Sandwich heaven

To my surprise, I am enjoying my 6 a.m. fitness class.  It' s not easy, but by 7:15 it's like all the lifting and lunging never happened, and I feel refreshed and energized. 

By the time I get home from work, it's like another person went to that class. This phenomenon suggests I could do anything between 6 and 7 a.m., before I am really awake, and by that evening have full moral and legal deniability, as the entire thing, "if it indeed occurred, long ago faded into the mists of oblivion."  The defense rests.

The recommended meal plan, however, is another matter.

Because the class is part of a bells-and-whistles program, you get your measurements taken at intervals, and a prescribed meal plan.  I was theoretically willing to give the plan (aka "diet") a try, on the theory that a zebra can -- possibly -- change its stripes.  Not so.

It is a perfectly nice plan, but I can't follow it for even one day.  For one thing, however wonderfully healthy they may be, I have an aversion to trendy foods like coconut oil and Chia seeds.  I simply cannot "jump on the bandwagon" of eating these foods.  If, five years later, they are a mainstream side that comes in a steamer bag at Target (hello, quinoa), I will enjoy them quietly, without fanfare.  By then, they're just like peas.

Second, I've concluded that only two people are going to decide what I eat and when.  The first is me.  The second is my physician, after explaining that if I do not stick to the prescribed meal plan, my death is imminent. 

Having tossed out the current, non-dire meal plan, I have to clean up my own act.  Doing a healthier version of my usual diet isn't rocket science, so I'm trying that. 

The thing is this: I'm happiest when I've found one food that's going to "solve all my problems" -- a food I can eat a thousand times and never have to think about again.  Whether it's smoked salmon on toast, a microwavable burrito, tuna salad on a tomato with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, or -- in dark times -- a grilled cheese sandwich with a side of the-hell-with-it, I'm always sure my latest obsession is my Best Food Forever, really and truly this time.

Right now, that food is the Awesome Smoked Turkey Sandwich.  It's so delicious!  The key was buying really good lettuce, "washed three times" so it's super-clean.  This lettuce does not come in a raggedy head but in a fancy see-through case, where individual romaine leaves are nestled side-by-side in perfect, dewy crispness.  Like some people are "gay for" people, I am a "foodie for" this lettuce.

And don't even get me started on the Dijon mustard and lightly-salted tomato slice.  This sandwich is amazing! 

If I can hold myself to one or two a day, plus low-cal lemonade and other reasonably healthy foods, I think I'll be just fine. 

Now that's my kind of plan.

(Image: Healthy Eating Food Guide Pyramid by Kjplant (own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)