Gubbermint, get in mah belly

The sign does not lie: the hot dog really did taste like a square of cardboard (minus the fiber).

Did you know that a crappy Mr. Softee ice cream cone is 200 calories? Or that a dirty water dog is about 240 calories? Deep nutritional thoughts, I know. I don't care how much the beverage industry bitches about Bloomberg's proposed 16+ oz soda ban (or the tobacco industry bitches about Bloomberg's smoking bans, or the car lobby bitches about Bloomberg's bike lanes.) The fact is I can now go spend an hot afternoon in Central Park, get a casual bite to eat AND know how many calories I just sucked down.

You can argue you all you want how the individual is responsible for their own welfare. Go ahead, do it, I'll wait. Do it. But when industry harnesses our innate, instinctual, evolutionarily once-advantageous lust for sugar, salt and fat for their own profit at the expense of the public health, then it is the public representative's (i.e. big gubbermint) responsibility to push back on our behalf to even the playing field. C'mon, representives! Doit. Doit. Doit.

Oddly enough the most caloric thing on the vendor's menu is not soda or ice cream, but a jumbo cheesy pretzel, coming in at 460. He he, cheesy.

THE COUNT: 2460
Hunger was an issue today. A light lunch left me hungry in the afternoon, but it was expected, and my calorie budget accommodated a substantial afternoon snack o' crap in Central Park. Dinner was quite large in quantity due to a lot of veg and fish and a reasonable amount of brown rice, but leaving me hungry soon after. Again the budget allowed for a substantial snack. I found myself hungry AGAIN by 9, and the hard work began -- not eating, though I desired nothing more than a big scoop of ice cream, a big slice of pizza, a fudge brownie, mmmm. Fatty McFatfat in full fat effect.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, smoothie, 400 cal


LUNCH: noon, PB&J on whole wheat, momma salad*, 530 cal


AFTERNOON SNACK: 2:15pm, dirty water dog, Gatorade, 370 cal


AFTERNOON SNACK: 5pm, 8oz diet coke, 0 cal 


DINNER: 7pm, broiled sole with butter, roasted brussel sprouts, chili flavored wild brown rice blend, water, 770 cal


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, almonds and chocolate chips, 310

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As this is a new blog using terminology from the old blog, I'll take a moment to define...

• Poppa salad: Iceberg lettuce, shredded red cabbage, cubed carrot, cuce, green pepper, scallion, celery, radishes, and red onion. All vegetables were was finely chopped and/or diced. A salad dressing, from a bottle, was a requirement. My dad was born in Vienna, and had no problem with food that my mom would consider "ungapatchka"
• Momma salad: Mom thought the effort of the poppa salad was ridiculous and fussy, and that the flavors got too mixed up. Her mom was from Israel, well, Palestine, before it became Israel, and momma salad is in an Israeli spirit. She would take cucumber, carrot, green pepper, and maybe onion if she was feeling crazy and chop it all into large mouth-sized chunks. A sprinkling of salt was all the dressing it needed, maybe a dribble of olive oil. Maybe a side of hummus to dip in. No pretense, rough n' ready.