Maggie: Making Room for Worth-It Foods

Maggie: Making room

Changing the way you eat doesn't always mean you have to give up your favorite foods.

Maggie Morris includes her beloved pizza and the occasional hamburger or filet mignon in her food plan. But she has them only about every three months. And she has small portions. "I have what I call my worth-it foods," says Morris, a nurse who lost 50 pounds while exercising more and eating healthier.

She often changes those foods to make them more healthy. No more bacon cheeseburgers at the fast food restaurant. "I eat hamburgers, with lean meat, and I make them at home on the grill."

She loves pizza, but she no longer eats the kind with mounds of cheese and pepperoni.

"The pizza I'm eating now is more European style—thin crust, with a lot of nice seasonings, tomato or a marinara sort of thing, with basil and a little bit of the mozzarella or provolone," she says. "I just love the wood-fired crusts with less cheese. I thought I would hate that. What I've discovered is that I taste flavors so much more now than I did when I ate my high-fat diet."

When she craves something sweet, she will have a small portion of premium ice cream once in a while. But she's more likely to reach for a fat-free fudge bar.