Carb Free and Confused

My mass building experiment last fall loaded me with 15 fairly useless pounds. Most of it settled in my mid-section – just where I didn’t need it. As a result, I’ve been on a downsizing program for almost three months. Fortunately, I’ve lost most of it and am settling back to my old self. However, there’s still an inch I’d like to eliminate. Which means, for now, I’m not eating carbs past 5. And in a new world where I don’t know the names food or their contents, it makes it pretty difficult to find a menu item to accompany my protein – especially in a country that likes its starches.

So there I stand at the market up the street trying to not only decipher packaging contents but also what foods work together. I know if I stick with something green (either fresh or frozen), I’m fairly safe. The problem is I don’t like most vegetables. And the ones I do prefer are yellow or orange and loaded with sugars ((i.e. corn and carrots). Even worse, I prefer canned goods over fresh produce (back in Kansas we rarely ate anything plucked straight from the dirt). All of which leaves me perplexed.

I wish I didn’t care. I wish I didn’t mind the fat roll on my side that now doesn’t want to go away. I wish I could eat all the pretzels, potatoes and dumplings I wanted with my chicken breast without punishing myself the following day on the treadmill. I wish I could instantaneously know German so I could muddle through aisles of fatty goodness to find those more appropriate for my quest. Oh well. Here’s to another exciting dinner with side salad. Boo.