The King's Head

Tonight I had the pleasure of taking my Mother out for dinner. We went first to an art show and then tried to figure out what restaurant to go to for dinner. I did not want to spend another Saturday night eating Mexican food. We tried to find something different. We searched from downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando valley. There were four people in the car, each with their own suggestions. Driving in rainy traffic discussing our options, the ride seemed to take much longer than it should have. We finally settled upon the old Pinot Bistro restaurant which is now an English Pub called the Kings Head. None of us had been there before so we gave it a try. It was warm and relaxing, quiet with white tablecloths. It was a very nice atmosphere even though Mom pointed out that the English are not really "known" for their food. The menu was quite extensive with items like fish and chips, steaks, burgers, salads, and curries. Thank goodness the restaurant was kind enough to substitute the peas that they normally serve with the pepper steak with onion rings for my mother. I gazed at the long menu, and fought the temptation to ease my nerves by ordering something warm and comforting. I took out my index card and read my reasons for wanting to be thin. I then ordered a green salad with strips of chicken. Mom's probably right. The English don't cook that well.

Advantage Response Card

Day 1 requires recognizing and writing down the reasons that I want to lose weight. I am supposed to keep an index card with those reasons with me at all times. I am to read it often enough so that I eventually learn to conquer any sabotaging thoughts that I may encounter. OK. I can do that. Tonight I really had to fight my demons.
1) But it's Friday....
2) Both Tony and I worked today.
3) The refrigerator is relatively bare.
4) Tony does not need to diet and he is perfectly happy being married to an overweight woman.
I quickly retrieve my Advantage Response Card. I read it. I read it again. I go to the freezer and I find one lonely package of frozen raviolis. Hmmmm. This may work. I show Tony and he actually gets excited. I will eat my chicken breast leftovers again. (No one else really liked them anyway, that's why there is still some left.) We will stay home this Friday night and make the best of it. The good news is that I have made it through my first day of the Beck diet. And, we were able to find an adequate dinner to stay home and enjoy a Friday night. And....Tony was even able to share "The Merry Widow" opera with me in his music room. And....I actually enjoyed it.

 























I

The Beck Diet Solution

I definitely need help in dealing with temptations like I experienced last night. I have been skimming through a diet book recently , and I think it is time for me to take the book and it's advice a bit more seriously. It is a cognitive therapy approach to weight loss. It is a "how to" guide to stay on a diet; it is not the diet itself. The name of the book is " The Diet Solution", by Judith S. Beck, Ph.D.  There are some things that she requires of the reader, that I'm uncomfortable doing. However, she is the expert, and I'm still the fat person. So I guess it's time to defer to her expertise. It is a 6 week plan again and there are daily assignments. Here I go again. By the way, I ate the chicken dinner last night and it was quite good.

Stuffed Chicken

Today is my creative cooking day. I have a package of boneless, skinless, chicken breasts in the refrigerator awaiting a new identity. I've been reading online, perusing my cookbooks, and hoping for inspiration. Wouldn't you know it, when I was just about to lose hope, cousin Costa called from Charleston. When he is not lecturing me on my politics, he is telling me about the delicious food he has just made. I knew he would be the perfect person to ask for help. Although maybe his recipes are not always low calorie, he does normally cook with whole fresh foods and everything he has ever made us has been delicious. He gave me the idea to stuff chicken breasts with bacon and cheese and fry them in butter until they are golden brown. Well, I obviously had to tweak the recipe a bit to remove a few calories. I improvised on his recipe, left out the cheese and added dates and capers. Then, I did a light egg wash and rolled them in walnuts. I will be baking them, not frying. Time will tell how they turn out. I'm going to add a salad, spinach and sweet potato. Finally, something different on Patti's plate. 
NOT!!!

Update: Ernie called and said he was picking up Barone's pizza. Tony suggested we eat the chicken roll tomorrow. The temptation was too great. I caved.

I am bad.

I am fat.
I hate myself.

Kitchen Sink Chop

Today, the really nice lady who I work for saved me. I went to work this morning unprepared for a proper lunch. I had eaten a high fiber cereal for breakfast, with blueberries. That usually keeps me full enough so that I don't think about food while I work. I also bring a sliced apple to snack on and I usually don't think about eating until I get home.  I stayed a little later than normal, and I did get hungry. My boss is always offering me food and I always decline. Today she tempted me with a hard boiled egg. She said, "you should always keep hard boiled eggs in the refrigerator for a quick healthy snack." She is so right. By the time I got home I was hungry again and tired too. Tony came home a few minutes after me and he was also exhausted. Neither one of us wanted to think about cooking dinner. Today was not the right day to think of something new and creative to cook.  We took a nice walk up to our neighborhood restaurant, The Valley Inn,  and I had a "kitchen sink chopped salad" with vinegarette on the side.  There wasn't a lot of protein in it, but it certainly did the trick. Tomorrow I have the day off of work, so hopefully I will get my act together!

Boring!

It's sort of hard to keep this blog new and interesting. It's obviously just as hard to keep my diet new and interesting. I need to find a way to jazz things up a bit. When I was a Nutritarian, I was on an actual plan, and it was pretty easy. I think I have given myself too much freedom. I need to find a new plan to share. I should be showing you a picture of some great low calorie dish that is worthy of Patti's plate.  But, I will be honest with you. Most nights are really difficult to keep low calorie and exciting. Take tonight for instance.  My husband worked most of the day from home, and then we went to an afternoon movie.  When we got out, we tried to decide what to eat for dinner.  We had leftovers from the last few days, so I knew we had food to eat. He had the fattening spaghetti, and I made another boring salad with the same old chicken I had a few days ago. I was too lazy to add colorful vegetables to my salad, so my green salad and the green chili chicken look the same. I need inspiration.

Sunday Dinner

Today, my daughter texted me when I was on my way to church and informed me that tonight we are having family dinner at 6pm at our house. Family dinners are what we used to do for years every single night. Even when the kids were involved in sports, plays and orchestra recitals, we almost always managed to sit down together in the dining room and have a lively dinner. That all came to a pretty abrupt end when Anne left for college. Sure we would still have family dinner now and then, but the boys were often busy and slowly it became just my husband and I eating dinner in front of the TV. Recently, we somehow have managed to have a full house again. Family dinner is still pretty much a thing of the past or resurrected on a holiday or special occasion celebration. I miss it, and to be honest I think our family misses it too whether or not they realize it. So this afternoon, when deciding what to make for dinner, I settled upon a family favorite, "spaghetti in a pot". It is definitely not diet friendly, but it is a traditional comfort food that I know everyone likes. I'm making a choice again. It's only one meal and I will continue my diet tomorrow. To be honest, I am going to add a salad and I may just have a small enough portion of spaghetti that I will be fine anyhow.  The important thing to me is I will have my family around me, eating a meal that I have lovingly prepared. I just miss Ted.