I think there is a difference between “bragging” and “sharing.” This is sharing, I promise.
I have lost FOURTEEN pounds and I have NOT been dieting! Well, some might think of it as a diet but really, it’s a lifestyle change.
You may have read of my misadventures with food in some of my previous blogs. I have always had a love/hate relationship with food. The “love” part comes in the form of loving to eat, loving the comfort foods bring, loving to share a meal with family and friends and loving the fifty years before menopause, when I could eat like a pig with impunity and still see my hipbones. Those days are long -gone!
The “hate” part comes in many forms. First of all, I hate that I love food so much. I hate that I cannot just abstain from food as I do with alcohol. A girl has to eat. I hate that I am a compulsive over-eater who can get into trouble eating anything that can be eaten one after another, after another. This includes popcorn, nuts, chips, candy, crackers, and peanut butter on a spoon, honey on a spoon, cereal, pretzels, and cheese crunchies. I have abused all of these and some other tasty treats, which one might not expect one to eat compulsively. These include things such as quarts of ice cream and granola bars. Still, I have pigged-out on most anything I could shove in my mouth with a rhythm. I have over-eaten olives, stuffed olives of course, filled with all the good stuff such as garlic, pimentos, and cheese, oh and cheese! Never pickles. Pickles are too healthy. So back to my new life style.
Last July when I was over my ice cream fetish (but still dipping my toe in and out of the sugar-pool and was sort of “off” sugar and sort of not,) I bought a couple of boxes of high fiber granola bars to dabble with and test. These bars had something like four or six grams of sugar, (who reads these things besides someone with a PROBLEM?), and nine, count them nine grams of fiber per bar. I polished off two whole boxes, ten bars, within twelve hours! Needless to say, I got a bit of a tummy ache, (that’s putting it nicely,) and well, I was up all night being quite ill.
When I recovered from the “fiber flu,” I realized this had to stop. I knew that I needed something I could eat that would be at the ready that I would not have to think about or count or weigh or measure. Something that I could have on hand at home at all times, but would allow me to live in the world and go out in to my wonderful life feeling a part of the human race. Chicken salad was my answer. Chicken salad for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch and chicken salad for dinner. That’s right. Chicken salad. Oh, and fruits and veggies.
At first, because it was summertime, it was chicken salad and watermelon. Now it is chicken salad and grapes. Red grapes or green grapes, doesn’t matter. Some lien protein, some fat from the mayo, some celery for crunch, seasoned salt and fruit for something sweet. NO simple carbohydrates and NO processed sugar. None.
I was a little concerned about how I would survive in Italy because, lets face it, I had to eat pasta or starve to death. So I did, but in small to moderate portions. No gelato, no pastries, (did I mention no gelato?) I came home from Italy without having gained a pound. Miracle!
When I go out to eat with my friends, which I try to do often, I think ahead about what I will order at each restaurant. At Tre Lune it is the capresse salad and soup. At Piatti it is a chopped salad or fish. At Via Vai it is the half roasted chicken with veggies. At Lucky’s I have the beef filet sandwich with no bread and salad instead of fries. You get the idea.
Saturday night Tom and I went to Emilio’s, a wonderful Italian place down near the beach. I scoured the menu for something that wasn’t pasta and found the perfect meal. A beautiful green salad, (I confess, I ate the croutons, every last one of them,) and slow roasted pork with white beans and kale. It was fabulous and I brought half of it home to eat for breakfast.
I have gone out for Mexican food a couple of times and eaten a taco or two. When I get home I am right back on the chicken salad train. I have eaten pizza a couple of times and at least two or three pieces of bread over the past four months but I have not pigged out! Getting off the sugar and processed carbs has done away with the cravings, and I have more energy and a flatter tummy. Imagine!
So that’s it! The Glamour Girl chicken salad diet. So far so good. I think I can live with it. Then there is Tom. He too is eating chicken salad for three meals a day. He eats his with crackers, but then, he CAN.
At least once, maybe twice each week I cook something else. The Thursday Girls have yet to have chicken salad. We had the kids over for pot roast and mashed potatoes this past weekend. I made a big tray of roasted veggies, which I ate with; you guessed it, chicken salad! The roasted veggies are the easiest and a big favorite of the girls. Veggies in a pan, carrots, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, kale, broccoli or whatever your favorites, douse them with olive oil, a little seasoned salt, maybe some herbs de Provence, toss with your hands and pop them into a 400 degree oven for twenty minutes or until fork tender. They are yummy and are great warmed up the next day.
Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks and I am not even afraid. I know I will enjoy turkey, veggies and I think I will have a baked yam for desert. As for my guests, I will be living vicariously through their plates. None of this may be of any interest to anyone, but to me it goes side by side with the birth of Jimmy Choo!
My life is so glamorous! It is just not fair, lucky for me!!
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