How to Lose Weight without Suffering #1

RULE #1 Eat whatever the hell you want…

Just not everything you want.

I lost ten percent of my body weight and have kept it off for over a year without pain, without “dieting,” without combining stupid foods. Southern Belles don’t suffer on purpose.

It all started on June 15, 2011, but I didn’t know it, I thought I was just going to spend a month in Europe.  At the time I said I weighed 150.  It was more often 152, 153, but I didn’t want to be petty. I also said, my weight fluctuated between 152 and 147.  (The only time I hit 147 was when I had the flu.)  But I thought I looked OK and at 5’4”, I wasn’t unhealthy.  Five pounds overweight, according to the CDC, but what’s 5 pounds? 

In London I joined my cousin who was going through a divorce and had lost 60 pounds on the misery diet. Misery aside, she looked great and was determined not to stay that way.  We walked everywhere.  She ran and swam.  I just walked.  She cut out sugars, starches, and breakfast. I ate breakfast and bread, but I wasn’t going to pig out on cookies around her.  Still we ate in restaurants almost every night and sometimes at lunch. She counted calories, I was just aware that I didn't want to overeat. "I didn't eat everything I wanted."

When I got home on July 15, 2011 I weighed 148.  A month later, I weighed 146 without suffering. That’s when I decided to get serious and see how much I could lose while living my life.  My goal was 130.  

In my next posts I’ll let you know how I did it and some easy rules that I follow.

Holiday Blues

About this time of year, I feel over loaded. Don’t you?

Instead of joy and holiday fun, I have cooking anxiety—what’ll I cook? Will it come out all right? Does my stove work? Will anyone want to eat it?

And oh Lord, there’s the shopping anxiety. Did I forget someone? Will everyone like what I get them? (Oops everyone and them is not grammatical. But will everyone like what I get him—that sounds terrible. Her—worse.) More holiday pressure to do it right! More pressure to be perfect. Even writing about the holidays trips me up.

Before anxiety overcomes me I channel Sissy LeBlanc. What would Sissy say: “When attacked by the holiday blues, a smart girl takes a glass of wine into a soothing bath and lets the rest of the world fend for themselves. It will help them appreciate her.” Rule number 106 The Southern Belle’s Handbook. (You won't find this rule in the book. Sissy just made it up.)

The Hard Life of the Writer Part II

This weekend celebrity food writers extraordinaire Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg http://www.becomingachef.com/blog.dwt.php (known to their fans as Kandrew--sort of like Brangelina) stayed at our house. We celebrated by opening a bottle of Louis de Sacy champagne which we were keeping for friends whom we knew would appreciate it.
Saturday night they took us to the spectacular Beverly Hills French Restaurant Bouchon where the chef gave us a tour of the kitchen and sent out delicious dish after dish including a fabulous beet tart and melon salad. My trout almondine with fresh string beans was cooked to perfection.
Sunday morning we ambled through the Beverly Hills Farmer's market before going home lunch by the pool of fresh corn (picked that morning), and an heirloom tomato salad Andrew made with Greek feta cheese, onions, and red peppers. For dessert we ate fresh strawberries and raspberries. We lazed around and swam (I told you writers have tough lives) until it was time to go to the Hollywood Bowl to see a sold out performance of "The Swell Season" --the duo of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irgova who won an Oscar for best song in their film, Once. We capped off the evening with a visit backstage and a long chat with the charming Marketa.
Andrew and Karen flew back to New York this morning leaving us to our regular lives, but they tell me they will bring out an app: "What to Drink with What you Eat" based on their book of the same name. Soon we'll be able to check our phones and learn the perfect wine to order whenever we're out for dinner. Cool huh?

THE FLAVOR BIBLE

We Southern girls love to cook--and if we don't actually cook ourselves we love to eat. For real cooks, the ones who itch to try a little of this and pair it with a little of that to see how it tastes, I mean the really creative cooks who don't want to be recipe bound, but want to create something original THE FLAVOR BIBLE is a must. The authors, Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg spent eight years interviewing great chefs all over the world and came up with parings--what tastes great with what. The book has been out 52 weeks inspiring amateurs and professionals and is now in its 4th printing. So the Southern Belle lifts a virtual glass of champagne. Way to go Karen.

Rule No 172, The Southern Belle's Handbook: There's nothing so sexy as a man who cooks.