Beachin'

Matt and I decided it was time again to treat ourselves to the South Beach Diet.  We did this diet about 5 years ago and both of lost some extra poundage.  We kept it off for a long time but over the past few years we slowly began to put weight back on.  Even though we are more physically active now that we live in Europe and have no car we have found that traveling frequently and partaking in international culinary delights is not conducive to staying thin.  Unfortunately neither is my cooking or baking as I am a serious foodie! 

We have just finished up our first week of phase 1 of the South Beach Diet.  This is the hardest phase of the diet and it is supposed to last for two weeks.  We did very well and did not cheat a bit.  What accounts for this great achievement (besides the grace of God)?  Well, the list of acceptable foods has widened since the diet first came out and on top of that our pallets have matured over the past few years so that we now enjoy many more foods than we used to, especially in the realm of vegetables.  I have hope that we will make it through week 2 of phase 1 and then I will weigh myself, rejoice over my success and reassess my plan for weight loss as needed.  The weight loss will be good but what also is good is that I am retraining myself on how to eat healthily.

Eating healthily can be quite a delight when one gets to partake in delicious foods like this salad above which we made last night with our dinner.  It is eggplants and tomatoes which I  first marinated in balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and then grilled over our charcoal grill.  I served these delicious vegetables on a bed of arugula and baby leaf salad mix with grated fresh mozzarella cheese (or try with feta) and dressed the salad in a balsamic vinaigrette.  Don't for get to add toasted pine nuts!

Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet never tasted so good!