I decided to make another stab at being as good (and svelte) as I used to be. I've been mostly disciplined. But I continue to look around for things to take the place of big cravings or at least sate the same nerve. It's a bit harder now, I think, because there's either a backlash against or malaise about low-carb diets. For a while Trader Joe's would carry low carb pasta and such but no more. Same with a lot of supermarkets.

A year ago I discovered Halloumi cheese when a local yuppie market had a demo table. It's great stuff and I can see lots of uses for it in low-carb recipes but it's also something like $17 a lb. Luckily, a little Googling shows there are some Mexican frying cheese that will probably be available to me more cheaply (Halloumi is from Cyprus).

I tried shirataki again last night and found I hated it just as much as the first couple times I tried it. This really sucks because mac & cheese is a comfort food I'll really miss (I actually don't get into pasta anywhere near as much as bread and potatoes, but mac&cheese is the exception to the rule). I tossed everything I made last night and passed the second package on to a vegetarian friend of mine.

One thing that's good and bad this time around is that I'm not cutting out fruit entirely. I have fruit in my garden I've waited all year to see to a harvest and I don't want to just give it away to other people. I'm also growing tomatoes, chard, beans, snow peas and other veggies so I'm eating a bit more fresh roughage than I was the first time I went low-carb. I think it's just not good for one's health to keep fresh fruit and vegetables out of your diet. But it's true that the fruit intake makes me wonder how much I might be retarding induction.

Something I found while Googling "frying cheese":

www.chupaqueso.com/basic-ho...pictures/