THE PLAN B DIET!

The Plan B diet was launched on

July 4, 2009 after I had a Dream.

I wrote this poem: 

The Night Before the Diet Dream

You stand in front of the open door

of the refrigerator wondering,

what else is there to eat?

You are sick and tired of this!

Yet, craving to sink your teeth

into a chewy raisin bagel.

Or maybe fix a thick sandwich

with mayonnaise,

mounds of shaved ham,

cheese and pickles. 

Heat up some peach cobbler,

spoon out Vanilla Bean ice cream,

and it’s the middle of the night! 

And you ask yourself a desperate question, 

Would you give up all the

music you’ve written,

the short stories, the poems,

the minor successes?

Would you give up all

that you have

literally gained, so to speak,

if you could just 

have your body back?

You would be a thinner nobody.

But, then I think, I’m a nobody anyway!

There you are standing in the

refrigerator light,

and you already know the answer.

And that night you have the diet dream!

DREAM: I’m at a garden party . . . 

a young doctor in a white coat, 

(sort of like a smiling Deepak Chopra or Dr. Oz)

offers me a baking pan

with blue Morning Glories spread out.

 “Would you like to participate in this 

experimental diet of eating Morning Glories?”

I am surprised that he has singled me out,

-- actually, I’m glowing from his attention. END

====

I  have been given a second chance.

I drew this sketch the next morning.

====

Before the Plan B. Diet,

whatever I weighed freaked me out!

I’ve been on diets since I was 16,

when Mother and I went on the

steak, boiled egg, & grapefruit diet.

back in 1953.

I love pizza, I hate to exercise!

I would call myself a lazy bum

creative loafer.

And I love to experiment!

So, I developed the Plan B Diet, 

as a Last Resort Diet,

because of a growing dislike for

raw vegetables and broccoli.

I asked: How can I possibly lower my

caloric intake and still eat foods I like,

but must, not only,

NOT GET TIRED OF EATING THOSE FOODS

but also, look forward to eating!

This diet isn’t for everybody.

Because I pick the foods I like, well enough. 

And thrown out the 

LOVE and HATE foods.

And YOUR diet foods would

be entirely different.

Though, you might find that

you would do well to cut out

BREADS!

I’ve been waiting a long time

to post the PLAN B DIET Blog

but today was the perfect opportunity

to take this photo

a beautiful reminder of the

Morning Glories on a Baking Tray Dream

---

Early Breakfast:

1/2 banana or 1/4 orange or almonds

coffee w/fake creamer, turbinado or sugar substitute.

(I am trying to cut down on both.)

Breakfast:

1/4 cup (uncooked) oatmeal w/sunflower seeds,

pumpkin seeds, raisins, chopped walnuts, chopped 1/4 apple, Cinnamon-sugar sprinkle.

I add milk and sugar free maple syrup.

Late Breakfast or Lunch Fritatta:

Saute in Canola oil, green peppers and onions,

sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, then add

vegetables like zucchini & yellow squash,

mushrooms, red tomato or red bell pepper.

I add a scrambled egg and top with

left over rice or dried beans

Sprinkle w/ Parmesan cheese,

(the ONLY cheese I’m allowed).

Cover. Be sure heat is low.

I season a lot with ADOBO.

Snack 1: Homemade granola cookies

with chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds,

pumpkin seeds, raisins or dates,

cinnamon, organic chocolate morsels.

After cooking, I turn off the oven,

and let these dry out until crisp.

Snack 2: 1/2 c. sugar free jello,

or gelatin made from organic fruit juice

I add lots of canned fruit, chopped apple,

walnuts. I put on a dollop of low-fat cottage cheese

and sprinkle with dry roasted unsalted peanuts.

Snack 3: Fresh fruit, clementines, organic juices.

Here’s what I had on hand today.

Avocado with ADOBO is fabulous!

Raw Almonds are a mainstay.

I keep an open bag on

the refrigerator door shelf

so I can grab one,

when I have that CRAVING feeling,

and I still do!!

Good Stress or bad stress

still brings on cravings!

That’s why I have built in so much

CRUNCH-A-BILITY

in every food ,like the peanuts on the jello.

That small amount of Jello

would go down too quickly,

With the peanuts,I can pause and chew.

It’s really hard to remember to eat slowly,

But, I do so much better when I do.

It’s Tao, mindfulness, gratefulness.

Lunch or dinner: Basmati rice is a staple.

It’s the only carbohydrate

I keep around.

I wondered ,

about this, too,

Maybe the countries who eat rice

like Japan and India tend

to be thinner because of the rice,

whereas the countries

who eat corn, potatoes & wheat

as their staple carbohydrate

tend to be slightly heavier.

Over the rice, I put a mixture of

chicken, or canned tuna or salmon

or dried beans which I keep on hand.

Crab-flavored, fish nuggets,

left over sauteed veggies.

NO BREAD, CRACKERS, BAGELS, PITA,

SALTINES, PIZZA, ICE CREAM, OR SANDWICHES.

Stuff I LOVE!

I never weigh.

I don’t exercise, except limited gardening

dragging furniture around,

hauling in groceries, etc.

I am 74, after all.

I’ve always been overweight

and had to work at it.

and I never thought I’d lose

at least two dress sizes

at my age.

I am so full of gratitude and joy.

====

Our Writing words were from

The Way to Life from 

The Tao te Ching by Benjamin Hoff

happiness, discard, strange, terrace, cause, clever

I wrote:

From her terrace she looked out at the

blue Mediterranean.

wondering at the emptiness she felt.

What was it she’d discarded

along the way

that hadn’t yet been found?

Who was the cause of all this?

Harry? Her Mother?

There was no one to blame!

No clever psychological trick to distract her.

No dreams

Maybe her happiness was elsewhere

Maybe this was just enough,

and she didn’t know it, yet.

She wrote:

The terrace was empty and wet with rain.

Happiness eluded the bare space

of this strange house.

She turned to discard the cause of her entrapment --

his bitterly clever note falling from

her hand to the marble floor.

----

STAY TUNED . . .

~ ~ ~ ~ ~