Eat to live or live to eat?

Today, we are going to talk about my favorite subject: food. Probably because I cannot stop thinking about it or consuming it. Either way, I have it on the brain, and so what better way to medicate myself than to discuss.

First, I would like to say a special thanks (or curse) to Heather Deskins for introducing me to the Lose It! application on the iPhone. It is basically a food diary/calorie counter application for the phone that you can take with you everywhere you and your iPhone go. You record your daily intake and calorie expenditures, and you can create your own custom foods. It basically asks for your weight and your goal, i.e. lose 1/2-1lb per week, and calculates the amount of calories you need to accomplish this by a certain date.

I had an excellent question yesterday, from Neep, and that was: Can the calories come from anything or just healthy food? Good question. I prefer to think that I can eat anything I want within my limit. Hey - baby steps! For example, on Sunday, I consumed an entire smoked salmon pizza and later that evening before boarding my plane, I had a large Burger King fries. Believe it or not, I remained under my caloric intake. This is what I call living, people.

Anyhow, I have never been one for weighing or counting calories. Probably due to the massive scarring put in place by the DCC rules for weight. Until this past Saturday, when conveniently, a scale was available in our 1000 sq. ft. bathroom at the Wynn, I had not weighed myself in at least 3 years. Fortunately, I was actually about 7 lbs. less than I thought. Maybe they rigged the scale; I prefer optimism.

Also, I would like to thank Jenn for keeping me jealously motivated by her sudden burst of energy to perform two-a-days and jog her little heart out on a daily basis. Her being so motivated reminds me of, again, days as a DCC, when we would all compete to see who could exercise more and remain off the dreaded weight list. Jenn does not know this, unless she's reading it now, but her motivation has forced me to become motivated, because if I have to go out with her fabulous self in South Tampa, I had better keep up.

South Tampa...that's a whole different subject in itself. We won't got there today, let's just say, when you live in South Tampa, you have a priority list of surgical procedures to get done.

So, keeping within the topic of food. I joined a fabulous group today. IHateCilantro.com. If you loathe the taste and smell of cilantro, then this site is for you. You can share your tales of disdain for all things cilantro-related. As well, I suggest reading this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123446387388578461.html

Other items of food that I refuse to consume include: avocados (yes, guacamole, too, people, given that avocados are the main ingredient!), onions (but not fried), peas, and refried beans. Many of you have questioned my ethnicity when I have spouted off this list. Especially since the main ingredients in Mexican food happen to be cilantro, beans, onions, and avocados. Tortillas don't have any of these things! Neither do tamales - so there!