I know it is difficult, mentally, to start up a diet again but it can be simple to physically do it. Just start by making sure your stomach is small by eating small portions. Don't gorge on anything. Not even good for you foods like cabbage (which I will get to in more detail in a minute). This will stretch your stomach. So do like everyone says and eat tiny, small meals, but eat them all day long. Think of it in your head as an IV of nutrients. You are giving yourself the fuel your body needs, but JUST enough and you are burning it as you take it. Continue to eat only the good foods: Vegetables, lean fish and meats. I did not take my own advice and went crazy yesterday on free meat and fish tacos at work. Yes, they were pretty healthy, but my portions were out of control! I have to say FREE FOOD IS THE MOST DIFFICULT THING TO AVOID. Ugh. I don't have a will power piece of advice for this distraction because I, myself, can not resist free food. And, unfortunately for me when I am dieting, we are served it a LOT at my work.

Mentally, to get back on the dieting wagon, what I recommend doing is looking at your weight loss so far. I keep a log on a calendar of my daily weight. I also have a goal at the end of each week that tells me what I would like to weigh. It turns out for me that I am right at my goal for the week. I am still disappointed because I was down a couple more pounds than that and I was ready to change all my future weekly goals to a lower number. BUUUT that is why we keep these logs: to keep on track, even when we fall off track a little bit.

That addresses my weekend of naughtiness. Let's discuss St. Patrick's Day, shall we? As you may have noticed I have written an article recently about wine pairing with Irish foods. I know there are several types of Irish foods one can prepare for the holiday but most of us have the corned beef, Irish or American as it is. This particular entry may be a bit too late since it is past the actual St. Pat's day but I want to say a few words about corned beef and cabbage. It is a delicious dish, in this blogger's opinion, and it is unavoidable (as well as irresistible) on March 17th. So how much can a dieter have and what, exactly, does the dieter get to eat?

Here is my breakdown: Beef Brisket, water and brine, cabbage, carrots, onions or leeks. That is all you need to put in the pot! Heck, you don't even need to put in the onions and carrots which have a lot of sugar in them. So what is the diet value of a beef brisket? According to an online calorie counting site:

3 oz of cured, corned beef brisket is 213 calories, 16 g of fat (8 of which are monounsaturated), and 15.4 grams protein.

So far so good. Now, what about that cabbage? According to another online site here is your cabbage info:

1 cup of boiled cabbage is 33 calories, 0.6 g fat, 3 g fiber and 1.5 of protein. Not to mention 47 mg calcium and 150 mg potassium!

So, trim up your brisket really well, toss it in a pot with the little packet of brine, cook it for a while, then toss in a head of cabbage, roughly chopped and continue to cook until the meat and cabbage are tender. To serve, give yourself two slices of brisket, each about 1/3 inch thick. (three ounces of meat is the approximate size of a full deck of cards) and up to half the head of cabbage. Put two tablespoons of whole grain, spicy mustard on top (two tablespoons is the same size as a large marshmallow).

And your total is:

Calories: 266

Fat: 18

Protein: 17

Fiber: 3

Even if you ate this for all three meals in a day, you would still be under 800 calories. I dare you to try to eat a head and a half of cabbage in a day....it is way too filling!

Back on track, I will head into the weekend now. Of course, I have my monthly pot luck dinner this Saturday where I am serving Irish Beef Stew, and having Boxty, Bangers, Baileys Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Chunks and Fish and Chips....ha ha. Lord give me strength. My plan is small portions for the party followed by a day of pure vegetables. I also plan on having my secret weapon "the dieter's tea". I may go into what that is and how I don't recommend it for everyone on a later blog.

For now, one step at a time. Today I shall eat a whole head of lettuce through out the day as well as about two ounces of smoked salmon. I know, I live a tough life. For now, I have 17 pounds to lose in 70 days.