Singing for a smaller me

Last night, the hubby and I watched the Travel Channel. It seemed like the theme of the day was "Extreme . . .", extreme terror rides, extreme waterparks, extreme resorts, etc. As we were getting ready to head off to bed, another Extreme show came on: Extreme Pig-outs. Amused, we decided to settle down and watch for a little while.

It was digusting, yet strangely fascinating. Starting the tour was a restaurant that's main attraction is 6-lb burger, but goes all the way up to a 62-lb burger. Umm, gross! The gastronomic delights/horrors continued from there featuring Ben and Jerry's Vermonster, super-sized pancakes, deep fried twinkies, a 54-inch square pizza, burritos the size of a newborn, and an eatery called the "Heart Attack Grill" (and several others). Frankly, by the time they reached the 54-inch square pizza, my stomach was turning and I headed off to bed. Looking back on it today, I'm still seriously grossed out.

Please tell me what this sick fascination is with artery-clogging and teeth-rotting foods! Yes, a number of these places intend these menu items to be eaten by more than one person, but there are still other people that look at these foods as a challenge: Can I eat 62 lbs of beef? Can I scarf down a 54-inch square pizza? Even deep in the worst of my food obsession I knew that that was ridiculous!!! But these restaurants thrive on our unhealthy fixation with foods we shouldn't even contemplate eating.

It makes me so angry.

Moving on.

Some time ago, I read about the Green Monster Movement, and promptly forgot about it until it was brought up last week in one of the blogs I follow. At its simplest, a Green Monster is a blended smoothie of spinach or kale, some type of milk, fruits, and so on. I was intrigued by the idea of getting so many fruits and vegetables in one tasty smoothie, but the skeptic in me said, "yeah, sure, you can't taste the spinach in those smoothies. . . and I'm the freaking Queen of England".

This weekend, I bit the bullet and made my first Green Monster. What a pleasant surprise! Two big handfuls of spinach, a cup of milk, a cup of frozen strawberries, and half a cup of frozen blueberries later, I had a delicious, filling and healthy smoothie with three and a half servings of fruits and vegetables in one fell swoop. Needless to say, I'm a convert. Now I just have to clear a space on the kitchen counter to keep my blender.

What a gulf exists between these two: Extreme pig-outs to Green Monsters. I'm proud to say the Green Monster appeals to me way more than a 6-lb burger. It means I'm going in the right direction and will keep on heading in that direction.