For the exterior shots, Chris Columbus used a church in River Forest … can’t remember the name, but I’ve seen it. For the interior, with all that lovely woodwork, he used Grace Episcopal in Oak Park.

If I were going to go off my eating plan for anything a Giordano’s pizza might just be the thing! My nephew can get away with it. He seems to have the metabolism of his dad (my sister’s husband) who at age 54, and 6’3″, can still barely manage to keep his weight above 160. Alas that is not a problem I share, so it’s a good thing Giordano’s is so far from me too. Oh well, I had to share his pizza photo on Facebook and live vicariously. LOL.

You can always have them send one of their half-baked/frozen pizzas, but that makes for a pretty expensive meal.

and as the guy from Lafayette said – there are some good dairy farms around here. Traders Point is just north of Indianapolis in Zionsville – and while they “legally” have to pasteurize, they don’t homogenize and the dairy cows are grass fed.

good post!

If I ate it every week, I’d weigh 220 as well.

Also, any weight you might have gained overnight from stuffing yourself with carbs are likely water-lbs since they retain fluid. I highly doubt you can sink a week’s worth of dieting by overeating 500-1000 calories worth of carbs in a day, the body is much more adaptive then that.

So feel free to have a ‘free meal’ once a week, that includes carbs.

I went to the gym today and found that I’m at the same weight as when we left, so no harm done.

You can use any fruit, we are drowning in rhubarb right now so I’m using that. Cut your fruit into bite size pieces. Squeeze some lemon juice over the fruit. (If you are in a pinch, balsamic, apple cider, or white vinegar with some lemon flavoring will all work, too, but I like lemon juice.) For a brownie pan’s worth of fruit, use 1/4 tsp of baking soda. For a lasagna pan’s worth of fruit, use a 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Sprinkle the baking soda over the fruit, and stir to blend *very* well. There will be some foaming. That’s fine. Sprinkle with stevia to taste. I usually three packets of stevia for a brownie pan’s worth. Then I put a tablespoon of white sugar in, too, but that’s optional. Honey would work, too. Mix well. Almond and/or vanilla flavoring are good, too. (The base baking soda cuts the tartness of the fruit, and the acid of lemon juice or vinegar breaks down the fruit’s cell walls to release more natural sugar- like a forced, controlled ripening, almost to the point of rot, which is okay b/c you’re going to eat it right away. This makes everything taste sweeter so you need very little sweetener.)

Put the fruit mixture in par baked pie crust, or top with equal parts butter and old fashioned oatmeal. You can use some stevia with just a couple drops of molasses to sweeten the butter oatmeal topping if you want to.

Bake on 350 for about 45 minutes for rhubarb, less time for a more delicate fruit like peaches or berries. Serve with unsweetened whipped cream. When I make it, I typically use about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar for the whole pan- fruit and topping. We have two close friends who are diabetic, so we make the zero sugar version for events at their places, and there is never any left, even among groups of sugar eaters. It is delicate sweet taste, not overpowering, and none of that fakety fake too much stevia/splenda/corn syrup/aspartame taste.

No, I’m not hard-core paleo. Cream and cheese aren’t paleo, and I include them in my diet. I mostly avoid sugar and refined carbs.

Sounds like a good recipe. My wife makes a baked dessert that’s similar. Berries, cream, Truvia, ground nuts, a little oatmeal and butter. I’m not much of a dessert eater, but the girls like it.

Actually for the most part all that sounds pretty healthy. Too bad you didn’t include a pic.

But the pizza? Now that is something I want to try.

The dinner pictures didn’t turn out well.

I grew up on the south side of Chicago, and when I go back home, I too indulge in Giordano’s pizza. I usually go to the one on the south side, 63rd and Cicero. I also indulge in a Chicago style hot dogs. I figure I only go home once every year or two, so I like to eat the foods that remind me of my childhood. I also like Geno’s East Pizza.

Like you, once I am back home, I go straight back to low carb eating

Also, I won your DVD Fat Head from Jimmy Moore’s Blogerversary. Thank so much for autographing it and sending it to me. I watched it 4 times. It is so hilarious. I plan on showing my brother and his wife.

Glad you won, Michelle, and sorry it took so long to arrive. Took awhile for my distributor to get me another box of DVDs.

I was back there for a convention recently with my partner, and we had a thin crust pepperoni and sausage pizza, and it was utter heaven.

I’ll give it a try next time I visit my buddy who lives in Naperville.

Tom, I’m guessing you don’t read Huffpo, but they’ve had two columns this week (Drs. Andy Weil and Mark Hyman) about how a low fat diet does not help most people to lose weight. They both touched on the role of insulin and simple carbohydrate. It seems to me that folks are starting to come around.

The lighting wasn’t flattering. The middle layer is cheese, sausage, green peppers, onions, and black olives.

I’m delighted to see how Dr. Weil has come around.