Day 22 Day Off and Crazy Eights!

Monday, March 22. No miles, Total so far: 55.2/ Miles to go - 944.8



Yesterday was a busy day and by the time I finished teaching my Property II class at 8:35 I decided my body needed a rest more than a run. On the way home I decided to stop by my local Kroger, just for a rotisserie chicken(did not feel like cooking, had no left overs to warm up and as you shall see from the rest of this post, I was trying to do the Atkins low carb diet), some Activia yogurt and some half and half for my morning coffee. BIG MISTAKE. They say you should never go to the store on an empty stomach and for once "They" are right. I know better. They also say to avoid the middle aisles where all the processed food is, and they are also right. I know all of this, but behavior is not easy to change.



It had been day one on my resolve to "Avoid the Whites" i.e. starches like bread, white rice, potatoes and the biggest evil of all, sugar. I am impatient. I want the belly gone yesterday. After all, if I can run 5 miles, I should look like an athlete, not a pear on a treadmill. All this time in gyms with all those mirrors around has shown me my physique from more angles than I studied in High School Geometry class. Unless I am looking in the mirror face forward from the neck up, I am aware that there is this rounding in the center of my body....like one of those tops I used to play with as a boy with points on both ends and this flying saucer like bulging middle. Like a potter with his clay, I want that middle molded, but it takes time and there seems to be a lot of clay to work with. Remember Santa and his belly like a bowl full of jelly?



I have used may diets, but the one that has worked best for me has been Dr.Atkin's high protein, low carbohydrate eat all the bacon and red meat you want diet. The problem now, however, is that the few times in the past couple of years I have tried it, I have not been able to stick to it. Not sure if it has been less will power or if I have changed or both. But to kick start this molding of my midsection process, Sunday night (after my brunch of pecan Belgian waffle, etc.) I decided to "do Atkins" for a couple of weeks. Monday morning began with a cheese omelet. At lunch, I ate some hot dog wieners and left over chili. The first sign of problems came at a faculty committee meeting at 3 where there was a fruit plate with cheeses, crackers, cookies and dark chocolate brownies. I wanted a brownie. I had a hard time thinking about the topics in the meeting because I was watching others putting pieces of brownie into their mouths without a care in the world. I could taste the brownie. I compensated by eating a lot of cheese (sans the crackers which also was a struggle) and then broke the Atkins regimen by eating some grapes, melon and strawberries (all things that are otherwise healthy, but full of carbs and therefore "Haram" (forbidden) on Atkins). Back in my office, still obsessing about the brownie, I later ate a handful of almonds (a daily cholesterol reducing routine) and then just before class, an apple.



By the time I got to Kroger, it was close to 10 pm and I was really craving more than chicken. Kroger knows how to get me....like the Sirens tempting Jason and the Argonauts. Kroger catches my eyes with big bargain towers of unneeded food. It started when I saw Skinner Pasta, spaghetti, etc. on sale for 50 cents a pack. You can always use pasta, so having some around is a good thing, or so my rationale goes. And look at that price (as if saving 50 or 75 cents on pasta was going to pull me back from the brink of starvation when I had spent many times that on the grande latte the day before at Starbucks). Of course, there was a catch. To get the 50 cent price you had to by eight of the Crazy Eights items around the store. Suddenly, it was like a scavenger hunt. Find the items marked for this sale and save, save, save.....!



I hate to admit it, but I am a succor for these types of savings. I count it to my childhood when we were poor and I remember collecting pop bottles and being proud to turn the money over to my parents to buy baloney. I also remember discovering that my coin collection was missing one day. Later I found out that Dad had taken it to the store...we needed food. If he had told me, we could have sold the coins back for a lot more than their face value, but pride or shame kept us from having that conversation until years later.



Fueled by hunger and the excitement of the hunt, I found myself going to the front of the store where I could get a grocery cart in lieu of the basket I had taken (since I had originally only intended to get the chicken, half and half and yogurt, remember?) On the way back to the pasta I saw bunches of blue berries. I thought, screw Atkins. I am going to continue with my healthy blue berry, banana and pecan oatmeal with fresh squeezed OJ breakfasts! I put a carton of blue berries in the cart along with a bunch of bananas. I then saw some of the Organic Milk that one of my roommates uses and remembered that I had used some of his, so I picked up a carton. Then, back at the pasta display I got two packages of the spaghetti and a couple of bottles of sauce (also on the Crazy Eights special). But now I needed four more items or I would not have eight and would not get the special price....see how the hook was set....I went down the aisles, looking for Crazy Eights items. Aha, found some at the cracker display....I love crackers and after not eating them in the afternoon, and feeling starving since it was now almost 10:15 pm and I still had not eaten, I picked up a couple of boxes. Then I realized I needed some cheese to go with the crackers. As luck would have it, cheese was also on sale with the Crazy Eights, but suddenly I had picked up more than 8 Crazy Eights items, so I had to find more to even out the number to sixteen.



Ironically, there were no more rotisserie chickens left so I had to make a decision about dinner. I love sausage and picked up a couple of packages of the Kroger smoked sausage links. I did get my yogurt but realized I was getting short on wine. Saw a box of Corbet Canyon Cab and decided one box (four bottles worth at less than 10 dollars) would do just fine. Easy to manage portion control...life to be enjoyed one large glass at a time. But to get to the cash register I had to pass down the chips aisle and saw the Lays on sale. In went a bag and then I remembered how much I love popcorn and now you can get it in convenient 100 calorie microwave packages. I put two boxes in the cart (they too were on sale, but not Crazy Eights). To be fair, I was also thinking that in a week my kids would be here for Easter for a few days and having cheese and crackers and chips and popcorn would be a good thing (although I knew that I would be consuming more than my share both before and after they left).



By the time I got to the register I had also picked up a head of cauliflower to make cauliflower cheese soup (a promise to my vegetarian roomer) and a few other odds and ends along with my half and half. That late at night only one register was open and the line was long. I choose to go to the self service and after what seemed like forever, I finished checking myself out, left (sixty dollars poorer though the ticket said I had saved 20 dollars) and drove the two blocks to my house. All this because I thought I was too tired to cook and wanted a chicken someone else had cooked....Should have stopped at KFC and avoided Kroger! And the falacy that you ever "save" money by spending money! I know that is a crock...You save money by not spending. You spend money by spending...sometimes more or sometimes less, but spending is spending and my wallet was 60 dollars lighter even if my stomach was no smaller!



Back at home, I unloaded the car, and then decided what the Hell. I was so hungry I made two sausage sandwiches with white bread and ate two 100 calorie packages of popcorn washed down with two glasses of box wine. Oh, and this morning...I had my oatmeal with fruit and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. Sorry Dr. Atkins, I let you down. Maybe my mid section of the toy top is just meant to keep spinning a little longer....I plan to run after work...Life is Good!