My mother always told me that there were three parts to a person: a mental part, a spiritual part, and a physical part. In order to be truly happy, you had to take care of all three. My problem, she told me once, was that I had taken great pains to build up my mental and spirital parts, but had neglected the physical. No more Mom, no more. 2010 is the year I finally strike a balance. This is my New Year’s Resolution. There will be more about the “spiritual” and “mental” parts later, but today, I’ll tell you about the “physical” part of this.

Here I am, January 5th, and despite my best efforts not to gain weight over christmas, new years, and a fabulous vacation in Colonial Williamsburg… my clothes are tight.

Yesterday, when I stepped into Borders, I was ambushed by hundreds of diet books. I wasn’t actually looking for any, as I’ve tried a bazillion weight loss methods over the course of my life (beginning in 4th grade), and have become completly jaded about the whole concept. However, I did see a book called The Mediterranean Diet, which caught my attention. Being raised in an Italian family full of people that struggle with weight management, I have my doubts about eating “mediterranean”.  As expected, the book preached the goodness of olive oil and wine, minimal amounts of butter and potatoes, you get the idea. Nothing we haven’t heard before.

However…. I was intrigued. My dad had mentioned something once about eating for your bloodtype, something about different genetic types requiring different types of food. Being mostly Italian, maybe eating more like my ancestors could be a good thing.

I haven’t bought the book (yet), but I have been newly inpired. I normally work out daily anyways, but now I’m going to try a slightly different way of eating. I’ve always been scared of strict weight loss methods, and lose interest long before progress is made. So I’ve decided, this time, I’m not going to be strict about it. I’m going to try being nonchalant about a few dietary changes (such as more salads and less bread), but I’m not going to go nuts like the time I nearly developed an eating disorder and lost 20 pounds in 4 weeks.  Today, for example, I had coffee for breakfast and a salad for lunch, but I alowed myself some bittersweet chocolate to go with it. Still way under my daily calorie goal, but feeling satisfied as well.

I’m going to keep a record of all of this on my iPod, and I’ll let you know what happens to me over the coming weeks. So far, mathematically speaking, I should lose 25 pounds by April 30.

My biggest problem is snacking. Keeping in mind that I really don’t really like apples and carrots, does anyone know of any good snack options that won’t kill my calorie goal?