Wednesday, May 10, 2006

The ABC of Dieting

A B C

Created entirely digitally in Painter IX



Jim, my husband, is vegetarian (no meat or fish). He thought he might spend most of a month where on each day he only ate things that began with the letter for that day. (He was wondering about doing this in December so he can cheat on X and have Xmas Cake, Xmas pudding and maybe even Xmas Dinner all on Christmas Eve.)

The diet starts well.

On the first day he gets: apples, apricots, artichokes, asparagus, ackee, almonds, aubergine (unless he decides to call it egg-plant and eat it on E-day).

On the second day he gets: bananas, beans, beets, broccoli, Brie, bread, butter (but no bacon, remember he is vegetarian).

On the third day he gets: carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, cress, corn chips, cheddar cheese (but not cabbage or celery because he doesn't care for them).

And then comes D-day and all he can find are: dates and damsons

Can anyone help?

29 comments:

kyknoord said...

How about Delicious vegetarian pizza? No? Well, can't blame a guy for trying.

Caroline said...

Kyknoord - I'm sure if he is ever mad enough to actually persue this idea he'll be accepting anything delicious by day 4.

Anonymous said...

Dessert. Ohhhhh ...

andrea said...

Dill pickles! Don't Do Diet anything, though -- artificial sweeteners are the Devil's Dangerous Dirtywork, Dear. You Dig? (And you must visit the comments to my latest entry. I believe LDahl's was meant for you, not me! -- but I didn't get that until I read your post just now.)

Anonymous said...

Dessert is good. I'm surprised he didn't think of that one!

How about dandelion greens? It's very veggie...

Mike said...

Anything made from durum wheat! He can have a full day of pasta :)

Mike said...

And I see he does Dairy products. What about Deviled eggs?

Caroline said...

Anonymous - are you the Anonymous or just someone who is anonymous? Dessert is a category rather than a food but I expect if he is mad enough to try this he'll be glad to to accept one.

Andrea - I'm sure Dill pickles will be a welcome addition thank you, though probably he'll only consider dill to really fit under D! (I'll check out your blog soon)

Nan - dessert isn't a food its more of an experience isn't it? Dandelion veggies? I think he should definitely put those on his list - I doubt he's ever eaten them.

Viking - Durum wheat - tee hee he'll have to make his pasta from scratch for it to count won't he! Unfortunately he doesn't like eggs much... though he'll put them into things... thanks for going in.

Caroline said...

Ldahl (via Andrea's blog) - Doughnuts are a brilliant idea - thank you.

Reluctant Nomad said...

demerara sugar? Digitalis (oops, maybe not!), Dill-flavoured other vegetables, dwarf beans.

Do we have to stick to English?

Caroline said...

Reluctant Nomad - what other languages did you have in mind?

Reluctant Nomad said...

Oh, I don't know...any language that has lots of veggies and fruits starting with D. :-)

I speak two others but can't think of anything appropriate starting with D in them.

Caroline said...

Reluctant Nomad - that's very helpful... thank you ;-)

Laini Taylor said...

Is he really doing that? That's so funny -- it makes me think of subplots I've seen on TV shows where young children will only eat food of a particular color! What a strange and fanciful notion. "D" food... wow, that's tricky. I can't think of anything but the abovementioned tasty delicacies!

Caroline said...

Laini - he is talking of doing so but as he is currently planning it for Decemeber I expect (and hope) that he's fogotten about it by then. I did suggest that he just tried introducing a new food each day and worked through the alphabet that way...

Cream said...

Caro, what a fantastic diet!

Hey for D, Jim could have Dry pasta, dry bread, dry apricots...
Hahaha!
Today, I shall be eating mostly dry stuff!

Unknown said...

Fun charming illo!

Cate said...

Such fun! My contributions were already taken--dandelion greens and dill pickles. Let's see what else . . . Doritoes, dip, danishes, and devil's food cake. Sorry--that's all I can come up with!

Great illustration, too!

Joy Eliz said...

I thought about it...All I can come up with is the standard...
Doritos
Doughnuts
Ding Dongs

Mmmm Deeeelicious!

so what did Jim end up eating?

Caroline said...

Cream - today I shall be drinking mostly dry stuff!

Alina - thanks!

Cate - Devil's food cake is that choclatey one isn't it... sounds good.

Joy Eliz - what are "Ding Dongs"? He tells me that he thinks Dumplings would be the ideal D-food.

meghan said...

Hi there - I think you could probably publish that diet (or at least the poster) and make your fortune!! My suggestions? Devilled Eggs (do you have those over here? You'd have to look up the recipe!)

Caroline said...

Megg - thanks ;-) - devilled eggs sound like something I'd enjoy but Jim doesn't like eggs that are too eggy... I know picky, picky!

Patry Francis said...

Dumplings are the first thing that comes to mind. I'm not quite sure what a dumpling is, but it sounds delicious.

TheTart said...

OK I am trying not to look up, soooo here goes ....

D ~ Dutch chocolate, Double dips of chocolate ice cream or gelato, Dipped Chocolate Cherries (combo day 3 & 4) or Death by Chocolate ice cream (Ben & Jerry's I think?) . Mmm, bit of a trend here ... I was trying to be creative.

Chocolate smooch,
The Tart
; )

susanlavonne said...

I love a challenge and this one was driving me a bit Delirious until I found the following website that provides recipes as well as ideas for D foods!
http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/18/d-delicious-all-day-long-at-slashfood
(I am avoiding the task of cleaning my studio so thanks for the short D-version :-)

Dave said...

We have an old recipe book bought from a charity shop thats great fun as it takes ages to find a recipe you have used. Its indexed like, "Interesting supper dish". So using this method he can really have what he likes.

Caroline said...

Jocelyn - sounds like a death dip of chocolate - yum! Chocolate smooch back to you.

Susanlavonne - thinking about food is a great way of avoiding cleaning isn't it? Thanks for the reference.

Davem - sounds like the perfect recipe book for him! Of course you could write a book and all the recipe's could be called Dave's Dish of the Day etc. which would help a lot. ;-)

Scott said...

Wow, lots of posts already and a very interesting dieting concept! I'm glad I found it. I just recently posted an article on my blog that you might be interested in. It's called "The Case Against Dieting: 7 Steps to Lifestyle Change." You can find it at http://diets-dont-work.blogspot.com. Please feel free to let me know what you think!

Cheers,

Scott

Caroline said...

Scott - I'm not interested in real diets thanks. I already know they don't work and am able to work out what I need to eat for myself.