Check

ADDENDA:
Had a meeting with Ilsa last night and with my MD this morning. Funny, a whole lot of medicalization and concern for a person who isn't sick. This morning, my blood pressure was measured at 134/86, a disappointingly high number. A few minutes later, my blood pressure cuff told me 126/84. I think I need to invest in a monitoring device whose main feature is accuracy, not convenience. Also took a blood sample, if my LDL cholesterol is any different than last time (slightly elevated), I'll be getting a call on Tuesday.

My MD's advice was simple on the face of it: eat less salt and lose weight. He stressed that for naturally elevated blood pressure, outside of drugs, it's weight loss that'll have the most meaningful effect for a pudgy dude like me.

Meeting with Ilsa went well, helping me refocus on goals and what I'm doing. What AM I doing? This whole blog thing is a bit of whipping post for myself to stay focused and disciplined. I am tempted to eat that extra desert or wolf down that plate of fries, a little voice saying oh just one time, it's no big deal, but my fingers say, "HA! Do that and you must confess your sins to the internets!!" It's a method of control. Ilsa thinks I wouldn't suffer from easing up a bit, maybe I'm better off and knowledgeable than I think. Like with the MD, easier said than done. The more I learn, the more I feel that there's even more I don't know! I'm the smartest dummy in the room!

More specifically, starting next week I'm going to push the envelope a bit more and try to pack lunch 3 times a week or so. That'll probably eliminate a large part of the salt and conventional food in my regular diet. And again Ilsa focused on my parents - I find it hard to talk about them without getting melancholy, I just miss them so much. More I think about it, the more I realize some of my bad eating habits were unintentionally (and sometimes intentionally!) set up by them. I'm sure my mom would of loved to argue with me that everything she did was perfect and that I'm crazy. But she'd say it in a semi-funny way, leaving the door open to suggestion. Forceful, but flexible. Probably that's why she was such an excellent executive for most of her career.

Finally, I think I just might go ahead and buy a locking mini-freezer. I could use the extra space to keep extra cold to deep-store home made stuff like spag sauce and hummus. But mainly, I can keep the gelato out of B's hands! I think it's a bit weird and controlling, but Ilsa sees the flipside, me helping B out.

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, yogurt with peanuts and a little honey, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:30am, 24 oz flat water

LUNCH #1: 1pm, 6" turkey/swiss on whole wheat from Subway, hunger 4/5
Walked across town to look at clothes, wanted to eat something different, but so many long lines. Hadn't had subway in a long time. Looking at the ads, the 'healthy meal' combo involved diet coke and tasteless baked chips, yuuuuk. Used to like this food, now the turkey tasted almost unpleasantly salty.

It also occured to me that duuuh, I can make a kick-ass tasty sandwich at home and bring it to work. Superhippy bread, pesto-marinated thin-sliced tofu, mmmmm.....

LUNCH #2: 3pm, 2 potato samosa, sweet potato noodles, ginger tofu, hunger 4/5
On Tamar and Ilsa's recommendation, I took the effort to check out Green Symphony on 43rd off 7th, snuggled next to the old NY Times building. I heard an interesting interview with an economist who said he allowed economic theory to help him eat better. Restaurants on main drags with higher rents depend on volume, while those on side streets depend on the quality of their food and experience to create repeat customers. Well, Green Symphony is clearly the later.

It's a very small health-food shop near the heart of Times Square, clearly there for the people who work there and need an alternative to the McDonalds and Ben & Jerry's that is just a few doors away on 7th. I trawled through the hot and cold food bars, impressed at the number of organic dishes. Too much chicken - I'd much rather eat organic beef or pork than chicken. Too much fear of the red and other-white meat! Still, this carb-heavy snack was satisfying, and look forward to trying some of the more vegetable-oriented stuff on the two bars...

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, 4 oz of Sprite from the dispenser, hunger 3/5
Walking by the office kitchenette, a sprig of curiosity -will I still like soda? Not the fake diet stuff, but full sugar. Took a big swig of sprite...tasted a little like acidy lysol, lemony fresh. Burning acidy aftertaste all the way down my gullet, 5 minutes later could still feel it in my stomach. Overpoweringly cloying and sweet. Wow. Nasty.

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, 1 chocolate chip cookie, hunger 4/5
They were giving away freebies at Wholefoods! I was hungry! It jumped down my throat!

DINNER: 8pm, smoked scallops in a butter/wine/green onion sauce over whole wheat pasta, a large portion of cinnamon gelato, 1 glass white wine, water
An experimental meal, came out nice, but not restaurant-ready. I was originally thinking scallops and bacon, but these looked interesting. Unfortunately, I should of remembered B doesn't like smoked fish, and scallop and bacon does not equal a smoked scallop in her book. Oh well, live and learn, I will please my overly-complimentary wife yet!! (She will yell and moan that is was great, because she's a sweety, but bottom line is I goofed!)

I froze two meal-sized portions of the pasta, for lunches the next few weeks....