Foods That I Miss: BMI = 31

My diet has been very healthy for about 2 months now. It took me seven months of changing habits to finally get into a healthy routine. During the first two months, I just focussed on defeating binge-eating, overeating, and snacking. I spent the next five months trying to find ways to get enough veggies and whole grains while also reducing my added-sugar intake to near zero. So now that I’m here, what foods do I miss? I think chicken General Tao on rice with a healthy dollop of sambal is near the top of my list.

It’s easy to see why. The chicken is battered and deep fried – I’ll even eat squid if you bread it and deep fry it. The sauce is sweet and spicy – added sugars make for addicting recipes. Load it up on some plain rice with a lot of sambal and you’ve got calorie-dense oral stimulation of the highest order. Even now that I’m used to eating healthy, my standard meal format just doesn’t get me growling at anyone who dares to look at my plate.

I can still have a serving of General Tao though – just not every night. I have one indulgence meal per week where I can eat pretty much anything I want as long as I don’t binge on it. I really think about that meal, though, and try to make it count. The main reason I haven’t had chicken General Tao since I’ve been eating better is that I want it to be the best General Tao I can find and I don’t want to waste a weekly indulgence meal only to find a soggy, overly-sweet yet otherwise bland disappointment. When I indulge, I want to be assured satisfaction. To that end, one item that I’ve had a few times this year is Boursin cheese.

Once I made an omelette stuffed with some Boursin cheese, once I had it on a thick slice of toast, and the last time I had it on some Triscuits. When I have an indulgence meal now, I get a lot more pleasure out of it than I used to get when I covered my table with several types of cheese, lobster mousse, creton, salami, stuffed peppers, and homemade croutons.

I love all the foods in the photo above, and it used to take that kind of volume and variety to pick me up and make me feel good about life. Eating healthy, on the other hand, has really improved my overall feeling of well-being, my energy and alertness, and my outlook on life. When I look at the above photo now, the thing I miss most are the friends that were sitting around that table. It was good to have people with whom to share that experience. We had some great meals together before the place where we worked shut down and we all drifted apart.

I think I’ll start asking around about who serves great General Tao in town. It’s time I had that meal again. I also need to pick up a small chunk of Charlevoix 1608 cheese. It makes an incredible grilled-cheese sandwich, especially when made with rye bread.

Anyway, there really aren’t many foods that I miss because I can still have them. I don’t miss being able to eat those foods daily because when I used to do that life just sucked a little more each year. I enjoy the healthy foods I eat now, I enjoy my weekly indulgence meals even more than my old daily indulgence meals, and I’m totally stoked to be watching my weight and blood-pressure dropping.