The brain boggles.
About five pounds overweight, I try to diet. Doesn’t seem to help much. Yesterday, nothing will do but what I must go onto a modified vegetarian (NOT vegan) diet. This usually jump-starts the metabolism and moves the scale off the dime.
Breakfast: xergis
Lunch: spectacular home-made wonderful amazing tomato-vegetable soup (more about which, below)
Dinner: none (see below)
Yes. By dinnertime I’m busy and so I lose track of time until I realize it’s 20 minutes to choir call. Lock up the dogs and fly out the door, figuring I can stand the pain entailed in waiting to eat until 9:00 p.m.
What I don’t figure on: it’s Birthday Night, an occasion that calls for the ritual Singing of the Happy Birthday Song to every member on the choir whose birthday falls in this month, and for a cake.
By break time, 8:00 p.m., i yam soo hungry i could CRY. And there under my dainty little nose is a cake. Not just any cake, but a GERMAN CHOCOLATE cake, which happens to be my hands-down favorite variety of cake.
A self-justifying calculation concludes that no great harm could possibly come from noshing one (1) piece of this delectable. The worst that can happen, surely, is that I just won’t lose any weight that day.
Well.
No.
I have ONE (1) small piece of German chocolate cake: maybe five ounces at the most. And 1/3 cup of scorched electric drip coffeemaker coffee.
After another hour of rehearsal, I stumble home and fall into bed. I do not eat anything more.
Somewhat before the crack of dawn (5:30, to be specific), the alarm goes off, I arise, and as usual I weigh myself and enter the figure in the daily diet tracker:
17 December: 135.2
18 December: 136.4
HOLY SHIT!
How could I possibly have put on over a pound after starving myself for 5/6 of the previous day and then eating 1-count-it 1 TINY PIECE OF CAKE?????
On December 16, I had an apple with nuts for breakfast; a piece of cheese with two crackers for lunch (with wine); and xergis, dates, and nuts for dinner. And walked one mile. This resulted in a weight gain of .1 pound.
And yes, I do understand that one’s weight fluctuates throughout the day. That would be why I always weigh myself at the same time every day, before breakfast.
On the way to the weekly bidness group meeting, I complain about this to my carpool-mate. She, a gluten-free aficionado, points out that the cake not only contained sugar, a verboten product, it also contained flour.
A lot of flour.
She suggested that gluten could cause one’s body to retain water. Water retention would be the likeliest explanation for this little spike, since three to five ounces of sugar-laced flour could not otherwise cause one to put on 1.2 pounds.
Well, of course the gluten craze is the latest fad, so one has to take all this with a grain of salt (heh…one probably should refrain, though…). It must be said, in the water-retention department, that neither the xergis nor the veggie-tomato soup was made with salted products.
If you buy into in the gluten craze, it appears possible (if you believe the faddists) that wheat products could have that effect. And it certainly is true that every time I have a bowl of beloved pasta, every time I gobble a piece of pizza, every time I eat a piece of bread I do put on weight.
Honestly, I don’t know what else would explain it. I haven’t consumed anything over the past several days that should cause the bod’ to put on weight.
Oh well. Here’s a recipe for an exceptionally delicious, exceptionally dietetic edible:
Tomato-Veggie Soup
One large or a couple small containers canned tomatoes***
A small yellow onion, finely chopped
A stalk of celery, finely chopped
One or two cloves of garlic, minced
Parsley, if you have it
Some raw carrots, finely chopped
Frozen or fresh vegetables to fit your taste (such as corn, peas, spinach, chard, etc.
Cheap white or red wine, or water
Small amount of olive oil
Herbs to your liking
***Canned tomatoes are full of salt! Avoid. However, you can get salt-free tomatoes in a few brands. I used Pomí, available on Amazon and sometimes at Sprouts or Whole Foods. If you can’t find packaged/canned tomatoes that are free of added salt, use a pound or two of fresh tomatoes.
Put a small amount of olive oil in the bottom of a stock pot; turn the heat to medium-high and add the onions, celery, and carrots. Stir around. When they start cooking, turn the heat to medium or medium-low. Allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are starting to brown. Add the garlic and parsley. Stir around and allow to cook for a few more minutes. Add the herbs — I used fines herbes because I couldn’t find the thyme, but thyme plus tarragon plus whatEVER would be good. Add the tomatoes. Thin with wine or water, as desired. If you’re using a root vegetable, such as potatoes, add a few cut-up potatoes now. Otherwise, ignore.
Simmer until flavors are mixed. Now add whatever quick-cooking veggies you have around: any frozen vegetable; any leaf vegetable such as spinach, kale, or chard. Cook until everything is done.
Consume. Garnish with a spoonful of yogurt or a sprinkling of Parmesan or feta cheese, if desired.
This makes a very tasty soup. Leftovers stored in the fridge only improve with time.
DW used to struggle with her weight. I’ll never forget what a very “common sense” advisor once told my wife when she was full of angst. ….”water weighs over 8 pounds per gallon…so a quart is 2 pounds and a pint is one pound”… She told DW to eat right…drink plenty of water and exercise…I’m thinking pretty sound advice…
Yup. The “exercise” part has been lacking hereabouts. This morning: down almost a pound.
I think it’s pretty telling that I’d put on a pound or so of “water weight” after eating a small amount of stuff made from sugared flour.