Since I joined Weight Watchers last week, I've been learning a whole new language of food. Supreme pizza, though tasty, is no longer a favorite food because eating it means I can't eat anything else all day. Sugar-free pudding with fat-free whipped topping, on the other hand, is a tasty way to satisfy a craving for sweets while still allowing me to save my points for the good stuff after I put the kids to bed and can finally relax enough to taste my food.
And what is the good stuff these days? Last Friday Eddie brought home eight boxes of Girl Scout cookies-- four boxes of each of my favorites (thin mints and Samoas, which now have some politically correct name like caramel crunchies). I love Girl Scout cookies. I've even consciously thought in the past (probably when we lived in Minnesota) that they were the one bright spot in the doldrums of late winter. I'm the kind of girl who will stop in the middle of four lanes of traffic and pull an emergency U-turn when I see a table of Girl Scouts peddling their wares in front of a Chick Fil A or a Wal-Mart. And I've been known to (gulp) down an entire box of Samoas in a single evening. Their crunchy, toasted coconutty goodness is just no match for my willpower. And thin mints? I can eat a whole sleeve without even thinking twice.
At first I considered delaying my diet until the cookies were gone, but then I realized that no matter when I start, there will always be some event where I'll want to go hog wild with the food (our trip to Utah next week or the trip to New Orleans two weeks later or Easter the week after that, and that's just in the upcoming month). So I've been restraining myself. And I'm proud to say-- I've been so good. Five days after the cookies entered our house, I've eaten only seven thin mints. And yes, every one of them was worth the points. The funny thing is, Weight Watchers is really forcing me to savor my food. I'm a fast eater, and often I'd get to the end of my handful of cookies without thinking about them. But now that I know the currency of the point system, and am fully aware of how many points those cookies have, I force myself to sit down, drown out the din around me, and really taste those cookies.
I also haven't introduced the kids to the Girl Scout cookies. They have liked them in past years, but I'm afraid that they would decide after a single bite that they didn't like them this year, leaving 90% of a cookie untouched. One of the biggest surprises of Weight Watchers so far has been how much of the kids leftovers I was putting in my mouth. I'd consume a couple of Teddy Grahams here and a half a bowl of goldfish (which I don't even like) there just in the name of not wasting food. Yesterday, I met a huge challenge when I not only didn't buy myself a cadbury creme egg (my absolute favorite easter treat), but also threw away the rest of Isaac's when he decided he didn't like his after a single bite. I think that almost killed me.
So far, I haven't been brave enough to try the Samoas. Although I love thin mints, I find Samoas almost overpoweringly addictive. I've learned that I can stop myself at just three or four thin mints, but I'm really afraid that I'd still have to eat a whole box of Samoas if I allowed myself to even smell the inside of the package.
--originallly published 2/27/07
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