...and now for something completely trivial...

Tonight as I was dashing across campus to a study session, I heard bagpipes playing on the Quad as the evening bells finished ringing and I realized, oh yeah, it's 9/11 and this is the memorial service thingy... and continued dashing.
In complete avoidance of the date, I offer you my new fixation (not quite at the level of obsession): the Zone diet.

Actually Terry and I were on the Zone for about 18 months after we got married and were really happy with it; going on 2 cross-culturals kind of got us out of the habit (as one loses control over one's diet during international travel - that is, unless you want to be a completely obnoxious traveller) - we took this move to Cornell thing as an opportunity for a New Beginning. It's been interesting to integrate the Zone principles with my recent interest in vegetarianism and whole foods.

Basically, the Zone is about balancing carbs, proteins, and fats, so that you can have a low-calorie diet without being hungry all the time. This actually works really well with the whole-foods principle of eliminating refined and processed foods - so instead of a bagel, you eat a huge mound of vegetables (I mean huge - carb-wise, 4 cups of broccoli = 1/8 of a bagel...) with about 3 oz. of meat and a dash of salad dressing. Only, instead of meat, I've been eating a lot of tofu and cheese. This past year I'd been avoiding dairy, but dairy is back now. I've also re-integrated fish into my diet. I drink soy milk. So basically I can totally do the Zone without eating cow or chicken meat. I've been eating eggs again too - it will be interesting to see what this does to my cholesterol levels. My total cholesterol was under 200 for the first time in 5 years this fall, yay! (probably longer - 5 years is how long T and I have been getting it tested). 10 months of vegetarianism really did the trick!

So the jeans I blew out of in May fit again; that makes me happy. Trivial, no? There are so many young women with eating disorders crossing my path every day, it's a bit frightening - I've seen some seriously scary bones I tell you. Moderation? The Golden Mean? I bought 4 bars of dark chocolate after Terry left for Belize and have been nibbling on those, Zone or no Zone...

There's a course here on the Anthropology of food that sounds just fascinating - maybe I'll be able to audit it one day.