Archive for the 'Food and Drink' Category
December 27, 2006 @ 1:48 pm | Filed under: Food and Drink
Here I sit - at the computer - with a mind [that I thought was ready] to work on my Wintermester school project and a heart just aching to get started on that "Who Am I, Really?" speech [if you buy THAT, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn...]that I present at 1:00 this next Tuesday.
Instead, what am I doing? I’m thinking about that last piece of pumpkin pie that I ate for breakfast this morning and I’m wondering just how difficult it’s going to be to get back to my little-or-no-real-sugar way of life. Probably not so easy, I’m just saying…
So when I came across these holiday eating tips, I was amused. Wouldn’t it be a crazy kind of wonderful to be able to enjoy guilt-free indulgence in chocolate cake like Madie and Kenzie in this photo?
Oh, to remember the simple joys in life…
Enjoy!
HOLIDAY
EATING TIPS TO LIVE BY
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet has no Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re probably serving chocolate peanut-butter balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly, it’s rare. You can only find it for, like, three weeks out of the entire year! So drink up while you can. Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every 6 oz cup…
3. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they’re made with skim milk or whole. If they’re made with skim, then pass. Why bother? That’s like buying a fancy sports car with an automatic transmission.
4. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to eat less once there. The whole point of going to a holiday party is to eat other people’s food for free. Lots of it! Hello?
5. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year’s. Wait until January when you have nothing better to do. This is the time for long naps, which you’ll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10 pound plate of food.
6. If you come across something really good at the buffet table, like a wonderfully frosted cookie, position yourself close to that platter and don’t budge. They’re like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you’ll never see them again!
7. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it’s loaded with obligatory holiday calories, but avoid it at all costs. I mean, I have SOME standards!
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, "Woohoo! What a ride!"
September 19, 2006 @ 3:11 pm | Filed under: Food and Drink
Tonight is the big night.
As of today the 30-day challenge is over and I am finally free to once again savor the one-of-a-kind taste of a…Diet Coke! It began in fun, just a simple conversation, really, between me and Mike.
"You don’t think I can go thirty days without Diet Coke?" I remember pausing because, really…I didn’t think I could either!
Still, I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge. Maybe this was just the push I needed to get my DC cravings under subjection anyway. Kind of a "kill-two-birds-with-one-stone" type of approach.
It wasn’t until about a week later, when the withdrawals were at their worst and the cravings were at their peak, that I began to wish I’d have termed this experiment a ‘fast’ instead of a mere ‘challenge’.
You laugh, I’m sure, but getting this body under the kind of submission it needed to give up Diet Coke was no small feat. Certainly not something that I recommend for the faint of heart or for the ones in search of instant gratification.
The satisfaction of a challenge attempted and achieved has only come in the past few days. As THE END has approached I’ve finally allowed myself to contemplate the fact that a nice large icy Sonic Diet Coke was looming in my future.
And now, in a mere few hours, I’ll be meeting a few of my friends at Sonic and, for the first time in a month, I’ll place that order.
"How do you feel about it?" Mike asked me just last night as we prepared for bed. "Are you ready to have one?"
I truly had to stop and think about it.
See, the cravings are gone. No longer do I reach for the ghost-cup on my desk and the memory of the actual taste of Diet Coke itself is quickly fading. I know, I know…I didn’t believe it could happen either.
Now, say I were an alcoholic and just coming out of rehab. Would I be meeting a group of friends at a local pub, celebrating winning the battle over booze by…<gulp> drinking the stuff?
I think not.
But here’s the thing. Diet Coke is a vice of mine and everyone has vices. I know a lot of people who aren’t willing to own up to theirs and, instead, try to justify why they do or don’t do, say, or participate in lots of different areas.
So I will meet my friends and we will celebrate. These gals (and many more of you who’ve either commented or emailed me concerning this challenge) have supported me with encouragement, notes, and emails.
The unexpected bonus from this challenge is that it’s enabled several friendships to flourish in the process. Although there were difficult moments in the beginning, I have to say that the past thirty days have been fun.
I’ve tested myself and found that I can meet a challenge head-on and win.
I’ve learned that attempting anything with the cheers of your friends in the background is bearable.
I’ve faced temptation (scrapbook night when I was surrounded by DC-drinking buddies, our weekend with friends when Frank found it delightfully funny to wave a cold can of DC in front of me, and numerous trips past the Sonic) and walked away.
So, yes, tonight at eight-ish I will gather with a few close friends and family and I will have that first, long draw of an icy (because there’s nothing on this planet like the crushed ice at Sonic!) Diet Coke and I will once again…feel the burn…
I hope I still like it…
