Better than a fribble...

Yesterday, we were in MA visiting Darcy's new little nephew, and we decided to have a nice Italian lunch.  Our favorite place in the area was closed due to renovations, so we went to Felicia's - Alison's fave.  I've never been very wowed by Felicia's, but my lunch yesterday was quite yummy.  I had Pollo Ponte Veccio - Boneless breast of chicken topped with prosciutto and fontina cheese, sauteed with mushrooms and artichoke hearts in a marsala wine sauce over angel hair pasta.

Yum.  I give myself one discretionary calorie day/week, and that day was yesterday.  I can't believe how big their portions are.  I have a rule that if I get something unhealthy at a restaurant, I eat a small portion in the restaurant, and I don't take the left overs home with me.  I probably got through a quarter of the meal, and then I had them throw away the rest.  I felt really bad - you couldn't even tell I'd eaten any of it...but I had!

The waitress looked at me in a pouty way, asking me if I was sure I couldn't take it with me - there was so much left!  I told her (in a nice way) that their portion sizes are way too big.  Seriously - why in the world would a meal need to be THAT big.  It's such a waste of food - do American's really still choose restaurants based on portion sizes?

I remember being younger, hearing older people talk about how great a certain restaurant was because of portion sizes, but I think we're all a lot more health conscious now than we used to be, so why are the portion sizes still so big??  I prefer a nice, appropriate sized, high quality food serving, and I'm not at all impressed by big food sizes.  It's wasteful and disgusting.

I know most people like leftovers, and that's probably somewhat of a draw, but why eat an unhealthy meal more than once?  Wasn't once enough?  I don't get it.

Someday, if/when I have a restaurant, I'm going to serve high quality foods, grass fed, local, chemical free, nothing processed, appropriate portions and nutrition information readily available.  I wish there was a restaurant like that near me now. 

Anyway, it was a nice change of pace to have a nice Italian meal.  I watched my portions, but I ended up at about 1350 calories for the day yesterday.  As my sister suggested, I should spike my calories once/week to keep my metabolism guessing.  I think that can be a good idea, as long as I don't get carried away.

Naturally, I was up 3 lbs today, but I knew I would be - pasta makes me bloated.  I'm sure it will be gone tomorrow, and hopefully, I can get back down to my low point from last week, and then lose more from there.