I was at the grocery the other day, checking out some celery…and I smell something.  It is sweet. It is familiar.

I spot where the sent is coming from…it is a sweet nectarine. Oh, sweet nectarine.

That is the great thing about summer — fresh fruit. I’m excited!

I like to cook — really.  But I have two small issues with cooking:

1.) I never seem to have the time to do all the cooking that I would like. Tonight, for instance, my husband had to cook a turkey breast I got. I’m a lucky girl to have a husband that is a good cook and always willing to help out. But I still don’t have time to cook like I want. It is one reason we eat a lot of frozen veggies that steam in the bag.

2.) I have to sample as I go along. This is a BIG problem. Tonight, is a great example. As I cut up the turkey and the other ingredients  for turkey salad, I had to have a bit of turkey, a bit of celery, a bite of pickle and then a small sample of the final product. This time, I was lucky — it was relatively healthy things. That isn’t always the case for little ol’me — the cupcake incident is a good example. Those little bites, I suspect, will add up to extra pounds.

On a slightly related note, I am going to try the turkey salad tomorrow…I used a light mayo, so I am curious how it changes the taste. Once it passes my taste test, I will share the recipe and will try to figure out the serving size and calories.

Be Strong Little One!

Life has a funny way of throwing curve balls into a well-thought out plan.

Today, is a very good example. I was going to bake a turkey breast for dinner — make some brown rice and maybe a little gravy. The turkey wasn’t thawed enough for me to cook tonight. So we had to come up with a plan B.

It was eating out. Typically, these are the situations I just grab a burger and fries. But I didn’t want that. I opted for a taco salad from a local burger restaurant. I’ll be the first to admit, it isn’t the healthiest meal, but, the ground beef, salsa, lettuce tomatoes and cheese aren’t that bad for me. What is fattening is the sour cream and chips.  But they only give you a small amount.

Do I feel guilty? Sure, but I feel it was better than the alternative, and the rest of my meals were small and not super high in calories.

It started out as an ordinary morning, even though I woke up about 30 minutes late — don’t worry, I still made it to work on time.

I quickly got to work. Not noticing anything out of the usual. Then  I was ordering photos for a page I was working on when  I saw it: A pink rectangular box of donuts.

Donuts. Oh my.

Donuts, OH MY!

And then a conversation begins in my head similar to the cupcake situation. Willpower just going “Leave me alone! Lalalalala”

Brain thinking: “Hey, those are donuts, they might be good, we should give them a try…”

Oh, it gets worse before it gets better. The bossman points out the pink box, but he is a supportive chap, and tells me they taste like sawdust, even the chocolate ones.

Brain: “There’s chocolate?! Bloody chocolate donuts?! Why on God’s green earth are you standing here?! March over to that box — we must have one…NOW! Are you listening to me, CHOCOLATE DONUT NOW!!!!”

But there was a voice from across the room: “No Ginger, if I fight the urge to have one, you can to.”

Body was twitching at this point — in the direction of the donuts that are about 13 feet away from my desk.

“No!” The voice across the room said. “Nooo!”

That voice was Amanda, and it goes to show that having a buddy to  diet with can be better than useless Willpower.

Brain: “Fine, be that way, don’t eat donut…meanie”

It is easy for me to get discouraged, especially when I don’t think I am doing things the right way.

Today is a good example…I ate a small breakfast, took a short walk, and ate strawberries and a handful of peanuts for lunch. When I got home from the grocery store, I snacked on some cheese and carrots. Even dinner, wasn’t huge — a grilled cheese sandwich on whole wheat with a salad.

But I feel as if I am failing. I know how it sounds, and I promise, I’m not going to beat myself up on the blog.  I just don’t feel like I’m doing it right.

Here, let me give you some examples. In 1997 (I know a long time ago), I was on summer break after finishing my freshmen year at Oklahoma State University. My mom and brother were still living in Yorktown, Va., while my dad was stationed in Georgia (she was trying to sell the house). That summer, I came home to ol’Yorktown. My mother was trying a new diet — it was similar to the South Beach diet, but it allowed fruit during the first phase. I thought I would do it with her (always easier to diet with a buddy). Heck, I even started taking a martial arts class with my brother. After all, it was exercise.

I lost a lot of weight that summer. Developed a good habit of drinking lots of water, watching what I ate. I was done almost two sizes. But I got obsessive about it. I can remember going to the little deli on campus after school started again to get a lowfat ice cream treat. I would only get the one made with bananas because I knew how many calories were in a banana. I wrote everything down — to the point it was kind of scary. Christmas came, and well, I stopped writing it down — there were just too many Christmas goodies like cookies, pie, cake, muffins, casseroles to eat and remember. I put the weight back on.

It is a similar story in 2005 while trying to be svelte for my wedding.

It is a just a bummer to know you were so successful before, but find yourself asking why isn’t it that easy now? I was thinking a lot about that today, always coming up, with “why don’t you just do those diets again?”

And I could. It would be easier and I would see results  a lot faster. But what happens when I lose the weight?  I know the answer to that question — it has happened twice before, and this weekend was a good indicator of how easy it is to fall back into the habits of eating all the things I want to and there is no reason to eat it except it is there. (I really can’t find the words to describe the guilt I feel)

The farmers market today was a good reminder that it is a long road to do this the right — and hard way — but it will be worth it. The results will be slower, but my habits — fingers crossed — will change for good. I’ll have to learn how to overcome the discouragement.

Sorry that this is a long one tonight.

Willpower +1, Food 0

I have probably mentioned a few times that I have a sweet tooth.

What I haven’t mentioned a lot of is my love of popcorn. I’m the girl, who when I covered the Stillwater City Commission for the Stillwater NewsPress, would come home after the meeting, fix a huge (no really huge) bowl of popcorn and a cup of tea or OJ. I would proceed to eat about half, if not more, of the popcorn while I crafted another witty — yet informative — city commission story.

Yeah, I like popcorn — in all of its shapes, colors and flavors.

When we moved here, I was excited to find the freshly made Kettle Corn. OMG, I was happy. The first couple of Wednesday at The World consisted of the “Kettle Corn” lunch. After all, Kettle Corn is the best of both worlds: Sweet and popcorn.

Farmers Market started today and the Kettle Corn were out there with their equipment and bags-o-buttery sweet delight. Mmmmmm, Kettle Corn.

Luckily, Willpower had a better showing today as I walked the market, moving me quickly from the cookies, chocolate and etc. However, Willpower got a little weak when we neared the Kettle Corn booth (my feet just naturally walked to this booth), but had back up from my friend Amanda, who directed (pushed) me and my wavering Willpower, away from the buttery sweetness…

I got strawberries instead, and they are, well, I think the technical term is yumm-o.

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I’m excited today. … It is the start of the Farmers Market and hopefully the start of lots of super fresh veggies.

I hoping this helps me do better than I have been on my eating-right healthy choice lifestyle change. Because, as you know, I have not done very well — especially this past weekend.

I think fresh veggies with the fresh ideas I received last week can only mean one thing: A Fresh New Start!

Now, the big question: Can Ginger stay away from the Kettle Corn people’s booth and not buy the biggest possible bag of popcorn?