Grugger’s Way

A stupid question you think? Perhaps so, but if you are eating so much chocolate that your poop smells “chocolate-ty,” then you will might as well give up on dieting.

Again yesterday, we experienced that agonizing realization that there was nothing further to be done for our pet and the decision to release him from Earthly agony was one we reached reluctantly but with compassion.

Sadly, we said our good-bye’s to our black and white cat, dear “Oscar,” yesterday. He suffered an inexplicable circulation problem that resulted in poor blood flow to his hind legs, causing weakness and atrophy. That his mind was still sharp and eyes bright with life and alertness is what causes us the most pain, I think. If he were aged and his eyes were tired and dull we would simply acknowledge that he had lived a normal life span. To see him in his prime, and yet unable to move normally, was painful for us as well as for him.

The exercise of this “power” that humans have over animals is not really debated; it is considered “humane” to put an animal out of its misery and pain. When we choose to have pets in our lives we have to realize that we may be faced with the “life or death” decision, even more than once, when the pets that we love are approaching the end of their life spans.

The most difficult decision is often to choose between the cost of surgery and the “value” that we place on our love for the pet. How much is a cat worth? A rich man or woman might not hesitate to spend $1000 or more to extend a cat’s life by a couple of years, but for most of us, that would not be possible.

I realize that it is unfair to characterize animal euthanasia to be akin to “pulling the plug” on a human, but, speaking from direct personal experience, I can attest to experiencing some of the same emotional jolts to my psyche.

I know that my diet is high in carbs, but mostly from vegetables and cereals. Perhaps I need to look at this more closely. I eat mueslix, which does have quite a few calories, but hell, I have to eat SOMETHING! I don’t eat meat or eggs and I avoid dairy as much as possible.


Oh, wait, there is that Ice cream that I love, a nutty coconut flavor, and of course, rocky road ice cream. I guess ice cream has always been a favorite dessert of mine. In the Navy, I was caught with a five-GALLON container of chocolate chip ice cream tucked under my arm while I ate it with a table spoon. There isn’t much of a chance that I will let go of ice cream just to lose a couple of pounds. There are so many other things I would rather give up that ice cream will continue to be the one pleasure that I still permit myself to enjoy. I will just buy one scoop at a time, instead of a half-gallon.

I am drinking plenty of water, and avoiding soda (and now beer), but I do enjoy the tropical fruit taste of that Glucosamine supplement drink called “Joint Juice,” but it’s only 25 calories a can and just one per day. I consider this to be a “health” supplement.” Ha Ha

I have cut down on bread, now eating just one slice of sprouted-grain bread a day, but do eat some sprouted-grain tortilla shells every week. I guess I have a few more dietary changes to make.

One consideration might be my portion size. I have noticed that I eat EVERYTHING on my plate, no matter how much, and often go back for seconds. So, even though the food may be healthful, I could still be simply eating TOO MUCH of it.

I also expected some weight loss, which would be good for me, but so far not so good. I am two pounds heavier, and have been sitting at this higher weight for a week now.

I am trying to determine what change in my diet could account for the weight gain and have decided that it is beer.

Or chocolate.

Or both.

Frankly, I have no plans to give up either pleasure entirely, but I do know that my beer drinking has increased, right along with the outside temperatures. God, but is there anything that tastes so good as a cold beer at the end of hot day of gardening and landscape work?

But one beer a day, which is all I will admit to drinking, only adds about 700 calories a week, and that would be about a pound every five weeks. So, beer alone is not the culprit. Chocolate, on the other hand, has about 100 calories per ounce, or maybe a little more, depending on the type of chocolate. It would only take me about five minutes to eat 200 calories of chocolate. I deceive myself by purchasing bulk packages of chocolate-covered raisins and malted milk balls, and such other confections that might be labeled as “comfort food,” in very small baggies at the health-food store. Ha Ha Ha.

Trail mix is another really, really bad thing to eat if it contains chocolate and peanuts, and most of the mixes do. I once sat at the computer and consumed 2,000 calories of trail mix at one sitting, just while reading e-mail and writing in blogs. I broke that habit by NOT BUYING IT!