Best recipe ever!

.. or.. best Weight Watcher's recipe ever!

Just take this stuff and mix it together.  To DIE for!

Pineapple chunks, mandarin orange slices, and sugar free, fat free vanilla pudding.

I pour the juice in first and stir in the pudding to make sure there are no lumps.  Then dump in the fruit and there you go!

I actually don't use all of the juice, but that's up to you. I do use most of it.

I found the recipe here - and have been eating it at least a few times a week - every week - since I found it.  Doesn't matter that it's a "diet" recipe, you would never know.  YUMMY!!!

Corporate toady?

Huh? Sorry, I just heard that on TV in a context that was really weird. Kind of like saying Sponge Bob and Fidel Castro in the same sentence. Just weird. Anyway!

The gals did not take a single picture in Vegas (uh huh sure) - not even somebody sleeping with their mouth open or coming out of the bathroom wearing a towel and brushing their teeth. Hmmm. They were all very tired and apparently the magic date of 7/7/07 didn't bring any of them that intangible special something that would have allowed them to win big and race home to retire. Sigh-h-h. Maybe next time.

One thing came out of it though - and I'm not saying it was a positive thing. Joan discovered gambling. Joan has lived in a few different countries, has had several different jobs and been all over this country - but had never touched a slot machine. It is my understanding that when she did - she immediately became hyp-mo-tized. Ysabel and Linda could barely pull her away. Somehow her germ phobia slipped away as she pushed those dirty buttons touched by scads of people before her - some whom I'm sure didn't wash their hands after going to the bathroom - and she remained seated - fixated on the blinking lights and spinning symbols in front of her.

Me thinks it's good she doesn't live close to any major gambling territory - or she would quickly become a regular at the local pawn shop! :) Almost scary. Joan - step away from the machine. Don't. drink. the. kool-aid!

So. Nutrisystem. I am having a lot of trouble facing all those salads. I am not doing bad on the fruit, and thank God I am allowed to have V-8 instead of a vegetable serving, but that salad twice a day is killing me. The idea is to keep eating all day, small portions of healthy foods. I get that. But a salad at lunch and a salad at dinner for someone who doesn't really like salad that much is pretty hard.

There have been days lately where I have been getting my lunch ready for the next day and just cannot bear making another salad. So I skip it. But it is a filling part of my lunch and without it I am not satisfied. I didn't realize how much you need to contribute yourself in terms of fresh fruit and salads and the like. Call me lazy but I thought it was - pre-packaged foods - take it out of my hands for a while - eat what we tell you and you will lose weight.

Well. I am going to do it for a second month - only because now that I have sampled a lot of the different meals - I have a much greater idea of what meals I will choose which will make things a heck of a lot easier. I cannot keep looking into that box and seeing split pea soup which I hate and did not want - thinking that I am going to have to eat it. Because I won't. It's that simple.

I do want to tell anyone who is thinking of doing this diet plan, DO NOT TRY THE CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!! That was the dessert I chose the most of and it is simply awful. Awful. Tonight I thought I would try to make it a bit palatable by sinking a nice Hershey's kiss in the middle of the batter before sticking it in the microwave. Not even that helped. I was expecting a nice melted bit of real chocolate gooey goodness in the center to be the redeeming quality but somehow the cake ruined the kiss. Amazing. Don't bother.

I will say though that even if the food is not great for the most part, I am getting into the habit of eating meals on a more regular basis as well as trying to get the rest of the food groups in there. I have always been bad about the fruit and veggies - carbs are my lifeblood. But I am learning better habits so if I get some lasting changes out of this it will have been worth it. I was in a bad habit spiral, and it was getting worse. I needed something extreme to snap me out of it. Along with starting to walk again - I think I will continue the process on my own when this is done. This has been a slo-o-o-w-w process for me, I haven't lost tons of weight but I just need to keep at it. Especially the walking.

And I need to go here. Bermuda. I just need to go where the sun shines and the clear water laps at my toes and where I don't have to think beyond SPF 30 for a while. Ah-h-h-h - the sand is as fine as sugar and almost as white .....