2011 Resolutions: The Sonoma Way

Christmas break was so, so good.  Too bad it’s over!  My husband and I went to Colorado for the holidays, and visited the Great Divide Brewery, Dry Dock Brewery, Breckenridge Brewery and BBQ, Argyll (a gastropub), Kouma’s Cafe (in Chicago), and shopped, baked, and ate until it was both gluttonous and heavenly.

Already, it’s 2011.  Everybody makes New Year’s resolutions, but almost no one keeps them, including myself.  For the last 3 years, I have told myself that I should lose those 10 pounds, be smarter, be stronger, pray more, etc.  I have not kept those resolutions at all.  I do, however, like the idea of “a New Year, a New You,” so I did, yet again, make New Year’s Resolutions. 

Like I said, I have been “trying” to lose those extra pounds for 3 years now.  Only 9 years ago, I lost 50 pounds during my freshman year of college by diet and exercise, and I had quite successfully kept it off for years until I started rotations during my 3rd year of med school.  All the doctor’s offices have cakes, cookies, pies, catered lunches…and it’s a darn shame how quickly it all adds up.  I thought “a little cookie” here, and “Sun chips are super healthy…right?” there…and it has added up.  It takes a toll.  So, yet again, I am resolving to lose the weight.  Except unlike every other year, I am following a diet plan.  And unlike every year, my husband has resolved to do it, too.  Over Christmas break, he got another mild bought of pancreatitis, after eating hamburgers and fries 5 out of 7 days in a week.  We also hit up several breweries while visiting family around Denver, like I said.  So we are doing the Sonoma Diet…but there are catches.  We are on Day 3, and so far, so good.

Why the Sonoma Diet?  Because it’s the diet I recommend for all of my patients, and it’s time to put my money where my mouth is.  It incorporates what foods we know to be beneficial for things like being heart-healthy (no Atkins here), anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, etc.  I love that what I have learned about nutrition from medical school is included in the plan!  Also, I love that it allows for a glass of wine every night (wine is one of my favorite indulgences) and dark chocolate, both because they are good for your heart. And it’s not a no or low-carb diet, or glycemic index diet, or blood type diet, or anti-inflammatory diet, or carb-lover’s diet.  It is not shoved into any of those categories.  It seems to be the most liberal diet plan!

I flipped through my mom’s (untouched) copy of the Sonoma Diet, and realized that the recipes and foods look good!  They are very similar to the foods I love to cook.  Plus there’s wine.  Let me say it again: there’s wine!!  So my husband and I talked, and decided we would try it.   

Starting on January 1st, we have started.  And, we have upped the ante.  We have resolved to eat the Sonoma Diet way for one year.  One WHOLE year.  I have to say, so, far, the food is delicious, I don’t crave that 3 pm cookie(s), and I truly do have more energy than before!  I knew, from past experiences, that there would need to be milestones to get us along the way, and a unifying long-term goal to get us through cravings.  So, we have made a deal with ourselves that if we reach our ideal weights and keep the extra off for 1 year, we will go to the actual Sonoma County and Napa next January to round out the experience!  Anytime we are craving something we shouldn’t have, we plan our trip.  If we really want to go out to eat, but know we shouldn’t, we transfer whatever extra money it would have cost to go out to eat to our “Sonoma Savings.” 

But besides the large reward next January, we need little rewards, too, for motivation.  After “Wave 1,” we are allowed to have wine with dinner every night.  Wave 1 lasts 10 days, so if I make it to day 11, I may have that wine, and believe me, it will be a wonderful reward.  When I make it to a month, I will have my hair done in Pittsburgh.  And so on. 

Today I was confronted with some temptation- Panera catered lunch at work, complete with sandwiches and cookies.  I didn’t budge, though.  I didn’t even really want it, and I am still so shocked!  Already after 3 days, I have lost 5 pounds!!!

It is another goal to try to blog about it every day…this one I am not so sure how well I can keep.  I will try! 

Other resolutions I made include 1) not perseverating on people who make me sad/toxic friends, 2) pick a church in my city and go at least once a month (i know, i know.) and pray daily, 3) be a non-nagging wife to my sweet, wonderful husband (But LORD I can be so bossy sometimes…darn shame).

Tonight I made Poached Salmon in Chipotle broth and grilled veggie roll-ups with feta and pesto.  The Salmon was good- very smoky with chipotle chilies, adobo, and paprika.  The veggies were good, too, but complicated to roll, so in retrospect it would have been better to just crumble the pesto and feta over the veggies.  However, my favorite meal of the day was the simplest: warm toast with peanut butter and blueberries sprinkled over it.  Delicious! 

We are both dealing with nighttime hunger, as the dinners I used to make were much heavier.  Snacks help, but we keep in mind this first Wave is only 7 more days, and then we get wine and dessert fruits…yum!