February Challenge - Day 28: Final thoughts of February's Challenge

Well, 28 days later and this month's challenge is going to get mixed reviews. While I was able to stay away from fast food, there were a few times I strayed including one day where I heffed down haagen daas. This experiment has taught me a couple of things:

1) I can't put dietary restrictions on myself because I love food too much. I can never be a vegetarian, or cut out carbs or say no to cheese. Food is my weakness, and there's nothing I can do to change it.

2) Balance is key. I've been able to plan a lot of my meals for work (both lunch and dinner) and it really helped me stay away from eating poorly this month. By cooking my meals in advance, I was able to plan and portion control the meals very well.

Unlike the drinking challenge, the food challenge was not so black and white. By withholding temptations, you're just setting yourself up for failure. So the lesson learned here? Never do a food challenge again.

February Challenge - Day 27: Oscar Ice Cream Party

OSCARS = time to eat a lot of ice cream.

March Challenge - Read and Write

As my February Challenge of eating healthy comes to a close in two days, it was time for me to reflect upon what I should do for my March Challenge.

First off, to set the expectation, I will take a small hiatus for 2 days at the beginning of March. With 31 days in March, I'll be working on my challenge from March 3 - 30, banking another hiatus day at the end of the month...blogging on an everyday basis is tough!

When thinking of what to do for March, many things crossed my mind. One thought was to do a random act of kindness everyday. But in my mind, if you're going to do an act of kindness, you should do it because you really want to, and not because you're going to brag about it on a blog later. So that was out. Another thought was to reconnect with religion again, but I quickly abandoned that idea after Satan told me not to. (I'm joking about the Satan part.)

Finally, I figured out one thing that I haven't been doing enough of lately, and that was reading nearly enough books, magazines and newspapers, as I mostly rely on television to provide me with the information I need. Well, that's just lazy.

So my challenge to myself this month is to read (I have 3 books on my desk that I got for Christmas that I haven't read yet) and reflect about them on this blog. And I shouldn't limit it to just books, I have a couple of subscriptions to magazines - so I'll also be looking at those to reflect upon in my blog.

Here's a preview of what you can expect starting March 3:

- MacLean's magazine's 6th annual student issue - is getting students hired the only goal of a post-secondary institution?

- A book called Connected - The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives - How Your Friends' Friends' Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think and Do.

- A book called Future Babble - Why Expert Predictions Fail and Why We Believe Them Anyway.

Enjoy!

February Challenge - Day 26: Breakfast Sandwiches

Most of this month, I've realized I've actually been posting about my cravings for food than how I've been eating healthy. That's what happens when you deprive yourself of the foods you love the most. I've been really good this month at eating breakfast before leaving the house (particularly for work) in order to get the day going right and keeping me good and full until lunchtime.

One thing I miss the most is the comforting breakfast sandwich. Whether it be a bacon with egg on a cheese bagel from The Bagel Stop or a Sausage and Egg Breakfast Muffin from Tim Horton's, I cannot resist the calorie-tastic, artery-clogging breakfast sandwich.

So it was a surprise I was able to hold out this long until I had to have one. Let me set it up for you as to why I got one this morning.

I got to bed late last night...around 1am due to a delayed flight into Pearson landing at around 10pm. I got home, got settled in, showered, did some work, and then, it was 1am. Blah. I had to get up at 630am today to get to a conference that started at 8am...or so I thought. I woke up at 715, panicked that I was late, and grabbed a cab to Yonge & Dundas Square, near the conference venue. With little to no options at 730 in the morning, I ran into Starbucks, and grabbed a venti green tea with 2 teabags (of which they charge you $2.30 for - seriously, $2.30 for two teabags and hot water...seriously.) and a bacon, egg and brie breakfast sandwich.

When I sat down to eat it (after running a block and a half to get to the conference) I was sadly disappointed. It was puny - 4 bites and I was done (granted, they were big bites). It was bland and well, not as great as the other breakfast sandwiches I mentioned earlier and hold with such high esteem. And usually, when you're starving, the food you eat tastes that much more incredible, not with this.

So Starbucks, I don't think I'll be buying anymore of your breakfast sandwiches. For $3.95, give me two Tim Horton's heart attacks, I mean sausage and egg English muffins, anyday.

February Challenge - Day 25: Airport Food

It's 7pm. I'm stuck at Logan International Airport. I'm tired. I'm hot (it was freezing in here, and now it's like 100 degrees). And I am clearing out emails. Yes, my Fridays have become the social life everyone dreams of.

What's worse is the limited food selection here at Logan. It's either Starbucks or good ol' American bar food. Picking out the healthiest option on the menu, I went with a grilled chicken brioche. It did come with cheese and a "healthy" serving of mayo. It also came with a side salad and fries. I wolfed down the chicken burger like my life depended on it, but I had 3 or 4 fries and was less than impressed. Have I really gotten over fried foods? Or was it just a really terrible french fry?

The only saving grace was the salad, which, not surprisingly, was a miniscule portion compared to the fries. Hey, it could have been worse. I could have been sitting at a Denny's or an IHOP, where everything is fried or comes with a side of butter.

Another hour to go here at Logan. Lord, help me!

February Challenge - Day 24: Chocolate Covered Strawberries = Overrated

Chocolate covered strawberries. The idea is great and slightly romantic. However, to eat one of these things is nothing but messy and highly unromantic.

My co-worker Amber was kind enough to share some of her strawberries (she had an entire box of them - from a secret admirer no doubt) with me tonight. They were very pretty - large strawberries with a thick layer of dark chocolate and a light drizzle of white chocolate to top it off. I couldn't resist, so I took two (FATTY, I know.) I quickly plowed through my dinner (stirfry, again...) and then started to eat my reward...I mean, dessert.

After one bite

It all went downhill from the moment I touched the chocolate-covered strawberry (CCS for short). First off, there was no stem to grab a hold of, so my fat fingers tried to grasp the leafy parts but they fell off quicker than a prostitutes clothes. Fine, I thought, I'll get my fingers messy and grab the chocolate part. The chocolate immediately started melting an

d the CCS became uncontrollably slippery. FUCK! I silently screamed, as I was only able to eat half the berry and the rest of the chocolate went flying EVERYWHERE. Thank God I wasn't wearing a white shirt...or white pants.

So after picking up all the chocolate bits, I attempted to bite into the second

CCS, with even worse success. Strawberry juice squirted everywhere, the uneaten part of the berry fell out of my hands and landed on my desk. A total bucket of fail all around in trying to enjoy a nice dessert. It makes me wonder, do people actually find these desserts romantic? It's nothing short of messy and cumbersome. I guess the only upside to it is that you'll get to lick the chocolate off the person you're with afterwards, but that just takes so much extra planning and cleanup efforts that I find these desserts a big waste of time and money.

February Challenge - Day 23: Dim Sum Desserts

I've been dreaming of mango pudding all day today. Mango pudding should really be more readily available. I had a bit of a sweet tooth this afternoon. It didn't help that I have a can of caramel pecans and tupperware container of cookies at my desk...but what I could have really go for was some nice cold mango pudding with condensed milk.

In fact, I could go for any Chinese dessert this afternoon - not sure why I was so nostalgic. But a bowl of shaved ice with grass jelly and tapioca also made an entrance in my food fantasies. It is one of the things I miss from Taiwan, being able to go out to the night markets near my grandmother's house and picking up awesome desserts. Then again, I did gain 10 pounds when I went back last year.

5 days left. Starting to think about what my challenge will be for March. I'll decide by this weekend!