South Beach

Finally something good comes out of Florida! Since I've been on this modified South Beach Diet, I've gone from a weight of 167 to 155 lbs, and a waist size from 32 to 30. I've lost a considerable amount of weight and have lost the cravings that I had previously. I don't pine for the chocolate bars and all the sugary sodas anymore, though I did eat some strawberry and banana cream pie from marie Callender's over the 4th of July weekend. I am going to stick to the diet, which the author of the book calls a lifestyle. Jovi has also lost a considerable amount of weight in her support of me. She is really the catalyst that provides for all the cooking of the food. Rather than the creamy fattening tasty stuff she has been cooking over the last 15 years, she is now cooking up low fat, low carb stuff that is equally as tasty, albeit without all the artery clogging fat and cholesterol that makes food taste so good. I now understand that eating too much sugar conditions the body to crave yet more food, and what do you do but eat more, even when your body doesn't need all that sugar. The pancreas works over time to process all the sugar which can lead to dangerous things.That is exactly how it has been with me. I'd eat a late breakfast, and couple that with a late lunch and a lot of candy bars and sodas in between. pretty undisciplined.

The book provides for a lot of recipes and she has made good use of it. It is funny though because the book lists all the stuff that'l make you gain weight, and I am surprised that a lot of the stuff I enjoyed previously, fruit juices, bread, and the like are really supposed to taken in moderation. I used to drink a half gallon of OJ every two days, but the sugar content is unacceptably high, and I was under the impression that OJ is a good natural drink, a safe bet is what I always assumed. But the sugar is often as much as you'd get in a can of Coke, so that habit has been quelled. Thank god I never got to learn how to drink coffee, or I would really be in trouble.

Coupled with exercise, I think I am doing pretty good. The proof'l be in the pudding when I go for my next blood test next week. I've been doing a bit of exercise, surfing, and Tae Bo. I can see an outline of stomach muscles that disappeared 15 years ago when I got married. I've been doing abs and cardio work with Tae bo and have been playing tennis as well. So I've gotten off my lazy ass and have formulated an exercise regimen that I think is beginning to show results, which is a good thing, because I don't want to be a diabetic at 40.