Eating Before You Leave

You are going to a restaurant where you know you usually over eat. Solution: carrot sticks, broccoli, or some other veggie you don't mind eating raw and plain. Avoid dip at this point, they are full of calories and you are heading somewhere where you are about to eat too many calories anyway. Also, when you eat them first, you won't have the flavor in your mouth very long or last, and you won't be starving when you get to the destination.

Yes. But only if...

I fell upon a new way of avoiding -------. Whatever it is, and in my case it was a granola bar. I was offered a granola bar during a moment of weakness. Six months ago I would have taken it without any question. But today I managed to avoid it, double packaging aside. When offered, you simply say yes, but only if it is a chocolate chip granola bar. Oh, you only have peanut butter. Well I think only chocolate chip will cheer me, but thanks.

Two things to keep in mind when you try this tactic. First, if your friend has chocolate chip granola bars you will be obliged to take one. (Fail Mission) Second, before you speak know what kind of granola bars are around. If you don't know it may be better to say something a bit less popular, like cranberry nut, keeping in mind your friend may have a cranberry nut granola bar available. See first rule. Double Fail Mission if you don't like cranberries.

No Telling

So I am no longer telling people I am on a diet and I am telling my hubby to do likewise. When you only have a few pounds to lose, Americans look at you funny when you tell them you are trying to lose them. The only people I bother trying to explain myself to are the very thin. They sometimes even argue. So I have given up the habit. Now I am going to behave like the thin and cut my dessert in half and offer the other half with someone else. Put half of my en-tray in a box before I start eating it. And I am not explaining myself. Skinny people never tell you why they are doing those things.

Nothing Out of a Wrapper Today

I managed to eat nothing that came out of a vacuum packed sealed wrapper today. Just an omelet with kale and other veggies, home made bread with jam, fruit, a salad, some pasta and maybe a little bit of Nutella. I guess the Nutella was processed food. I will go read the label now...Sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk, reduced minerals whey (milk), lecithin as emulsifier (soy), vanillin: an artificial flavor. Researching Lecithin and vanillin...

Lecithin is some chemical found it animal fat, egg yolks, soy etc.

Vanillin. I am reading and reading, but I am confused, and I don't want to post anymore about it. When I am sure of what this is, I will give it it's own post.

Box and Wrapper

I hadn't thought about my plan to not eat anything that comes out of two forms of packaging in a while. For one thing, I thought it was all out of the house, and that I wouldn't have to worry about it again. I forgot that people go to the grocery store and bring them home again, and I would need to think about it after every grocery shop. Twice today I found myself opening a box, pulling out a wrapper and opening the wrapper to discover the processed foods inside. Oops.

The first box was a box of 365 Herb and Garlic Water Cracker. 365 is the Whole Foods brand in case you are not familiar. Ingredients: Organic wheat flour non-hydrogenated organic palm oil, seasoning (organic garlic, organic onion, red bell pepper, organic black pepper, organic parsley leaf and other organic dried spices) salt, organic barley malt. As for ingredients, you could do worse.

The second Progresso Panko Crispy Bread Crumbs Italian Style. This item contains Wheat flour bleached, canola oil, maltodextrin, salt, dried roasted garlic, yeast, sugar, basil, spices, onion powder, paprika, caramel color, natural flavors, ascorbic acid. Other than the maltodextrin, I know what everthing on the list is, and I think they are all okay. I will have to check on maltodextrin... Checking... Looks like it is a starch derived from barley and used as a thickener. At least it isn't a chemical.

Had there been a bag of cookies with a container inside the bag, I think my radar would have gone off. OREOs for example. Somehow crackers and bread crumbs, don't have the same effect on my brain. But they are still processed foods, and I said I was going to avoid them.

Discouraging Skinny Person Talk

I couldn't figure this girl out. I see her eat from time to time and she always seems to have a Wendy's Thick Burger equivalent, if there even is such a thing. I don't keep up with the fast food sandwiches. She is pounding french fries, and drinking some sort of soda. So I asked her if there is anything she avoids, or anything she makes sure she eats to stay so trim. Here it comes.

She doesn't eat. She hadn't eaten anything yesterday, or today up until that point of getting that sandwich and fries with the drink. She won't eat again today, or tomorrow. And if she does eat anything it will be something she can grab out of the pantry or fridge and put directly into her mouth. She hates food. She hates dealing with it, chopping it, handling it, eating it etc. It almost seems that she waits till she is not going to be able to function in any meaningful way, and eats something then and then nothing else for a long time.

It doesn't seem the healthiest plan, nor does it seem practical. I like to cook, and chop veggies, and handle the food I plan to eat. And I certainly don't prefer processed foods the way she describes them. It seems there is more than one way to be skinny.

Interview of the Skinny Lady

I was talking to another Skinny Lady and here is a summary of why she is so thin.

She was telling me about a fast that she doesn't do, that uses an appetite suppressing drink that she drinks any time she feels hungry between meals. It makes her feel full and it keeps her out of the snacks. The ingredients in this drink (that she makes) are lemon, grade B Maple Syrup, cayenne pepper, and water. She says she drinks between 6-12 cups of this concoction a day. I have also been to a party that she threw, and she brought hummus, macaroni with something called nutritional yeast instead of cheese, chick pea something something or other, and a cake that a vegan would eat. I don't know how she managed the cake, and she kept using terms that I had never heard. Unfortunately the only one I remember at the moment is nutritional yeast. Mental note: skinny people eat nutritional yeast, I must find out what that is.

Oh yeah, the fast that she doesn't use, is called Master Cleanse. And the lemonade drink is found here

http://themastercleanse.org/the-lemonade-diet/

It's a Down Week!!!

So I was down 3 pounds at WeightWatchers this week. I know I haven't weighed-in in several weeks, but I am glad I am down. 8 pounds to go.

Talking to skinny people

So I was talking to another skinny person today, now this one was not skin and bones, like the runner, but he was trim. (We won't hold his gender against him, even though boys seem to be able to consume more than girls and not wear it around for the next 10 years.)
He says to me, "Oh, don't watch what I put on my plate, I just have a great metabolism and I can pretty much eat what I want." I think to myself, I will just watch and see anyway.

What does he put on his plate? For breakfast 2 pancakes, no butter and a light amount of berry syrup. The pancakes, were low fat, so the whole plate was maybe 6 points. (PointsPlus Points) Lunch, whole wheat sandwich, with pimento cheese (thin layer), two thin slices of ham, sprouted lentils, hummus. Sandwich looked like it was 8 points at most. Also on his plate, carrot sticks, sprouted chick peas, and pasta salad with more veggies in it than pasta, and a light but flavorful dressing. 4 more points there at most. It is convenient the someone with such a great metabolism would put so much healthy stuff on his plate. Maybe he doesn't have the metabolism he thinks he does, and just has a taste for things that will keep him trim.

I noticed a bag of malted milk balls, and a bag of gummy bears in their house. They were both opened, but neither looked as though any were missing. Hmmm. I guess they opened them and took one and closed it up again.

Back to counting

Looks like I still have 3 weeks before that wedding where I have to fit into that dress. Maybe if I count every calorie between now and then I should be okay.

Mother's day

Why did I eat those doughnuts?

I will weigh in this week.

Cinco de Mayo

Party Thursday. (didn't count points) Leftover beer & party food yesterday. (didn't count points). Egg white omelet, squash soup, & salad today. I guess I should figure out how many points I have left before I go to the Greek Fest.
Egg white omelet w/ cheese 5
Squash soup 2
Few pretzels 4
Salad w/ cheese 3
That's 14 so far. That leaves 15 for the fest. So I should be okay for today at least. Probably not enough to recover for the rest of the week.

Interviewing skinny people

I have started a habit of asking skinny people what they eat, and today the answer was.

"Well Monday - Friday I am very careful about what I eat, and on the weekends I just eat whatever. That's when we go to parties... But mostly I run and I avoid white food." I asked her to go into detail about the running, she runs 2-3 miles every day, with her dog, pushing 2 children in a running stroller. I saw the kids, they weren't babies. 3 and 5. She runs with her dog too.

I didn't get any details about the white food, but I assumed she meant mayonnaise, white bread, white rice, and white pasta.

Fruit

Fruit. So yummy, so succulent, so sweet, is making my mouth bleed. This is doing bad things for my motivation on staying on track with a diet. I am not ready to give up yet, but I am discouraged :(