The Daily Special

Oklahoma Joe's ribs and sides

An epiphany has been slow in forming for me this weekend. But piece by piece, it has fallen into place.

First, it started with a Weight Watcher's-inspired Facebook status posted by my new friend Adina: "Don't give up what you want most for what you want in the moment."

Clearly, it's about cravings and instant gratification. Which is worth more? Satisfying a momentary urge or reaching that goal weight you've always dreamed of reaching? This is a battle I know well. And most times I've chosen correctly. But not lately.

In fact, I read this status while en route to Pittsburg, KS planning an exciting lunch of fried chicken and fried chicken. (A famous fried chicken rivalry exists down there between two restaurants a block from each other. After two years of living up here I thought I was finally getting my chance to weigh in - but neither chicken store opened until 4 and that was way too late. Looks like my chicken feed will have to wait.)

My dad and his girlfriend came to visit this weekend. In the two years I've lived up here, this was the first time they have come to see me. I wanted to show them a fun time and that meant lots of eateries. I tried my hardest to be good - but I didn't want to look like a prude and I wanted to enjoy myself too.

The first night they were here found us at Oklahoma Joe's - a big contender in "best KC barbecue" that happens to be two blocks from my house. At Oklahoma Joe's I ate one rib and small servings of the sides we ordered. I balanced it with a salad to fill me up. Breakfast the next morning was at my fave local breakfast chain (First Watch) saw me chomping on oatmeal with cranberries and half an English muffin slathered in mashed banana. So far, so good.

Since breakfast was practically at lunch time, we didn't eat a meal again until dinner at Jazz, a local Cajun restaurant. I shared boiled shrimp with my dad's girlfriend and a cup of gumbo. Oh, and bread pudding loaded with chocolate. Uh oh.

The next day was the great Chicken Food War so we grabbed a quick light breakfast at MacDonalds. I had their oatmeal and can happily report it is tasty!!! (Thanks for the 290-calorie, fiber-filled breakfast option Micky D's!) I was thrown for a loop when the chicken fight didn't happen, but Kevin took us to his favorite deli and I had a Turkey Dip (like a French Dip, but with turkey!), a few potato chips dipped in creamy Italian dressing (something Kevin said you have to do at this place), and a pickle. Then dinner saw us back in KC and at Hereford House, THE steakhouse in town. I ordered a salad and bowl of steak soup.

After so much rich food, I made breakfast for everyone at my house today and went a little overboard with blueberry oatmeal muffins and an awesome breakfast pizza. I went light for lunch and dinner - salad and soup, respectively - but still don't have high hopes for the scale this week. I blame the steak soup, even if I only ate half of it! The salad packed a few surprises too ... as most do at restaurants like that. Oh and there was that java mocha chiller I split with Kevin after an ill-fated Sonic stop before we left Pittsburg (My life was so much easier before I knew those things existed!).

ARGH. Enter my epiphany.

There are times when you should to let yourself indulge in the moment in order to add to the special moments that make up a lifetime. For me, the chicken fight in Pittsburg, KS - a town where Kevin went to college and worked his first professional jobs - is one of those moments. He has a favorite chicken place and I want one too.

That being said, eating ribs at the barbecue place down from my house is NOT one of life's special moments, not any more. I can have Oklahome Joe's barbecue any time I want. I choose not to get it often because it's not high on my list of priorities.

When tourists come to visit, I always take them for KC barbecue (to help fulfill one of their moments). Being there with visitors, however, doesn't mean I automatically get a free pass to eat horribly. There is no gun to my back and no one saying it's the only chance I'll have to eat Joe's ribs. There is a salad with grilled chicken breast on the menu. I've never tried it. Maybe it's going to be the world's great chicken breast and salad. It's high time I find out, don't you think?

Splurging for special occasions is one thing - but it's important to know when you are just finding excuses to splurge and the "special" is nowhere in existence. Daily specials are the enemy.

It's tasty, but so is KFC. Doesn't mean it's ok to order that double down thing and call it a "special occasion" because it's the first 40-degree day we've had in weeks.

When it comes to food and letting yourself indulge, it's important to stop and look at the moment. Going to Oklahoma Joe's (and Hereford House for steak soup too) is not something all that "special" to me anymore. If it truly is a unique experience, then by all means, eat two drumsticks and pick your favorite! But if it's something you can have tomorrow too, maybe it's best to put it off. I guarantee it will be more special next time.

Linking and Thinking

There have been a lot of wonderful "articles" and such popping up in my email lately. So much so, that I'm a bit overwhelmed trying to keep track of the great ideas, advice and lessons!


Here are a few I think are worth sharing:

Whittle while you work

Get sleek at your seat: This is our kind of on-the-job training! Daniel Loigerot, a pilates instructor in New York City, designed these moves to help you tone all over in about 10 minutes using a resistance band and chair.

9 Power Food Pairings

According to Women's Health, healthy eating starts with these dynamic duos.

(Natalie Note: I'm having tuna and hummus salad with red peppers for lunch today!)

The Rules of Pizza

From Eat This, Not That: As crazy as Americans are for pizza, few ever dare to make it at home. That's truly a shame, because the pizza we turn to is overpriced, awash in empty calories, and ultimately not all that delicious. Anyone can do better in their home by combining a handful of fresh ingredients and following a few simple steps. And believe it or not, pizza made in the right way can make for a truly well-balanced meal.

Here is a good, quick read to help decide between seemingly similar foods.

Food Fight!

In a battle of nutritional superstars, which options offer a healthier edge?


Thanks, Runner's World.

It's nice to know I'm making a lot of the right choices.

Blueberries are served at least once a week with breakfast (though my frozen stash is already running low). I've never tried them in burgers, however.

Quinoa is a new love in our meals - you can make a bunch at a time and it lasts for days!

And red peppers are a clear fave over green peppers. I bought ten a week ago, intending to freeze them, but ended up eating them all!

A little rant

Yesterday we went to a friend's housewarming party. The event was byo meat and I convinced Kevin to take wings because they are super low-calorie and filling (grilled, not fried!). Also, as a preemptive strike, I cut up veggies to take to distract me from the other goodies that usually make an appearance at potluck events. I even packed a little 100-calorie sweet thing to satisfy me if there were cookies.

But when we got there, there were no snacks anywhere and my veggie tray was annihilated. Then, two hours later someone shows up with the Usual Suspects in snacks. My plate gone and my boredom setting in, I was doomed. I also found myself addicted to the pita chips they had in a bowl next to a bag of tortilla chips.

It seemed like I was making the right choice, right? Baked pita chips instead of tortilla chip, right? WRONG.

Just before leaving the party last night I found the bag of pita chips and took a moment to read the label. One ounce was 130 calories. An ounce of tortilla chips is 140. I know it still seems to be the better choice, but when I looked at the fiber I knew I'd been duped. Tortilla chips have two grams of fiber, compared to the one gram in the pita chips!

I am so angry at the people who tout items like pita chips as the healthy option and charge so much for them! They make their money on people's ignorance. While I didn't buy the pita chips, I did buy into their image. And I should have known better.

I know that a six-inch pita is about 200 calories, while a 6-inch flour tortilla is about 110 calories. I jsut figured the baked vs. fried made the difference. I feel duped and almost angry enough to write a nasty letter.

This illustrates the importance of reading the label.

I first learned this lesson when I was planning Thanksgiving last year. I stared at the Splenda brown sugar and it's exorbitant cost. When I compared it to regular brown sugar and saw little to no difference, I bought the regular for a buck and felt very proud. They can't fool me! Clearly, they can, but it's only because I let my guard down. Anytime I see a law fat option for something I compare the calories to the original version. Fat doesn't make you gain weight - sure, it's not good for you, but it's not the culprit we think it is. You gain weight by consuming more calories than you burn.

Sure, it's easy to instinctively buy the low-fat version of something, but don't do it without comparing to the original You may just be paying extra for extra calories!

While I'm rantinge, I'd like to add a gripe about 100 calorie packs. Sure, they are good for portion control, but they have officially gotten out of hand.

I saw an ad in one of my magazines for 100 calorie cheese blocks. It seems like a great way to give yourself cheese for a snack and watch your portion, right? WRONG! Did you know that the old stand-by of string cheese is only 80 calories??? So, essentially, for those who don't read labels they are buying into the idea of lower calorie cheese portions when they are actually getting more calories!

New Focal: Local

I am currently reading (okay, fine, listening to a CD of) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kinsolver on my commute to work in the morning. It is a little preachy, but still very inspirational. It is all about her yearlong adventure in eating locally. Some interesting facts...for each 1 calorie of food produced, 11 calories (of energy) were used to produce it...the average trip for everything on your plate? 15oo miles...We use almost as much fossil fuels in our fridge (transport, fertilizer, etc) as we use in our car. Pretty crazy, right?

As a side point, buying organic is fabulous, but buying conventionally farmed local fare has less of an environmental impact since it didn't need to be refrigerated and shipped from far away. Obviously, buying local, organic produce is the best, but its not always possible.

I am a weekend gardener. I have a few vegetable plants in my backyard and a plot at the community garden. I recently planted a Fuji apple tree and a grapevine along my back fence. It is great for my health and sanity to be able to dig in the dirt on the weekends. I try to eat locally from my garden and from the Farmer's Market (find yours at http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/farmersmarkets), but sometimes I get lazy and I just want the easiest thing from the grocery store.

I want to take it more seriously this year. I want to eat locally and healthy throughout the winter. This means lots of prep work in the summer and fall. I will buy things when they are in season and can, freeze or dry them so they are available throughout the winter.

This is, of course, intricately tied with losing weight and staying healthy. I always do great in late spring, summer and early fall while fresh food and warm weather make me want to get outside and stay healthy. As the bitter Maryland cold sets in, my morning runs cease, the yummy fruits and veggies disappear and pizza delivery starts to look really good. If I have the remnants of summer available, I will be more likely to pull them out of the cupboard or the freezer and make a soup, chili or healthy homemade pizza...not to mention cut my reliance on fossil fuels and support local farmers. It's a win-win situation all around.

I just wanted some flavor!

I spent most of last week trying to cook tasty, healthy meals and had a a lot of fun doing it. But I was really looking forward to Date Night on Friday so that I could take a rest from the forced creativity and try new foods that could inspire me for more dishes. I told Kevin I wanted something "ethnic" mainly because I was craving "exotic" flavors that I don't normally use to cook.

Apparently, he wasn't feeling the same cravings. After a drawn-out hunt for a restaurant, we finally ended up at some bar and grill. Bratty Natty reared her ugly head and, though I should be more grateful since Kevin was paying, I was pissed that he won the "what should we eat for dinner." In my defense, I cooked him dinner all week - at my expense. I don't think it's asking too much to take my desires into consideration.

Anyway, I was too tired to fight and starving so I gave in and we ate at "Harpo's," a cool patio bar and grill that would have been fine with me last summer, but just upset me this time. I looked at the menu and pretty much started crying.

It was your usual bar and grill food: nachos, burgers, chicken tenders and dinner salads. There was nothing exotic and nothing healthy. Maybe I'm just bored with the usual food at places like that, or maybe my taste buds are maturing, but nothing on the menu looked appetizing. Nothing. I had saved almost 1000 calories for that meal and I was going to waste it on a patty melt? No, thank you.

I've decided (and I know this is hardly a food revelation) that restaurants have us "addicted" to grease. They take food - normal, yummy food - fry it, and tell us it's tasty. For some reason we believe them. But, after several months of no fried foods, I am over it. Potato cut up and dripping with grease? It's just gross to me now. I tried one of Kevin's fries. It tasted familiar, but was so close to the roasted potatoes I'd made a couple of nights before that it just wasn't worth it. Plus, it was boring. There was nothing creative about it. No hint of rosemary or taste of basil to be had.

I ordered a chicken taco salad, no sour cream and skipped the (FRIED) taco shell that it came in. I asked for extra salsa and it came with jalapenos. At least it had some flavor. But it's a food I serve myself at least once a week at home. Sigh.

Part of me feels bad. I never wanted to change my eating so much that it affected Kevin and made it difficult for me to enjoy a night out. But after cooking things with real flavor I just can't justify asking Kevin to spend his money on such gross foods.

Whose idea was it, anyway, to take wonderful foods, slap them together, fry them and call it dinner? With a side of fries?

Food changes

Something is off this week ... I've been limiting my calories to 1300 for months, but lately it's not working for me! In fact, I have exceeded my daily calorie allowance every day this week. No bueno.

Thank goodness for my calorie tracker! Thanks to the daily journal I keep online, I can study my eating habits and see if there are any applicable changes that could possibly be the culprit. And I found a suspect!

This past week I shifted to a new oatmeal for breakfast. Previously, I ate reduced-sugar instant oatmeal (can't stand the "real" stuff - sorry oatmeal snobs). Last time I was at the grocery store I found a high-fiber instant oatmeal and thought I'd give it a swirl. Fiber keeps you fuller longer, right? It has 50 more calories but I figured the trade off would be worth it. Time to go back to the reduced sugar.

Also, I ate a REAL egg a couple of times this week. I've been having a hard time getting the right amount of fat so I figured shifting to one real egg a day would work (eggs are our friends again). I will say, eating a yolk in my eggs was pretty wonderful - so rich and yummy. No idea I missed it that much.