New Year's Resolutions...

For what seems like the 900th year in a row--except for the year I resolved not to make New Year's resolutions, which came the same year that for Lent, I gave up giving up things for Lent--I have decided that this is the year I am going to really do something to improve my health. In the interest of full disclosure, this is not a new goal. I am one of those annoying people who has lost 20 pounds in 7 months by cutting out carbs. My goal of 25 pounds down by next January--to get me just inside the "healthy" weight range for a person of my height, is simply a continuation of the same.

My pantry bookshelf is an archaeological treasure trove of times I've tried this before: cookbooks for low-fat, vegetarian, Weight Watchers--and Ben And Jerry's for the times when the others became intolerable. I have the Atkins cookbook, too, and it has the same problem all the others do: recipes. Many are OK, and my Steak Au Poivre turned out really well last night, though it seemed a bit like unbreaded chicken fried steak since I used cube steak and ground pepper rather than sirloin shell steaks and cracked peppercorns. That notwithstanding, the sample menus on these diets seem to be made for Julia Child, ignoring the fact that some of us do not cook for a living and can't find daikon, endive, soft-shell crabs, canned black soybeans or Stilton at our local supermarkets, and even if we could afford breast of duck, the only duck breasts in town have already flown south with the rest of the duck.

I propose all diet books and "Lose a Dress Size By Friday" articles in women's magazines should be required by the FDA to include two sets of menus: the scrumptious sounding ones and the ones you'll really be able to make. For instance, they could keep in the sample menu (straight from the Atkins book):
Breakfast: Southwestern omelet with tomato, avocado and ham
Lunch: Caesar salad with grilled chicken
Dinner: Steak au Poivre, roasted asparagus, mixed green salad with vinaigrette, and gelatin dessert made with sucralose
Snack: Celery stuffed with herb cream cheese

However, in addition, they would have to include the following menu as an example of how you will eat when you are too tired to cook:
Breakfast: Plain scrambled eggs with seasoned salt
Lunch: Tuna salad (can of tuna, mayo, touch of mustard, blob of dill pickle relish)
Midafternoon Snack: String Cheese
Dinner: Whatever cut of beef is on sale, cooked on the George Foreman Grill with some Mrs. Dash and a side salad of torn iceberg lettuce with basic Hidden Valley Ranch dressing.
Dessert: sugar-free Jell-O.

In all fairness, and without being too annoying about the virtues of low-carb eating, the low-carb recipes are a lot easier to prepare than most diet foods, and I find it a lot easier to modify them for my cooking habits and grocery budget while sticking within the guidelines of the program. I use Atkins as an example because that's the way I'm eating now, not because it is in any way the worst violator of the theoretical/possible diet gulf. For instance, the sample menu in my Weight Watcher's cookbook contains the following daily menu:
Breakfast: 1/4 c. egg substitute, scrambled with 1 tbsp. grated cheddar and 1/4 c. chopped tomato; 1 piece high-fiber toast; 1 slice bacon; 1/2 c. pink grapefruit juice
Lunch: Pastrami sandwich with 2 slices lean turkey pastrami, lettuce, tomato, and mustard on 2 slices reduced-calorie rye bread; 12 tortilla chips with 1/4 c. salsa; 1 peach
Dinner: 1 glass red wine; 1 c. baked ziti; 2 long breadsticks; 1 c. Caesar salad; 1 slice angel food cake with 1/2 c. sliced strawberries, drizzled with chocolate syrup and 2 tbsp. whipped cream

Try modifying that for a busy schedule, short grocery budget, or finite number of measuring cups.