My Cheat Day

Man, I’ve been good this week about the new diet.

I’ve been watching portion sizes, eating low on the food chain, and avoiding snacks. I even survived a night at McDonald’s with the kids. It turns out that the oatmeal isn’t half bad. The trick is that you have to ask for it without brown sugar, hold the raisins, and no cream. But you do that, and you’re golden.

Last night I gave a ninety minute talk at Gates in Schenectady, home of the Jewish Food Festival. The JFF is coming up, just so you know. Mark your calendar for April 3.

The title of the talk was “Wandering in the Desert: How to find good food in the Capital Region and beyond”. I didn’t tell you about it in advance because you read this blog every day. What’s the point in listening to me say the things you already have heard from me countless times.

If you want to hang out, come and join the Tour de Buffalo Wings: Schenectady Edition tomorrow. There’s still time. If you plan to come, make sure to let me know, and don’t forget to bring a pen.

I just can’t believe I’m going to do it.

Last night at the presentation, I brought three dozen Cider Belly donuts. Do you know how many I ate? None. Zero. Zip. I didn’t even have a celebratory donut when the presentation was over at 9pm, even though I had skipped dinner and hadn’t eaten anything since a few crackers with hummus in the mid-afternoon. When I came home I filled up on a bit of chana masala.

Lunch was one medium potato, one medium onion, one tablespoon of olive oil, one poached egg, and one tablespoon of low fat Greek yogurt. There was plenty of tabasco, and it was actually quite delicious.

Breakfast was a moderate bowl of cereal with Cowbella whole milk, flax seeds, and frozen blueberries.

But tomorrow, I’m falling off the wagon hard. And that’s okay. I’m being super draconian about the diet because I know all the treats that await me. After all, it’s not just the wing tour. I’m also going to check out the New York State Craft Brewers Festival at The Desmond later that afternoon.

If you haven’t let me know about the Tour de Wings, now’s the time to do it. If you told me you were going to come, and now you can’t, this is the time to officially cancel.

Sunday, I’ll start eating nothing but whole grains, and leaving the booze and fried foods behind again. Maybe next week I’ll even get with the program and figure out how to squeeze exercise into my schedule.

Standing up in front of a group for ninety minutes and talking about food felt a bit like exercising. I didn’t break a sweat like Marco Rubio, but at the end, my legs felt tired. Maybe I’ll do that again. Heck, Gates wanted to have me back, but they told me I’d have to cover new material. I don’t know when that will happen, but this time I’ll try to keep you better posted.