Me Wuv Cookie!

Cookies ought to be the perfect food.

Think about it. They come in a variety of flavors, shapes, colors, sizes, and textures. They are ready when you are. They don't need to be refrigerated. You can make them ahead and they last a good while. They are easily stored, and easy to transport. They contain a certain amount of energy. They taste better than anything.

If they hadn't already been invented, NASA would probably have invented them.

I've hardly met a cookie I didn't like.

The problem is, cookies unabashedly feature three dieters' no-no's: sugar, fat, and white flour. Not just one, but all three--together! With sugar's main role being to make you fat, white flour's main role being to add mega-calories (in the form of carbs!) with few nutritional compensations, and fat's main role being, well, to be fat, to the dieter, cookies spell doom.

It's a tragedy, really.

I keep thinking there should be a way for cookies to become a healthy choice. You can replace white flour with wheat flour, with some success, but the cookies are heavier and don't taste the same. You can use a sugar substitute with limited success, but, again, not the same. You still need some fat, too. I'm sorry, but diet cookies just don't do it for me.

It's not them, it's me.

Just as I was about to give up my cookies-are-the-perfect-food fantasy last time, my thoughts turned to another food--round, sweet, filling, and possessing some of cookies' best features. I mean, they come in a variety of flavors, shapes, colors, sizes, and textures. They are ready when you are. They don't always need to be refrigerated. They last a while. They are somewhat easily stored, and easy to transport. They contain a certain amount of energy.

Of course, I'm talking about nature's cookie--fruit. There are enough kinds of fruits that there ought to be a few favorite kinds for anyone.

This thought is a little depressing to cookie lovers like me, but, hey, it's a thought.

Which brings me to the following update: where a few months ago I could hardly bring myself to actually eat an orange although I don't mind the taste, now, I can't live without them.

We ran out of oranges for a few days, and it threw my eating off completely.

When I start my eating for the day with an orange, it sets the stage for healthy eating. I have an orange first, then my two boiled eggs and a tall glass of milk. This is enough to hold me for a while. Later, I have a small nut snack and then my lunch. However, when I don't have an orange, I have to start off with just eggs and milk, and, somehow, this isn't enough to eat. So, then, I'm looking around for something else. I can have my nuts early, but then I need my lunch early. I'm more tempted by the staff meeting treats, and I'm looking around for something else to fill me up.

Seriously. I told my husband (who does the grocery shopping) that I must have an orange a day now, and he looked at me like, "Who are you and what have you done with my wife?"

But the weight continues to slowly come off. Even my brother noticed!

That seems worth switching fruit for cookies, if anything is.