I can now reveal that I actually did make a New Year’s resolution. I represented to you in this space several months ago that I stopped that fruitless activity after succeeding at the most important one I had actually accomplished (I stopped smoking). That was nearly 20 years ago.
But last New Year’s Eve, I secretly resolved that I would not go into any fast food restaurants or eat anything from fast food restaurants. I got a good head start because I was in Sint Maarten/St. Martin about two weeks before the new year began. And even though they have almost all of the fast food chains we have, I didn’t go into any of them.
So you can advance that number there up at the top of this column by 14.
The underlying reason for this resolution was that I wanted to lose weight. I believed this to be a good strategy because most of the things sold in fast food joints are fried or overly fat-laden.
(Aside: There are two conflicting books on this subject. One guy ate nothing but fast food for a month and gained more than 30 pounds. Another guy ate nothing but fast food for a month and actually lost weight. I thought the former seemed more believable than the latter, but I could be wrong. Read on.)
I can report to you that I have not lost a single pound.
In fact, I’m about 10 pounds heavier than I was when I made the resolution. That being the case, I may have to break this resolution because I’m craving a certain fast food chain’s French fries. And the strawberry shake, and … oh, never mind. My particular body type and metabolism sends most of the fat to my midsection. The rest of me looks pretty good. But I would really like to lose this belly.
I’ve been on enough diets to know how to diet. In culinary school I sat through a semester of endless hours on nutrition so I really do know about calories, protein, fat, carbs, etc.
Here’s the problem: If you want to lose weight, it’s simple: Move more and eat less. But that takes discipline and I confess to you that when it comes to food, I don’t have very much. It’s hard when you’re around it all day long every day. You have to taste what you cook, right? And since I’m a big food experimenter, there’s always something new to taste.
Taste yes. Eat it all – no.
I also seem to have this insatiable sweet tooth that craves not just sweet things, but sweet things loaded with carbohydrates.
This problem seemingly would point to either of two solutions: Atkins or South Beach. I like orange juice and shrimp and tuna too much to do these (they’re each loaded with carbs).
Knowing full well that I have an addiction to carbohydrates, I bought a book called, “The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet.” I bought it 12 years ago and the next time I open it will be the first time. Don’t you love the sound that new books make when you open them for the first time?
Anyway, I’m going to do this. I’m also going to continue staying out of fast food restaurants because almost everything they sell has an excess of carb grams in addition to the aforementioned fat.
And 151 days from now I will report to you again on my progress. I hope to lose 30 pounds.
Wish me luck.