Hooked on Carbs

Month one: I'm in full swing of the battle of those pesky pounds that I refuse to have until death do us part. I think I'm on the right track. My tummy doesn't feel as rounded and my jeans seem to be leaving less tire marks than before. Since my work schedule has been bananas, my movement schedule hasn't really experienced an uptick (well, there was that Zumba game trial). So, I decided to take a look at my eating habits.

While I know that I'm not the best eater in the world, (have I mentioned my obsession with carbs?), I do believe that choosing foods that are close to the earth are best. And I was pretty sure that I was a good sticker-with-it when it came to getting my fruits and veggies.

As my scale tipping tendencies have indicated, that thought would be wrong. How do I know? Well, I started keeping track of every single thing I put in my mouth. And that in itself was a serious challenge. Since I've got about as much time to keep a food journal as I do to renovate a brownstone in Brooklyn, I decided to look at two days of meals.

The first day was a Wednesday. I had nearly two cups of coffee with soy milk and two slices of whole wheat toast with melted soy cheese. At the office I enjoyed a grande soy misto (coffee with steamed soy milk) and two cucumber avocado rolls with low-sodium soy sauce.

Dinner was two servings of rigatoni with a puttanesca sauce that Husband and I love to make. And my water consumption hovered at around 48 ounces. Thursday looked pretty much the same, except instead of the sushi I had a candy bar. And my dinner out (pasta again with ramps, sautéed garlic and butternut squash) was accompanied by a half a bottle of rose and some white bean bruschetta.

See anything green up there? How about fruit? Yeah, me neither -- and I wonder why I'm packing on the pounds! This little experiment made me realize I'm A) not as awesome an eater as I purport to be, and B) I'm not getting nearly enough feeding times.

According to nutrition superstar Joy Bauer, author of "Finding Your Inner Skinny" among other books, we gals should be eating three meals a day and at least one snack. All should be a healthy mix of fiber and protein (unlike my choices). And she also suggests that a variety of vitamins show up in every selection, which should happen about every five hours (again, something I haven't been doing). In fact, by not grazing, I could be increasing my waistline -- not shrinking it.

One study, among many, found that obese women who eat six times a day at regular intervals are more likely to lose weight than those who eat three to nine meals at wacky times. Since my feeding schedule, with the exception of breakfast is so irregular, I'm making my metabolism feel a bit sluggish instead of stoked. I'm also finding myself overeating when I actually have a meal, because my bod is so darn hungry it is just looking for fuel.

With this info, I then set up a few goals. One: Aim for at least one piece of whole fruit a day. Two: Aim for only two white-carb based meals a week. Three: Portion control.

So far the fruit thing hasn't been a problem. Every evening I enjoy a sliced pear or apple with a sprinkle of cinnamon. And I've been switching out the toast for steel cut oatmeal with craisins, raisins and flax seed oil. Two is getting a little better, although I'm not nearly done to twice a week yet. And three is the real challenge for me. I've always been a bulk eater -- I don't know, maybe I think I need to store up for winter, but I like to have bigger meals not smaller ones.

So instead of measuring, I've been using the put down the fork trick. In between each bite, I place my fork down. It slows down the shoveling and helps me register if I'm actually full. I know I need to also take a look at my ability to graze, but once I figure out how to curb the intake, I'm going to leave that for a later goal. For now, I'm no longer a member of the clean plate club and I've been keeping the booze to a minimum. Now, let's see if I can stick with these mini goals as I take my long awaited African safari honeymoon. The taxi to the airport is beeping! Wish me luck.

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