Coke Blinks

Coca Cola recently released this advert, and it is surprising. They officially and loudly profess that obesity is a thing, which is huge for one of the biggest corporations in the world. Unfortunately, that's about all they do: call it a thing, then start spinning it. As expected, they deflect responsibility by (FALSELY) claiming all calories are equal, whether from sugar, protein or fat, and put the responsibility on the consumer. Due to the Internet echo chamber, a response was crafted quickly:

Coke is seeing the future. As I've prognosticated in this forum in the past, Big Beverage and Big Food is looking ahead at a future similar to Big Tobacco, and perhaps know this cycle of correction will come ever faster so they need to get ahead of what's going to happen to their bottom line if they don't act.

It's kind of transparent what Big Bev is doing in fighting the very beginnings of real action to counter-act they damage their product does to consumers. Bloomberg's "soda ban" is going to take affect in a few months, and Big Bev has been raising (probably ineffective) court challenges to stop it, including purchasing the support of the NAACP and Hispanic Foundation. This is particularly sad, as the minorities who are supposedly represented by these groups are also more impacted by the health effects of the product Big Bev is looking to protect. Arguments that the "ban" will effect minority-owned businesses more than the exempt chain groceries like 7-11 should be an argument to close loopholes, not do-away with this progressive legislation. In the end, it's about money, and I suspect the money Big Bev gives to these groups to ensure their support is a drop in the marketing budget.

Meet Drop, the kitty who lives in a bucket!

There can be an argument that perhaps sugary soda is habit forming rather than addicting, but any one who takes the position that the empty, nutritionally void, insulin-revving calories of sugar are equivalent to all other calories are probably trying to sell you something at the expense of your health and well-being. Still, it's fascinating to watch the contortions Big Bev & Food will make in the next year as "soda bans" and increased food regulation become more accepted as common-sense.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 1845
Another week of a very low average, again due to flu, then to having to fast due to undergoing a colonoscopy, yick. I wonder if this hickup of low-cal weeks will hurt me, help me, or make no difference in the end.

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MONDAY COUNT: 1440
Woke up feeling OK, ended up napping noon-4:30pm, and got to bed before midnight. Clearly, this flu is on it's way out but not leaving without letting itself be known. Doesn't leave a lot of time for eating, he he. Was tempted to go out for dinner, but once I sat down and got my head straight, I realized if I had restaurant food, that would mean the majority of calories I ate would have more fat, salt, preservatives and less fiber, nutrients and water than is reasonable. Glad I stayed in.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, kolon bloe with whole milk, 280 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, teryaki chicken meatballs, quinoa, chopped spinach, 7oz diet sprite, 1040 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:45pm, pretzels, 7oz diet sprite, 120 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 935 cal

Had a good night's sleep, nose is 95% clear, head doesn't go fuzzy when I try to walk. However, eating was not in the cards today because....I have my 1st colonoscopy tomorrow! I usually wouldn't speak of this in public, but if I'm not going to frighten readers into thinking I have some horrible eating disorder, better just say it, he.

AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 10am, fage whole yogurt with almonds, agave and vanilla, 410 cal

AM SNACK: 11am, apple/carrot/kale/beet juice, 100 cal

PM SNACK: 7-8pm, 64 oz of Gatorade with miralax powder, 425 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 1580 cal

Had a pint of water in the morning, and by the time I arrived for my colonoscopy, felt ready to go to sleep. After coming to from anesthesia, had cramps and a weird feeling of wellness, and after lying down all afternoon, my appetite didn't return until dinner. When it did, it came back with a boom, but I knew enough to not go crazy. Threw in onion rings, just because I could, and successfully fought some wicked sugar cravings in the evening.

DINNER: 5:30pm, eggplant hero with no cheese, onion rings, house salad, 7oz diet sprite, +/- 1100 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, cheesy poofs, 300 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, pretzel rods, 7oz diet sprite, 180 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 2255 cal

Finally relatively back to normal. Lifted weights after missing two sessions, felt noticeably weaker but was able to get through -- wow, it only takes a week to get weaker? Damn.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 11:30am, smoothie, 375 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat toast, roasted broccoli, baby carrots, 7oz diet coke, 640 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, apple/carrot/ginger/beet/kale juice, 120 cal

DINNER: 8pm, grilled chicken breast, whole wheat cous cous, roasted brussel sprouts, 7oz diet sprite, 820 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, cheesy poofs, 300 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 3015 cal

Woke up early, got a train out of Penn Station at 7 in the morning to get to Rochester for a cousin's kid's bar mitzvah this weekend. Packed lunch, as Amtrak food is that special blend of unhealthy, terrible and expensive. Nice catered dinner in the evening, guest snackies at the hotel. Didn't feel too bad about over-eating, as it was very social and ate ridiculously small amounts earlier in the week.

AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, multigrain bagel with cream cheese, lettuce, tomato and o ion, +/- 450 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, 2 almond butter & jelly sandwiches on whole wheat, baby carrots, 935 cal

PM SNACK: 12:15pm, beef jerky, 120 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, cheezits, 210 cal

DINNER: 8pm, chicken, potato, broccoli, small salad, 2 rolls, cannoli, water, tea, +/- 900 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, dark chocolate bar, pretzel thins, 400 cal

The Hunger (Control) Games

A box o' magical thinking.

This past Monday I discovered a most effective way to hunger control. On Sunday I free-fed without much thought. I won't line list what I ate, but the day ended with cooking a nice meal for friends, and following that meal, we had our friend's apple upside down cake along with my home made ice cream. Of that, I had two servings. Then before bed, two more scoops of ice cream with a wallop of chocolate syrup....

Suffice to say, I was not very hungry on Monday and stayed below my calorie budget. Hunger controlled? Sure? Effective at controlling weight? Certainly not. You can not "starve the beast" if the beast is satiated from the day before - "vicious cycle" and all that. Fact is, I am hungrier than I've ever been day to day, and the goal is not eliminate the hunger, but to control it so it never gets to the point where I throw caution to the wind and start downing multiple helpings of ice cream.

There is no shortage of advice on-line about how to control hunger, to achieve a lower caloric daily intake and work towards reducing body fat. The good suggestions all seem to be repeated and are generally similar, while the bad ones tend to be horrible in their own unique way. Here is my findings in two parts. The first part are the good, commonsensical ones that are found all over the place, and I present them to you with minimal verbiage -- if you're smart, you can fill in the details or google it. The second part are the ones I found that are silly, dumb or downright unhealthy.

The Good, in no particular order:

• Plan your eating and look forward to it.
• Focus on what you eat, not what you deny yourself.
• Don't skip meals. Always eat breakfast.
• Make meals smaller, add healthy snacks in between meals.
• More protein, less carbs. In particular, less sugar the better.
• Allow yourself reasonable indulgences.
• Differentiate hunger from cravings.
• Differentiate hunger from thirst.
• Increase vegetable consumption.
• Sleep more, stress less.
• Identify and restrict hunger-trigger foods. 

Yes, each of these tips could probably have it's own blog entry, drilling down into the nitty gritty -- some seem vague and some seem unhelpful because they don't say "how". Fact is, unlike what a women's mag would have you believe (TEN FOOLPROOF HUNGER CONTROL TIPS TO BLAST YOUR ASS AWAY!!!!,) these kind of tips are a bit different for everyone, and you have to do work to figure them out. I can honestly say I've been thinking about food and health for practically a decade, and only a few weeks ago when I decided to try to eat no refined sugar, did I finally learn to honestly seperat] hunger from cravings.

A magazine o' magical thinking.

The Not So Good, from mild to full-bore Satanic (all are direct quotes, my commentary in italics)

• If you’re hungry but don’t want to eat yet, chew some sugarless gum and drink water. Thank you, AARP! -shudder-
• At parties, stand as far away as you can from the bowls of chips, dips and other munchies. Is it a surprise that this one comes from a Women's mag?
• An ounce of food fat (like butter or ice cream) causes you to gain more than twice as much weight as an ounce of carbohydrate (like rice) or protein (like lean meat).  And eating less fat will not only help you to lose weight but it will also keep your arteries from getting clogged, and keep you from getting diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart attacks.  So you will live for a longer time.  But even more important, you will enjoy your life for a longer time, because diseases like diabetes, heart attacks, and high blood pressure can make you feel sick all the time. Ugg, the old fat-will-make-you-fat silliness. Fat will actually help you feel satiated, and has been decoupled form the idea of cholesterol production. 
• Drink hot or cold fluids throughout the day to speed up your metabolism. Extreme temperatures trick the body. Actually, just about ANY tip from any website that has "pro ana" in it's title or subject lines. Some tips like this one is silly but harmless, but most speak to some serious mental issues and can do real harm. I was tempted to include one of the scarier ones and include some "thinspo" pics, but I really don't want to spread that kind of hardcore evil on the internet for the sake of entertainment.
• One more supplementary strategy to all of (the previous hunger control tips) is that you can multiply the appetite suppressing effects of all foods by swallowing a couple of fiber tablets before you begin eating. Fiber tablets or capsules would include psyllium husk, glucomannan, oat bran fiber, apple pectin fiber, or other natural fibers. You can find fiber supplements at any health food store. Be careful to watch the dosage of the fiber and drink plenty of water as you take these pills because without adequate water, they can gum up in your digestive tract and in extreme cases, they can block your digestive tract. So, you want to drink plenty of water with them. Uh, yeah. Too many high-fiber foods and you poop a lot. Too many high-fiber pills and you have surgery in the hospital. Thanks for that, dude.

In conclusion, there are no hard and fast rules to control hunger healthily, just a web of suggestions that tend to reinforce each other when real steps are taken to change diet. Like a web, you can't really just pull one thread out and expect it to hold all the weight, but if you pull out the ones that are strongest for you, you'll get somewhere. There are plenty of ideas out there to some how "cheat" or game the body, but if they really worked, they would be oft repeated and enter the common web of suggestions. 

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Last weekend was weird. Made pancakes and bacon for the family early Saturday, and did a count on the pancakes as there are a lot on the freezer for later eating. I consumed 850 calories with 5 little pancakes and 3 pieces of bacon, and it didn't phase me! I also churned ice cream, and a few spoonfuls ended up in my mouth, that didn't phase me either.

Pretty much free-fed all weekend, and looking back it was mostly wheat-products and sweets, with some protein thrown in as an afterthought. I did have a good weekend, but damn, I used to eat like that 7 days a week? A few friends who've seen me relatively recently who I hung out with on the weekend said I was looking good and trim, but I suspect that was less due to not eating sugar for a week and more to buzzing back my slightly unruly beard....

Found myself looking forward to eating vegetables and cutting out the sugar again Sunday night, as I helped myself to a third helping of homemade vanilla ice cream with a shot of chocolate syrup...
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Obama once ate fast food. HYPOCRITE, obvs.

Oy! I guess if politicians feel no shame in supporting unfettered access to assault rifles in protection of the funds they get from the gun lobby, then they'll certainly feel no shame in supporting less access to calorie information of some of the worst foods out there in protection of the funds they get from the food lobby.

Calorie counts will soon be required on chain restaurant menus, thanks to the landmark health care reform legislation signed by President Obama in March 2010 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. Draft regulations that implement the calorie-labeling provisions have been released by the Food and Drug Administration, though final regulations have been stalled for months, according to CSPI.

GObama!
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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2008

Speaking of hunger control! Hah! I did NOT intend to eat this little this week, but it partially wasn't up to me. Monday I was still feeling the excess calories of the weekend, Tuesday I actually went over-budget, then the rest of the week was flu'd out.

I'm writing this on Saturday, surprised to find myself feeling better  (nope, was temporary -- ed) -- I was afraid I might be out of it for upwards of a week (though other members of my family are in different states of repair.) Looking back a year ago at my 2 weeks with sickness, I now suspect it was a confluence of three factors):

1. long term bad diet and strain on my system
2. doubling down on high fat/high sugar comfort foods to feel better
3. an upset digestive system aggravated by a flu

My sugar cravings did rear up a few times late this week, because I wanted to feel better, but I didn't want to break a promise to myself (and have to cop to it here, so thank, all two of you readers out there!)

I'm not out of the woods yet, but if my recovery stays on track, I should be able to get outside tomorrow. I'm happy I listened to my body and took in the calories it called for, not what I thought it needed. And though I indulged in some unhealthy restaurant food, I balanced it with some veg to keep my system relatively balanced.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2000

Surprising how easy it is to come in under budget when the day before I probably ate close to 4000 calories. Eat 1500 calories too many one day, eat 200 calories too few the next, -sigh-

AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 11:15am, fruit smoothie, 375 cal

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, chicken sausage, madras lentils, pickle, 7oz diet coke,  580 cal
Not horrendously hungry, think I may be riding a calorie hangover from the weekend...

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, fresh apple/carrot/beet/celery/parsley/cilantro/ginger juice, 175 cal

DINNER: 9pm, sauteed shrimp with Shirataki noodles and sesame oil, poppa salad with homemade dressing, 590 cal
Holy crap! I picked up this tofu-based Shirataki noodle at Wholefood on a whim, thinking it will probably be gross, and it was actually good. Basic Asian noodle, a little slimy but over all quite pleasant. And the whole $1.39 8 oz package was only 40 cal, nicely neutral tasting and really carried the simple tossing of hot shrimp and sesame oil perfectly. If that was normal wheat pasta, this would have been a 1000+ cal meal. I gotta stock up on this stuff.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, cheesy poofs, 7oz diet sprite, 280 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2530

Surprising how easy it is to come in under budget when the day before I probably ate close to 4000 calories. Eat 1500 calories too many one day, eat 200 calories too few the next, -sigh-. It's not surprising how easy it is to go over budget when I eat out at a restaurant, and even if conservatively guesstimate the calorie density, it's still urgle burgle!

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, plain yogurt with agave, almonds and vanilla, 330 cal

Thought I'd give an organic, batch produced traditional full fat plain yogurt a try, after eating only Greek yogurt for almost a decade. DISGUSTING! The flavor was fine, but the watery consistency made me imagine that someone blew their nose into my Greek yogurt. Ugg. The slight calorie saving totally not worth  it.

AM SNACK: 11:30am, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH: 12:30pm, double quarter pounder, 16 oz diet coke, 750 cal

PM SNORT: 6pm, pint of Fulllers ESB, 250 cal cal

DINNER: 7:15pm, japchae with bulgogi, veg dumpling, scallion pancake, small amounts of white rice, kimchi, various little Korean bites, water, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, cheesy poofs, 7oz die sprite, 300 cal

Somewhere between hunger and a craving for sugar. Wonder if that pint of beer hours before primed the pump.

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 1950

Made dahl today while both kids were a at home a bit feverish and causing constant distraction and chaos. Dahl was good, better than the microwaveable packets. but not as a good as a good Indian restaurant (I'd say an Indian grandma, but I never really had real Indian family food!) Spices were a bit muted, but nicely balanced -- rather than use the old preground stuff living in my cupboard, should have ground from whole seeds. I went off recipe a little and added the dry spices to the oil/onion mixture after the onions were well cooked, and added minced ginger and garlic then too, to avoid overcooking them. The minute in the hot oil supposedly livened up the spices a little, which the recipe skips. The final taste was good -- the consistency is nice and soft, how I like lentils to be, and there is a surprisingly sweet note -- I double checked the tomato paste to make sure there was no added sugars. Must have been the onion, onions can get sweet when you cook them properly.

Got the bug myself in the evening, felt feverish and lightheaded, chills mixed with waves of warmth. On the plus side, my appetite mostly disappeared, though I did find myself hungry enough for poofs in the eve.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, cereal with whole milk, 275 cal

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, chicken sausage, roasted broccoli & homemade dahl, pickle, 7oz diet coke, 580 cal

EVENING SNACK: 4:30pm, apple/carrot/beet/kale/parsley/cilantro/ginger juice, 115 cal

DINNER: 8pm, S1`touffer's french bread pizza, poppa salad, 580 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, cheesy poofs, water, 300 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 1630

Woke up with a splitting headache, sound and light aggravating it, which is something I never experienced. Fortunately, B stayed home and I was able to stay in bed in the dark until close to noon.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 11:45am, Fage whole yogurt with almonds, agave and vanilla, 430 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, momma salad, 100 cal

DINNER: 8pm, sushi, shrimp shumai, tempura +/- 1000 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 1930

Still ill. Didn't taste dinner, except for the saltiness, though enjoyed the textures immensely. Didn't even taste the bit of chocolate I had at the end of the night, but loved the texture and was a good experiment -- without taste, it gave less distraction to how I felt when it melted on my tongue and a serene feeling kinda took over my body. Amazing. Sugar, it's a hell of a drug.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 11:15am, pancakes, bacon, 470 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, half a momma salad, 60 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, string beans with shrimp, half a serving of pork fried rice, shrimp toast, 7oz diet coke, +/- 1000 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, cheesy poofs, 225 cal

EVENING SNACK: 10:45pm, small quantity of British chocolates, +/- 175 cal

Hunger Control: White People Problems Edition

Hunger, it ain't a game.

Yes, I should have known better. When early last month I found myself getting hungrier than usual, I engaged in some magical thinking: Hungrier? Well, I haven't expended extra calories and my diet is pretty healthy. This must mean my body's metablolism is speeding up and needs more calories to stay the course! 

What it really meant was my body was expressing its unhappiness with losing weight. If the weight starts coming off, it must mean there is a problem with access to the food supply and the body pulls levers and switches to make the regaining of that weight more of a priority. Specifically, that lever is a hormone called Ghrelin, which is released to stimulate hunger. Of course there is a vaccine in development to prevent the release of the hormone, but until then, the scientists basically say, "shut yo mouf!"

(Researchers) agree that even with high levels of ghrelin, you don't have to be at the mercy of your hormones. ''There are a couple of studies suggesting the orbital frontal cortex activity can be modified," he says.

Among those who do it best, he says, are people who are most concerned about maintaining a healthy weight -- who exercise what researchers call dietary restraint.

In another study, Goldstone says, he found that those with high dietary restraint scores had less activity in the orbital frontal cortex. The executive decision-making part of their brains seems to override the reward system activation, he says.

Eventually, ghrelin-blocking drugs may make it easier to pick the salad over the chocolate ice cream, but until then? "The advice not to skip breakfast comes out again with this study," Goldstone says. Other times of the day, eating before you are famished can help, too, he says.

Even the scientists sound a little like morning talk-show guests -- eat breakfast, and eat before you get to hungry. I think all our grandmothers said that, too, but they didn't get published on Web MD.

OK, Dr. G, maybe YOU did.

Looking at the bigger picture, you could say that we do not have an obesity problem or an over-eating problem: we have a hunger problem. Or more accurately, we have a hunger-control problem. I'm not going to rail against the American Food-Industry-Complex here*,  but how to control hunger. Outside of somehow taking out your brain and cutting out your orbital frontal cortex, how best to up your dietary restraint? Especially if one of the major components of the base of the FDA's food pyramid is addicting...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Thought for Food - Wheat Addictions
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

As I discovered when figuring out glycemic indexing, grains in general are  high in the index, while wheat and wheat products has a ridiculously high impact on increasing blood sugar, whole or not. As the talking head says, eating bread is a lot like eating sugar, and causes cravings for more. See what I did there? A full circle: glycemic index, bread equivalent to sugar, a carousel of craving, addiction! It's all connected...

On the unaired 6th season, the cornerboys start pushing wholewheat pumpernickel raisin bagels.

This is all getting a bit jumbled. OK, whether bread is the new crack we'll leave alone. Whatever this bad trip is...how do I get off it?! Internets to the rescue! When you Google "hunger control",you get THREE more times the hits than "boobies" and 1.5x the hits than "butts" (though only about 1/3 the hits of "sex", unsurprisingly). The research staff here at FBIWC is trolling through thousands (ok, hundreds) of hunger-control tips on the Internet and next week we present them to you, from what we feel are the best to the silliest/most dangerous.

*about how it's a monster designed to make us spend us much as possible regardless of the health toll it takes on the population. No, I'm not gonna. 

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Sugar, oh my gawd. Last weekend was trying. I went Wednesday-Saturday evening with no sweets, and Saturday night at a wedding, I topped off 2 glasses of wine and a beer with 2 1/2 pieces of wedding cake. It was delicious, but gave me a headache right on the spot. Then on Sunday, I ate no sugar but the temptations were coming at me fast and furious. In the morning, a few close friends who spent the night thanked us with some quality chocolate from their home town. Betsy promptly opened it and offered it to all, and a lot of cooing about how good it was ensued. Then I took Edie to a baby-naming ceremony, which turned out to be more like a bar mitzvah in the traditional sense: a lot of old people, a good family vibe, and a lot of great food that wrapped up with cake-a-palooza and cookies. Edie had 1.5 pieces and would have had more if I didn't stop her. In the evening, when discussing what to make for dinner, my wife suggested making cookies and apple crisps. Urg! 

Adult drink wine, kids get purple drank.

The afternoon party was a bit of an eye-opener. Unlike the cake I gorged on the night before, the birthday cake looked really well-made, with a glossy chocolate fondant and high-quality decorative touches. Underneath the dark chocolate fondant was milk chocolate butter cream. And there was old-school cinnamon ruggelah. When someone shouted, "Who wants cake?!, " there was a high pitched wail of every 3 year old in the room shouting, "I DO!" all at once. I watched Edie it her cake and I watched every one else eat theirs, too. It was odd being on the outside looking in -- with other foods, everyone is eating variations from the buffet, but with this food, everyone was eating the exact some thing. I offered Edie a ruggelah, but she was not interested and I held it between my fingers, contemplating it. It felt heavy, moist, dense, slightly pliable. Egg wash gave it a glossy coat, and a sprinkling of sugar helped it brown and caramelize. This was the food of my parents, food of my childhood, and I would not eat it. I felt drawn to eat the cake, eat the cookie. I desired it, to taste it, to feel satisfied. Note I just ate a bagel with cream cheese and lox and was in no way hungry, but my desire for these sweets were not about hunger. I realized in the moment it was partially about community and partially about remembering growing up with loving parents. But above those things, it was about quieting the cravings, about eating the sweet stuff so I could focus and feel straight. I did not. I am addicted, and I want to kick it.
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Made tea Monday morning, though without sugar. Sure, it's only 50 cal per pint, BUT that's 350 cal a week! Figure I can shift those calories to the oil of the salad dressing for papa salads. I sweetened the tea to knock the bitter edge off the tea, but this time instead of letting the water come to a boil then steeping the tea, I used a thermometer to bring the water to the recommended 185 degrees (when the water is just starting to bubble) and give the loose tea only 3 1/2 minutes.Weird. There is no bitterness, it's pretty much perfectly brewed, but there is no sweetness. Around the time of my increased hunger, I doubled up on the sugar in the tea, and I didn't realize until drinking the unsweetened batch just how much I enjoyed that little bit of sugar in the morning. Perhaps I liked it too much, like a maintenance dose.-----

Made poppa salad on Monday, too. Green chopped salad with red leaf lettuce, iceberg, cucumber, carrot, radish and scallion. The entire (1,211g) bowl is 220 calories, so....once I get used to what my standard salad bowl's value is, I probably won't need to do the numbers every time I make this kind of salad. Because that would be totally nuts.Made a dressing with 6oz olive oil, 2oz red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp dried basil, 1tbsp dried oregano, 1 tsp onion powder, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp guar gum and salt & pepper. OK, but a little flat. Next batch will do equal parts oil/vinegar, and kick it up a notch with lemon juice and grated parm. A tablespoon is about 100 cal, which is enough for a big bowl o' salad.-----

I imagine back in the day 365 was a huge number, and a dessert for every day seemed like an incredible indulgence....

It just occurred to me that as a kid, my parents would serve dessert after almost every meal, and if it wasn't served, I would insist. They used it as a reward for finishing a meal, and it was also used for nothing -- it became rote. Cookies, cake, brownies, ice cream. THEY didn't have dessert every day as kids -- they were of the generation where it was way too expensive, and when there was a dessert, it was a rare and special occasion. I guess in wanting to give me that feeling that they got from sweets, they denied it to me. Hows that for a head-f@ck.

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Good thing I kept my old belt. I've started to use the 3rd notch in my new belt, which doesn't make much sense if I gained weight last month. Yep -- the belt has stretched. The 3rd notch is almost exactly where the 1st notch was when I bought it. The old belt is still to big for me, but not THAT big. Gotta keep it real, yo.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2297

Huh, lookit that, an average in budget. No sugar this week, and man I felt it. Friday night, just KNOWING sugar was coming over the ekeend, my cravings increased. I was able to fight it, but still.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2300

Poppa salad is a nice break in the vegetable rundown, but gotta make my own Italian dressing. I can do better than the bottle.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, 50 cal

BREAKFAST: 11:30am, fruit smoothie, 375 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat toast, momma salad, pickle, 7oz diet coke, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, apple carrot kale beet parsley cilantro ginger juice, 150 cal

Good but a strong taste. Watered 8oz of juice down with 8oz of water.

DINNER: 8:30pm, grilled chicken breast, curry cous cous, poppa salad with store-bought Italian dressing, 7oz diet sprite, 805 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:45pm, cheesy poofs, 7oz diet sprite, 320 cal

Diet soda really does take the edge off sugar cravings. Also nice to be able to eat a satisfying, decadent snack that isn't a sugar bomb AND stays within budget.

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2125

Sugar cravings still there, but they are not nearly as bad as they were on Friday and over the weekend. 

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

Weirdness. Not what I expected. It's good, but it's not the same thing as my mildly sweetened stuff.

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, steel cut oatmeal, 375 cal

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, momma salad, 100 cal

LUNCH:  3pm, double quarter pounder, 12oz diet coke, 750 cal

PM SNACK: 6:30, poppa salad with homemade dressing, 150 cal

DINNER: 8:15pm. chicken sausage, madras lentils, steamed string beans, 7oz diet sprite, 630 cal
Lentils: they're a "starch", but they're also high in protein. Hmmm.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, beef jerkey, 7oz diet sprite, 120 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2365

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

I like it. Need to get used to it. Not sweet, but pleasantly no bitterness, just smooth. Just a pure green tea flavor, like a chord. Sugar supplied bass to get over bitterness's treble.

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, fage yogurt with almonds, agave, vanilla, 430 cal

Ugg! What the hell! Way too sweet! This is the same recipe I've been using for a few months, but now that I really haven't eaten sweets in a week, this seems totally different. It's:

• Fage Whole Yogurt: 200g (1 serving), 190 cal
• Agave: 30g (1 serving), 60 cal
• Roasted Salted Almonds: 30g (1 serving), 180 cal
• Shot of home made vanilla extract, less than 5 cal

I started using agave because of the lower glycemic index than honey, and it's a little less sweet than honey, too. The packaging lists a "serving" as 30g,  which all seems reasonable. But now that my taste buds are more attuned to sweet, it just tasted....candied. I originally put sweeteners in yogurt to balance out the tartness, and next week I shall aim to do that again, cutting back the agave by half, regardless of what the packaging calls a serving!

LUNCH: 1:30pm, broiled flounder, chili-flavored quinoa, roasted asparagus, momma salad, 7oz diet coke, 700 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, apple carrot kale beet parsely cilantro ginger juice, 135 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, small pork & veg fried rice, shio ramen, water, +/- 800 cal

Nice dinner out at a ramen shop. I guessed the soup was 400-500 cal, nice to see the internets confirm my suspicions.

EVENING SNACK: 10:15pm, cheesy poofs, 7oz diet sprite, 300 cal

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THURSDAY COUNT: 2355

Had a harder time with hunger today, and reviewing how I ate, I see why. High glycemic breakfast cereal in the morning, high glycemic pasta for lunch, a high glycemic pizza in the evening. It was all tempered by a lot of vegetables and a glass of fresh juice, but it was really setting me up. Fortunately, by eating 3/4 of my usual cheesy poofs I was able to stay in budget -- I was going to eat jerky, but was too desirous of carbs, oddly enough.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, kolon bloe with whole milk, 400 cal

Went from a double serving to a triple serving on the cereal to bring the cal count closer to what my other breakfasts are -- this size seems to suit me. Funny, just starting to notice how sweet this cereal is. 

PM SNACK: 1pm, momma salad, 80 cal

Ran out. Poppa salad will have to take me through the rest of the the week!

LUNCH: 1:45pm, whole wheat pasta with homemade sauce and shrimp, roasted Brussel sprouts, 7oz diet coke, 935 cal

Huh. Haven't had pasta in a while. This used to seem like a crazy-small portion, now it seemed a bit much. A serving is 2oz, I had 4oz -- after adjusting from my previous regular portion of 8oz. I think next time will do 3oz as a meal with stuff in and on it, and 2oz as a component of a meal.

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, apple carrot kale beet ginger parsley cilantro juice, 135 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, 1 Stouffer's French Bread pizza, poppa salad with homemade dressing, 7oz diet sprite,  585 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:15pm, cheesy poofs, 7oz diet sprite, 225 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2340

Woke up at 6am and could not get back to bed, feeling somewhere between hunger and a sugar craving. Got to bed a little after 11, so felt OK. So much flu going around, gotta watch it.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, fage whole yogurt with agave, almonds and vanilla, 430 cal

Cut the agave in half, tasted great.

PM SNACK: 12:15pm, poppa salad with homemade dressing, 200 cal
Went a bit heavy on the dressing, was good.

LUNCH: 1:30pm, chicken meatballs, madras lentils & roasted broccoli, pickle, 7oz diet coke660 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, double quarter pounder, 24oz diet coke, 750 cal
Not how I thought I'd finish the week, but just spent a hot, stuffy hour with the whole fam at the pediatrician getting flu biznizz done, and it was raining and we needed something fast and convenient. B wanted fries, so I order the combo, hence the stupidly large soda.

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, cheesy poofs, quart of water, 300 cal
Thought I was gonna do jerky, but dried meat after a burger is gross.