Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

The devil is my friend when the hungries strike. I learned long ago that when I do the healthy thing, staving off the hunger until the actual meal comes, that I eat then healthy thing and then eat the naughty thing because that's what I really wanted. If I just eat the naughty thing, I at least save the calories of the Nice thing.

True story - a couple of years ago, my then swooner dream boat lover boy was coming for dinner. Planned - porterhouse steak and various accoutrement. I was starving and dinner was 3 hours away. I cooked and ate the ENTIRE steak. It was so big it hung over the sides of the plate. So now what do I do? He's expecting awesome dinner though doesn't know what it's supposed to be. I called the deli on the corner and ordered 2 Italian heroes, waiting for his entrance. Sigh. I lied and said I made them because I knew how much he loved Italian heroes. He's sitting, in the kitchen, sniffing, saying, you know, I smell beef. I tried to look innocent. I told told him the truth. He laughed like you wouldn't believe. It was actually pretty cool. I am, occasionally, a slave to the now.

Oh, naughty always wins. I keep really strange hours because I'm a freelance writer. I wake up around 1 p.m. everyday, run errands, eat a super light lunch and then spend all night into the morning hours writing. I usually only eat one real meal during the day around 2 or 3 p.m., so around 1 or 2 a.m. when I'm up writing I ALWAYS get hungry and the good stuff never wins. Last night I got the munchies and was going to make a salad- I swear I was. I cut up veggies and when I was about to plate them and top it with vinagrette, I switched up the whole plan and stuffed leftover carmalized onions and goat cheese into wonton wrappers and deep fried them instead! I swear I was going to have a salad ...

I usually try to wait it out if dinner isnt more than say 2 hrs away, otherwise I just give it up and have a make shift dinner, crackers and cheese or popcorn. then I skip dinner. I've found if I wait until I'm really hungry I tend to get nauseaus, so it's better for me to just go ahead and eat something and resign myself to missing "the good stuff" besides leftovers are almost always better ;)

Heh, heh, heh... dinner's almost always close to eight in my house... since I usually eat breakfast OR lunch, but seldom both, this issue comes up a lot. My worst problem is that until I'm actually having a munchie attack, I often don't realize I'm getting hungry. Therefore, no planning, and the snack becomes an "emergency" with no time for thought or prep.

My urges are definitely WAY more inclined toward the naughties, although I do make a conscious effort to avoid indulging those urges. Mainly, I don't keep much naughty stuff in the house, other than the ingredients required to build it. If it's work, and takes time, I'm far less likely to indulge. So, typically, I'll grab a handful of pretzels, or some nuts, or a slice of cheese when I'm starving. Not exactly low-cal health food, especially right before dinner, but it seems like a reasonable compromise. Or would that be "rational" compromise?

;-)

the standby in my fridge is baby carrots and hummus. its so easy to polish off 1lb of carrots without blinking. however...when i'm starrrrrrving with a sweeter tooth. and nothing's cuttin it...its gotta be apples and peanut butter sandwich. always hits the spot.

Graham crackers with peanut butter, anything with tons of cheese, anything deep fried, and cupcakes are my devil foods. But I read somewhere that if you truly enjoy the food you eat, even if it's "bad for you" food, your body doesn't absorb as much fat or "reject" the food, or something like that, so I feel less guilty about it now.