My latest diet trick: B.Y.O.D.

Now that my husband and I have finally, finally found a great babysitter and are enjoying weekly 'date nights' again, there is brand new threat to my figure:

RESTAURANTS.

It's funny, we've been so busy with our daughter, and with no family around to help us out, this hadn't been an issue for a long time, we hadn't been out in ages. I had forgotten how delicious food could be when someone else prepared it (and washed the dishes afterward), and what it was like to have time alone with my husband. I had even almost forgotten how to walk in high heels. Life sure changes when a baby comes into the picture...

Unfortunately though, I hadn't forgotten how to stuff my face with a three-course meal and wash it down with half a bottle of wine. With bathing suit season and our annual trip to Croatia fast approaching, I want to watch it a little. I needed to learn how to eat in restaurants again without overdoing it. I knew I had to substitute something somewhere in order to be able to keep enjoying drinks and dinners out on the town without wrecking all the progress I've made with my workouts. I knew I had to give something up without sacrificing pleasure.

My trick? I call it B.Y.O.D., 'bring your own dessert'. Oh, and yes I am well aware that it's a touch obsessive-compulsive, but it's working so far. Dessert is a major weakness for me, and after a great meal in a restaurant who doesn't want to finish with something sweet and decadent? The problem is, most desserts are humongous and can have almost a day's worth of calories in one serving. Not to mention, the more expensive the dessert, the more I feel compelled to get my money's worth and finish every last fat and sugar-laden bite on the plate.

So I decided bring my own, smaller dessert to eat in the car on the way home.

Usually, it's a couple of squares of dark chocolate in a Ziploc bag that I keep in my purse, I try to keep it to under 100 calories. I don't always eat them, but I know they're there, and that's enough to save me from the evil creme brulee or the chocolate souffle.

Delicious tomatoes!

After a long winter of pigging out on breads and sweets and other comfort foods, I am so much more in the mood for vegetables now that spring is here. Thank goodness! As you may have read in one of my previous posts, I am a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow's goop.com site, mainly for the healthy and tasty recipes. Here is a very simple recipe for roasted tomatoes (scroll down past the artichokes):


http://www.goop.com/newsletter/31/


I love them in a salad, on pasta, or even to top a grilled chicken breast, they are so versatile. They are also very flavourful and satisfying, especially if you're craving something more substantial than a raw, watery, out-of-season tomato. Enjoy!

Fit For Life Update...

So, I feel I have given 'Fit For Life' by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond a fair chance and am ready to report my results. To keep it short, I liked how it incorporated more fruit into my day, and I will keep the habit of eating only fruit in the morning as I enjoy it and it makes me feel good. That being said, this is the only part of the 'diet' I will keep. It is, unfortunately, a diet, not a 'way of life' as it claims to be. There are too many 'food combining' rules that are, well, a pain in the ass to follow. Who has time for that? And if you don't combine your food properly, then you have to wait sometimes hours before you can eat again. I'm already hungry just writing this. I am not trying to lose weight (well, maybe that last 5 pounds of baby weight) I really just want to enjoy wellness and glowing skin, shiny hair, and tons of energy. I'd like to be a little less grey under the eyes. Fit For Life just makes it too complicated, and I can't accept that eating well has to be that complicated. Somebody must have some love for this method though, there are 117 five-star reviews of the book on amazon.com, and it has been in print for 21 years now. I have no doubt that this diet will result in weight loss, if that's what you're looking for.

I've since sent my copy off (with a bunch of other stuff) to a local charity shop, hopefully someone else will give it good home. Someone with more time and determination than me.

My morning banana...

Japan is going crazy for a new diet:

http://morningbanana.com/

Speaking of fruit for breakfast, this summer I found a copy of 'Fit For Life' at a garage sale (yay garage sales!) for ten cents and started reading it last week. This book was written in 1987 by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond and is still in print today. One of the principles in the book is that we should eat only fresh fruit in the morning, nothing else. Oh, you can eat as much fruit as you want, though it's not exactly a breakfast of champions for those of us who wake up at 5:30 am to a screaming baby. I have been trying it for two days now, and by 10am I am shaky, ready to eat the furniture, and even a little angry. Maybe it's just an adjustment period for my body? I sure hope so. There are eight whole pages of glowing reviews in the front of the book, here are some of my favourite snippets:

"Deserves a Nobel Prize."

"I have lost 20 pounds in 30 days..."

"How could something so simple avoid my reasoning for so long?"

"People comment on how much smaller my gut is and that's in 2 weeks time!"

"I feel like I have been buried under concrete in a cave all my life, and finally I was rescued..."

Pretty compelling stuff. I will be sure to post an update when I feel I've given Fit For Life a fair chance to work it's magic...