Year 2, Day 259: North Carolina Day Three, Return Home

Having been advised that there would be little in the way for SoBe dieters, I once again got up at the crack of dawn and moseyed down to the "Courtyard" for some breakfast. Of course, all the usual Southern choices were there, like grits, biscuits, biscuit gravy, curdled eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage in two ways (links and disks) and naturally, steaming hot, but very weak coffee. I loaded up on eggs, bacon, cantaloupe (one of only two non-canned fruits on display) and gasp—a few strawberries—and sat down to tank up for a day of meetings. I had about three cups of coffee, and normally that would turn me into a raving Daffy Duck—but I think I realized what the secret to the slow gait of the Southerner is—there isn't any caffeine in his coffee. It could also be the fact that most of their breakfasts are laden with fat, sugar and carbohydrates, which are sure to slow anyone down. The waitress asked for my card so she could send me a Christmas card. I think she was touched by the fact that I remembered she had a daughter in Maryland.

Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs
Bacon
Strawberries
Cantaloupe

Snack
Banana
Almonds & Cashews
1 Fruit & Nut Delight Bar

Lunch
Nearly Inedible Chicken on a Salad

Dinner: Carolina BBQ
"Low-Carb-Platter"
Brisket, Ribs, Pulled Pork
Cole Slaw
Collard Greens
2 Fried Pickles

Arrive at Home Snack
1 UFO Beer
Almonds/Cashews

A lot of people on the retreat ordered salad for lunch (as I did) and even told me they were planning to eat something plain for dinner, because they kept saying "they couldn't eat meat one more time." I found this a strange thing to say, and something that since I started South Beach I don't really understand. I eat meat (and I guess this means pork or cow) at least five times a week, and I am just accustomed to eating it. I am careful not to overdo it. Maybe that's the difference. On my way out of North Carolina, I knew exactly what I was going to eat—there is a totally acceptable BBQ place in the airport called Carolina's, which maybe to those who know better is slumming it, but for me was the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. As if they knew I was coming, they had the "Low Carb Platter" which I ordered, and I stole the hot-vinegar sauce for the table. I also tasted, and fell in love with, fried pickles. Of course since I never eat anything fried, anything fried tastes great but these were special. I was told my one of my cohorts that if I tasted a REAL fried pickle I would die happy.

In what for me was the highpoint of the team-building experience, the gang at Domania and a few others helped me get to the airport, and even allowed me to take the one last seat on an earlier plane so I could get home in time to celebrate Emily's birthday (or what was left of it). With pre-holiday weekend delays, I only got home about a half hour before they all did, but it really meant a lot to me. I celebrated my homecoming with another beer and a few nuts, gave Emily her presents, and then I thought, as I always do, "I must get to the gym!"

Year 2, Day 258: North Carolina Day Two

My company scheduled us for a two-day company outing on which the first day involved an 8AM arrival at secluded YMCA setting. Part of being on the South Beach diet is sussing out your meals ahead of time. Naturally, I called the exec assistant in charge of putting it together a few days earlier. I asked what kind of breakfast would be served. Further, I said, if it will just be muffins and donuts I want to know so I can plan something else. Because she is nice, I think she agreed to change the menu (though I did not ask her to). However, she did remark at the meeting that the breakfast the following day would be bagels and fruit and added that 'people with special dietary needs are on their own.' Since she mentioned that the first day's breakfast 'might have it catered by Chick Filet-A," I decided to take no chances and eat a big breakfast at the hotel that AM. As it turned out, there were bacon egg and cheese wraps, which I helped myself to one of, as well as a banana. The lunch that day—BBQ—was advertised as 'being brought in from South Carolina,' so I had very high hopes. After all, I have been have been passively searching for the country's best barbecue. When lunch time arrived, it was sorely needed but culinary disappointing. The pulled pork was good, but way too sweet. The baked beans and cole slaw also suffered from this problem. Additionally depressing was that there was no sauce hot enough for my liking. Even the one labeled XX-HOT was mild, by my standards.

Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs
Bacon
Cantaloupe
Strawberries

Lunch
Pulled Pork
Cole Slaw
Beans
Chicken Breast

Snackz
Banana
Cashews/Almonds
1 dry soy cappuccino

Dinner
Caesar Salad (7 leafs of lettuce)
Ribs (Ground-round style)
Green Beans (pretty good)

Dessert
3 Bites of Cheesecake

Afterwards
2 Heizenweiss Beer Glasses

In addition to eating an early breakfast, I also brought some cashews/almonds and a few joy sticks, in case a low-blood sugar moment should come over me and I was in the middle of a corporate-sponsored trust exercise that I could not extract myself from. Fortunately for all involved, this did not happen. I did stop during the scavenger hunt for a dry-soy-cappucino when I noticed a few of my other cohorts were already ensconced at the Starbucks in the mall. Alas, it did not help, for my team failed to place. The final meal of the day was at a game room that served liquor and in a moment of foolish hope, I ordered the ribs, but then was crushed to realized the fact that we were in North Carolina was only incidental; the ribs had been minted and shipped from some Ground Round corporate facility, somewhere in the United States. Following dinner I was supposed to meet an old friend, but to top off my day, my cell phone up and died.

At the suggestion of a few peers, for whom I was there to develop kindly relations with, I stepped out for a few wheat beers. When I weighed that choice against going for another 10:00pm workout at the Marriot exercise room, it seemed like the only sensible choice.

Year 2, Day 257: North Carolina, Day One

First day in North Carolina went pretty much without a hitch from a travel and plan perspective. Looking over my day in advance, I noted that I had a serious lunch problem, as my flight left at 11:00AM and arrived at 1:00PM and I had a meeting at 2, and then at three. I thought hard about what I could eat on the plane and spontaneously came up with an egg salad sandwich (made up eggs that Ruby, Magnolia and Emily didn't eat this morning), microwaved turkey bacon (surprisingly good) plus melted jalapeno cheddar on two slices of Balthazar Multi-grain bread. It was quite good and I drank it was a tomato juice on the plane. (You thought I was going to say I ate it with some fava beans and a nice chianti, didn't you?)

Breakfast
kashi go lean
heritage flakes
blueberries
bananas
unsweetened soy milk
green tea

Plane Lunch
2 SLices Balthazar Multigrain Bread
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar, Melted
About 4 oz. Egg Salad
3 Strips Turkey Bacon
Tomato Juice with Lemon
Diet Coke

Snacks
About 3 oz of Almonds/Cashews
1 Joy Stick

Dinner: Cabo Fish Taco
Mahi-Mahi Burrito
Mexi-Slaw

We may never know why my staff and I decided to drive 25 minutes from our hotel that was offering free appetizers and drinks to wait 45 minutes at a hole-in-the wall place in Charlotte's "Art District," NoDa (North of Davidson). But the food was great—though unnecessarily caloric. I had a great time and then decided that I would take advantage of the gym in the hotel and I worked out for 60 minutes on a combination stair/elliptical that I didn't push myself too hard on. I did sweat, and I did do 60 minutes, and it was at 10:00pm at night. But it wasn't my greatest workout. I have an early call for rope climbing tomorrow, so I've got to sign off.