Flowers for me?

This morning I weighed exactly 40 pounds less than when I started 4 months and 3 weeks ago. I celebrated not with food (celebrating with food is a WW no-no,) but with a beautiful pot of summer flowers for the front of the house.

I know I am losing faster than is recommended, and WW reminds me of this on my computer page every now and then. Yes, I recognize that fast weight loss can have bad consequences, but I doubt the consequences are worse than carrying another person's weight  in fat around with you every day. And WW mentions the problem of addiction to losing, which I assume creates a tribe of anorexic senior citizens, stalking around like zombies. I frankly think is pretty unlikely. Have they ever seen the sixty-five plus crowd swarm the midnight buffet on a cruise? And I am 69, so which is more likely to kill me: fat around my heart or knobby knees? I rest my case.

That brings me to subject of lunch. Think of it as soup or salad. They don't have to go together. In fact, I usually reserve the huge salad option until dinner and have just soup. If you can, make your own soup.  And you can, because it is so easy and tastes so much better. And if you read a Campbell's label, you'll gasp and never touch the stuff again.  There are good grocery store soups, such as Amy's, Trader Joe's, Harry's, some of the new Kroger deli fresh soups (sometimes) and so on, so read the labels. Also, if you are cooking impaired, read a few vegetable soup recipes on line. Get a crock pot, if you must. Soup (and when I say soup, I am usually referring to something that is made from a few or a lot of fresh vegetables) is filling but low cal, comforting, and it reduces your desire for a bigger meal.

If you think you are going to expire from soup alone, make your self a half sandwich with one slice of seeded rye, and two ounces of thin sliced rare, very lean, roast beef, with a little mustard.  This satisfies the carnivorous urge, feels like real food, and fills you up.  Don't buy pre-packaged deli style roast beef or turkey, etc. unless you know what you are putting into your mouth and are willing to settle. Preservatives, galore. You can get the same meat minus quite a bit of the bad stuff at the grocery store meat department. And do not ever, ever, give a child a Lunchable.  My pet peeve. Read the label. That, to me, is the definition of poison.

You will not make it to  dinner time on a bowl of soup, if that is what you choose. Even a really big bowl. In the late afternoon, have an apple.  I think an apple is far more filling and satisfying than celery and carrots. Hold the apple in your hand and eat it. Gala apples are wonderful for this. Make it a process.You can add a small piece of good quality cheese. Preferably hard cheese, like Dubliner, my favorite, or hard cheddar, but keep it to an ounce or two. "Good quality" is the key.  No "processed cheese food." Brie, for the days you want to walk on the wild side. Yes, it has cream. There has yet to be a recorded "death by brie," so you probably aren't in any danger.

I promised you chocolate. There are many of us who think it is a sin to go through the day without chocolate. Buy a bar of Ghiradelli Bakers' Chocolate. It is not as dark or as bitter as some baking chocolate, but dark enough, 60% cacao or thereabouts, to give you some of the benefits of dark chocolate, satisfy your chocolate urge with just one or two tiny squares, and drive away the thoughts of most other deserts, most of the time at least. It really is amazing.

Monday, Green stuff! Dinner! Carry-out!