209 Days to Go

     Studies show that older persons who exercise and watch their food intake, are happier.  I can't tell you how happy I am when I sit on the recumbent bike and pedal for 30- 40 minutes. Actually I am happier that I am not trying to walk outside on frozen tundra. Walking in the cold does make the body work faster, just to keep from freezing to death. My wife and I walked up to the mall tonight and if it weren't for the cold, the wind and the cars which were trying to remind us to stay off the road, the walk would have been somewhat pleasant. Just once I would like to see  driving their cars and not texting or talking on their cellphones!
   
     We walked  to the Wild Onion, where we ate a quiet dinner.  I had a small cup of thick sweet potato soup and  a fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato with basil pesto  sandwich. Melinda had a cup of curried lentil soup and a nice salad.  And when we came home, we each had a cup of hot chocolate.  I just wanted you to know that even when we go out, we are careful about what we eat because what goes in can leave a not so subtle reminder of our eating detours. Every Friday night, we have a medium plain cheese pizza and a select bottle of wine.
 
     No diet should completely eliminate all  the fun things. Yes, if you were careful, you could in theory have a diet of rich dark chocolate brownies. Popping a couple of vitamins might balance out the lack of nutrition you would not be getting in the sweets. But I would think that eating just brownies would get tiresome after a while.
So the idea of eating is to eat a variety of foods.  Do I sound familiar?

    Most every night I prepare a salad with an oil and vinegar dressing. And we always have some kind of protein to go with the salad. And  just because we are vegetarians, we still have a wide selections of proteins. Rice and beans are a great source of protein. And making the rice in the rice cooker is a no brainer. Add water and rice, put the lid on and the rice is done to perfection. Remembering to plug the pot in, does help!

     And if you want, occasionally  splurge on your diet. Don't make a habit of it and don't beat yourself up too much.

     Just remember when you step on the scale the next morning, the only one you can blame for your weight gain, is the scale!