Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 57: Apple Crisp, Lard Potato Chips, and Chocolate
"We all tried not to eat more than 20 chips a day..."
This week I found myself confronted by three foods I find utterly irresistible:
Apple crisp, potato chips fried in lard, and really good chocolate. Do you share these weaknesses?
Encountering any one part of this terrible-but-terrific trio would be cause for alarm in a given week. Encountering all three is, for me, the equivalent of a drug addict being inadvertently locked overnight in a pharmacy. It must be said that I did not seek any of the three out. I was not searching for lard chips or crisp or chocolate. All three of them just happened to fall into my path.
I'll explain.
We had friends over for dinner on Saturday. My wife decided to make a truly phenomenal apple-cranberry crisp recipe she had found here. It was seriously delicious, as it always is, and the recipe easily makes enough apple-cranberry crisp for ten. We were only five, so there was plenty of crisp left over for Sunday and even Monday. I basically had the crisp for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Sunday. I find apple-cranberry crisp to be extremely versatile, don't you? So Sunday became my crisp diet day. Mercifully, it was gone after Monday breakfast had come and gone.
On Tuesday Adam Kuban returned from a trip to Pennsylvania with four different kinds of potato chips fried in lard. Have you ever had these? Potato chips fried in a pork product—what could be better? We all tried not to eat more than 20 chips a day, but for me, setting those kinds of limits when there is that many porky, fried-in-lard chips around is rather difficult.
Finally, a big box of Valrhona chocolate bars were delivered to the office. We did not ask for these but once we signed for them, they were ours. The box is still sitting on our conference table.
We've embarked on an aggressive campaign to rid our office of this dual menace, but as I am writing this, both the chips and the chocolate remain firmly ensconced on the conference table.
The Weigh-In
Believe it or not, my interim weigh-ins this week have not been discouraging. It will be a really good sign if I can lose a single pound in a week where I have been confronted by apple-cranberry crisp, potato chips (fried in lard), and Valrhona chocolate. I would even regard staying the same as a victory. Here goes:
226. Down two pounds. I managed to overcome my crispy, chippy, chocolaty week. Good deal.
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14 Comments:
Who can resist tucking into a steaming apple crisp? You must have shown SOME restraint as you were blessed by another loss. Keep it up! (I mean down...LOL.)
therealchiffonade at 9:16AM on 03/06/09
OK, now I'm curious: what name are these chips sold under? Curious Pennsylvanians want to know...
therealpotato at 9:36AM on 03/06/09
i'll be right over.
cybercita at 9:51AM on 03/06/09
(after reading what I just wrote below, I know I sound like an ad/shill. But just saying what worked well for me).
Yo Ed, I know dieting can be tough. Try googling Paul McKenna. He's some famous British hypnotist, but he has a diet program that isn't hypnosis (maybe some NLP and other psychological stuff). Overall it's good practical stuff. Not really a diet plan, but learning good eating habits. I lost around 15lbs in a month and I've kept it off. I guess I never needed to lose weight, but my clothes fit better.
Anyway I never loved food more since Paul McKenna. This is what got me into food bloggin. Weird, right? I've learned to take my time and appreciate the food instead of scarfing it down. And I eat anything I want. Pork belly. ...I just don't want you to think you have to sacrifice food that you like to look the way you want.
Well you can youtube him or something. Remember to believe you can look like your ideal self. ...dreamboard it, man!
chinolam at 11:31AM on 03/06/09
Oh yeah, there was 5 or 6 part TV show called "Paul McKenna Will Make You Thin". I recommend that if you can it.
chinolam at 11:39AM on 03/06/09
the conference table is no man's land and i am the queen of no man!
Grace Kang at 12:25PM on 03/06/09
Just send me what you don't want. Easy.
shoneyjoe at 12:25PM on 03/06/09
Bravo Ed! Wish I could do the same and eat my favorites but alas my diet would not tolerate it.
FrostyGhost at 12:46PM on 03/06/09
One of the brands of chips was surely Gibble's. I was going to post about their wondrous tastiness on my blog, about 2 days before Adam posted about them here, robbing me of my chance. Oh, procrastination.
Utz brand's Grandma Utz chips are also lard-fried. There's Good's brand, and Diffenbach's. Can't wait to hear which the Serious Eaters had.
growler at 1:47PM on 03/06/09
Yeah, that photo looks like some serious Gibbles action to my trained eye...And I wants some.
BobbieAnne at 1:53PM on 03/06/09
Gibbles' Curly Kettle Potato Chips are the second best I've ever had. Martin's Kettle Cook'd are the best! But I have to give Zapp's honorable mention. All the others pale in comparison.
1stmakearoux at 3:45PM on 03/06/09
I hope your chest tightness has gone away.
I know you keep getting diet advice but have you checked out Seth Roberts' Shangri-La Diet (SLD) at http://www.sethroberts.net/ ?
All you have to do is consume some flavorless calories in the middle of a two-hour flavor-free window and otherwise eat whatever you want. Consuming flavorless calories lowers your setpoint and cuts your appetite so you lose weight. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it; it's worked for thousands of people; it's essentially free; it's safe;
The simplest way to consume flavorless calories is to hold your nose while sipping some Light Tasting olive oil floated on ice water. Start with a teaspoon so your stomach gets used to the oil and work your way up. Some people see an effect immediately, for others it takes a few days to a few weeks. At your weight you may need as much as 400 flavorless calories a day.
I know you might be thinking that you are already having trouble cutting back so why waste calories on something flavorless? But the huge upside is that SLD frees you from cravings and allows you to lose weight effortlessly.
peggysu at 10:20PM on 03/06/09
potato chips are my weak spot. i've also been dieting since the beginning of january and have been doing very well, i'm happy to say. i can "just say no" to big chocolate cakes, trays of lasagna - ice cream -- but to a good bag of chips? now that's hard.
sometimes i do eat a whole bag just to get it out of my system. and then i'm fine for a few months. you know, we all have our methods.
glad to hear you're still loosing weight. you should be proud!
pooch at 11:11AM on 03/07/09
I just saw you on ICA's redfish battle! I was so surprised to see you there. Good show! I have to say though, you don't look too bad.
Jikuu at 7:19PM on 03/07/09