Looks can be deceiving

This may not look like the usual lunch. No hamburger, no fries, not even a sandwich and chips.

A few days ago, I was sitting in the doctor's waiting room watching one of those special programs they have on doctor's waiting room TVs. There was a series of brief programs about health-related issues. One of the programs was about a new website called SparkPeople . (click on title for more)


The crazy thing is, at the time I was watching this program, my husband was being told he is on a fast roll to becoming a diabetic, something my doctor had told me at my last visit with him.

 We knew we needed to change our ways. Our mirrors told us. Our friends told us. Our pants told us. We started working out at a fitness center over a year ago and have been pretty good about going 3 times a week unless one of us was really sick or injured. He has almost stopped drinking beer altogether and I have been drinking water, milk or iced tea almost exclusively, leaving behind the beloved hazel-nut iced-coffee from McDonald's and Starbucks lattes. But the weekends still revolved around barbecues and lasagna and big pots of chilli. And a lot of our meals out were at the all-you-can-eat buffets my husband loves.


This is not our first rodeo. A few years ago we tried going to Weight Watchers. It was very helpful and we both lost weight. He did better than I and we didn't mind the food. But it was very difficult to set aside the time to plan our menus, make a shopping list and prepare the food we knew we should eat. Before you know it, we were right back to the fat food.


After signing up with SparkPeople (which is FREE by the way) I got busy making a meal plan and exercise plan so I could keep track of it all. I can't say it was easy, it took me a whole evening to list the foods I had eaten that day and plan 2 days ahead. I pulled a report on what I had eaten the first day... a non-diet day and was surprised to find that the report told me I just hadn't eaten ENOUGH. What I had eaten was out of balance even though I hadn't really had a lot of calories... under 1500 for the day.


Today, I ate the planned breakfast and I was so full I forgot to eat until almost 1:30pm. I had a two egg omelet with a big handful of spinach and two ounces of shredded cheddar, a piece of toast, and a banana along with my coffee.  


You see my lunch above. I had quite a plate full with 3/4 cup of cottage cheese, pineapple chunks, baby carrots, 1/3 cup of hummus, wheat crackers, a big spoonful of peanut butter and a can of V8.  I gotta tell you, it tasted a lot better than it looks. And, I know I am on the right path to a healthier life.