More Lessons from my 41st Year

Today, since it is exactly one week until my birthday, I will offer another ten lessons. These, I decided, will be about food, since that is one of my obsessions.

1. The things you love might not be good for you, but you can learn to love the things that ARE good for you (like spinach, kale, chard, peppers, etc.)
2. Always, always, always eat breakfast. Always.
   
3. Protein, protein, protein!
4. Lack of protein makes one a total bitch! And yes, by "one" I mean me.
5. Always, always, always carry snacks. Such as: precooked sausage, apple, almonds. Or: cheese stick, orange, cashews. Or: protein bar.
6. If you have healthy snacks in the house, you are more likely to eat healthy snacks. This also works with children. If you just give them the healthy snack, they will usually eat it.
7. Coffee is not optional.
8. Do not eat to live or live to eat. Somewhere in between is best.
   
9. Savor each bite. If it's not worth savoring, you probably shouldn't eat it.
10. A healthy attitude about food is a gift you give yourself and your children.

Top Snack Foods at School

I think I'm in a list groove. I like lists. Lists are good. And right now I'm hungry. This list is limited to food that is available at my place of work. Meaning: vending machines, small snack store, and the dreaded food court.

1. Cashews: maybe this is just what I had today. But I was craving them. And now that I've decided fat is good (well, natural fat, like nut fat) I can eat as many cashews as I want. I think I ate 24.
2. Salad: actually, I think I'm addicted to the Caesar dressing at the pizza place. The salad is just so-so, your regular iceberg affair. But the dressing is good.
3. Smartpop: Is that what it's called? That white cheddar stuff? It's good.
4. Double-dipped chocolate peanuts: They sell these in bulk at the little snack place. Hightouch once gave me money to buy snacks for a department meeting and I came back with these gems. I may have eaten the whole bag. Thanks HTMS! I owe you!
5. Chocolate: the usual kinds. I usually don't buy or eat these at school, trying to maintain my image of healthful snacking, but...I do buy candy sometimes. Rarely.
   
6. Potato chips: I sometimes buy the baked ones, but I also love Salt & Vinegar. In a pinch I'll eat SunChips (I like them, but they are not my first choice, especially the cheese ones or the french onion ones).
   
7. Gardettos: I might be mispelling that. I like the mustard kind. That's sort of weird, right?
8. Sandwich: We have a new sandwich place, which I think is okay, as those things go. Their salads are weird, but big. ("...and such small portions!") But in a pinch you can get something mildly healthy, like a turkey sandwich.
9. Coffee: you don't really want to get it at school, but sometimes you have to. It's watery. But it smells, almost, like coffee. And with enough flavored creamer, it's a meal.
10. Pretzels: they seem healthy, but they are almost never what I want. I get them when I feel too guilty to get the potato chips.
    

I need a snack! Stat!