get that Scottish Oats type where they are chunkier and chewier than the creamy oatmeal.

      I learned to love asparagus as an adult too. It’s one of my favorites.

      When I started to make the transition from sugary Greek yogurt to plain, I thought it was really sour too. I added some fruit or agave syrup to it to make it palatable and now I can eat it plain with no issue.

  7. Michelle @ Eat Move Balance

    You said three things at the end of your post that I whole-heartedly agree with: being burnt out sometimes but afraid of what will happen, life before calories, and the fantasy vacation. I share all those same feelings!!! 🙂

    1. Lisa Eirene

      It’s nice to hear I’m not the only one with those feelings!

  8. Deb

    Trus Confessions *was* a magazine way back when.

    I grew up in a family that rotated about five dinners week after week. Crumbled hamburger and corn, mac n cheese (with nasty Velveeta), spaghetti, beans and ham, and hamburgers. The rest of the food in the house was all pre-made stick it in the microwave stuff or out of cans. I can’t remember every having fresh veggies in the house until I started buying them for myself around age 25. My idea of heaven was an actual home cooked meal- didn’t matter what it was when 90% of our food was microwave ready. My favorites snacks as a kid were entire cans of spinach or green beans or asparagus.I could not get enough of them. I was about 30 before I ever ate asparagus not out of a can. Almost any food except what I listed above my mother considers to be “exotic and nasty” and she wouldn’t allow it in to the house.

    Now since I buy all my own food and we occasionally go out to eat, I’m game to try just about anything. I love salads and steaks and veggies of all sorts. Oddly enough, there is very few fruits I like. I’m still working on that as the ones I do like tend to be the fatty high carb ones, with the exception of canteloupe and honeydew.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I can see why growing up in a house like that you’d want a home-cooked meal. I think it’s great that you are trying to change that now as an adult. That’s too bad your mom doesn’t want to try healthy foods!

  9. Gina @ Noshing on Asphalt

    Love this post! A food (or really a food group) that I don’t like but would love to is seafood. It’s so healthy for you but I just cannot make myself like it.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That’s a shame! But not uncommon. I know so many people that dislike seafood, or specifically salmon. But if you don’t like it, you don’t like it.

  10. Marie

    i used to hate brussels sprouts too, I thought they had such a terrible aftertaste. But I read somewhere that blaching/roasting takes that taste away. Plus anything is good roasted in salt and oil.

    I tried OIAJ once. It was like eating cold puke.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I wasn’t a huge fan of roasting them. But maybe it was because I scorched them a bit? I prefer them sauteed. Of course in bacon fat.

      Cold puke. Enticing.

  11. Danielle @ itsaharleyyylife

    all of your healthy foods that you have learned to like are the same as mine! I used to hate all yogurts now I can’t go a day without greek yogurt!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Isn’t it funny how our habits and palates change?

  12. Sarah

    I don’t get the oats in a jar thing either. Jars are so difficult to eat out of and annoying to clean. Bowls, people, bowls. Also, cold oats? Ew. Oatmeal is meant to be eaten warm.

    That resort looks fantastic. We should go. 😀

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I’M IN! Lets escape to the resort!!!!!!!!!

  13. Jess

    I started eating Greek Yogurt after not eating yogurt for over 20 years. I had to get over the texture, but once I did that I was golden.

    Can’t eat: Mushrooms, bell peppers, milk (well, thats a drink), pumpkin (but we eat it as a savory food here). I can’t do oatmeal, it looks like someone has already eaten it.

    I confess that I love working out now. If I don’t workout I feel like I haven’t completed my day!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      It didn’t take me long to get over the texture. It was definitely thicker than the yoplait I was used to. But once I did, I loved it! Now I can’t eat anything besides Greek.

      I love working out too! I miss it when I don’t.

  14. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh

    Just found your blog, can’t wait to look around!

    I make my brussels with bacon and caramelized onions or roasted garlic. I think adding those thing to anything would make it taste better! I’m with ya on the mushrooms too…gah-ross!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thanks for checking out my blog. I agree, brussels sprouts with bacon, onions or garlic are fantastic. I use Grape Seed oil to sautee it and it’s delicious.

  15. Hannahviolin

    I used to worry about taking some time off exercise, but I feel super charged right now because I’ve been more relaxed with myself–and I’ve lost a few pounds over the last month while letting myself be a little more relaxed!

    I love cottage cheese though, always have. It’s not a healthy food for me because I eat too much of it!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I think it’s natural to worry about falling off the wagon with a break. I also think it’s healthy (usually) because it reminds us NOT to let ourselves fall off the wagon.

      How do you eat your cottage cheese? I love putting it in salads or having it as a side with dinner.

  16. Julie

    I don’t like green tea either, but I love oolong. It’s a red tea that’s fermented more than green and less than black tea and has a lot of antioxidants. I use it to make iced tea. You should give it a try if you haven’t already.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I do have some oolong. Never tried it as iced tea. I will give it a go.

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