Vacation time

Today is the first day of my vacation. I might be going to LA for a few days, but mostly staying in town. I have a large "to-do" list and I really need to get some of them done. Since I didn't work today my sister and I went to mass at 8am, met her friend Rocko there and then the three of us went to the Texas Station buffet for breakfast. Ok, I know what your thinking, "aren't you on Nutrisystem?" Yes, but one nice thing is that you can eat out on NS if you do it right. And, buffets can be perfect for any dieter. Yes, you read right.... buffets are excellent venues for people on diets. IF, you can control yourself. All Vegas buffets, from the cheap to expensive, have lots of fresh salads and veggies, lots of cooked veggies, low fat meats like turkey breast, baked chicken and fish. You can eat a lot of good food and not have tons of calories. For dessert, there's always a selection of fruit and even sugar free jello on most buffets. Most people who visit Vegas go wild in the buffets and way over eat. But for me, it's the perfect place when I do want to eat out.

For breakfast I had an egg white omelette loaded with tomato, onion and spinach (no cheese). I asked the cook to use a vegtable spray and not that butter/oil mixture they slather on the pan. I had about a cup of cooked oatmeal, one skinless chicken breast and for dessert, three slices of melon. How this translates into NS is this : The omelette is the NS breakfast entree, the chicken is the protein serving, the oatmeal is the low gly carb and the melon is the fruit serving. Calories : about 450. Oh, and I topped the omelette with a tomato/basil/onion mixture they serve fresh. See, you can eat at Vegas buffets and not consume 3000 calories in one sitting.

For lunch today I will have a NS bar and that will be it. The only reason I'm not having the salad and protein is because I will be running errands all afternoon and the bar is good for on the go. Plus, in 22 days on NS I would rate my hunger pangs as ONE on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being ravenous). I have literally had to force myself to eat most of the time. And it's important to eat since if you don't your body will think you are trying to starve it and start conserving calories. That's not what you want to do. So I have to get in my 1700-2000 calories a day - even if I'm not hungry. It's amazing.

For those who don't eat Polenta or know what it is, I highly recommend it. I use this corn meal concoction as the base for my NS dinner entree every evening. Two, 1/2 inch slices, count as one low gly carb serving. I could get in a third slice but two works fine. Albertsons has a very nice Organic Polenta with dried tomato and garlic. Very good. Trader Joe's has a very good plain Organic Polenta which is actually much cheaper than the one at Albertsons. My maternal grandmother came to this country from Northern Italy and they used Polenta as a daily staple in their diets. Southern Italians, where my grandfather came from, they didn't eat polenta - or at least like they did in the North. So from the time I was a small child I remember my Nona Bella cooking us polenta. Prepackaged Albertson's brand is a far cry from hers, but what's a guy to do. Oh, and don't freeze it. I tried that and it takes like 3 days to thaw and when it does it changes the texture. It becomes dry and crumbly instead of moist.

I have twin sisters and they are going to their friend Rocko's home tonight along with a few other friends and watching the life story of Sister Faustina. I have been invited too so I may go. They are having dinner there also, but since I ate out today for breakfast I won't eat dinner out. They know I'm on NS and won't be offended by my not eating dinner at their home. I could bring a prepackaged dinner, but considering I won't likely be hungry, I'll just eat before I go or later in the evening.

Lots of errands to run so I best get going.