Pastrami and knishes, here I come

I'm leaving for NYC in the morning. For one week. Of sightseeing and eating. Hopefully the sightseeing will burn some major calories. I haven't been to Manhattan in twenty years. My homeland! I promise to climb steps whenever I can. I promise to go to the gym as often as possible. I promise to have just a bite or a lick or a taste of pizza and pastrami and a knish. Dim sum...that's going to be a tough one. I promise that I will not drink regular soda. Absolutely positively. I will avoid all desserts. And that includes Carvel hot fudge sundaes...my favorite. I'll do my best and it will be better than I've done in the past. No sense undoing all the pain and suffering of the last few months. Will my friends notice? Do they care???
What will I say when my friends coax me to join them in overindulgence of fattening foods? Because it will happen.
Will it all be undone in seven short days?

The power of chocolate

"Flavanol-rich chocolate may boost blood flow in the brain and reduce the risk of dementia and stroke, Boston-based researchers have reported."

Oh my goodness! Am I hurting myself by not eating chocolate?? Should I be having at least one chocolate bar a day? Or at least some chocolate ice cream? If the research is correct I could be heading for disaster.

I may have to re-evaluate my eating plan. Losing weight is supposed to be good for my health hence I have embarked on a die*t (and believe me, it's killing me!). On the other hand (because there always is another hand), this research is pretty convincing or at least I want to be convinced by it!

Funny thing is that I don't really like chocolate all that much. I don't usually crave chocolate like other women say they do. But two nights ago I had an urge, a desire, a craving for some chocolate. In truth, it wasn't for chocolate but rather for candy. See, there's a difference. I wanted some nuts and caramel coated in milk chocolate. I believe that's called a "turtle". Yum.

But I wasn't craving dark chocolate. And that's the kind that has been used in most of the research that shows a clear benefit to health. I was craving just something crunchy and sweet. So I can't really say that my body knew it needed some flavonols.

So no candy for me. I'll take my chances. I'll try to ward off a mental decline with substances other than candy. Like fresh vegetables and colorful fruits. Sigh.

Research I like

"Children carrying the first gene that has been clearly linked to obesity find it harder than others to tell when they are full, London-based researchers say. "

Ahha! There it is. The explanation. Or is it the excuse? Doesn't matter. I
m certain that I have that genetic abnormality. I'm sure of it. No need for DNA testing. I'm the unhappy bearer of that gene. For sure. Absolutely.

But, then again, I do know when I am full. When I've had enough. I just choose to keep going. Not indefinitely. But certainly past the point of "full" especially if the food tastes food. That's what it always comes back to. Good tasting food. If it weren't for taste, then I would be slim and trim.

But switching to foods that don't taste so great doesn't work for me. I won't eat them. Not a bite. Hunger notwithstanding. Instead, I'll go seeking. I'll shop, cook, bake, do whatever it takes to find something that tastes good. Something that pleases my palate.

Olympic Dreams

I want Dara Torres' body. The ripped abs. The muscular arms. The tight butt. I want it all. What does Dara eat? Did she have Chinese food for dinner last night? I mean, the kind of Chinese food I had for dinner. Did she have a smoothie for breakfast this morning? Like the one I had....with chocolate syrup in it. Is she already dreaming about tonight's dinner? Fried chicken, perhaps? Hmmm. Probably not.
Achieving the body that Dara Torres has is probably out of my reach. But I can dream. In my dream, Chinese food and smoothies made with chocolate syrup are part of the Olympic diet that creates a taut butt.

Watching TV commercials

Two pizzas, bread sticks, chocolate dunkers and one liter of Pepsi for a bargain price. That's the Pizza Hut commercial that's been running for a few weeks now. If you've got kids, it is indeed a bargain. But at what "price"? It's a simple carbohydrate lover's dream meal....pizza, bread, cake and soda. And we wonder why Americans are fat?

Bored

Slowly I've lost interest in dieting (aka losing weight) just as I lose interest in all things eventually. I'm bored with focusing on meal choices based on their "legality" instead of on taste. I'm not hungry but I have a strong appetite for foods that just won't work for me now. And mostly I'm so over trying to decide where to eat when I have to eat out and what to cook when I eat at home. I cannot choose a restaurant because a particular dish calls to me. I have to choose a restaurant because they offer some sort of plain Jane dish that is prepared without extra fat and offers up either a potato (legal) or lots of veggies....since brown rice and whole grain pastas are not common in restaurants.
Cooking dinner has become laborious now that I do not have free reign to create whatever I want but must stay within the confines of what is okay on a diet. I could try to get interested in creating healthier fare but cooking that way just doesn't give the same glorious results so it's not as satisfying to me.
One of my gym buddies mentioned that she baked a chocolate cake this past week. As soon as she said that, I realized that it's been months since I baked. I love to bake. I miss baking. Sure, I could whip up some sticky mess of brownies made with prunes to substitute for fat. Oh, yum. That sounds....disgusting.
I think it's time to take out some cookbooks....healthy cookbooks....to motivate myself to prepare some tasty lower calorie fare. Not treats. My body doesn't respond well to going outside the strict guidelines of just plain foods. Or maybe it's just that I eat too many calories of "food" and there's no wiggle room left for treats. That may, indeed, be the case.
So I'm stuck here in "just plain foods hell" for eternity. Maybe it's what I deserve for my evil thoughts of creamy ice cream paired with thick hot chocolate fudge topped with hundreds of maraschino cherries. Oooooh. I just thought of something. I used to love to eat ice cream along with a bag of potato chips. To quote the annoying Rachel Ray, "Yummo". Sweet, creamy, cold paired with crunchy and salty. Heavenly.

Baby fat

My youngest child just turned 32 years old. Can I blame her for my weight? Well, not blame her exactly but can I say that I'm still carrying around the weight I gained with my last pregnancy? That would be a great excuse. I like that. People accept that women gain fat during pregnancy and it's well accepted that it is a struggle to get back to the pre-baby body after giving birth. So, that's what I'm going to do. Put the onus on my last pregnancy as the cause of my fatness. Of course, at my age I'll never return to the pre-baby body I had 32 years ago.
Sigh.