"We Elves Like to Stick to the Four Main Food Groups: Candy, Candy Canes, Candy Corns, and Syrup."

I am not the first person who has thought of blogging about this quote from the movie ELF in relation to her own diet. In fact, if you google this quote, quite a few "I need to lose 100 pounds" blogs come up. 

That's not what this is. 

The title/quote just reflects what I ate for about two weeks. 

The other option for the title was:

The Plate to Bowl ratio. (nope, not a link, sorry)

Let me explain. The plate to bowl ratio is the most reliable indicator of how many actual dinners I've cooked/eaten versus how many days I've gone just eating ice cream and/or Lucky Charms and/or Life Cereal and/or (in a moment of clarity) frozen blueberries and milk. 

The last few weeks we've gone through bowls at an alarming rate. 

In walks the Abs Diet. I love the Abs Diet. It's maybe the least restrictive diet ever. On the other hand, it's chock full of enough healthy stuff to make you feel amazing. I did one week's worth of this diet in October (I think) and lost 3 pounds and 3 people asked if I was losing weight. First of all, I was shocked that anybody was looking at me that closely. And second of all, I thought, "Do I need to?" I was doing this to be healthier!

But if one week's worth is good, 6 weeks worth is better, so I bought the book last week. 

Overall I would recommend the Abs Diet for several reasons.

1- Ice Cream is involved. Frequently. I needed to buy 3 different kinds. Sure, you only get one scoop in your smoothie, and you always add in some whey protein powder. And sometimes berries (which I also love in all varieties). But this to me still equals milkshake. And momma loves her a milkshake. 

2- This meal plan is based on 12 "Powerfoods." I like all of them. Especially. You guessed it. Peanut Butter. ahhh...sigh of relief.

3- Everything is based on being very quick. A guy wrote it. A guy editor of Men's Health. Everything takes less than 15 minutes to cook. This means I can take most of these meals to work. So I do. Dave Z. is brilliant. 

4- It's flexible. I can switch meals around for work eating versus home eating. i.e, fish fillets.

5- Some of the recipes from the last few days include: Roll of a Lifetime, Pimp my Shrimp, Mo' Fetta Mo' Betta, "Show Me The Honey" Smoothie (with honeydew), Orange and Gold (so delicious Asian Chicken). Haha. Aren't you a clever little chef you?

6- Cheat meal. Every week. Because I'm not staying in on Sat. night for the sake of the Abs Diet. 

The negatives:

1- Some of the stuff is a little iffy. The VERY FIRST meal is tuna & eggs for breakfast. Sorry Pregnant Emilies! Terrible, no? But I downed it fine and was full for 3 hours which is a record, so I guess I can live with that. 

2- He only tells me exactly what to eat for 3 weeks of his 6 week meal plan. I didn't buy this book for 3 weeks of being told what to eat. I bought it for 6 dang it. Now I have to recycle and mix and match. And DO IT MYSELF. Terrible. 

This should be fun...

p.s. And our dishwasher is all filled up with plates.