This Friday has not been a very "highly beneficial" day but the good news is that it's not a complete loss. After all life is life - you can't beat yourself up for enjoying things and spending time with loved ones.

To start off, I woke up late. Husband apparently shut my alarm off so I woke up 2 minutes before I was supposed to be at work. He claims however, that he only did this because I was yelling to have it quiet! I remember no such thing. But I never remember anything in the morning :-) He says we've had conversations for 5 minutes but apparently I was half asleep and never realized it!!! I guess I've got an active subconscious! :-D

So, I'm rushing to get out the door and don't even have time to make myself the lemon water. Not a smart move. I did gulp down some organic 100% grapefruit juice, which had some effect, and munched on some peanuts in the car. I'm amazed that just those hand-fulls of peanuts kept me going for 3 ½ hours! Ohhh....I just realized I didn't take any of my vitamins this morning either - that probably explains why I'm having cravings for foods I haven't had since I started on this plan.

Lunch, husband comes to enjoy the hour with me - I always appreciate it when he can - he already ate so we go to Taco Bell (not much in my area of Queens) The nice thing is for us AB's is that if you ask them, they will gladly substitute the rice or beans (both beneficial for us!!!) for any of their meat products. I had a Nacho Cheese Chalupa with beans and it only cost $1.60!!! It was good but almost everything in it was neutral save those beans and god knows what that "cheese" sauce is really made of.... And then I forgot to look at the ingredients label of the T.B. Mild Sauce, yep it has vinegar.....won't do that again. I also had a yummy cupcake that a friend brought to me at work from a West Indian Bakery. Sooooooo good. Of course, she bought us a whole box so now there at home. Fortunately for me, my husband has eaten almost all of them :-)

When he picked me up, Carlos mentioned Happy Hour at our favorite bar, Croxley Ale House - check it out at www.croxley.com Unfortunately the free buffet was just chicken wings and Swedish meat balls and I was starving. So, I ordered the fried zucchini sticks in a horseradish dip. Horseradish is H.B. for AB's but I guarantee that the cream dip it was mixed into was not......why do I have such a sensitive stomach? I also tried their desert - fried blueberry ravioli. Very good but I've had better - won't get it again.

I didn't really have dinner. I'm very proud that I've been able to resist the remaining 5 delicious cupcakes. All there ingredients are neutral for us but having a cupcake late at night when you're not exercising is a definite no-no. (And I'm sure the frosting alone outdoes the weekly allowed sugar intake....) I've promised myself I can have one tomorrow morning. So, I'm munching on edamame and had a slice of yogurt cheese instead. I have also had 3 cups of peppermint tea to help my digestion through out the day (darn cream dip!!!) and 100% cranberry/grape juice when I got home this afternoon.

All in all, I need to:

1 - eat more vegetables

2 - stay away from vinegar and

3 - try really hard to not miss my morning lemon.

This is only the 2nd time in 2 months I missed it so, I think I'm on the right track. Even though hardly anything was beneficial today, I'm happy because I'm making smarter choices about what I'm eating, even if they are limited. What if I had peking duck with an avocado for lunch instead? Or some chili at the bar made with kidney beans? Or those delicious chicken wings!!!! What if I ate half the candies/Doritios/cheezy poofs that were offered to me today? But I didn't. One has to remember that these are accomplishments too.