Eulogy for the Days of Light Speed Metabolism

Oh how I am going to miss the fresh fruits and vegetables!!! Not only are fresh fruits and veggies the pinnacle of summer, but their health and financial benefits are unsurpassed.

Kevin and I have launched a united effort to regain and maintain our waistlines and our risk for heart disease. In said effort, I have changed my cooking habits to include 3 times as much fresh produce, multi-grains, and low fat proteins as possible. It has definately taken some thought (and a search for credible websites on calorie intake and content was virtually fruitless despite 2 million hits on the topic).

I am much obliged to the local farmers market for their contribution to the effort. I have no idea how we will afford to live on our current levels of produce when the frost starts to settle in. I have attempted to master the art of canning, but I am not sure how much good 12 quarts of pickles is apt to do us...and then there are the two jars of salsa which "botulized" for no apparent reason...and one lone jar of arrabiata sauce...

We are definately starting to feel better. We encourage one another to exercise, gently chide one another at the temptation for fried potato chips, and laugh at one another's misguided attempts at convenience health foods (my self-designed 100 calorie packs of salted non-multigrain pretzels...his attempts to curb his love of beer into a "treat".)

I am not saying that the occassional slip doesn't occur, sometimes intentionally...(breaded chicken wings with spicy BBQ sauce...OH MY GOSH!!...Sam's Club death dogs...OH MY GOSH!!...chocolate of any kind...OH MY GOSH!!!)

Our beloved Catholic Church doesn't help any either. I maintain that the Catholic Church has singlehanded contributed to the obesity epidemic in the United States. I mean, come on, donuts, juice and heavily creamed coffee every Sunday for 30 straight years cannot be a good thing...

Regardless, the one thing we have stressed through this whole thing is NO RADICAL CHANGES. We will eat what we like. We will eat what we want. We will substitute when possible (whole wheat pasta, olive oil, chicken instead of beef). We will shrink our portions. We will check the sodium content of our meals. But we WILL NOT DIET!! I will have cream in my coffee. Kevin will have an extra pack of oatmeal in the morning. We will go out for supper. This needs to be maintainable. Whether we are working or not. Whether we have kids or not. Whether we need to lose weight or not. WE MUST BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN!!!

And yet, we shared a small memorial for the days of light-speed metabolism. The eulogy went something like this.

"Gone are the days of banana twinkies for breakfast (although I've never found banana twinkies appealing for any meal...). Gone are the days of late night binging (probably because they're out with the late night cram sessions). Gone are the happy hour Miller Lite binges (although I imagine they will still exists in pints, just not in pitchers) Long gone are the days of eating half the cookie dough while baking the other half (wait, who am I kidding!)

Now is the time for beautiful fillets of tilapia...elegant arrays of whole wheat pasta...brightly colored fruits and vegetables...mediterranean spices...apple gelatin desserts (recipe BELOW, fabulous!!!) and more filtered Lake Michigan pipeline water than you can possibly imagine. We embrace it!

And yet, all of that said, one cannot forget the Midwest's dirty little secret...the inevitable...WINTER WEIGHT."