THE DIET CONTINUES APACE

AS I SAID, I'D BE BACK VERY SOON AND here I am. I haven't written in a while and I apologize to my readers who watch me more closely than others. I received a query yesterday asking me why I hadn't written anything. Well, the fact is, I've been too busy with other events in my life (my piano rebuilding, which is completed, health obligations, etc., etc.). There is always something and to put it bluntly, I just wasn't inspired to write and you wouldn't want that, would you? An uninspired, contrived blog on the thing most of us love to do: eat?! Boring! You may recall that the very same thing occurred exactly at this time last year. In that particular case, though, I wasn't dieting.

Speaking of which, I should interject here that I have lost 18 pounds since January 9th and am committed to losing yet another 10-12 pounds just to satisfy my own sense of self-determination. The weather here in New York hasn't helped in the area of exercise, neither for me or my dog. It's been a record year for snow - 55.6 inches and counting - and it continues to snow at this very moment. Be that as it may, snow or not, I succeeded in banishing carbohydrates and sugar for the first two weeks (well, startlingly, starch I succeeded rather easily, but there was just a little cheating on the sugar). In any event, I lost my first 9 pounds in the first two weeks and since January, I can attest to not having had any sugar whatsoever except the occasional piece of chocolate and an apple or pear hear and there. I have, to date, eaten pasta on only 4 occasions and I've eaten perhaps 6 slices of bread since I began this regime. I must admit that when I did eat bread, I had a strangely uncomfortable feeling in my stomach; an awkward heaviness if you will. I didn't like it at all. That said, I'm going to extol the glories of quinoa and seeds and nuts and vegetables in the next few entries as well as a few other things I've discovered along the way. One can have their cake and eat it too, and all without processed sugar!

First, let's start with the very best of addictive snacks: my own version of trail mix.

NUTS AND SEEDS

1 cup unsalted raw cashews

1 cup pepitas

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup wasabi-coated dried peas

a handful of dark or golden raisins

1/2 dozen dried chopped apricots

Mix together and store in an air-tight container or a large jar. As you can see, 4+ cups is quite a lot and for less than $12.00, it's rather inexpensive when you think this will last you at least 3-4 weeks. Compare prices for the prepackaged stuff at $3.99 for 2 or 3 oz.! And there is absolutely no cooking involved. All you do is mix!

Eat at your leisure when you're peckish or carry in a zip lock bag for a light snack in-between meals. They make for very good - and silent - grazing at the opera!