In the recent past, I was confronted with a difficult temptation.  It might not be a big deal for others, but for me it was the first time since making the commitment to eat better and lose weight that I had access to unlimited supplies of tasty sweet foods.

Each spring, my horn students perform in the annual Solo & Ensemble Festival, an event at which I accompany others too.  During the festival, which occurs all day on a Saturday, I am able to hang out in the ‘Directors and Judges’ lounge where food stuffs are available.  The host school of the event will feed the judges breakfast at the beginning of the day and later feed lunch to the judges and directors (and a few piano players).

After my first performance at 8:24am, I had 30 minutes to relax so I went to the lounge.  There it was - a platter full of mini cinnamon rolls sitting next to two other platters of baked goods.  I fixed myself a coffee and ate one roll.  Then I had a 2nd roll. 

It was later that I looked up the nutritional value of two mini rolls.  242 calories, 11g fat, 32g carbs, 4g protein.  Geesh, that wasn’t worth it.  I felt guilty, although they did taste good.

At lunch, there were platters of two types of deli sandwiches, a variety of potato chips, mini brownies, chocolate chip cookies, but no vegetables.  I chose two small sandwiches (which together really made up one full size sandwich) and a small brownie. 

After eating those, I grabbed a large Granny Smith apple from the snack table.  Eating the apple finally helped to fill up my tummy and satisfy my need to crunch and chew.  However I did grab a chocolate chip cookie before returning to the performance schedule.

This was just one day I was presented with some of my favorite “junk” foods.  Fortunately, I managed to come out of it without doing too much harm to my commitment and only exceeded my daily calorie goal by about 300 calories.

Traveling and Menus

Later this week I will be doing some traveling.  I am flying to Switzerland for a long weekend and business meeting on Monday.  On the flight over, I have been placed in Business Class (very cool) which I imagine will not leave me hungry.

While in Switzerland, I have to eat (of course).  But how will I know the nutritional values of my food?  At home, I read labels.  At restaurants, I look up the menu online (when the restaurant is forward-thinking enough to provide nutritional details for their menu items).

I’m going to be without those resources... and I will miss my weekly weight and blood pressure check.  I know that it will take a great deal of self control and determination to be reasonable with my eating.  It will be much too tempting to sample ALL the wonderously different cuisines available in a foreign country.  When I get back, I will let you know how it went.

Spring Studio Recital

As if the above temptations were not enough, there is a really BIG one coming up.  Each year on Mother’s Day, my piano and horn students perform in an annual studio recital.  It has become a Mother’s Day tradition and one which the families enjoy.