(Wo)man can live by bread alone

September is, I think naturally, my "home improvement" month. Some folks have spring cleaning, and I have autumn cleaning, both in my actual house and in this skin suit I call home. I don't know if it has something to do with the idea of settling in for the winter, or what, but I've been all kinds of dedicated lately.

This weekend, on top of scrubbing my house from ceiling to wood floors, and going through mountains of clothes to cull a donation for hurricane victims, I also ran 3.5 miles on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. I'm at the official One Month mark until my first 5K and I'm in high traning mode. Also? I really like using the word "training". I've never been in training before and it makes me feel athletic. When passing up houseboat-sized bars of Belgian chocolate and glasses of red wine I can say "no thanks, I'm in training."

My training has consisted on upping my mileage a bit, and in tinkering with my food intake. I'm beginning to think that my desperate attempt to lose weight whilst simultaneously upping my exercise is at cross purposes. The first thing I do to lose weight is cut back on refined carbohydrates and sugar, which means I have to work harder to get my carb allowance in with vegetables and whole grains, but I've been slacking and feeling tired. Actually tired is not the right word - I've been feeling as weak and warm as butter and it's all I can do not to take a two hour nap every day after work. So something has to change, my friends! And that starts with Bread.

Now, a word about bread: staple of life, the pants-suit of a sandwich, the part of dinner most people use to fill up on before their meal comes, yes? Not for me. In heaven you'll find me in the bakery, face-forward into a loaf of warm French bread and olive oil. When it comes to this stuff I have abolutely no will-power. I'm more likely to turn down a pan of warm brownies or a large pizza for a piece of toast. It's a shame, but there it is. And this is a perfect reason why I can't have the stuff in the house. For years I tried it - convinced that I could be "good" around pita, or wheat bread, or tortillas. And I can't, it's that simple. If there is bread in my house I will eat it for every meal until it's gone. But aside from brown rice and vegetables, it's the easiest, most travel-friendly form of getting a decent amount of carbs per meal. So in a bold move this weekend I purchased a loaf of whole grain bread from a local bakery and then I promptly gave half of it away to my neighbor to put in her freezer. She's been told that I canNOT have this half loaf until next week, no matter how much I beg and plead. I surrendered my key to her house and everything. Pitiful, no? But we'll see how it works. If I break into her house in the middle of the night and go for her freezer I might have to mail the loaf to one of you all.

Also, your running tip for the day: never make creamed spinach for dinner (and eat two helpings) and then go running. That's all I'm sayin'.