Adjusting My Low Carb Diet Due To Travel

OK... I've come to the conclusion that there's just no way to stick to South Beach while I'm here in NYC. At least, there's no way to stick to the "phase 1" portion that I'm supposed to be in until tomorrow. Forget it, because I've already violated the restrictions. I suppose I could have gone to a street vendor and gotten a couple of Sabrett's hot dogs and thrown out the buns, which certainly would be the most affordable lunch possible here in the city, but I just couldn't do it. I ended up in an Asian restaurant called Bar Masa. I wouild have ordered sushi, but the rice violates low carb rules anyhow, and really I'm simply too inexperienced at buying sushi to really know what to order, and at New York prices I wasn't going to experiment. I went in because there were a few items on the menu displayed in the window that looked acceptable... but it turned out that the lunch menu was more limited. I could have walked out, but at that point I threw in the proverbial towel. I ordered a shrimp and vegetable tempura, and of course the batter is not low carb, nor do I think the Miso soup was, and I confess that I had a little bit of the rice too. On the other hand, and those of you who really know me will be shocked by this, I ate a bit of the salad and it didn't kill me! I've come to the realization that I'm going to have to acquire at least some taste for rabbit food in order to reach and maintain my ultimate weight goal. Low carb alone is not likely going to be enough of a change in eating habits to get as far as I need to go. And I figured that I should do try to make a little progress on that aspect today, in order to offset the backslide on the low carb regimen.

Bar Masa is a really nice place, by the way, despite being inside a mall. The bar top is made of a single piece of wood, a "about 35 feet long, more than 3 feet wide, and 4 inches thick -- a vertical section of trunk from a West African Bubinga, with the edge facing the customer uncut (but sanded and finished) so that it shows the curve and imperfections of the trunk.

So, when I get home at the end of the week, I think what I'll do is put myself back on phase 1 for another seven to ten days. And I'll do that even if I actually manage to lose weight during this trip. What I understand is that the longer-term success of the diet is not so much a matter of simply losing weight on a consistent basis. It's more about recognizing what happens to your blood sugar when you have to cheat, and doing what it takes to get the chemistry back where you want it.