There are many things that I had forgotten about low-carb dieting but the most annoying one was the whole “you have to go to the grocery store every other day” thing. When you’re not on a diet of any sort, just go to the store on Saturday and pick up stuff for a week. Throw half of it in the freezer, a quarter in the pantry, the rest in the fridge and you’re good.
Feeling peckish? Throw a pizza in the oven! Make some nachos! Hey, just grab a bag of Goldfish and go to town. Mmmm. And you’re feeling warm and full and good. (Hey, throw the other half of the pizza into a Ziploc and you’ve got breakfast tomorrow!)
On the South Beach or Atkins diet, you can’t do that. Snacks change significantly. I have a big tub of mixed nuts on my desk at work. I eat a handful from time to time and my mouth is constantly looking for the raisins and m&ms. Beef jerky. String cheese. Perhaps some mixed nuts and some beef jerky with some string cheese.
But you still feel peckish.
On the diet, I have to go to the store every other day. I need fresh lettuce. I want to pick up some fresh meats, be they steak or chicken or pork chops. I ran out of yogurt. I need *SOMETHING*. Before the diet, it could probably wait. Now? I’m not going to eat dinner or breakfast or lunch tomorrow if I don’t stop by the store.
I had forgotten that you need all kinds of herbs and dry rubs and spices and whatnot. If you’re having a(nother) chicken breast, you’ll want Mrs. Dash on it. Maybe some more Mrs. Dash. Maybe cut a few lines of Mrs. Dash and snort it.
I had forgotten what it does to the digestive tract. Perhaps the less said about that, the better.
I am getting back into the groove of cooking every evening and enjoying something that I’ve made myself, over the course of an hour, rather than something that I pulled out of the freezer and threw in the microwave or the stove.
I very much miss the “you’re full” signal that carbs helped send my brain. I very much miss the joys of caffeinated (diet) sodas. I very much miss ice cream (a couple of scoops of plain yogurt with berries sprinkled on top is just barely close enough to ice cream to make you miss it that much more). I very much miss pastas, rolls, potatoes, and tortillas.
But, I suppose, I am reconciled somewhat to the idea of transitioning back to “chubby” from “fat”.
First scheduled cheat day? Easter Sunday. March 27th. I’m counting the days already. This weekend, though, will be dedicated to whipping up something in the crock pot that uses cauliflower rather than spuds.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Photo is “Footrace finish line, 1925” from the Seattle Municipal Archives, used under a creative commons license)
I am quite blessed in the fact that I never had much of a sweet tooth. Which isn’t to say I don’t enjoy a sweet or two, but all in all I have more of a meat tooth. I will have a sweet at the end of the day when I can’t have my favorite end of day treat, a cigarette. And I can’t have that when my wife is around.
And she will be gone all next week, to help her father recover from knee replacement. So there you go, I drop her a the airport Sat. morning, for a week of batching it.Report
The “baked potato tooth” is a difficult beast to tame.Report
Well, today one of our five kitties (the one we’ve had longest) had to have an hour and a half surgery to remove a tumor. The great thing about our vet is that he lets me hang out and be there with the kitty while she’s being operated on (he knows I have a biology degree, but I think he would let me anyway, on principle). also he drives a vet clinic in a truck. it’s kind of like hanging out with james herriot only more abrupt and with more modern hygiene. So that was exhausting. Then I came to work which has mostly been normal but did have one also exhausting meeting (that went fine, it’s just a tricky (and very confidential) situation).
tomorrow I am planning on sleeping in and worrying about the cat. (She’s fine, just very grumpy and cautious and i will continue hardcore worrying until a) she stops being extra grumpy, and b) we get the histology labs back – then (assuming good labs) it will be moderate worrying until her hair grows back, and the stitches fall out, and mild worrying for another 5-10 years after that.) Then work till 10.
Saturday we have gaming and I think otherwise we’ll just be hanging out and worrying about the cat and doing stuff that distracts us from worrying about the cat. Maybe I’ll do a junk purge on the bedroom. And clean the bathroom door. Stuff like that.
Along with the usual doses of reading, writing, coloring, music, podcasts, and watching old tv shows, of course.Report
* to be clear the hour and a half was how long i was standing in one place in the vet truck, not how long he was actually cutting and/or sewing things.Report
Now I want berries and yogurt. Don’t worry, I ate enough pizza for both of us today. I never want pizza again.
Roommates family is in town, so I will be entertaining. No second job this weekend!Report
Good luck!Report
@jaybird,
I’ve been on a low carb life for a while now. For the most part, I don’t miss it. Fats = full, or massive quantities of broccoli 🙂 I still eat bread and rice but not often. Actually, it’s HELPED the GI tract. I was a lot gassier when I WAS eating carbs.
Keep the faith baby. It’s like anything else, you’ll adapt, and probably be healthier as well as a result if you keep with it.Report
Oh, yeah. I’m doing the full fat thing. I was surprised by how many more “low fat/high sugar” yogurts there are available than “high fat/low sugar” ones.
My favorite yogurt was that Noosa stuff and, lemme tell ya, it’s like eating yogurt with pie filling. Which is, I suppose, an inkling into why it was my favorite.
The GI tract issue is more of a reminder of the reasons I used to drink metamucil before each meal.
I don’t know if I feel healthier yet but I have eaten more spinach in the last week than I had in the year prior.Report
I love spinach, but it’s best fresh picked.
they aren’t actually “low fat/high sugar” yogurts, they’re “look at what thickeners we can put in here to fool you into thinking they are fatty” yogurts. Weird, weird things.Report
I’ll side with kim on the spinach. I love it.
Personally, I go for greek yogurt, plain. I then add my own items, typically a little granola and honey or sometimes just cinnamon.Report
I’ve found refried beans to be an easy to cook, low carb and tasty space filler.Report
I don’t know that I’d call them “low carb” as much as “part of a healthy lifestyle for people who no longer need to be on a low carb diet”.Report
Yeah, beans have almost as high a percentage of their calories coming from carbs as wheat does (admittedly wheat is a convenient choice, as it’s just about the highest protein grain that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg).
Personally though – give me carbs or give me death I say. Let them come for my carbohydrates – I will fight them in the bakeries, in the potato patches, in the bulk grains aisle, in the pantries, and in the pubs. I will beat them with the staff of life, I will pelt them with yams, and when I fall I will have rye bread in my kit bag and carrots on my breath.Report
Am on about the opposite diet. Basically: How little fat can you eat?? Better, how little saturated fat can you eat??
I want my ice cream back! (and beer, but that’s a different story).
And the diet isn’t even for me… which makes it all the more annoying.Report
Switch to wine! It has a better pedigree!Report
No alcohol period. Death sentence.Report
Bummer!Report
Could be worse. Another possible side effect is spontaneous human combustion.
[this isn’t my medicine].Report