Is Life Worth Living Without Diet Coke?

As a vegan--at least the vegan outlined in the Skinny B. plan (I'm no longer typing the whole name out), I'm not supposed to have soda, artificial sweeteners or caffeine and that makes diet soda a three time loser.

I miss Diet Coke, Diet Coke with Lime, Coca-Cola Zero and TAB! Those beautiful elixirs of popping, refreshing bubbles. Those stimulating morning, afternoon and evening friends. The true and faithful loves. Now that the caffeine withdrawal headaches are gone all I have left is gaping emptiness.

I'm trying to look at the bright side though. I think it's a good thing that I am missing diet soda so much because it makes it easier to do the rest.

This reminds me of when I gave birth to my twins. I had Baby A the old fashioned way but then Baby B got all excited with all the room and decided she was comfortable there. After an hour of lovely labor both the baby and I got a bit stressed and I ended up having a c-section. The c-section pain stopped me feeling any other (delicately vague wording here) pain.

Giving up diet soda this month has been so painful I can't really feel the pain of giving up everything else.

Sugar Must Die!

Isn't sugar beautiful!

Look at it laughing at you in its crystalline, snowy perfection. You are looking at the devil. Sugar is the devil. Sugar is an evil invention meant to enslave us with sweet lies that throw strong wires of addiction over bodies growing fatter by the day! My number one problem is sugar.

My first diet month was the Atkins Diet and of course I couldn’t eat any sugar—none. I didn’t even eat any refined carbohydrates (or really any carbohydrates to tell you the truth). I felt great. I lost weight. I could see my ankle bones—and they are lovely. I had a modicum of self-control.

The next month I chose Weight Watchers because it seems so rational. Weight Watchers allows sugar and I ate it up—even though WW doesn’t necessarily recommend that you do. That was my Achilles’ heel. Sugar is the gateway drug. It is the highway to Hell. It is the gaping jaws of destruction that are waiting to chew me up and spit me out.

Did I get my point across? Was that dramatic enough for you?

So this month the diet I have chosen does not include the entrance of sugar into my glorious body. Also, after Weight Watchers I wanted something with more restrictions—more rules and less having to write things down.

So this month I'm a vegan baby! Yes, you heard me right—Vegan. I hesitate to say it’s the Skinny Bitch diet because I hate to promote a book that swears as much as that book does. I’m listening to it on tape and those women have major, major potty mouths. I find myself rolling up my windows in the car even though the weather is great because I don’t want anyone to hear those words coming out of my car.

So let’s just say for a month I am going to eat an abundance of: fruits, veggies, whole grains, soy, beans and not much else. Here’s the kicker—part of the diet is giving up soda and caffeine. I’m giving up Diet Coke for one month. I feel that I have become too dependant on Diet Coke and sugar so they are out the door. I’ve done vegetarian before but vegan is stricter; it requires giving up all animal products including dairy. I enjoy dairy I have nothing philosophically against dairy. I just want to see how it feels. (I will still wear my leather belts and shoes etc.—I’m not a fanatic!)

P.S. I already have a caffeine withdrawal headache and it it's only 8:30AM.

Final Word on WW

1st 15 days lost 2.5 pounds
2nd 15 days gained 1.5 pound (eek!!!!)
Total = Lost 1 pound

Let's Just Say I Love the Number 17

I bet your thinking, “Eden hasn’t blogged she must be embarrassed by her lack of Weight Watchers success.” To this I say—“You are wrong! I haven’t blogged because I am lazy and I had to read Catching Fire and had to do other important time wasting things.”

The first week and a half on Weight Watchers I lost 2.5 pounds—which almost puts me at the pre-NY weight loss. I will weigh again on Thursday—and I will report.

I am also quitting Weight Watchers on Thursday after three weeks for two reasons.

1. I love the number 17 and I want to stay on that as my change date.

2. I still hate it. I’m sorry. I know it is the most sensible plan, I know if I had a back-bone it would be the best, I know if I want to keep off the weight I need to be able to do this—but I can’t. I cannot keep track of everything I eat—and I cannot have so many choices. It boggles the mind and then it boggles the body!

If you have any ideas on my next diet email me quick. You have two days.

Lies all Lies, I Tell You

Many of the people I know who have lost weight and kept it off used Weight Watchers. I have just one question—How? Yes, you heard me—How?

I like to lie to myself, I am an expert. If there are dishes in the sink at night I think, “I’ll get up early and wash them” (lie). I have other favorites like, “I’ll exercise later” “I’ll start a diet tomorrow” “I’ll read that large work report at home over the weekend” “I’ll take the kids to Lagoon this year” “I’ll call that person later” “I’ll go grocery shopping on my way home from work.”

I could go on all day. I am an expert liar.

You may think that I am a generally dishonest person, but usually my lies are reserved for me, myself and I.

This brings me to Weight Watchers. It is sensible, flexible, encourages health eating, and gives tons of options. I’ve found out one thing this week.

Options=Lies to self.

For instance:

“I’ll have this piece of pizza for breakfast, it is 9 points, but I can eat veggies for lunch. I’ll have these Peanut M & M’s for a snack at work—that’s the great thing about WW you can have things like that and just count the points.”

By noon I have two-thirds of my daily points and I haven’t eaten lunch yet. Then at dinner, “That’s okay that I only have 2 points left for the day—I’ll just use some of my weekly points—I have 35 of those. I can even have ice-cream on those points. Who cares if it’s only the first day of the week and I’ve used all my daily and weekly points! I’ll be a vegetarian the rest of the week.”

Lies all lies. I tell you all those successful people out there must not lie to themselves. They must have respect and are as honest to their own self as they are to others. Wow, what a concept.

P.S. I don’t weight myself until Sunday—so the jury is still out!

Besame Mucho New York City!

I think New York City is surreal. There is nothing ordinary about it, nothing bland. The thing I find most extraordinary about the city and its people is the acceptance that their life is normal.

Case in point—the Subway. Everyone on the subway seems to take pride in not noticing or acknowledging anything that happens in their surroundings.

Before I illustrate this point—I do have an exception. They seem to have a great understanding of danger and respond to it quickly. One day while riding the subway up to my daughter’s school, in a semi-full car, two teenage boys entered. Not to be judgmental but they looked like trouble. They talked loudly to each other, swore like sailors and took up about 8 seats. They made me feel uncomfortable. At the next stop everyone got off. It didn’t matter if they were black, white, young, old; everyone exited and I noticed many moved to another car on the same train. Being the dumb tourist and thinking I’m only one stop away from my destination I didn’t even try for the door. I sat at the other end of the car alone with the two loud and scary young men. They felt an urgency I hadn't felt. Nothing happened but I have to admit I booked it off that train as soon as humanly possible.

Now, here is the other side of that same story.

I had just bid a final and fond farewell to my fair daughter on a lonely New York street corner. It was 1pm on an ordinary Thursday afternoon. I was very teary and trying my best not to cry. I sat down in a subway car and counted windows, because that is how I stop myself from crying, I count something. In movie theaters it’s the dim lights up on the ceiling and I guess on subways it’s the windows. The doors began to close and two men sat on either side of me.

The doors bounced back open and a Mariachi Band entered the car. Yes, a Mariachi Band, in full regalia. Did I mention it was 1pm on a THURSDAY. There was a man with a little guitar, a man with a ginormous guitar, a man playing the trumpet and the singer. They immediately started to play “Besame Mucho” loudly. Not one person looked at them. I then saw the man sitting on my left surreptitiously take some pictures—so I didn’t feel completely insane about feeling like this was a little out there.

While the band played on a little boy, who couldn’t have been more than nine, held up his I-touch. The application he was using displayed a perfect little hand-gun. The man next to me gestured to the man on the other side to look at the little boy. (I figured out that these two must be friends—I am quick that way.) The little boy pointed the I-gun at people, pulled the I-trigger and it actually I-fired. The three of us looked at him as we saw him I-shoot every person on the train, beginning with the Mariachi Band that was still playing with gusto.

At this point the one man leaned over me, like I wasn’t even there, and in very accented English said, “Dis is unbelievable.” Thank you foreign tourist for being the voice of sanity! We were probably the only three non-New Yorkers in that car.

We arrived at our next stop and the band took off their hats for tips and slowly exited the car. Not one person gave them money (including myself, because I didn’t have any) or looked at them.

At this point I went from trying not to cry to trying not to laugh hysterically and ended up just grinning like an idiot.

Next Month's Diet Locked and Loaded

It was great to be in New York City. My daughter and I made the tour of art galleries and food. We ate at Italian, Thai, Indian, French restaurants and of course I had to make a jaunt down to Magnolia Bakery. So what if I gained 3 pounds (life for me is a little two steps forward and one step back. I wish I was one of those linear people who just seem to march forward.)

I would like to sincerely thank those of you who gave me ideas on my next diet while I was out of town. I will have to look into the Acai Diet from Ashley, the Cookie Diet from Sam, the ice cream diet from Dan and next month I'm definitely looking into the Nutri-System discount at Costco. Thanks for your help!

Well, I have decided on, Weight Watchers Online program. Each food is given a point value and then you eat a set amount of points a day--with a little cushion of extra weekly points to round out the program. Veggies are really low in points (most are none at all) and fruits are also low. The diet encourages low-fat and fiber rich foods. I signed up today and made it one day with the correct amount of points--Yea! Although for dinner I couldn't resist the french fries my husband brought home and after I ate them I looked up how many points they were-9! That was pretty much the rest of my points for the evening. I added a peach and that was dinner. I think I better look up the points before I eat. (Definitely should have looked before I leaped.)

Herbivore, Carnivore or Omnivore--Oh My!

I need help. I cannot decide what diet to do next. I am taking my daughter back to school in NYC and have therefore decided to stay on Atkins for one more week because it is easy to do while traveling. So you all have one week to help me decide what direction to go.

There are some very interesting selections on faddiet.com. Check them out if you’re really in a pickle for an idea.

There are lots and lots of options. My only criteria is that they don’t require a doctor’s supervision (oh yea and they don’t require lots and lots of dinero!). I got some great ideas from my sister-in-law C. She gave me a recipe book for Skinny Bitches, I am tempted to do this diet just so I could blog those words over and over! It’s a low fat vegetarian type, lactose free type, meat-free type diet (exactly opposite of what I’ve been doing). It looks hard, but doable and I’ve always wanted to be bitchier.

My sister-in-law also sent me a link to the Dash diet. This diet is rich in veggies and low fat milk products. It has some fat in it and looks balanced—I’m not sure it is perfect for weight loss, but it looks great for relieving hypertension (which I don’t have).

Here are some others I am thinking of. Nutri System (a little pricey though), South Beach, Dr. Ornish’s “Eat More, Weigh Less” (Hurray for that! I’m all for eating more (this is very low-fat and almost vegetarian), Weight Watchers Online Program, French Women Don’t Get Fat (This one requires you just to eat less of what you already eat—I don’t know—that sounds like it might involve willpower! Eeeek!), Body for Life (This is plan is rich in low-fat proteins, complex carbs and fruit and veggies—it also includes weight lifting/aerobic exercise etc). I also have a one page diet given to my dad by his trainer. It looks like a modified Body For Life program—with lots and lots of fruits and veggies.

So as you can see I need help. HELP ME!