Year 4, Day 66: Sugar Free is not Calorie Free

One of the most difficult things to remember is that things that don't contain sugar are not only not reliably GOOD for you, but that often they are WORSE for you than the things they are replacing.  What all the sugar-free stuff really is for is not for dieters who actually will torpedo their diets by ingesting lots of calories and bad stuff like corn syrup but for diabetics and those that actually can eat anything but not SUGAR.  Anyway, tonight I took Ruby to Cabot's after her clay lesson and for some reason I talked myself into ordering a sugar free chocolate soft-serve yogurt.  To my own dismay, I completed the transition to old Jewish man when I could hear to repeatedly say outloud, to no one but my uninterested, underpaid wait staff 'this can't be sugar free.'  Ruby, meanwhile, was buried, nose to eyebrow in coffee oreo sundae, minus the cherry, whipped cream, or really anything that would qualify it as a sundae.  Again, there were a lot of nuts. It was not a great day.

Breakfast

2 Eggs

3 slices of Canadian Bacon

Coffee

Snack

4 sticks beef jerky

2 cheese sticks

lots of almonds (probably in the 70s)

Lunch: Demo's

Chicken kebab with Greek Salad

Dinner: Cabot's

Side Caesar Salad (made from the dark green gritty tops of romaine hearts, a sad tale but I ate all of it)

Dinner Salad (Spinach, bacon, olives, mushrooms, cheese, grilled chicken). I eschewed the eggs.

Dessert

1 cup of sugar-free (!) chocolate soft-serve yogurt

Ruby said her hamburger was 'perfect' and even better than the 'burger bar'.  She poured ketchup on half of the bun, then dipped seven french fries in it.  Then she lost all interest in her french fries and ate the entire hamburger and left both halves of the bun over.  That's my girl, I thought.  Save the calories for the ice cream.

Year 3, Day 147: Trip to Block Island

It was up early, get dressed, get sprayed and Ruby and I were off with David & his family to see my father and stepmother at their place on Block Island. It was a perfect day, not too hot but nice enough to go to the beach. David went to Dunkin Donuts en route and got Ruby some munchkins (at my request) and some coffee for the adults. We got to the ferry on time, got parked and got over. When we arrived safely we had lunch-- I eschewed the probably delicious fried foods or fresh lobster for a plain old greek salad with chicken. Just like my father-in-law would say, lunch is a 'biological requirement.'

Breakfast
Kashi
Flax/AMartahin
Driscoll's Strawberries
Blueberries
Soy Milk

Lunch: Block Island
Greek Salad with Chicken

Snack
Lots of Cashews & Almonds
Some 4-Bean Wasabi
1 oz Boston LIte Popcorn

Dinner
House Salad
Tuna (Black and Blue)
Zucchini

1 Bite of Coffee Ice Cream

We spent some of the day walking, but since my father's back is in crisis, we made our way to the beach. I suggest I drove us toward the beach with 'amenities' though everyone else wanted to go to the nicer, quieter, beach 'without amenities.' I didn't think the beach we went to was very crowded (by my standards) and I was glad to be there since we took advantage of their shower, their lifeguard (Ruby thought she got bitten by a jellyfish) and their ice cream stand (she actually got frozen Reese's). On the way back to the ferry, my father & s.m. took us out to eat, and perhaps egged on by her cousin, Ruby ate one entire Caesar salad all by herself. My jaw was on the floor but I stayed silent, all the way home, when at about 9:00pm, we carried her tired, drooping, half-asleep body upstairs to bed.