Wednesday

Discovery of the day: Surviving Tucson

Had a wonderful extended weekend and only brought back an extra pound or so. Phew!

The two BAS restaurants nearby saved my bacon, so to speak. One was an all-you-can eat salad bar/buffet type thing where I could build myself a BAS and my fellow diners could have all sorts of other things. The other place was cool -- you select your ingredients from a checklist and they build it for you. Choose your greens, five additions (beans, veggies, etc.), then protein (meat, baked tofu!), then dressing (available on the side). Wasn't cheap, but an excellent lunch option all the same.

The other thing that saved me was my trip to the grocery store that first day to buy massive quantities of fruit. I ate fruit salad every morning and ended up sharing with my boyfriend and our host, too. My boyfriend even got the chopping started for me many of the mornings while I was in the shower. What a guy!

So fruit for breakfast, BAS for lunch (most of the time), and then I ate pretty much what I wanted for dinner. Each night I was sure I'd order dessert, but I was usually too full.

The cautionary tale is the effect my transgressions had on my... inner workings. The first day we went to a Mexican place for lunch and I couldn't resist the green corn tamales. Well, my colon had no trouble resisting and I paid mightily the next day. Ouch! I think it was the slug of cornmeal that freaked out my system. Also found that I had a lot of discomfort after meals with meat (BBQ - mmmm!) Or maybe it was the french fries. The ones at the BBQ place were slammin'! :)

But all in all, the discomfort was well worth it. By picking my battles, I got through with only minor setbacks. Yay! Sure wish we had either one of those salad places around here.