Being Wasteful

Many years ago, when I was doing Weight Watchers, I had a group leader who loved cannoli. She would always tell us that if she were going to save up a bunch of calories to blow on a dessert, she wouldn't blow them on anything less than the perfect cannoli.  

I think I applied this principal successfully yesterday when Dan brought home two half gallons of ice cream for the family.  He brought me a bowl with some of each flavor in it.  I tried the first flavor (cherry cheesecake) and thought, as I was digging in to the second bite, "hmm...not so yummy." After the third bite it occurred to me that I was eating millions and millions of calories that weren't even that good.  So I stopped eating the less yummy flavor (!) and switched over to the other flavor (Mackinac Island fudge).  It was yummy, and I finished it.  Then I left my bowl on the counter with most of the first flavor still in it!  I just let all that "perfectly good" ice cream melt, and then this morning I washed it down the sink.  I am an ice cream bowl licker by nature, and it is unheard of for me to let ice cream "go to waste."  But as my friends Lisa and LL pointed out today, eating calories you don't need is even more wasteful than throwing those calories away.   Now that's something to think about.

The Salad Rule

I have a new rule I'm trying to follow when I find myself at a fast food place.  The rule is: order a salad.  I find that when I'm faced with a menu at a place like McDonalds, I want to order the cheapest thing.  That is never a salad.  It bothers me to pay $4 something for a salad when I could get a burger for $1 something.  It seems like I'm not "getting my money's worth", whatever that means.  But I've finally decided that it is better for me to shell out the "big bucks" for the salad than to be "thrifty" and get the lard-bomb hamburger with no redeeming value to speak of (other than price).

This rule has made ordering much easier for me.  Today at Mo's, for instance, there were only two salads on the menu, so I hardly had to think at all.   Not only was my decision easier, but my meal was yummy and I didn't feel sick afterwards.  

Do you have any rules that help you when you're eating on the go?

Napoleon Dynamite Boots

I thought I had my goal-setting class at the YMCA this morning.  Because my sister-in-law Jody was visiting, and because Adam wanted us to come to his school for NAAPID today, I decided that I would just have time to go to my class and then go straight to Adam's school.  So I left my swimming bag at home and went down to the Y in my regular winter footwear, a pair of black shearling Merrell boots.  When I arrived at my classroom, my teacher was in there with a big group of other people having a meeting.  I didn't know what to do.  Esther was playing happily downstairs in Child Watch, Jody was upstairs running on the track, and I didn't have my swimming stuff or any exercise clothes or shoes to wear.  I thought about my boots, and decided that if I can walk the boys to school in them on snowy days, I could walk around the track in them.  So I went up and did some fast walking for 50 minutes.  I felt sort of silly on the track in street clothes and winter boots, but more than that, I felt proud.  It seems to me that in order to fit exercise into my daily life, I have to be determined, flexible, and resourceful.  I have to make it one of my very highest priorities.  I sometimes have to be sneaky.  And today, I had to wear Napoleon Dynamite boots.

How do you fit exercise into your daily routine?  

Victory at Costco

Today I went to Costco with Janie.  In the past, I have always purchased myself a yummy (read fatty) lunch at the Costco food court after shopping.  A month or two ago I decided that for my health I would try to follow a new rule of only buying the Caesar salad at the food court, instead of my usual chicken bake or pizza.  After a few of those salads I realized that I didn't like them enough to waste the $3.79, and since then I haven't been buying anything at all.  Today Janie bought a chicken bake and I didn't buy anything!  Yay!  She offered to buy one for me, but I wasn't really hungry, so I said no thanks!  Yay!  I came home and had a spinach salad instead.  

Have you had a healthy victory recently?  Write in and let me know about it.

Getting Plastered

Last Thursday my friend Annie brought me some key lime pie from Applebees.  The first bite or two was really yummy, but then it started feeling a bit too rich and sweet and my stomach was sick.  I'm strong, though, and I was able to keep right on eating until it was all gone.

A day or two after that I was at Janie's and she had just made a big batch of white chocolate chip orange cookies.  Again, the first one I had was amazing, but I probably had another 5 or 6 (sorry Janie).  By the second or third cookie I was feeling sick but I kept eating them anyway because they were yummy.  But not as yummy as the first one.

On Sunday I was at Julie's and she had made M & M cookie bars for dessert. Again, I kept eating and eating them well past the point of feeling sick.

Last night I was remembering those cookie bars, so I went to the store at 9 p.m. to buy the ingredients to make them.  They came out of the oven around 10:30, and by 11 Dan and I (mostly I) had eaten half of the 9 x 13 pan.  They were nowhere near as yummy as Julie's, but I just kept eating them.  We finished them off this morning for breakfast.  I've felt sick all day from eating them.  But if there were more in the pan right now, I'd go put them in my mouth.

So what is the deal?  One thing that I've been trying to learn is that I need to keep desserts out of my house.  Even something as innocent as a bag of chocolate chips in the freezer or a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch on top of the refrigerator is not safe.  I cannot stop eating sweets until they're gone, even though they make me sick.  And until the sweet food is gone, I won't eat anything else.  If I can keep from buying the yummy stuff at the store, I do pretty well.  The problem I have with that is when I tell myself that I am depriving my children (or husband), and that I need to make (or buy) them a special treat to show them I love them.  I end up eating almost all of the treat and they hardly get any. 

 Then there are always the kind friends that bring over a plate of cookies, or the lunches and dinners at other people's houses, complete with dessert! Not to mention refreshments at church events, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. etc. etc.  

It feels sort of like I'm an alcoholic who can't control her drinking.  Some people can have just one, but I have to get plastered.  Is there a way I could learn to eat just one serving, and then stop, really stop, or will I have to learn to refrain completely?  Bingeing on desserts does not fall under the heading of healthy lifestyle practices.  Has anyone else out there had this problem?  Have you found anything that helps you?