6 items (lyn)

Last week I read an article in The New York Times about a shopping diet.  It was about a female sales executive who decided to basically fast from fashion.  She chose six items from her wardrobe (not including shoes, underwear and accessories) and only wore those items for a month.  Ironically, her husband didn’t even notice.

I decided that for my 4-day trip to Chicago and St. Louis, I’ll do the same, or at least close to same.  OK, I know, it’s not a month.  Still, I usually pack a lot of contingency clothes.  But this time I have limited myself to:

• 1 short grey linen skirt
• 1 pair of jeans (to wear on plane in case it's cold)
• 1 throw-on purple skirt
• 1 light blue blouse
• 3 white tops
• 1 light grey and white top
• 1 short white sweater
• 1 short grey sweater

I’m a little over the self-imposed-six-item allocation, but still not bad.  Perhaps I will try and use this as a fashion-barometer when I travel (which I rarely do anymore).  I think I’ll like the freedom of packing little.  I'll keep th number six in mind.

So yesterday in my Weight Watchers class we talked about the word Choosing.  What it means and how we apply it.  It made me think that perhaps I have found this program easy to follow because I have chosen foods I like, and then I eat them over and over.  Sort of like the fashion diet.  While my breakfasts and lunches vary little, dinner is important to me and it’s where I use most of my points.  But within say, a 10-day period, I have my six or so staple items that I eat every ten days.  I know their point values, and more importantly,  I really like them.  These include the following dinners:

• Sushi-either 3 rolls (tuna/avocado, salmon /avocado, and yellowtail/scallion OR sushi (3 salmon, 3 tuna, 3 yellowtail and one roll). 

• Grilled salmon-usually with a salad or vegetable and mashed potatoes.

• Prime strip steak-usually with a salad and/or vegetables (and I never skimp on the size of the steak;  it's usually about 8 ounces or so).  While I could eat a great cut of steak every night, I only eat it every two-weeks or so.

• A big salad with shrimp or grilled chicken.

• Fish or seafood (scallops or shrimp or grilled tuna or sea bass).

• Grilled chicken (or some other kind of chicken, like the weight-watchers chicken parmigiana recipe that is so good)  with vegetables.

I think it helps that I really do like fruits and vegetables and fish.  And I’m still eating the same dessert most nights:  a small cup of sorbet or a slice of jellyroll or a piece of angel food cake with frosting.

I can be reasonably content with the same basic foods week after week, but they have to be of a very high quality.  Beyond that, I’m satisfied with redundancy.  At least as far as foods go.