Birthday weekend..

With cake, baby and choices

Posting some photos from the birthday weekend. Great to spend time with family and baby! Little Skylar, who now is over a year old, is a treat. 

Birthday weekends, however, do not make for an easy time regarding food (flautas at Tequila Mexican Cantina for dinner, eggs Benedict at Welly’s for brunch, birthday cake, Switchback draft, etc., you get the idea). Fasting pretty much goes out the window. But by practicing some restraint, making reasonable choices and seriously limiting alcohol during the visit and being extra careful Monday/Tuesday, the weight remained steady. So it is possible. Not easy, but possible.

To be honest, I think your head has to be really in it for any plan to work. And that being said, I’ll respond to Paul’s comment regarding the grazing outlook (see comment last column.. frequent small meals). If it works for you, by all means, stick with it! There is no one-size-fits-all plan out there.

Having said that, I’ve tried grazing; it seemed popular a while back, but it did not work for me. It allowed too many opportunities for eating too much food. And I was always looking for the next meal; it created a constant eating habit. Fasting means less time to think about food. It sort of breaks the habit, and I am not as hungry. Sometimes, just a cappuccino will work to satisfy. There are times (a rarity, admittedly) when I actually forget about food!

It would be great if food were to be less of a priority, but once a foodie, always a foodie. I have always been an armchair cook, with a good collection of cookbooks to prove it.

When I don’t cook, I watch the PBS weekend cooking shows or read about cooking. 

Just bought Jacques Pepin’s “Quick and Simple.” He is one of my favorite chefs. I love his artwork, and this book is full of it, plus “Simply wonderful meals with surprisingly little effort,” as stated in title. (Pineapple with kirsch for dessert? Much more elegant and healthy than ice cream, and it would sure elevate plain ice cream if you wanted. And couldn’t be easier. Pineapple, broiled or not, sprinkled with sugar and kirsch. ) His artwork, both original and prints, is available here. Birthday gift to self or a friend maybe? Nice for kitchen.

The joy of fasting is that nothing is off limits. Moderation is, of course, recommended!