So I’ve been eating less. But it’s not easy. One day, I ate a sensible breakfast, waited a few hours, and then went for a bike ride to play some tennis. It became overwhelmingly hot and I was hungry so I rode back home. By the time I made it home, I was faint and shaking from hunger. For around 20 minutes I huddled over a bowl of almonds and took sips from a glass of water, using both hands, until I was able to function normally again. I had to listen to my instincts, or otherwise I would have passed out on the asphalt, and then I can only imagine what neighbors would have thought. I can guarantee that no one in the neighborhood would have been charitable enough to think, “Oh, she passed out from hunger; the poor child!” One positive outcome from this experience was that I discovered that I really like almonds.
When I think about lunch I am often reminded of ___ a healthy athletic friend. She would always say “Those are so fattening!” about anything I would eat for lunch or a snack. This kind of response is typical in my demographic. I will describe what I think was a very wholesome breakfast, and then someone will say “Where was the protein!?” “You ate a whole avocado? They have so much fat!” “Your body will think it’s starving, and you will gain even more weight?!” But don’t those who are actually starving end up losing weight? ___ a nutritional critic, often advised me to eat a salad with a can of tuna on it. But I have serious misgivings about canned fishes. Also: the mercury!
But it’s true that eating less is the only way to lose weight — the calories burned in one hour of walking can be easily replaced by one delicious fajita guacamole burrito. Or I’d rather starve. It’s so hard to eat well in America if you aren’t rich, but I guess it’s harder everywhere else in the World, except for in China, maybe, but there you have to deal with being in China. We have so much crap food in this country. I guess the options are getting better, despite the global commodities crisis. I want slow food! I want deep-red tomatoes only in season! I want to split a goat-cheese pasta salad with Alexis Stewart and wash it down with a half glass of wine! But these options are only available to the rich in New York. Especially the part about eating with Alexis Stewart, who I’ve heard is very nice in person, which is very surprizing.
