So today I am starting Jenny Craig.   You see,  I’m a tricky dieter because I love to cook but 60-90% of the time I don’t have time to cook.  Plus, I spend all my day at home which means I want to be out, not tempted to work, in the evening.  I finally decided I needed to find something that was easy.

I had always been skeptical about meal diet plans but what sold me is that with JC you get to supplement the meals with your own dairy, veggies and fruit from the very beginning.  You also only eat exclusively JC meals for about 4 weeks and then you reduce to 6, 5, 4 days ect.  I can still have the bountiful baskets with fresh fruits and vegetables along with the packaged meals. A nice combination.

I also thought the weekly consultations was very attractive, at a great price (for a 8 weeks consultation at my gym you get a year at JC).  The meal is personalized.  Like because of my goals and exercise regiment I’m actually eating 1800-2000 calories a day.  This surprised me but gels with what my trainer has been telling me (my reflex is to starve myself when I get diet desperate).

We will see how things go but I’m pretty determined.  I am still going to eat socially but you work that out with your consultant.  Like I had a treat at the wedding I went to tonight but that was discussed and worked into the plan.  Next Saturday I will have breakfast with book club and we will work that into things.   Love!

So, in the meantime I thought I’d tell you about some food I routinely fantasize about when dieting.

1.  Any food from New York including bagels with shmeer, greys papaya hot dogs with grilled onions and sauerkraut, deli sandwiches, pizza (one time I had a thin crust pizza with homemade mozzarella ricotta and sliced meatballs! Been dreaming about it since)

2. Hawaii food- shaved ice…., Ted’s Bakery, Dole whips, anything at grass skirt grill, or cafe haliewa. Shrimp truck shrimp,  fresh pineapple, mangos and coconuts cut open from the stand, thai food, more dole whips

3. All food Italian- maybe it was going to Italy when I was 17 but I love Italian food.  I love pizza, spaghetti and meatballs (my favorite food and they kind of saved my life at one point…), stuffed shells,just good pasta with butter and garlic, caprese salad…sigh

4. Indiana food- pork tenderloin sandwiches that the pork is twice as big as the roll, Mug-n-bun, frozen custard, homemade noodles, chicken and noodles, sweet cream pie, tomatoes with cottage cheese and salt, goulash, cheesy potatoes, lots of potatoes! Love really hot crunchy french fries (and yes Dad I’ve occasionally dipped them in my ice cream!)

5. Other favorites- asian noodles (ramen, pho, whatever), Bombay house Indian food (where I’ve always wanted to go on a date and haven’t to this point), crispy moist fried chicken (harmons is so good),  Cafe Rio pork salad, good sushi (love this place in Midvale called Nagoya Sushi), good barbeque that isn’t too fatty with a good tangy slightly sweet sauce, biscuits and gravy, perfect grilled cheese, light fluffy buttermilk pancakes, fresh baked bread with butter, tacos in almost any form, Maryland blue crabs, all thanksgiving food, my Mother’s pie- any flavor, greek food.  A really good burger or sandwich.  I think I could eat jamba juices every day of my life and never get sick of them.   Our German Christmas meal, pastries, good cheese and ice cream.

6.  A really good steak medium with herbed butter and a baked potato, perfectly roast chicken, turkey.  Love me some meat (could never be a vegetarian).

Oh and I love the scotch kisses at See’s.  Could do without everything else but I love those scotch kisses…

Ok.  Those are some of the best things I’ve ever eaten. There you go! That was fun and I didn’t eat a thing…