IN RESPONSE TO: Korea! What have you done to me?!

I can't blame Korea for all my weight problems, but as human nature goes, I must blame someone/something.  Here is my blame list...

1.  Graduation from High School
2.  Getting a job where I actually had money to buy real groceries instead of ramen noodles, instant rice, and mac n cheese.  Which is actually kind of weird, none of those things were healthy, but that was what I ate nearly everyday during college with no problems....hmmm.
3.  Meeting my husband and subsequently his mother, the talented Southern cook.  (In her defense, she did warn me, that if I kept coming over to eat, my size 2 jeans would soon be a long ago memory).
4.  Working at a bank and then an office building where there were free for all junk food drawers.
5.  Discovering all the wonderful food this world has to offer via travel and like-minded friends. 
6.  My own set of values:  I'm not a club girl, I'm not a drinker, and I'm not down for the all-night kegger being held in the nearest field.  Because of this, what does one do when one goes out?  One eats...

So in response:
My current diet:  The HCG diet.  I'm currently in Phase 2 Day 32/40.
My current mood:  Angry
Weight loss as of this post: 16 pounds.

"WOW!"you say? "16 pounds!"  "Then why is she angry?" you're thinking.  Wait for it...Wait for it....

I believe I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with good food, anything salty, and anything cheesy. 

Can I eat these things on my HCG diet?  Of course I can't!  Therefore I am angry on a daily basis.  Granted I'm liking the results, and I 'm in the last stage of the grieving process as it relates to the food that is now lost to me...Acceptance....almost. 

Stage 1:  Denial...I conned myself into going on this diet under the guise that I was helping my husband who is also on the diet.  In reality, though, it was time for me to get serious about losing weight. 

Stage 2:  Anger:  If I didn't already have a strong marriage, this would have been quite a test on our relationship.  We are both food lovers, and not having what we want, feeling unsatisfied, and endless reminders of all the things we can't eat...we were angry.  When I am angry, I lash out at the closest thing, which in a studio apartment, is always my husband.  I can be quite snippy and short.  Thankfully, after being in a relationship with a brat like me for 13 years, he has learned to ignore my tantrums. 

Stage 3:  Bargaining:  Yep, mmhmm.  Possibly the worst stage...There I was sitting on the couch, contemplating if it was all worth it.  Is losing weight really worth the sacrifice of missing out on all the wonderful food creations that are right outside my door?  Shouldn't we be living life to the fullest?  Doesn't that mean that I should always be happy about the food I'm eating?  GOODNESS!  Why is food so important to us?  When did it start being something to truly enjoy and stop being a means to fuel our body?  Personally, I'm placing blame on the popularity of the Food Network. 

P.S After some serious thinking I came to the conclusion that food really isn't THAT important in the grand scheme of living life to the fullest.  I am basing it on the fact that I have never known anyone who has looked back on their life and said, " Man, I wish I would have eaten more sushi and cookie dough ice cream."

Stage 4:  Depression:  Looking at my dinner plate with either grilled shrimp, fish, or chicken, and a stupid vegetable on your plate day after day will make anyone depressed.  No cheese, Nothing fried, no potatoes, no salt n vinegar almonds, no baskin robbins, no cherry laffy taffy, and the worst...No Lattes!  no dairy, no sugar, no cream, no fun.  DEPRESSING.

Stage 5:  Acceptance:  Such desperate times call for incredible creativity and ingeninuity.  So, as I enter this last week and a half of good food deprivation, I have come to accept this new lifestyle of eating healthy.  We have found ingenious ways to cook and eat our food in order to trick ourselves into thinking we are eating something sinfully delicious without the consequences.  I think our greatest find is our soymilk coffee creation...courtesy of deliciously thick Korean soy milk, Korean instant coffee, and flavored Stevia. To me, it is a heavenly treat that reminds me slightly of what hot chocolate should be like (if I could have chocolate).  Thick and creamy and wonderful.  It's my 75 calorie treat that gets me through the day.  Of course the real test will be when I go home and make it for someone else.  I realized last night that it is very possible that a normal person on a normal diet would find our drink concoction somewhat disgusting.  After all, soy milk is an acquired taste. 

Blame KOREA, it has permanently changed my taste buds to such a degree that I now prefer soy milk.  Yep, thanks Korea.  Now I'm "that girl"  You know, the one who goes to the Starbucks and orders the Soy Chai Tea Latte and actally likes it!