theworryblog.com

I feel a bit like one of those smooth silver balls inside a big pinball machine.  I’m the ball and every way I go I bump into something that sends me careening off in a different direction.  Each “bounce” is some food goodie I want to - or sometimes do - eat.  The end result?  I get slower and slower and heavier and heavier until I finally fall down the hole - too pooped to participate any more.  Ok - here is how it begins.

 I shoot out of the door - propelled not by someone releasing a pinball spring, but by my multiple tasks I have to complete by the end of any given day.  Some days I’ve started out by having some whole wheat toast and fat free “butter” spray (!) on it, but other days I’ve skipped doing that.  I keep hearing foodies on the radio telling me I should never skip breakfast, but I’m too full from the night before to want it.  I run my first errand or two and then WHAM - I have find the first “ding-ding-ding” obstacle of my pinball picnic day - I’m hungry.  Everywhere I look is food.  Fast food - I drive by McD’s, BK, Taco Bell..  and manage to avoid them.  I go to the cleaners, the office supply and then - before the grocery store I realize I can’t go in until I’ve eaten or I’ll be crazy in there.  Time to stop and eat.  I usually pick the “family” type restaurants - otherwise known as “Coffe Shops”.  Big Boy is another option.  Once there, I look around and I see people with mounds of fries on oval white plates in front of them.  That’s a no-no for me, so my eyes wander elsewhere.  There’s someone else with a huge burger.  Since I don’t eat meat I’m bounced around again.  Coffee shops usually have a couple of alternatives.  I used to order a tuna sandwich, but I’m even eating less fish (no, I’m not a *true* vegetarian though).  The tuna is SOUSED in mayo.  I used to ask if they had a low fat type mayo but I learned they get it from somewhere else premixed no matter where I go so I just quit when I found out how bad the tuna is.  So lately I’m down to cottage cheese or an occasional egg white omlette.  AND TOAST.  Bring on the bread.  I just can NOT get bread out of my life.  Ding-Ding-Ding!  I bounce around the pinball machine a lot while consuming toast.  The crunchier the better - I like it toasted WELL.  The lights are blinking and glaring on this foodie pinball ride when I hit the bread obstacle.  It keeps me going and … LOOK AT THAT!  My calorie score is starting to climb!.  I’m particularly jealous of the French people and their delicious baguettes and cheese they eat every day for lunch.  Oh well…. time to move on.  I continue my errands and make a few more stops before returning home.  I let the dog out and go to give him a treat for being good.  Uh Oh- the (old) halloween candy is next to the dog treats.  I dig around the reese’s pieces I hate for the malted milk balls or dwindling hershey’s chocolates and find one.  A few more quiet dings register on the pinball calorie machine.  I do some cleaning and laundry, check email, do some computer work and then feel guilty.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the hard way I’m not burning the calories too well.  So it’s off to the gym to do the eliptical for a bit.  Feeling better, I return home, change but for SURE am not yet up to making dinner.  So I congratulate myself for exercising and grab….. OH NO….. ding-ding-ding - a handful of really fattening cashews left over from Thanksgiving.  I know a few of them are fine and maybe even good for me.. but a handful?  Email check.  Dinner.  I make some sort of salad or veggie burger or something equally dreary.  I put it on a roll (i’m stuck in one of those pinball corners) and voila.  I’ve made a perfect recipe for being hungry later.  That’s where a DVD WITH popcorn comes in.  My score is high.  I need to get out too.  So it’s time for Starbucks.  I’ve learned in the last few years that I just can’t handle their sweets any more.  So OK!  I get decaf.  And just to prove how good I am I stick in half and half cream.  Ding-Ding-Ding!  That’s IT.  I’m through.  Goin home.  The ball slips into the hole and I call it a game/day.  Maybe I’ll do better tomorrow.