Day 306: Sixth Night of Chanukah

I was the youngest in the gym today by 20 years. Also, the place was nearly empty, which I suppose is due at least in part to revelers skipping their workouts in order to secure their New Year's Eve roasts and the like. Today's moment of being choked up on the elliptical machine came from hearing the song "To Sir with Love." Specifically the line "And how do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to perfume? It isn't easy but I'll try." Although I never really had a mentor except for Rob Blumenfeld, who during my first year at Camp plucked me out of obscurity to have star in his play, but when I hear "To Sir with Love" I think of my friend Ray Metz, who honestly was as the words say "A friend who taught me right from wrong and weak from strong—that's a lot to learn." Soon it will be five years since he's gone. And I know he would tell me one thing: "Don't be afraid."

Breakfast
Two Slices Multi-Grain Bread Balthazar Bread
Super Chunky Peanut Butter
1st of 3 Cracker Barrel Cheese Blocks

Post Gym-Snack
3 Strips of Chicken
10 Whole Grain Wheat Thins
2nd and 3rd of 3 Cracker Barrel Cheese Blocks

Lunch
6 oz. Blueberry Yoplait Yogurt
1/4 cup Almonds/Cashews
1 Dried Peach, 4 Dried Apricots

Post-Lunch Snack
2 Cups of Microwave Popcorn
Coke Zero

Dinner
Steak Tips
Broccoli
Salad a la Molly

Today was a funny day eating wise since at 10AM I started a play date for Ruby at someone else's house and then I skeedaddled to the gym. En route back from the gym to my house, I ran into Emily who slopped me with some chicken (which was good because I was feeling woozy and light headed). At home after my shower I had some cheese and crackers (remembering that you can more efficiently metabolize carbs in the short period following a workout) then back to the marathon play date. When it ended at around 2:00pm, I again was starving and had the ol' yogurt snack but as the day wore on I found I needed the popcorn to get through to dinner. By dinner it was fine, but I am certain I blunted much of the four miles I burned off today.

Day 305: Chanukah Night Five

The first day I'm waking in Boston in a week feels very good, even though Emily has a mysterious hacking cough that I'm starting to develop also. I'm scheduled to go work today and somewhere in the back of my mind I'm trying to get to the gym, or go for a walk or do something. Of course, it's raining cats and dogs and so I focus on just trying to get to work, which turns out to be an olympic activity in itself. On balance, the Rye from Balthazar is good, but if you're not eating it fresh, the multi-grain has it all over.

Breakfast
Two Slices of Balthazar Rye Bread
Super Chunky Peanut Butter
1 oz Cracker Barrel Cheese
Tea

Snack
1/4 Almonds/Cashews
1 Dunkin Donuts Medium Coffee (Half-decaf)
3 Dried Peaches
1 oz Cracker Barrel Cheese
30 Pistachios
1 6 oz. Yoplait yogurt
1 pink lady apple

Lunch
1 6 oz Can of Tuna
1 Joy Stick

Dinner
Cheeseburger (93% Sirloin)
Pickles, Peppadews
Salad a la Molly

By the time I got to work it was near lunch time. Having spent most of the morning just trying to get there, I could not turn around and go to lunch (and as you can read by the above description, the deluge continued) so I just concentrated on drinking my coffee (a must for a return-to-work day) and snacks and tried to plow through some items that badly needed my attention. By 1:30 I needed to eat and there's little in the kitchen, so I opted for a can of tuna, straight from the can. It reminded me of the Garfield comic (back when it was funny—can anyone remember that?) where he was eating coffee straight from the can and said "Why dilute it?" By the time I got home I tanked up on snacks. I am missing dessert.

Day 304: Night Four of Chanukah

Today Emily and I set out to get back to Boston. Our original plan was to pick up our niece and go to the local community market, that does does a nice job of fruit salad, tuna salad and the like and eat that on the road, but en route Emily said she'd like to stop at Reins (http://www.reinsdeli.com/) on the way back, so we figured "Okay, we'll do that." When we got there, it was like the scene in "It's a Wonderful Life" where everyone demands their money because the S&L is failing, only at Reins people were demanding stuffed derma and side of latkes. We were thinking we would take out if the line was too long but the take-out line was too outrageous, so we split. I thought, 'they are turning away money with their poor line policing.' If Roger Berkowitz from Legal ran Reins, they'd be making TWICE AS MUCH MONEY, they'd have second restaurant and would be considering going public. Instead, they lost our business but we all enjoyed their bathroom. We made do with what was in the car.

Breakfast
2 Slices of Balthazar Multi-grain Bread
Peanut Butter
Tea

Lunch
2 Joy Sticks
1.5 Cheese Stick
A few slices of Clementine
2 Dried Peaches
4 Dried Apricots

Dinner
Shrimp
Sauteed Cabbage
Salad ala Molly (that is diced carrots, and a dressing of Olive Oil and Lemon)

As you all know, traveling in the car is tough, but it's even tougher when you plan on several stops you don't make to get food-supplies. Then, you're trying to feed your kids and all your plans go to hell. However, I've been on the diet long enough that I know that you have to make do and in the words of Ruby's preschool, "You get what you get and you don't get upset." So I gave up my yogurt (to Ruby, who devoured it) and made two with two joysticks. Naturally, when we got to Boston I spent nearly $200 in groceries and we all got caught up on our calories.

303: Chanukah Night Three

One piece of advice for those who love a dieter: Don't eat their food—for any reason. As a dieter, you have to work hard to make sure you are not eating what you should not. This means you know what foods you CAN eat and how MUCH of that you can eat. If you have counted out 30 nuts, or five cups of microwave popcorn, that's your portion. Regular people (aka those not on a diet) may not have any idea how sacrosanct those foodstuffs are. But I noted it outside of my own life that the protection of your diet-portion is crucial. It's been said that dieting can make you cranky, and when you live it, you see it, in little pieces, every day, why that is so, so true.

Breakfast
Two Slices of Balthazar Multigrain Bread
Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
Cheese from 1/2 slice of Pizza
Almonds/Cashews
Coffee
Yogurt

Lunch
Hot Dog with Mustard
Cole Slaw
Bok Choy

Dinner: Chinese
Shrimp with String Beans
Chicken with Broccoli
Spare Ribs

Throughout all this we must be adding on various bites of Team Cheerios (Magnolia forces me to eat them) every day, and also baby yogurt, apple sauce and oatmeal. All the time when I am trying to feed her, she is also trying to feed me. I do not want to squash this ambition by refusing her, though I try to fake it as much as I can. But you can only do so much faking—they get to a point where they don't want FAKING they REALLY WANT YOU TO EAT THIS CHEERIO, NOW. So you must oblige, and hope that there's an elliptical in your future, somewhere.

Day 302: Day After Christmas/ 2nd Night of Chanukah

I got on the Detecto scale at my mother's house and it said 193. This may have led me to feel free to have today's Soy Cappucino. "But you look so skinny" is one of the things that I heard over and over again upon seeing lots of my relatives, and people in my family. That's a great thing, but it's not why I did this. Of course, every time someone says that, I think "yes, but why didn't you TELL ME HOW BAD I LOOKED BEFORE?" It made me think of the five top reasons for anyone to go on a diet and to stay on a diet:

1. Because it makes you feel better physically
2. Because it makes you feel better mentally
3. Gives you a feeling of accomplishment
4. So you can fit into your clothes/buy new clothes
5. So people will tell you look good

Breakfast
Slice of Bread with Cheddar Cheese (about 3 oz)

Lunch
Olives
Corned Beef, Salami, Onion and Eggs
More Cheddar Cheese
Heel of Bread

Snacks
Almonds & Cashews
Soy Cappuccino
30 Pistachios
1 Pear
A Few Slices of Clementine

Dinner
Brisket
Corned Beef
Spare Ribs
LOTS of Pickles
Some White Meat Chicken
Salad
Cole Slaw

Besides the temptation of the holidays themselves, there is also the transitions between houses. Emily and I always go on the "six city tour" which is really a three-city tour now, but it used to be a four-city tour and besides, six is funnier-sounding anyway. Traveling anytime with two children is already challenging, as is traveling between Long Island and New Jersey at any time, so adding them together can be stress-inducing. In order to coordinate the best possible napping or not-napping time, we may end up compromising when we should be eating, and then can add to the absent-minding eating, or the low-blood sugar situation that leads to eating the wrong things.

Day 301: The Christmasesty Chanukah Ever

As one might expect, being at a place where there is a holiday gathering is a trap in many ways for one trying to watch what they eat. For starters, there are irregular eating times. Also, there are "all day" foods that are put out to please the early arrivals stragglers, and hungry droppers-by. Though with my help we ended up putting out dried and regular fruit, my mother had originally put out macadamia nut brittle and peppermint chocolate bark, as well as carmel chocolate sticky paws from Williams-Sonoma. For some crazy reason I forgot to bring peanut butter, so even from the beginning I was having trouble. The day started with a brunch full of some of my fave foods (from the old days): bagels, cream cheese, lox, white fish and the like. Today I made do with a spelt english muffin. I tried to be good, but by the end of the day I, and my adherence to the diet, were toast. During the evening I was moved practically to tears by Ruby's ability to spin two of her younger cousins in her grandmother's office chair, waiting until they had arrived 360 degrees to yell "boo" and other things that made them laugh with uproarious, and amazingly, unending delight. The thought that I (with Emily) had instilled in her the ability and the desire both to make others laugh, and the caring about other people that that that implies was a gift.

Breakfast
1 Spelt English Muffin
Cheddar Cheese
Whitefish
1 Cup Green Tea

Lunch/Snack/Everything Else Not Dinner
Lots of Almonds and Cashews
1 6 oz Cherry Yoplait Yogurt (the worst flavor so far)

Dinner and Everything That Went with It
Assorted Cheeses
Chopped Chicken Liver
2 Slices Turkey
A bit of Salad
2 Slices Whole Wheat Bread
Pickles, Peppadews, Olives

Following Dinner
50% of a Black and White
1 very small piece of peppermint chocolate bark
1 bite of a carmel chocolate sticky paw (gave the rest to Ruby, which she enjoyed the hell out of)
2 bites of stilton cheese
2 glasses red wine
1 slice of Pear

If you never lived or ate a lot Jewish bakery desserts in New York, you might not know that the "Black and White" is a bakery treat that is often mislabeled as a cookie but is really like a sort of a flatter, slightly less moist cupcake. It has a baked-on frosting but in New England it is frosted afterwards, which is an "Infamnia" or "Insult to the family"—answerable only by a Mob hit. These black and whites are so prevalent in New York that they have etched a place in my cerebral cortex and being close to them set off a pavlovian response that made me crazy until I ate half of one (because Ruby had half). Of all the things that I would have thought I would have gone off my diet for, I never would have said a black and white, but what can I say? We are our choices, and life is about choices. So by the transitive axiom, I am a black and white. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the first night of Chanukah, a family celebration, oh, and Christmas.

Day 300: Trip to Christmaskah

On the 300th day of the South Beach diet we set out to New York. Though we have gotten the packing the car with two kids down to a science (the key is doing it the night before, no matter how much you want to watch television), we still have not figured out the eating thing. Due to a unexpected diaper event, we pulled over sooner than expected, and Ruby got chicken nuggets and Emily and I split a Caesar wrap at Fresh City Wraps. Needless to say I realize this is not a very good alternative for me, since it is essentially salad and croutons wrapped in white bread.

Breakfast
1 Spelt Muffin
Super Chunky Peanut Butter
1 oz. Cracker Barrel
Tea

Car Trip
50% Caesar Wrap
1/4 cups Almonds/Cashews

Arrival In New York
6 oz Yoplait Light Yogurt
6 slices Pastrami, Mustard
2 slices Corned Beef
Pickles

Dinner
Shrimp Cocktail
Olives
1.2 Australian Lobster Tails
House Salad

Tonight, we as a family went to a Seafood Restaurant that we have been going to for about 27 years. I used to think of it as an olympic eating opportunity—especially the "Shore Dinner" with its promise of multiple rich courses from steamers to lobster. Plus, there was always dessert and coffee. Tonight, for the first time ever on record, I did not finish my dinner OR have dessert. While for many of you this may be a common occurrence, but for me it is an ability that was hard-won and something that I am amazed I can do. Even today, the idea that I "might never get a chance to eat this food again" still haunts me, though more often than not, I beat it back as ridiculous nonsense. It helps that I have a job, so unlike when I was a starving college student, if I want to buy a lobster some time, I can. For me, this was the real family get together of December and I always have the olive pits to prove it.

Day 299: The Day Before The Day Before

It was a funny day, because I wasn't going to go into work on time; Ruby had a some kind of 'holiday party.' I thought it was going to be something I observed, but instead it was something where I had to get involved. I had to muster 16 kids through affixing cotton balls to paper plates with glue sticks and then adding glitter. By the time I got to work it was 11:30; soon after we had lunch; soon after that everyone dried up and went home to get ready for their last minute stuff. At 3:30 or so, I was the last person at the office.

Breakfast
1 Spelt English Muffin
Super-Chunky Peanut Butter
1 oz Cracker Barrel Cheese
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
1 medium dunkin donuts coffee (half decaf)

Lunch
Beef with Broccoli
House Special Egg Drop Soup

Dinner
Omelet with Turkey Bacon,
50% Jalapeno Cheddar
1 oz Cracker Barrel Cheese

By the time I got home (the traffic was horrendous) it was still early but we didn't know what to do. We couldn't go anywhere because the streets were clogged; we didn't want to cook and there was little in the house; we were going to order take out but we couldn't decide on anything. We ultimately decided to just 'eat what was in the closet.' Somewhat disappointing, but when you can separate your expectations from your reality, you can really enjoy it whatever it is you're forced, by destiny, to eat.

Day 298: Thursday Before Break

As the holiday season rolls to its ultimate conclusion, it becomes harder to get a return call, professional customer service, or a parking spot anywhere near anywhere that sells anything that could be remotely considered a gift. I know for a fact that people in the corporate world start to evaporate yet someone scheduled (actually rescheduled a meeting for today at 4:00pm. Instinctively, I knew this meeting would not happen, and did my professional best to follow up with each person involved to see if they were still "on." Neither returned my phone call. My thoughts have been about next year's Christmas CD and whether or not I have enough room in my car for all the Balthazar bread I will have to buy.

Breakfast
Last two pieces of Balthazar Bread
Super Chunky Peanut Butter
1 oz Cracker Barrel Cheese
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
dunkin donuts coffee

Lunch
Broccoli feta omelet
five strips bacon

Dinner
rainbow trout
sweet potatoes
cashews

Amazingly, today's lunch made it unnecessary to eat until dinner, and even then I wasn't quite hungry. I must remember that if you want to not be hungry, eat the lunch I've described above...I probably should eat that the night before a fast. Of course, it will kill you quick, but it is filling.

Day 297: Another Agitating Day

Today, again work takes a front seat as I agonize over how to make a particular project come out the way I want it to. It requires more than planning and skill, it requires a lot of lucky breaks. I think someone described the Red Sox in 2004 as being the recipient of all the lucky breaks that year. That's what I needed. There is a meeting regarding said project at 9:30AM. The outcome didn't work out exactly as I had hoped, but it's not over yet. I am amazed at the level of activity in the world right now—breathtaking because I seem to remember that this is usually when the world starts to creep to a halt. The ceaseless energy may be because Christmas AND Chanukah fall on a Sunday, meaning everyone has this week to get everything they're going to get. At home, we have given up trying to ignore Christmas, because Ruby comes home singing "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Robin laid an egg." In my opinion, she knows the true spirit of Christmas—we can't hide it from her anymore.

Breakfast
2 slices of balthazar bread
peanut butter
1 oz cracker barrel cheese
tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
1 clementine

lunch
A pound of Salad
Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken

Dinner
shrimp and garlic with bok choy
1 bite of Magnolia's yogurt with Wheatabix

Meanwhile, I continue to agonize over how to tip various people in my life—mailman, trash collector, but most of all Ruby's school bus driver. I can't help thinking that the mailman brings me junk mail and catalogs I don't need, and if I had a truck I could do without the garbage man (Needham has a dump-system, so you have to pay to have people collect your garbage), but the bus driver does the most important job I can imagine. I think he should get something special, but for the life of me I don't know what that is. Any suggestions? And don't say Balthazar bread, there won't be any left after tomorrow (until I go back to New York).

Day 296—One Bad Apple

Today at work was just a day where everything had some kind of problem. On top of that, things were happening with the neighborhood I live in—in the middle of lunch I spoke to a reporter for a half hour, and then at after work I had to rush home to go to a meeting at town hall regarding a life-altering new development behind our house. It got approved. It's days like this that make you want to dive deeply into a pool of whatever they cover the Boston Creme donuts with and just drown happily. And does anyone know why Dunkin Donuts has not yet tried covering everything in chocolate? Why not a Jelly-covered donut? For those who might think those flavors do NOT go together, I will remind you that the Jews have been eating chocolate covered jellies for years since "the old country" in Kiev, and probably going back to Moses.

Breakfast
2 slices of balthazhar bread
peanut butter
2oz 50% jalapeno
tea

Snack
1/4 cups almonds/cashews
1 joy stick
1 dunkin donuts coffee

lunch
spicy green beans with chicken
wonton soup

dinner
salty sweet chicken a la em
string beans/spinach
sweet potatoes

Sometimes when I'm writing I forget to explain the title of the blog. Sometimes, as longtime readers know, the titles have no explanation, but today was because I brought an apple for lunch and its poor, mealy quality made it inedible.

I realize now how Peter Jackson (director of Lord of the Rings and King Kong) could lose 70 lbs— he's so busy! I barely had time to eat then I had to go to this meeting. By the time I got home I was not going to put anything in my mouth (except a no-calorie fruit2O) so I was just hungry, and totally agitated until I went to bed.

Day 295: Monday Begins, Shoulder Doesn't

The shoulder continues to hurt. I got a note last Friday that said "the school bus will now be arriving five minutes earlier every day." This piece of breaking news means that instead of waking Ruby at 7:05 I have to wake her up at 7:00, which means I have to wake up at sometime with a 6 in it, which is crop dusting hour. It also means eggs (unless they are hard-boiled the night before) are a thing for weekends only, since I just can't handle the break-neck pace of bed to bus (including hair) in 45 minutes. I must keep to my bread for breakfast diet, though on Oprah Bob Greene mentioned that starting the day with a big breakfast was a good way to get your metabolism going. I do want to a have a big breakfast—I just want have to a big lunch and dinner, too.

Breakfast
2 slices balthazar bread
peanut butter
tea
2 oz 50% jalapeno light cheddar

snack
coffee
1 joy stick
1 cheese stick
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
2 apples cameo
1 oz peanuts

lunch
stuffed chicken
asparagus
broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes

dinner
pork cutlets
a bissel sauteed spinach
broccoli
5 string beans
1 oz cracker barrel cheese
handful of unsalted cashews

For some reason, I wasn't very hungry tonight; it could have to do with the fact that I had a lot of snacks—I was very, very hungry this afternoon. I ate the apple I had brought to work on Friday (but didn't eat) and the one I had with me. Then, I had to eat some peanuts. When I got home, I didn't really want to eat dinner, but I still wanted to eat cheese and nuts. It's the time in the blog where I wonder "where is the red, orange and yellow food I should be eating?"

294: Holiday Anxiety

Today was the first day that I realized that unlike Christmas gifts (all set, thanks) I have no Chanukah gifts for anyone I know or love. This is causing me to have a small aneurysm. Additionally, I continue to have a painful right-arm shoulder problem (which is absolutely aggravated by poker playing and blog writing) that plagues me much of the day.

Breakfast
2 Eggs Over Easy
2 Strips Turkey Bacon
2 oz. 50% Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
9 Whole Grain Melba Toasts with Peanut Butter
2 Whole Grain Toasts with 1 oz Cracker Barrel Cheese
1 Cameo Apple

Lunch
Romaine Lettuce
Feta Cheese
Tuna

Dinner
Chicken a la Em (Whole Wheat dredged and fried)
Brussel Sprouts (yummy)

Dessert That I Nearly Ate But Thought Better of It
Chocolate Cheesecake

I did go to the gym today and do 4 miles on the elliptical. Though my shoulder was killing me I could not stand the thought of descending into inactivity because of it. I knew I wasn't going to aggravate, and if last week was an example, it would probably help. I added my tiger balm, took my advils and got moving. Today's travesty on CNN was a 3-year old who died of the flu of her parents who wished they'd been advised by their pediatrician to get the flu vaccine. They formed a coalition called families fighting flu (http://www.familiesfightingflu.org/) which I support, but I've got to tell you, it makes that last mile just so much less pleasant.

Day 293: Le Jour Ensuite

If you're reading this, and you don't have any hobbies in your life that you love, then you certainly won't understand how hard it is to leave a card game, even when you know it's irresponsibly late at night. I was just reading a remembrance by a photographer who was assigned to shoot John and Yoko in the last month of his life. He missed his deadline because John and Yoko wanted to hang around and talk. Yes, he missed his deadline, but he KNEW his deadline, he just wasn't going to force John and Yoko out of his house so he could get the pix his probably crabby (and jealous) boss. So it's hard to leave, and even harder to get up. Everyone at the game has kids, but I can tell that when my kids can drive (aka "they don't need me") it will be much easier. Of course, by then I won't be able to stay up that late because I'll be use to going to bed at 10PM.

Breakfast
1 Cup Ezekial Cereal
with some Crispy Wheats thrown in
1 Cup Soy Milk

Lunch
6 Oz Yogurt Yoplait Light Banana Strawberry
Almonds/Cashews
1/4 Dried Fruit cut up
Coffee with Soy Milk

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
1 oz. Cracker Barrel Cheese Stick

Dinner
Steak Tips
Leeks

The day after is always somewhat of a blur, and I try not to engage in too much bleary-eyed eating. Getting through the day requires a lot of caffeine, even if I am allowed to fall asleep again when Emily gets up (and I am very grateful for that). We actually took a family trip into our old neighborhood of Brookline, and boy has it changed. If I hadn't been so tired, I could have gotten tearily-nostalgic, and if you want to talk about what makes you reach for the box of chocolates....

292: A Big Day for a Tooth on the Mend

Double trouble for me today as I have both my company's holiday lunch outing during the day and poker at night. To boot, the morning is featuring a "wintry mix", which is New Englandese for everything cold that come out of the sky and land on the ground: snow, sleet, hail, rain and frogs. The morning commute was a mess, and on the way to our holiday luncheon, I was not only having second thoughts about the event we were going to (the road was often being obliterated by a freezing slushy spray, courtesy of several large trucks) but the game I was to attend that night. As it turned out, by the time of the game, it was not only clear-skied, but it had warmed up enough (about 42 degrees) so that all the ice had melted off the roads and everything was dry. It's just one of those life lessons where you just keep on going and sometimes it all works out OK. Unless you have to include whether you win or lose at the card game in the final balance sheet.

Breakfast
Two Slices Balthazar Bread
Peanut Butter
50% Jalapeno Cheddar Light

Snack
1/4 Almonds/Cashews
Coffee

Lunch: Japanese Steakhouse
Shrimp Appetizer
Salad
Miso soup (with Mushrooms)
Lobster Tail
Zucchini & Onions
Tenderloin

Poker
Pistachios
Cashews/Almonds
Olives
Roll Mops: Turkey, Corned Beef, Swiss Cheese
Cole Slaw
Pickles
Half-Sour Tomatoes
Peppadews
1 Russian Vanilla Cheesecake Bar

And so there is a fairly big lunch which accounts for almost no afternoon snacks, but I must say that the so-called 'healthy' fare at the Japanese steakhouse (Benihana Style, they chop it and cook it at your table) is a farce. They add butter and oil to everything and only the divine creator knows what they put in it prior to our arrival. I'm not saying it's not yummy, I'm just saying it's like all other restaurants—full of a hidden stick of butter in everything you eat, even the so-called "spa menu." That night I figure I'll go light, but I did indulge myself in a dessert—previously described here in these pages as the "Russian Dessert." I swear, the first person who figures out who to market this dessert to America will either get rich, or get a promotion. It is basically chocolate cheesecake inside a Yodel. I couldn't find a chocolate one on line, but here is a link to the vanilla version (not as good; I ate this by accident): http://www.russianfoods.com/showroom/product0140A/_hide_/vendor003E7/default.asp. Note the description: "A light alternative to Cheesecake, this chocolate covered treat with natural vanilla flavor will remind you of the 'good old days'. " Whoever can tell me what THAT means, please raise your hand.

Day 291: He That Wears the Crown

I knew I was going to the dentist today, but I thought it would be a routine affair. He was supposed to just take off the temporary crown and place the new, permanent one on. But as luck would have it, I was not responding to the anesthetic (he and the nurse were fretting that there might have been a 'bad' shipment) and so multiple swabs, shots and wildly unpleasant sensations (accompanied by unpleasant mental images of metal things being swirled around my inner cavity) later they wrapped it up and I left, somewhat dizzy, and with more than one footprint on my chest. Needless to say, I could barely talk, and when I did it wasn't audible. While some part of me thought this was funny, I tried to retain from laughing lest anyone think I was putting them on. I had no appetite and no coffee and so I was in kind of a daze. This was good for the diet, but not so great for anything else.

Breakfast (The Usual)
Two slices of Balthazar Bread
Peanut Butter
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Light Cheddar
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
1/4 cup dried fruit

Lunch
Broccoli and Cheddar Soup (from Panera)
1 8 oz. Columbo Light Yogurt (Peach)

Dinner
1 Strip Catfish
A few Bites of Bok Choy
1 Piece of Cut-up Hot Dog that went astray from Ruby's plate

About four hours after the appointment I started to get hungry, and even though I could just barely talk, and I couldn't chew on my right side, I ate my soup (some co-workers were kind of enough to take pity on a pathetic creature). As fate would have it, Emily was at the Subaru dealership having the car tuned up. Instead of waiting, our salesman lent Emily his car so she could tool around instead of wait in the very depressing waiting room (though it must be said that they feature wireless Internet). For some reason, this same salesman had a blow-up with a customer and was being "sent home" for the day—causing him to call me because he didn't know where Emily was! Well, I could barely talk and now I had to find Emily (who rarely answers her cell phone). It was a funny moment, and actually, she was pulling up in front of the dealership only moments later, but I sure was bummed out for that few minutes that I thought I would have to convey emergency messages in caveman-like tones.

290: In the Bleak Midwinter

There is not much to say except that I have vowed to add a day of exercise to my routine but so far have just gone weeks with only one trip to the Gym. This is problematic, and I feel it every day. It has been equally bumming me out that the days are so cold (though maybe in a few months we'll be accustomed to these temps) that being outside is just not good. In fact, it's so cold in our office that being inside is not that good either. Today several folks were out sick, so it was extra quiet.

Breakfast
Two Slices of Balthazar Bread
2 oz. 50% Jalapeno Light Cheese
Tea

Snack
1 Dunkin Donuts Medium Coffee (Half Decaf)
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
1/4 cup dried fruit
6 oz yoplait yogurt

Lunch
Spicy Chicken with Eggplant
Special Egg Drop Soup

Dinner
93% Sirloin Burger
Emmy's Spicy Bok Choy
Pickles 'n' Peppadews

Also this Friday is yet another poker game, and the last one of the year. It will be a challenge to keep the food-volume to a minimum. But hopefully, I'll be able to chew gum by then.

289: Baby, It's Cold Outside

The dreaded cold weather makes it nearly impossible to go outside for a brisk walk, because spending more than a few minutes outside makes you want to come back inside—fast. Additionally, it makes you crave something comforting and delicious—and of course, I'm thinking of big Blue Room Buffet food—rashers of bacon, fluffy omelets, fresh waffles and the like. My compromise is almost always some version of Chinese food.

Breakfast
Two Slices Balthazar Bread
Peanut Butter
50% Jalapeno Light Cheese

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
1/4 cup dried fruit
1 cameo apple
1 oz. peanuts

Lunch
Broccoli and Beef
Asparagus with Chicken

Dinner
Flounder
Cabbage

While I am in a breakfast rut, Ruby told me she didn't want the same snack every day (she only had it a few days in a row). But we are clearly in different places in our life. I realize I must eat different foods but it makes planning for days at the office so much more challenging. The cold weather also makes me want to go to Dunkin Donuts more often, though amazingly I am never tempted to buy anything, because I know well the feeling of the crankcase oil in your stomach after three toasted coconuts or boston creme (my favorite). I did almost buy a dozen for the office today, but then I remembered they all get sore if I try to push junk food on them and don't share in the calories.0

Day 288: Pounds of Salad

I am once again in a breakfast rut, although happily so. The Balthazar bread is so good it barely needs toasting and I want to bring it with me and give it out to the world. A friend of mine (who does not need to go on a diet) told me he was going to start next year by "giving up bread." I said, "no, no" don't give up bread—just give up the bad bread—empty, white calories, sugar-laden and useless white bread. When I think about it, the only thing I've really given up that was a STAPLE of my diet is Subs, which when I was growing up, were called "heroes." Naturally, they are also called "grinders" and "hoagies" but I for all around general usage I prefer the term "Sub", especially since it seems to be the term of choice in New England. The truth is, I'm so much better off without them, because they contain the aforementioned bad carbs; because they were more often than not not very good; and because their portion size is more than I should be consuming. Last, but not least, they nearly always necessitated a bag of salty, yummy chips.

Breakfast
Two Slices Balthazar Bread
Peanut Butter
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Lite Cheese
Tea

Snack
12 oz Coffee (half decaf)
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
4 dried apricots
15 pistachios
1 Cameo Apple

Lunch
Pounds of Salad:
Greek Salad with Chicken (from Christos)
(I did not explain this but this salad is so big that I really should split it with someone but always eat the whole thing, by myself).

Dinner: Blue Ribbon BBQ
Ribs
Burnt Ends
Sausage
Red Cabbage
Baked Beans (Most fed to Magnolia)
Cheezy Cauliflower
Beets

The great thing about Blue Ribbon BBQ is that as long as you avoid the corn bread, most everything there is SoBe friendly; you just gotta watch the volume. Watching the volume is hard, but again, my advice to anyone who wants to go South Beach—load up on foods you can eat in your house and eat when you're hungry (but not after 8:00pm if you can help it). If you're going to have a lot of protein in your diet, you'll be needing a lot of floss.

287: Back to the Gym

Shoulder notwithstanding, I was determined to go to the gym today. Wasn't sure whether or not I could make the elliptical or whether or I'd have to the recumbent bike or whatever. I got dressed and went. When I got there, I was surprised that NOT ONE of the elliptical machines was occupied. How could this be? It wasn't the Christmas season, as this it the JCC. Undeterred by the absence of all people, I signed up for "D" (which is the machine positioned between two TV sets, so I never have to be trapped, though sometimes still am) and got on. I did an hour and five miles, which is a first.

Breakfast
Two Slices Balthazar Multi-grain bread
Peanut Butter
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheese
Tea

Snack
6oz yoplait raspberry
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
2 oz. Cracker Barrel Cheese
Assorted Dried Fruit (Apricots, Plums, Peaches)

Lunch
Chicken a la Emily
Cabbage
Peppadews

Dinner
Steak Tips
Broccoli

It was really a cinch to go five miles today—I could have gone six, but the time did not allow. I didn't really have a chest-heaving, tired, sweaty work out, just a very good to be back type of thing. I must get with the trainer, that will be new year's resolution, along with getting back to phase one for at least two weeks.

286: Birthday Party, Fondue

Fortunately, today began with a good workout of clearing out six inches of snow from the driveway. However, I shortly grew tired and achy and decided to move onto less physical activities. For the most part there wasn't much to except bundle up Ruby and send her outside to play with her friends, then get her ready for the birthday party at 4pm and a dinner invitation from our neighbors after that.

Breakfast
Three SLices Ezekial 4:9
Peanut Butter
Cheese

Snack
1/4 cup Almonds/Cashews
Ass't Dried Fruit
Apple
Cheese of 1 Slice of Pizza
Dunkin Donuts Medium Coffee

Lunch
Greek Salad:
Cabbage, Lettuce, Feta, Carrots, Chicken

Dinner
Lamb Fondue
Tomatoes, Oil and Salt
Pickles
2 Bites of Baked Potato
2 Bites of A Chocolate Cheese Thing

Really it would take an entire blog of this length to describe the dinner we had at the home of our Russian neighbors. But since our last dinner (which was a carb-fest) we told them that next time they would have to be more aware of our carb-phobia. So they took us seriously, serving fondue—which is their way of saying "cook your own meat in boiling hot oil served in a fondue pot atop a can of sterno." Aside from cooking the meat in fat, this actually is unintentionally diet-friendly, because it takes five minutes to cook a piece of lamb, meaning in 30 minutes you have had six bites of lamb. I did have a bite of a baked potato (cutting it to give Ruby, who except for potato chips is a total potato refusenik). Lastly of note was a dessert that was actually like a Yodel filled with chocolate cheesecake. It was fantastic—I have not been able to stop thinking about it since, even though I may never eat lamb again.

Day 285: Snowed In

Though the weather persons have proven over and over again that they can't really predict the weather, today was of special note since nearly every forecast the previous night had a different take on the storm. As it happened, it turned out to be quite a significant storm, dumping about 6 inches on the ground. I prefer to have a few 'warm up' storms of less than an inch, just to get started. I thought I would get Ruby off to school (the last report I saw said two inches turning into rain) but when I got up her school was cancelled. So I thought, I 'll just wait till Emily and the baby are up and I'll split, but by the time they were up the storm was in full swing. I opted to stay home.

Breakfast
2 Slices of Ezekial 4:9
Peanut Butter
3 oz. Cheddar Cheese
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
60% Cameo Apple
1 6 oz Yoplait yogurt

Lunch
Chicken Breast a la Em
Sauteed Red, Orange and Yellow Peppers
Peppadews
Pickles

Dinner
3 Strips Turkey Bacon
Cheese Omelet
Fruit20

The worst thing about 'working from home' is that you have to pass the kitchen nearly every five minutes of the day, not to mention whatever you're involved with feeding the baby. Of course when you can't get out of the house, you do end up "eating what's in the house," which we did, culminating in the old eggs and bacon dinner. It was good the next day was 40 degrees because the cupboards were pretty bare.

284: Back on Horse

Went for a brisk walk with just one other co-worker today. It went quickly; it was cold; and many patches of ground were ice-covered. The Charles River upkeep is not what it should be, and definitely not safe for those who fear 'hip-breaking season.'

Breakfast
2 Slices Ezekial 4:9 Bread
Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup Almonds/Cashews
8 Dried Apricots
1 Medium Coffee (1/2 decaf)
1 Cameo Apple

Lunch
Greek Salad with Chicken

Dinner
93% SIrloin Burger
Sauteed Onions
Cheese
Pickles
Peppadews
Broccoli

Certainly if there's any reason I'm in a rut it has not only to do with the fact that I'm not getting to walk or exercise, but that I'm eating the same foods all the time. This is a challenge and I'm not sure how to get out of it, unless I could devote myself full-time to the pursuit of interesting alternative foodstuffs. Aside from walking today, I was proud that I went a day without pistachios (even if I shoved in a few extra cashews there at the end of the day).

Day 283: Detecto Says "197" - Ugh.

Well, it's been a long time coming but I can't say all the signs weren't there—a big Thanksgiving, two weeks with no walks, and finally, a weekend without working out. What does this all lead to? A gain of 1lb. The doctor said (and I quote) "you're wearing all your winter hoo-hah, so you're probably more like 195." This is sweet, but factually untrue. By the time I was weighed (albeit on a VERY different Detecto scale) I was wearing only my jeans, socks, skivvies and a hospital johnny. Those things do not weigh more than a pound, but even if they do, I realize, with great sadness, that I will not be able to rely on the weekly walks anymore. I realize that I will have to work a morning gym visit into my routine. A coworker advised me today to 'shower at the gym.' It's one of those pieces of advice that you get and when you get it, you flinch because it's the truth and you don't like what the truth is. To use an annoying cliche expression, I can 'do the math' and realize she's right—if I don't shower at the gym there's no way to do a reasonable workout and get to work on time. Maybe in summer, it's doable by a thread, but in winter, it's a locker for me all the time. I am learning so much on this diet.

Breakfast
Three Eggs (1 broken)
2 strips turkey bacon
2 oz cheddar cheese
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
1 Medium Dunkin Donuts (half decaf)
8 dried apricots
30 pistachios
1 cameo apple

Lunch
Shrimp with Vegetables
Wonton Soup

Dinner
Tilapia a la Em
Spinach a la Em
Some Broccoli and Cheese

When I was relating the story of how I came to be at the Doctor's office, The doctor (not Dr. Parent, the original Doctor who saved my life) but Dr. Slater, another Dr. in the practice, pointed to my age on the computer monitor and said "That's your problem." In a sitcom-like moment I both laughed with the factuality of the statement and then said "What do you mean?" She said my metabolism had 'slowed down' and now I would have to EAT LESS and EXERCISE MORE to break past by 196-7 blockage. And I thought "Good God, it's just getting harder and harder." More gym time, less food. Though honestly, all you have to do is look at the above list and realize I COULD cut down a little down. Especially on the pistachios.

282: The Mysterious Injury Continues

Last night Emily had to literally call a doctor, get me a prescription, go the CVS and get it for me. Such are the duties of a devoted wife. I literally had to be medicated because I was in constant (and I must say, quite annoying) pain. It wasn't like the "ow ow" kind, or even the 'scream till you get a shot of morphine' kind, more like, there was no way to sit, move or stand or lie down that wasn't painful, but you couldn't stay upright because you were so uncomfortable. Ultimately, you find the least uncomfortable way to be and just try and take a break. With a lot of medication, I went to sleep, but it was fitful, and Emily said I was moaning much of the night. When I awoke, it started all over again, so I figured I wouldn't go to work. Luckily, Ruby didn't have school (one of five million professional days) so I didn't have to get her ready for school or drive her. I tried to see my doctor (my PT told me to call my doctor right away) but she couldn't see me until the next day. Loading up on Aleve, I figured I'd go to work, since being at home with the kids was just an invitation to reaggrivate anything that might be calming down. The whole 'off your routine' thing is an invitation to eat twice your weight in nuts, which is a basic approximate of what happened.

breakfast
2 slices ezekial bread
peanut butter
tea
cheese

extended lunch:
salami/cheese
ham cheese rollmops
1 heart romaine

snack
almonds/cashews
plus two big helpings of cashews at work
8 dried apricots
1 medium dunkin donuts coffee (half decaf)

dinner
greek salad with grilled chicken
fruit2O

I thought I would just eat some snacks at home and then go to work and come home and have dinner, but my need to take constant breaks from the computer sent me to my leftovers which I finished, and then to the extra nuts that came as a gift. I also discovered fruit2o (which doesn't look right when I type it). It's actually quite good, though I can't for the life of me figure who would drink it an why, as it is simply filtered water with Splenda-fruit flavoring in it. It has some kind of sugars, but not enough to be listed under 'sugars' on the label. It has no calories and no carbohydrates (though I think like almost all diet foods, it's high in sodium). Again, I'm not sure why anyone would want to drink water with Splenda, but I happened to enjoy it—and coincidentally, Emily bought some to help re-hydrate during breast-feeding but she didn't like it so it just sat on our shelf for ages. The shoulder thing started to feel better by evening, but then sleeping was still impossible.

281: Shoulder to Cry On

This morning I was practically immobilized my shoulder-neck injury, making it nearly impossible to type. I did manage to go to work but it was just making things work. I made a few notes about what I ate, but beyond that I had to stop. As part of being old, things to start to hurt and there's no reason. Not that there's no reason this time, but I'm just preparing you if you're in my age bracket or worse.

Breakfast
2 slices ezekial bread
peanut butter
tea

snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
8 dried apricots
fruit2O

lunch
roll mops; ham/cheese
1 heart romaine
olives to taste
diet coke

dinner
leftover chinese: stringbeans and pork
some chicken soup

One of the things about writing my meals down and then going back and writing blog entries is I get a sense of how little of some of the right things I eat. For instance, I remember that there was this plastic bag we got from a farmer's market (where I bought a lot of strawberries) that had a list of the foods you should eat by color. I realize I am not eating enough orange foods, or hardly any. Also, very little yellow foods. I mean, there I am trying to eat green foods and I'm missing out on all these other red, yellow and orange foods, which, to be honest, are my favorite colors. Some of the cheese I eat is orange, but I don't think that's natural.

Day 280: Ow, My Shoulder Hurts

I realize this is not a very inventive title for this blog entry, but it's truth. Between hoisting up Magnolia and using the computer all weekend long to finish up this year's Xmas CD, I was in a constant state of traumatizing my right arm, neck and shoulder-area. Right now in fact I'm not sure how much more I can type. But I hate to fall behind.

Breakfast
2 slices Ezekial Bread
Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
6 oz yoplait yogurt

Lunch
Turkey Sandwich (Hold the Bread)
Cole Slaw
Pickle
1 Very Questionable Granny Smith Apple

Dinner: Chinese From Green Tea
1 Teriyaki Beef Stick
2 Spare Ribs
2 moo Shoo pancakes
2 helpings string beans with pork

Excellent dinner. Big disappointment of the day was that I was dressed and ready to get out there to exercise but a combination of me feeling bad and Emily feeling bad meant that I ended up taking Ruby to the family gym for another two hour stretch, and not working out. I'm sure it worked for the best but now I have to go get weighed without a work out and I'm not too happy about that. But I'm even less happy that I might have to see a chiropractic again...

279: A Day of Shopping

Ruby and I got up and because we needed to get Costco pronto, we vamoosed out of the house as early as we could. We's in an out, and on the way home we stop to get bagels, as she decides her new favorite thing is to have bagels and 'dip them' into cream cheese. I take her to finagle a bagel where we examine all the varieties of bagel. Not surprisingly, she stops me at chocolate and becomes transfixed by the bagel shooting to the cutting machine. If you don't know what I'm talking about it, you owe yourself a trip—they've set it up so that no human has to cut a bagel. They have a sharp saw blade spinning all the time (it's on the far end of the counter). Counterhelp up front find out what kind of bagel you want and drop it on the convey belt, to meet its untimely death by dissection.

Breakfast
2 Eggs Over
2 Strips Turkey Bacon
2 oz CHeese
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews

Lunch
Tuna on a Whole Wheat "everything bagel"
2 oz cheese

Dinner
Flounder with Scallions
Greek Salad

AFter the bagel store, we went shopping at Bread & Circus where I bought up the whole store in preparation to make chicken soup, pesto, and generally act like a craven New Englander following my innate need to stock up on unnecessary items prior to a big snowstorm. I was going to try and get to the gym today, but I thought tomorrow, with its birthday party, looked like a better chance. As it was, I spent two hours at the JCC- only I was in the children's gym and didn't break a sweat.

278: Good God, It's Friday

Today did not start well as Ruby could not sleep between 2:30am and 5:30am. She wasn't sick, and couldn't REALLY point to anything scary in her room (for instance, something in the closet that moved was very big for me when I was young) and so there was a bit of a Chinese water torture thing where she woke up every 15 minutes to tell us that she still couldn't sleep. As we are accustomed to sleeping at these times, we were dismayed. Nothing we tried worked—changing pillows, comforters, lights. This morning I was toggling plans between whether to get my hair cut (am looking quite shaggy) or getting weighed at the doctor's (as it is the first of the month). As the hours ticked by last night, I realized I was going to be able to do neither, and I would be lucky if I could drag my ass to work after getting her to school. Though her school begins at 8:30, we got there about an hour late. Luckily, it's Kindergarten, so we didn't miss much, though I was glad the teacher said we wouldn't have to stay afterschool for some extra curricular block-printing.

Breakfast
2 slices of when pigs fly bread
peanut butter
2 oz cheese
tea

Snack
12 oz coffee (half decaf)
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
25 pistachios
1 joy stick

Lunch
Spicy Green Beans with Chicken
Hot and Sour Soup

Dinner
Pork Cutlets
Snow Peas with Oyster Sauce

I must tell you that after all these years of eating When Pigs Fly bread and loving it, I have now become a refusenik as of this morning. The experience of the Balthazar bread has ruined me for bread, possibly forevermore. I'm not sure I can go back to pedestrian breads. If this is so, it will be the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If not, I'll have to just content myself by eating less stellar breads or what is known as 'settling.' This is common for people from the West Coast who can't believe what East Coasters call "Mexican Food" and common for East Coasters transplanted Westward when they try to find "Pizza", "Deli" or "The comfort of those who are rude and cold."

277: A Very Unspectacular Thursday

Sorry to report that there is very little to report. I did realize, with some shock, that the Soy milk I have been on occasion drinking, contains SUGAR (well, Naturally Milled Organic Evaporated Cane Juice but what's the difference?). That's bad. It's not like milk doesn't contain sugars (lactose, for instance) but I thought I had discovered something good and good for me. You know the other day when I had a Starbucks Soy Cappuccino I thought "this sure is yummy," but I had that feeling of suspicion. A coworker hipped me to the fact that the Starbucks uses a soy with HONEY in it. Darn—another place where they have caught me trying to be good and plying me with sugar without my knowledge.

Breakfast
Two heels of multigrain bread
peanut butter
tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
65 pistachios
6 oz yoplait lite yogurt

Lunch
Shredded Pork with Cabbage, Peppers
Beef with Broccoli
Hot and Sour Soup

Dinner
Chicken South Beach a la Emily
Salad with Lemon-Ginger Balsamic Dressing

And you know, I don't really miss eating rice with my Chinese food, except that it makes it so much easier to sop up all the sugary MSG juice. That's the whole thing about the carbs. You don't really miss them from a 'craving' perspective, but they do make everything so convenient. That's why the Earl of Sandwich was so wise. He realized that you could get real frustrated eating roll-mops all the time, and that if you meat on bread it makes it much easier to do something else while you're eating, like read the newspaper, or surf the Internet. Okay, he didn't know that, but I do.

Day 276: Rain on my (Walking) Parade

Another torrential downpour and another day where I cannot go for a walk, despite the un-winterly temperatures of 59 degrees. It would not have mattered much since the days have been so busy that finding the time for a walk might have been impossible.

Breakfast
Two Slices Multi-Grain Bread (Balthazar)
Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
65 Pistachios
6 oz lite yogurt Yoplait

Lunch
Grilled Mahi-Mahi
Mesclun Greens
Diet Pepsi

Dinner
90% Hamburger
Onions, Cabbage
Broccoli, PIckles

As November is ending, I must go back to get weighed. I continue to struggle with this activity every time I consider it. I want to skip it, but I must go. I feel sorry for people who live with a scale in their house and feel tempted to get on it every day. I am glad that I have limited my exposure to this once a month, but it still feels like a lot. As always, I am afraid I have gained weight and despite my twin tennis outings, and feeling like something of a winter sloth. Stay tuned.

Day 275: Working in the Coal Mine

Sure going to back to work on Monday is bad but going back to work after five days off is nearly unbearable. Especially when you know that there is a pile of stuff with your name on it waiting for you. This can, and in fact did, cause some uncontrollable (you might say compulsive) pistachio eating.

Breakfast
2 slices of multigrain bread
peanut butter
tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
1 joy stick
65 pistachios

Lunch
Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken

Dinner
Pork Cutlets a la Emily
String Beans in Oyster sauce

Though getting back to a schedule is not exciting, it does have it comforts. It is good to be home and away from the 24 hour a day temptation of all that the New York area has to offer. It's also good to be back to the hi-speed computer access and our regular beds. You wouldn't think this would be helpful, but in fact it is.

Day 274: The Dreaded Travel Day

I have written on this many times, and there is not much new to add, but the travel day is just hell on dieters who don't plan. There I said it. It's much easier to plan the trip from your home where you are well stocked than from where you are visiting where you are not. That said, I did spend over $100 in groceries while I was home, and though someone commented that I was "buying things I wouldn't eat" in fact we ate most of it and only returned with a few yogurts and a lot of multi-grain bread.

Breakfast
2 slices multi-grain bread
peanut butter
Tea

Pre-travel snack
a few different bites of yogurts rejected by kids
Ezekial cereal with some of that yogurt
a failed batch of tuna
Cheese stick rejected by Ruby

In the Car:
Tuna Salad, 6 "Scoopers"
About 1 Cup Cheerios (Yogurt Burst)
50% 1 Pink Lady Apple
Almonds and Cashews

Dinner
Talapia with Cabbage
Broccoli rejected by kids

There was a lot of eating other people's cast offs today, and that is often the worst thing you can do, because you really aren't planning for those calories, and it doesn't say much for the self-respect of the eater. However, as a parent, you get to do this without even thinking about it. I bet if every parent just watched themselves for one day on video, they would be absolutely shocked and horrified by not only how often they do it, but what kind of state the food is in when they eat it. I'm not going to explain that, I'm just going to let it sit out there. Anyway being on the diet a long time has made me understand exactly the carbs/sugars/calories of things that I am eating when I am eating grain/carb things and so now I'm realizing that 11 scoopers (1 serving) is about the equivalent of two slices of bread, so if I want to have that, I can, but is it worth trading out the bread? Not if it's from balthazar, but otherwise....

Day 273: Sunday, End of Long Holiday Weekend

I've said it before, but there's nothing like breaking your routine, putting you outside of your house, and giving you a lot of time to really challenge ANYONE's eating habits, let alone someone on a diet. Since Thursday I have had occasion to watch lots of different family members on both sides as they eat, and let me tell you, it is just a very strong reminder to me of how I originally got to be about 40 or 50 lbs overweight in the first place. There is the mindless noshing, the I want to taste some of everything, and the eat-because-we-have-nothing-else-to-do-eating. Don't forget there's the "There's all this food" and "Some of it is Delicious" and "Much of it is Dessert." Those also bear a great deal of the responsibility.

Breakfast
1 Slice of Rye
2 Slices of Multigrain Balthazhar bread
Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
1 Venti Soy Cappucion (@Starbucks)
Almonds/Cashews
1 Joy Stick
1 Pink Lady Apple
1 6 oz. Dannon Lite N Fit Blackberry Yogurt
60 Pistachios

Lunch
2 strips Jennie-O
3 Eggs/Cheese Omelet

Dinner: Chinese
2 Spare Ribs
Some Steak N Vegetables
Chicken N Peapods
Caesar Salad (!)

This was overall not a great day. There was little exercise and there was such a great amount of time between lunch (12:00 pm) and dinner (7:30pm) that there was a tremendous amount of eating in between. Aside from all the snacking, I was so hungry when dinner came that I actually overate (which is something I haven't done in I don't know how long) and then felt awful the rest of the night. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. It should also be noted that the Dannon line of yogurts is NOT VERY GOOD. I am sticking with the Yoplait. Unless someone has a better suggestion.

272: The Day After the Day After

You think you're in the clear, but you're not. There's still leftovers and people are starting to try and push all these exciting, fresh-baked Christmas cookies and what not. That's not even counting the problems you have when you buy all those exciting, seasonal items. Yesterday, Ruby, my brother-in-law and I went to this incredible bakery and I got Ruby a chocolate madeleine in addition to cookies and some incredible multigrain bread and rye that I have not been able to stop eating. In addition to that, my sister-in-law purchased a sticky bun from the same bakery and we had a bit of that today. It was probably the 2nd best sticky bun I ever tasted in my whole life, which caused me to have to leave the room from the pleasure, I just could not be in the same room with the sticky bun, or calamity would have ensued.

Breakfast
2 Slices Multigrain Bread
1 Slice Rye
Peanut Butter
Tea
Coffee (with Soy milk)

Lunch
Leftover Chicken Kebab
Greek Salad with Feta

Snack
1/4 cup Almonds/Cashews
1 Pink Lady Apple
2 bites of Ruby's Pan-Pizza
1 bite of the World's Most Incredible Sticky Bun from Balthazahar (http://www.balthazarbakery.com/home.html)

Dinner
Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
NY Sirloin Steak

Another day, another two hours of tennis. I cannot tell you how great it is to find another way to sweat besides working out in a gym. It is obvious that I love tennis and were it not so expensive in both money and time to find a court and a league I would be involved in one. I remember that in 1992, the year that Emily and I were married, we signed up to play tennis once a week at the local high school that had indoor courts. That winter it snowed so much we had to dig our car out several times and really overcome a lot of desire to stay in the warm house to get out there and do it. But we knew we had to look good in the pictures, so more often than not we did it. Today, it was me, Emily, and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. It was great tennis, though I was clearly the weak link, we all had a great workout. Then we scooted over to a local dive for steak and salad. Though the playing of tennis was its own reward, there is nothing like EARNING your meal, from a calorie perspective.

271: Day after Thanksgiving

Though I was going to be away from my beloved JCC for five days, I knew that Emily's sister and brother in law are always up for some tennis, even though we have to play inside this time of year. As it was we got my father-in-law's new wife to join us as the fourth and had a spirited game. At about the 1:40 mark, we had completed three sets (my team lost, natch) and we broke up as a foursome, but my brother-in-law stayed behind and he and I played singles for the rest of the time. It's good it was only fifteen minutes, because even though I'm in the best shape of my adult life, I was about to keel over from the three games we played.

Breakfast
2 Eggs
2 strips turkey bacon
teac
1 oz cheese

Snack
1 oz Peanuts

Lunch
Turkey
Sweet Potato
Brussel Sprout
Greek salad with Feta

Dinner
Shepherd's Salad: Cucumber, Tomato, Scallion
Hummous
Feta Cheese
Chicken Kebab
Peppers, Onions, Tomatos
Assorted Cheerios

For a day after Thanksgiving, this was pretty good. Aside from the exercise, the food was pretty restrained and there was almost no snacking, save the peanuts I had in my tennis bag that I had to cram down my throat as I was nearly shaking from my low-blood sugar. Once I had lunch though, everything was good and very sobe.

Thanksgiving

From the South Beach Newsletter: No Fasting Before Thanksgiving Dinner!

Employing a plan to avoid overeating on Thanksgiving is a good idea, but there's one strategy that's actually a recipe for failure: fasting before the big meal. Total deprivation actually leads to extreme hunger, cravings, and inevitably, overeating at mealtime. Fortunately, there are alternative tactics you can use to avoid overeating on Thanksgiving and throughout the year.

Eat healthfully throughout the day. As always, don't forget to include your snacks. The trick is to keep your eating as routine as possible so that you arrive at dinner no hungrier than usual. With hunger pangs at bay, you'll be better able to pass up highly processed carbs and bad fats and choose South Beach Diet™-approved foods — like lean turkey breast and roasted broccoli — instead. Engage in physical activity. This tip does double duty: It gives you an activity to focus on instead of food, and it gives your metabolism the boost it needs to burn off extra calories just in case you do overindulge.

Allow yourself a few indulgences. Go ahead and have a small slice of traditional pumpkin pie. Because it's a lifestyle program, The South Beach Diet™ allows — believes in — occasional treats. Just be sure to enjoy a small portion, savor every bite, and get back to your healthy lifestyle first thing in the morning.


Breakfast
Two Eggs (but I made three)
Three Strips of Turkey Bacon (but I made four)
1 oz of Cheese (but I prepared two)

Pre-travel Snack
1.5-2 cups Crispy Wheats (a Whole Foods-Wheat Chex)
1 cup soymilk

In the car
Chicken Snacks
Almonds/Cashews

Thanksgiving Dinner
1 Glass Red Wine
2 Slices Turkey
Salad
String Beans
1 Spoonful Sweet Potato
1 Spoonful Cranberry Sauce

Dessert
1 Sliver Pecan Pie
1 Tablespoon Haagen-Dazs Vanilla

Post Dinner
30 Pistachios
1 Morsel Turkey
1 Brussel Sprout

Still not 100% in the old muggin, I got up today and for the first time since I started the South Beach Diet, I made a breakfast for myself that I could not finish. Then Emily and I had an unbelievably poor car trip, where we were actually STOPPED on the Mass. Pike. After being in bumper-to-bumper traffic for about two hours (can anyone explain that phenomenon?) and finally hitting open highway, Magnolia needed us to pull over. Arggh. We hit the Connecticut rest station for about a half hour. We started at 12:00pm on the dot and arrived just 4 and half hours later (the same distance during the rest of the year takes about 2 and half hours). We were stressed out, but it was nice to see everyone (this was my family); Ruby found her cousins newly alluring and exciting; Magnolia felt the same way about their port-a-crib. Fortunately, Emily and I missed all the appetizers, so we only had to deal with the actual dinner. Things went really well, except that I helped clear Ruby's dessert plate which featured all four kinds of desserts (pumpkin pie, pecan pie, angel-cake and ice cream). As a Pecan Pie fanatic, I helped myself to the microscopic crumb Ruby left over. It was so good, I decided to have myself a sliver. And I thought, "Egads, I am just like dieters all across America on this day, succumbing to this very same thing."

Then, hours (and another terrible car ride) later we got home, and naturally Ruby was hungry. We examined what Emily's family's leftovers looked like, but Ruby wasn't interested. She had a yogurt, and she wanted to try some pistachios, which she liked. Then we had a pistachio party. She was fascinated in the 'breaking them open' part, and that necessitated doing it ALOT. Half a bag later, we were ready to go to bed.

Day 269: Erev Thanksgiving

Today I did not just will myself to get better, I planned a day where there was no alternative. In retrospect, this could have gone very badly for me, but fortunately, I skated by (as I am wont to do) with no ill effects. Still troubled by whatever stomach problems I have 'caught' from Emily, I try and take it easy today, except that I need to have a crown (that's a tooth-thingy) fixed. It also so happens that an important meeting with my boss and several folks from corporate has been scheduled without my noticing; it happens to coincide badly with my dental needs. Luckily, everybody is willing to move the time around but I still have to ask my dentist to "lean on the gas" and I don't mean give me more NO2. I realize as I'm asking this that "speedy" and "crown work" don't really belong together, but what can I do. I had not figured that I was going to be swallowing (unintentionally) all kinds of dentral detritus, such as tooth-drilling-shavings and crown-mold-castoffs. I begin to worry that this will upset my stomach, but fortunately the wildly unpleasant sensation of drilling caused all of my senses to go white-hot with despair, making me oblivious to everything else.

Breakfast
1/2 slice Vermont Bread
6 oz. Stonyfield Vanilla Yogurt
1/9th Banana

Lunch
Sirloin Cheeseburger with Bacon
Side Salad with Zinfandel Vinaigrette

Snack
A few handfuls of salted Cashews
chicken breast pieces

Dinner
2-Egg Cheese Omelet
1 Slice Wheat Toast

It certainly wasn't a regular eating day for me, since I was worried in the AM, spent the balance of the morning in a dental chair (thinking of Marathon Man) and then meetings, following by a meat-fest. When I got home I immediately took Ruby out on an emergency mitten-buying excursion, and then to market for a few items. Let me tell you, it is a crazy scene at 5pm Wed before Thanksgiving! Obviously, there has been a lot written about dieters and Thanksgiving; I'll let you know how it went.

Day 268: Sick to my stomach

Whatever Emily had, I got, and I can only pray that we don't pass it to our kids or anyone else. It's a roiling, cramping pain that leaves you feeling terrible, and suppresses your appetite, but oddly, didn't make food seem unappealing. I ate little today, but I did eat. Things looked good and I was hungry, but overwhelmingly, I chose not to eat.

Breakfast
2 Slices Ezekiel Bread
Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
8 Dried Apricots
1/4 almonds/Cashews

Lunch
1 Cameo Apple

Dinner
1/2 piece Vermont Soft Bread Toast
6 oz Stonyfield Vanilla Yogurt
9 Cheerios (fed to me by Magnolia)
34% of a banana

When I got home today I did not feel like eating anything, and in fact, went to sleep shortly after. When I got up, I still could not fathom what I would put in my mouth since the BRAT diet—bananas, rice, applesauce and toast—which is often recommended for post-stomach trauma is about 50% anti-sobe. Magnolia insisted I eat many of her cheerios, so that was what made me think I could eat something. Actually, they were pretty good. Then the banana. Then I thought, I should eat some yogurt, as I know it is good for your stomach (it has to live cultures, though). For this reason I eschewed the corn-syrup laden yoplait and chose stonyfield. As of this writing, I actually feel much better.

Day 267: It's Downhill from Here

Emily truly sick; I stayed home to care for her and baby this AM; en route to work realized I too was feeling less-than-stellar. Couldn't stay long at work; tried not to touch anybody, left early.

Breakfast
2 Slices Sprouted Ezekial Bread
Peanut butter

10:30AM Snack
6 oz yoplait yogurt (blueberry)
1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup Hiprotein crunch cereal

Lunch
Hot and Sour Soup

Other Snack
1 Cameo Apple

Dinner
Chicken Burger
Broccoli

In retrospect having the hot and sour soup when you're feeling a bit etchy-ketchy in the stomach is not supremely wise; somehow I still thought it was better than not eating anything. Ditto for the rest of the day, though I'm almost certain that Aileen is right, and that HoneyCrisps might be THE apple to beat. Cameos, Pink Ladies and a good Golden Delicious are right up there, but I think the HC might take the top honors.

Feeling a little crappy as I write this. When you're trying to lose weight, you look at stomach illnesses in a whole new way, I promise you that.

Day 266: Shabbat it Ain't

Because Emily's sisters were here, and they're early risers, I was able to get to the gym for a second time this weekend. Because it's not 'no towels' shabbat, the gym was JAMMED. There were only a few machines left unattended. This meant I had to give up my beloved elliptical because there was a half hour wait on every one. I dutifully signed up and surveying my possibilities, took up the treadmill. Now if you don't me well you might not know that except for running away from something frightening, I have never really done any jogging in my life. I know that people expect that you jog when you get on the treadmill, but I have always been a fast walker, preferring not to break into a full hop-off my feet. Today I did just that, once again surprising myself inside the temple of old Jews who do more 'resting' and 'sitting' on the recumbent bikes than actual exercise. After a half an hour on the treadmill, I had only gone just over two miles, but it was much harder and I was obviously more worked out than I had been in previous work outs. In fact, yesterday I only barely needed a towel (which is good, because as you know, it was Shabbat and there are no towels, Genesis: 4-12). Today I was in definite need. After my half hour fast walk & jogging, I took my turn on the elliptical and went almost another two miles. Then I took a journey around the track.

Breakfast
2 Slices Ezekiel Bread
Peanut Butter
2 oz. Cheese
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup Almonds/Cashews
6 Dried Apricots
6 oz yoplait yogurt
1/2 cup Hi protein crunch cereal

Lunch
Hamburger
2 oz cheese
Peppadews
Pickles

Dinner
Rotisserie Chicken
Olives

So here we are, through Emily's birthday celebration and standing on the precipice of the "holiday season", always a killer for those dieting. Today marks only 99 days to my point of being on the diet for a year—I think at the point I can truly call it a 'lifestyle change.' Plus, I'm nearly deaf from two months with the iPod earbuds. On top of it, Emily came down with something—so she was sidelined for the night. I ate standing up, and was glad I'm not emotionally attached to my eating experience, or I would have demanded a refund.

265: A Tale of Two Cities

Today Emily's sisters all came in from New York to help celebrate her birthday. Today, this meant going out to Radius in Boston, and tomorrow it's a big brunch at the Westin. Long time readers will know that I also went to Radius for my birthday, but, due to childcare responsibilities (and sister-only invitation status) was left out tonight. Because we didn't really have a chance to go shopping today (there was a slate of birthday activities) the kids got your basic out of the box dinner—hot dogs, baked beans and mac and cheese. Now there's nothing wrong with that, it's just the way it went that was my dinner too. As I was just writing about, it is better not to want to fall in love with your dinner. As it was, I happen to love a Hebrew National hot dog just about as much as anything in this world.

Breakfast
2 Eggs, Over
2 Strips Turkey Bacon
2 oz private stock cabot cheese

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
10 dried apricots
6 oz lite yoplait yogurt

Lunch
3 Eva Chan Spare Ribs
Greek Salad

Dinner
1/4 lb Hebrew National Hot Dog
Baked Beans

Today's visit to the gym was a lesson in "don't get too comfortable in life." I left the house without a towel and expected to rent one (a service which they provide for $1) but was told that today there weren't any because "it was Shabat." Confused, I went towel-less into the gym, and settled into a machine. I try to position myself between the two televisions so I'm not at the mercy of a 30-minute long African infomercial and football. Today looked good as CNN was on the one I was closest to, but minutes into my workout, a man came and wanted to change the channel. He looked to me as if to ask "is it OK?" and in my desire to warn him not to put the football game on BOTH sets, he misunderstood, did just that, and got in my line of vision so I couldn't see anything. Minutes later, someone else came and changed it without asking HIM, and the cycle continued.

Day 264: Birthday Celebration Continues

Due to some quirk of fate, Emily birthday and mine fall on the same day of the week, every year since we've known each other. I suppose this is not that unusual, but it means that whatever happens on my birthday happens on hers, and that goes the 40th Thursday-to-Sunday celebrations. I have the added bonus of having Ruby's birthday fall on the day following mine, meaning there will always be lots of balloons. This year for Emily's birthday, there's a lot of food. Tonight it was Papparazi.

Breakfast
Two slices of Wheat Toast
Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup Almonds/Cashews
1 Medium Dunkin Donuts Coffee (half decaf)
65 Pistachios
1 Cameo Apple

Lunch
Spicy Chicken and String Beans

Dinner
Salad with Goat Cheese
Boneless Breast of Chicken on Greens

263: Emily's Birthday

So of course on a big day with a plan for a big dinner, like poker or a 40th birthday I am wanting to watch what I eat. I have to start with two pieces of toast, because Ruby and I wanted to wake up Emily with flowers, and we had shopping to do. For reasons known only to the divine, there is no AM kindergarten today, so we are off on a some boring adult ventures like filling up the car with gas. However, at the supermarket she gets a banana-chocolate chip muffin (which she continues to eat the next day) and at Starbucks we run into one of her friends whose mother has to pay for her coffee drink with an American Express card. I try to slink out of the store, but Ruby and her friend are jungled up like a barrel of monkeys so I have twist her the right way to get her out the door. Aside from all that, people come to assess Magnolia and there's all kind of stuff going on. It's one of those days were you really could eat irresponsibly, if you weren't paying attention.

Breakfast
Two slices When Pigs Fly Harvest Wheat and Pumpkin Seed
Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
6 slices toscano salami
few oz's cheddar cheese

Lunch
6 oz Blueberry "yoplait" lite yogurt
6 dried apricots
1/4 cup almonds/cashews

Metadinner
Hamburger (that I fed to Ruby and Magnolia)

Dinner: Le Soir
Rolls, etc.
Appetizer—Confit of Duck
Appetizer—Scallop wrapped in Bacon
Dinner—Steak
Pomme Frites (with Spicy homemade ketchup)
Asparagus
Sweet Potato Puree
Flourless Chocolate Cake

Emily and I did not get out to dinner until 9PM—which is usually when we're relaxing after putting the kids to bed, but we were sure hungry. I believe we did not overdo it, but I did allow myself a few exceptions—a bite of a rye roll (it was lousy with fiendish caraway seeds); some ciabatta bread crust with tapenade butter, and some pomme frites, probably around a dozen. We split the steak and only had one bite of the dessert. The appetizers were frugally sized. I'll tell you, I don't remember specifics, but I can tell you Emily and I have walked out of more than a few birthday dinners ready to keel over from over-eating. Happily, this was not the case tonight. But she's going out a few more times this weekend—fortunately, I'll be staying home and eating spelt.

Day 262: Sadly, Tuna on a Paper Plate

If you are someone looking to go on a diet, or succeed on the one you're on, I think lowering your expectations about each meal is crucial. That means not only getting less excited about each chance to feed, but to really recognize that it is a biological requirement and that if you don't LOVE every single meal it's OK. This may be fly in the face of the 'life-is-short' brigade who may think 'life is too short to eat bad food' and I am certainly not recommending that you eat bad food (though it will make the diet easier). Even though I have lowered my expectations about each meal, I can still amazingly be disappointed. Today, due to my choice to go walking, I had literally zero time to get something to eat, so I was forced to rummage around the Domania kitchen and so I made due with a can of plain tuna, two cheese sticks and a 11 oz V-8. Nutritionally, it was absolutely fine, and what there was tasted good. But when I caught a view of myself from the so-called "God's-eye-view" it was really quite sad.

Breakfast
1.5 cup Crispy Wheats
1 cup Lactose and Fat-free Milk
.5 cup Blueberries
Tea

Snack
12 oz Coffee (half decaf)
1/4 cup almonds cashews
10 dried apricots
60 Pistachios
1 Pink lady Apple

Lunch
6 oz. Can of Tuna
2 Cheese sticks
11 oz Can V8 Vegetable Juice

Dinner
Shrimp & Scallops a la Emily
Broccoli
2 Bites of Chicken

Emily was very unhappy with the dinner she made tonight. She complained that the broccoli was overcooked and the scallops were awful. I ate the broccoli but I'm not a scallops fan, so it wasn't much of a disappointment. As I mentioned, I am learning not to expect too much, and have been pleasantly delighted for about the past four months of Emily's cooking, so the diet has been relatively easy.

Day 261: Trip To New York

I was seeing a client who is deep in New Jersey, and I decided to take the train (the Acela) because it literally stops a few minutes from their offices. I made sure I packed lots of SoBe friendly snacks for the road, and in fact ate most of them. I probably could have gone without a few of them, but when you spend 8 hours on a train, you indulge yourself a little. I did not eat any of my joy sticks.

Breakfast
2 slices of when pigs fly bread
peanut butter
tea

Snack
1/2 cup almonds/cashews
6 oz yoplait lite yogurt (bananas and strawberries)
10 dried apricots
1 cameo apple (bruised)

Lunch
3 Roll Mops: Ham, Muenster, Pickles, Mustard
1 Romaine Heart
2 Slices Toscano Salami

Dinner
13 oz. Spinach Salad with Egg, Bacon and Cheese
Dressing

At the client meeting the clients were kind enough to provide snacks: water and cookies. The water was served in several different size containers (both sport bottles and non-sport bottles) and the cookies (served in plastic cups(!)) had the feeling of an afterthought. I demurred, citing the South Beach diet and quietly calculated how many cookies I would have had I not been on the diet. The number was at least two (there were chocolate chip and sugar) because I would have tried one of each; and certainly would have gone back for seconds. Instead, I contented myself with knowing that I had an apple and apricots in my bag, and I could eat them if I got hungry. As it was, they served us dinner on the Acela right away, a Spinach salad. I asked for, and got, a second helping, which was good because six ounces of spinach is NOT a dinner portion.

Day 260: Trip the Lite Yogurt Fantastic

I want to point out to people the very real threat of iPod ear damage, but I so rarely have the time to write about it here. There are a lot of links out there to studies, but I can tell you that common sense says when you put the loudest thing imaginable INSIDE your ear, you're asking for trouble. Start here (http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=11524&Page=1&pagePos=1) and then Google the rest. I mean it, it's trouble.

Breakfast
2 Slices of When Pigs Fly Bread
Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup Almonds/Cashews
1 Honeycrisp Apples
60 Pistachios
8 Dried Apricots

Lunch
Chicken
Chinese Broccoli
1/2 Beef Teriyaki
Diet Coke

Dinner
Cheeseburger
Sauteed Onions
Pickles
Peppadews
String Beans

Tomorrow I'm going to New York to see a client. In my younger days a client-based trip, or really a trip anywhere meant a few things: one, wildly caloric breakfast such as a bacon egg and cheese or hostess lemon pie, and two, a similarly impossible lunch, very often a large meat sandwich with fried carbs of some kind on the side, often made possible by allowing myself to forgo all restraint once any time of routine is broken. It's amazing that just minutes ago I was packing rollmops for the train, weighing out nuts, counting out apricots and freezing some yogurt. I am all about making sure I have what I need to eat on the train (I'll be on it for 8 hours). I will miss my traditional Acela meal of Hot Dog and Fritos, but I'll live. Probably longer.

Day 259: Sunday, Sunday

Whether you're coming down with a cold or not, you can't help but admire and appreciate an incredible 65-degree day. Of course, no one was thanking their lucky stars more than the parents of the girl's outside birthday party that Ruby and I attended this morning. There was horsey rides, animal feeds, bunnies and ice cream and cake in a hayloft. You really couldn't have asked for more. Well, there could have been a SoBe friendly lunch for the adults, but aside from that you couldn't have asked for more. So that I didn't get low-sugared-out, I had a few cukes, and pieces of cheese, and the topping off of one slice of Domino's pizza. I must tell you that previous to being on the diet, I ate more than my share of cake at parties. In fact, at work, I was the cake maven—one of two people responsible for fetching the incredible, creamy, buttery sheet cake whenever there was a party—and we always found a way to have a party. Emily and I often discuss which dessert you would rate highest, and I think for me it's sheet cake. Luckily, this birthday cake was from Sudbury Farm—not of a tempting quality.

Breakfast
2 Slices When Pigs Fly Bread
Peanut Butter
Tea
1 oz. Cracker Barrel Cheese

Lunch
1 slice Domino's Pizza (Cheese Only)
1 cucumber slice, a few cheese slices
Leftovers Peppers and Onions
Leftovers Eva Chan Chicken
6 oz Yogurt

Snack
1/4 cup Almonds Cashews
8 Dried Apricots

Dinner
Trout Mystery a la Emily
Bok Choy

Still feeling kind of lousy, I almost thought I would skip going to the gym, because there was a lot to do at home and by the time it was time to go, it was dark and the day was wearing on. I did go though, figuring that the workout might help me feel better, giving me energy instead of sapping me of it. As it turns out, that was pretty much the case. I did feel better after going, if only because I didn't skip, and that's new for me. As a young lad, I was quite the skipper. I skipped everything, I was always about getting out of stuff. Once I hid my trumpet in a closest and took the empty case to my lessons so I didn't have to practice. So being committed to something is new, and feels good. I could get used to it...

PokerFallout

The day after the card game is always difficult, mostly because even if we don't stay up that late, there is a feeling of being 'wound up' that prevents you from going to right to bed when you get home. So there's a bit of a decompressing, which can turn a 1AM sort of "too late to go to bed night" into a "2AM you're really sorry you weren't asleep sooner"night.

Breakfast
Two slices when pigs fly bread
peanut butter
tea

Lunch
Tuna
Romaine lettuce
Cabbage
Feta Cheese

Dinner
Chicken a la Eva Chan
Stir Fry Cabbage and Peppers

Needless to say, by the end of the 'day after' I am usually ready to totally conk-out, and this night was no different, I felt like I was coming down with some of whatever's going around. You know that "uh-oh" feeling you have when you're getting a cold? That's what I had. I started taking the vitamin c and Airborne as a double dose.

257: Yet Another Poker Game

As always, I must begin my day with a high protein breakfast, and as I am beginning my education in real calories and fats, I realize that adding an egg here and there, or an additional strip of turkey bacon is not that bad. (By the way Ruby likes turkey bacon now. That only took 250 days). As another nod to the game I also forgo most of the nut and 'nut-related' snacks during the day because nuts are one of the few SoBe friendly snacks that everyone loves at the game. As a matter of fact, I watched with great irritation as one of the players basically took my private collection of nuts, held it in his lap, and continued to reach in, take out a fistful, sort them, eat them, and repeat the process over and over again. I was trying to refrain from giving him the hairy eyeball. Why should I care what he does with my nuts? (I'll let the laughter subside for a minute). After all, I brought them to the game, so they're fair game for everybody. But it was the way he was holding them. And then fistful after fistful. I sort of felt for him, because I know how addictive they are. But I also thought "put them back, you thoughtless nut sifter!" I might have to bring them in little bags next time.

Breakfast
3 Eggs
2.5 Strips Turkey Bacon
Tea

Snack
8 Dried Apricots
Dunkin Donuts Medium Coffee (half decaf)

Lunch
Chicken and Broccoli with Brown Rice

Poker/Snack/Dinner
2 Pickles
1/2 cup Almonds/Cashews
slices of salami/pepperoni/cheese
1 cheese stick
Orange Beef
Chicken and Broccoli
String Beans with Pork
Shrimp with Vegetables
.5 Teriyaki Stick
Boneless spare ribs

Lastly, I am realizing that anytime you are sitting in one place for a long time it's challenging not to eat, and doubly challenging if there's a lot of food nearby for you to choose from. Ultimately, the card game is healthier from a food perspective than it ever was, we have now officially gone from a fried-chip based game to a meat and cheese game, so that's good. We've just got to work on the volume.

A Day Without Nuts

In response to my possible overdoes of nuts, I have committed to going a day without nuts. This is challenging because I am so used to eating them in the morning, for breakfast, for snack, and anytime I want to eat but not commit to a type or volume of something. But I had to see if I could do it. On the dried-apricot front, I have realized that I must practice portion control—I will eat as many of them as are near. That's really the problem with all SoBe friendly snacks—if they're allowed, you want to eat them. If you're hungry, bored or stressed, you'll just keep eating. Eating feels good. Ergo, watch out.

Breakfast
1 Cup High Protein Crunch
1 Cup Lactose Free, Fat-Free Milk
1/2 cup Blueberries

Snack
1 oz Cracker Barrel Cheese
8 Dried Apricots
1 Cameo Apple

Lunch: Chinese
Beef with Broccoli
House Special Egg Drop Soup

Dinner
Snap Peas
Steak Tips

I also realized with some grimacing that Emily and are eating protein every night. Of course, it would be much easier to forgo this if we were eating any kind of carbs, but without pizza and pasta it's very hard to think how to go vegetarian without going 'frookie.' Sure, there's tofu and we could just eat salad and vegetables, but I'm just not there yet. I do feel an obligation to try and better myself as an eater, but I understand it's an evolutionary process (that's a dangerous word lately).

255: NutWenedsday

I totally went nuts today. I had a nut-attack. It was 'nut' very good. However, this was balanced out by a VERY brisk walk at Domania with almost the whole gang. It was quite chilly, so it was both helpful and necessary to walk fast. We stopped counting the minutes a long time ago, but I bet we were under 35 minutes.

Breakfast
1 Slice When Pigs Fly Bread, 1 Slice Soft Whole Wheat
Some Chunky (Super) Peanut Butter
1 oz Cracker barrel cheese

Snack
1 Fuji Apple from Costco
8 dried apricots
1/4 cup almonds/cashews plus a handful of cashews
60 pistachios

Lunch
Stir-fried chicken with spicy string beans

Dinner
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Bok Choy
Sweet Potato

We went on a field trip to Costco as an office-outing and we got lots of snacks, including salted cashews and salted pistachios which are practically irresistible. It's not that they're so good, it's just that they're so salty. It's really hard to control yourself around Costo-volumes of nuts, but the apples are a different story. We have gone a few times to Costco since I've been on the program and there's little in the way of multi-pak snacks that are SoBe friendly. Except for Tuna, Cheese, Vegetables and Apples you're really trying to spend time in the Gum aisle or get the hell out of there fast.

Day 254: Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth

From the South Beach Newsletter: Looking for sweet treats that won't sabotage your diet? Sugar substitutes such as aspartame and saccharin are fine (but cancer causing-Ed.) on The South Beach Diet. So is Splenda (not yet proven-Ed.), a natural sugar substitute made from sugar cane. Here's what Dr. Agatston recommends for satisfying your sweet tooth:
• Sugar-free gelatin
• Ricotta cheese with vanilla or almond extract and mixed with a
sugar substitute
• Sugar-free fudgsicles
• Sugar-free hard candies
• Sugar-free Popsicles
• Sugarless chewing gum
• Cocoa powder, no-added-sugar
• Sugar-free, caffeine-free carbonated sodas
• Sugar-free, caffeine-free drink mixes (like Crystal Lite)

Breakfast
2 slices When Pigs Fly Bread
Super Chunky Peanut Butter
Tea

Snack
1/4 cup almonds/cashews
8 dried apricots
1 joy stick
60 pistachios

Lunch
Salad with Cheese, Tuna, Red Peppers

Dinner
Sweet Hot and Sour Tilapia
Bok Choy

Am sensing a complete nut-attack coming on. Mostly, it is caused by stress but the next most common cause is SITTING TOO CLOSE TO THE PISTACHIOS. Note to self: bring in celery sticks to work. Emily continues to do amazing things in the wok. However, from studying models of excellent nutrition, I am clearly not eating enough 'orange' foods. Also very low on red foods, now that I'm off pizza. My barber keeps trying to talk me into jogging. He says his metabolism is so high he can eat anything he wants and drink anything he wants. That sounds good, but I'm not sure I can get into jogging (or running as 'they' call it).

Day 253: Monday

I am trying like mad to mix up the breakfast meal again. It's hard because mornings call for something without a lot of fuss, which is why turkey bacon and eggs is out. It's so easy to have toast, but I must keep on searching. Hard boiled eggs with salmon? I don't want to smell fishy at the office. I continue to search...

Breakfast
6 oz yogurt lite strawberry yoplait
1 cup Wheatabix
1/2 cup blueberries
tea

Snack
1/4 almonds/cashews
8 apricots
60 pistachios

Lunch
Mixed Greens
Goat Cheese
House-Dried Tomatoes
Tuna

Dinner
Pan-Fried Chicken a la Emily
Cabbage

I must apologize for people who read this blog who don't have someone to cook dinner for them. As some of you know, I was the primary cook in our house for nearly two decades. I am by no means a great cook, more like a short-order diner cook. My specialties were eggs, bacon, toast, and occasional other things: chili, pasta sauce, tuna, pizza, and for about two years things in the wok including a very serviceable 'salad Cambodian' imitation. I never ever was as good as Emily has gotten in just a year. I try to take up the cooking on the weekends and some nights, but ultimately I think she likes to cook and may even like her cooking better than mine. So, in cooking silence, I enjoy the bounty, which is truly, revolutionary. I'm not sure how anyone could seriously stay on a program without the aid of their S.O.

Day 252: [sobbing, whimpering]

At the gym today I began my program to run at a lower, fat-burning rate, as was recommended to me by health professionals and sister-in-laws a like. So this means instead of elliptical-ing (jogging?) at a rate of 6 mph, I was more like at 5 mph. It was challenging to keep my heart rate at 117, so I was often either at 124 or 114. By running slower, I realized that it was less important to listen to fast music and simultaneously, it was easier to keep going. I did four miles in about 50 minutes. As an added bonus, the TV aimed at my elliptical was on the "Shaft" remake with Samuel ("Shmutty") Jackson. Quite a bad film, but the 'closed caption titles' made it unintentionally hilarious. A tried hard to remember the scene in its entirety. Someone is getting roughted up on a roof somewhere.

YOU LIKE THAT?

[sobbing, whimpering]

AHH!

YOU WANT A TASTE OF THAT?

AHH AHH!

[engine revs]

[crying]

Breakfast
2 slices When Pigs Fly Bread
Super chunky peanut butter
Tea

Snack
1/2 cup almonds/cashews
50% honey crisp apple
4 bites Banilla yogurt
1 chicken nugget
5 dried apricots

Lunch
2 Eggs Over Easy
2 Strips Turkey Bacon
1 oz Cracker Barrel Cheese

Dinner
Shrimp & Broccoli a la Emily
1 Hot Dog

It seems kind of funny to have a hot dog for dessert, but when you're hungry, and you've run out of dinner, it has to be done. I don't have any more explanation than that. And for the record, Aileen was right, Honeycrisp apples are FANTASTIC, if not very very sweet.