Day 47 Trick-or-Treating For All Ages

Day 47

Trick-or-Treating For All Ages

I ran several errands today and each place I stopped had sweets free for the taking. City hall—free candy---the cable company---free candy---the insurance office---free candy---the bank---free cookies---the grocery store service desk---free candy---the convenience store—free candy. Who says trick-or-treating is just for kids? You could collect a pretty big bag of candy just payin' the bills! What's a serious calorie counter to do? Count 'em of course! I didn't count them at all today, because I didn't have any. Not one. I could have had a few pieces, sure, but I decided to make this the first Halloween in my entire life that I didn't eat candy. And you know what? I really didn't miss it. I can't remember a Halloween where I didn't eat a pile of fun size Snicker Bars. At the Cable office they even tried to push it... “Hey Sean, grab a candy bar!” and I said “No thanks, no candy for me.” They all looked at me like I was an alien that took over Sean's body. A few months ago I was broadcasting live from that same office when they were giving away full size candy bars, and yes I had a couple, that they knew about, and one for the road that I threw into my pocket when nobody was looking. So I understand their confusion when I politely turned down the offer. I could have allowed myself the calories, but I just didn't want it. If I wanted I could have a full size Snickers everyday. They're 280 calories. Then I could call this “The Amazing Candy Bar Diet!” Now that sounds way more enticing than plain old calorie counting and exercising. I guess I'm just not a big candy person. I'm not saying I don't love chocolate, who doesn't? But honestly, it wasn't that hard to survive the day minus candy of any kind. I did have a Dream Bar earlier. But that's not candy!

I attempted to save money today when I bought a generic brand “Dream Bar.” It was slightly over two dollars for twelve in a box! I saved like a buck twenty over the name brand box. But beware, because these cheapo-depo Dream Bars are awful. A Dream Bar, or “Dreamsicle” is suppose to be either orange popsicle wrapped around vanilla ice cream or orange sherbet wrapped around vanilla ice cream. These cheap Dream Bars are a blended orange-vanilla bar. There is no middle. Just orange sherbet with clouds of white representing the vanilla. Never again I say! Oh, and get this, they have 90 calories each, as opposed to the 70 in the name brand “real” version. I felt so ripped off! I'll look again, 'cause I bet they didn't even spell dream bar right...It's probably a “Dreem Barr”, or some similar intentional misspelling to avoid copyright infringement. They do that with cheese too. Never buy “chedder cheeze”, 'cause it isn't cheddar cheese my friend, it's oil and water, and it looks good only when you see the price. Try melting it and see what happens. I bet it's like a science project gone wrong. Let me get back to the original topic here: Candy bars, and more specifically candy bar nutrition. The lowest calorie candy bars are the lightest ones. Three Musketeers is one of the best and has 45% less fat, the miniature (small square shape) has only 28 calories. A Fun Size Three Musketeer has under 70. For the sake of comparison, a fun size Milky Way has 150. Nougat is loaded. I always hated nougat anyway. What is nougat? What a strange word, nougat. I like the word nougat. I'm going to start using the word “nougat” more in daily conversation, like-- “You've got to get down to the “nougat” to really understand the problem”...or... “And after that it's all nougat.” or even... “I'm trading in my big old gut for a nougat.” Did somebody slip something in my tea? I'm getting loopy here.

I thought of a fantastic idea today. A party! A big party someday when ultimate goals are reached. A party for all who read this blog and for all who are working on their own journey. It's way down the line of course, but I'm planning it in my mind now. Here's the fun part: Everything at this party will be portioned and have an accurate calorie count clearly marked! Who says party food has to be bad! Cheese dip in individual little bowls, little sandwiches, chicken wings, chips, dips...maybe even little pieces of cake! The presentation would look very cool. And no guessing! I'm not saying everything will be low calorie, I'm just saying the calories will be accurately measured and displayed for everyone to see. I like it! I believe this concept would also work well on a cooking show. I can imagine the promo commercials for it... “A four layer meat and cheese lasagna for under 300 calories a serving? A fudge brownie sundae for under 200 calories? A plate of fried fish and chips for under 500 calories? Don't miss this show because “counting calories never tasted so good!” Somebody get the Food Network on the horn, this is “money.”

I decided to invest 500 calories in lunch today. I had a regular size hot dog with chili, cheese, and onions and onion rings. The chili dog checked in at 300 calories, the onion rings? Well...I thought they were 350 to 400 for a regular order, but I looked it up at sonicdrivein.com, and that order had a whopping 500 calories worth of onion rings! I gave most of them to a co-worker and slowly enjoyed three individual onion rings...nice size, about 200 calories worth. I very rarely eat something like this for lunch, but I was in a big hurry, and it was a convenience thing. Sometimes the convenience isn't worth the calories, but I really enjoyed the chili dog and those onion rings, they were really good. And since I decided to swear off candy on Halloween for the first time ever, I felt I could easily afford it! Thank you for reading this daily blog! I hope that you find value in each of these writings, whether you're going through the same journey or just reading for fun, I sincerely appreciate your readership! Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean