Went to celebrate a friend's birthday at Mama's Food Shop in the East Village yesterday.

The indulgent concept is this: for eight bucks, you get a choice of meat and a side, or three sides. The giant plate comes loaded down with food, and you generally can't finish.

I watched my friends gradually go through the food line and return with all the stuff I used to live on: mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, etc. When my turn came, I was drooling to try the grilled salmon, and after eyeballing the zucchini asked how it was prepared: olive oil and spices, sauteed. Perfect. I had a brilliantly low-carb, delicious restaurant meal on my plate.

I returned to the table and watched as all my friends progressed to complaining of bloating, over-eating, sleepiness, etc. For my part, I ate the salmon and about half the zucchini, felt saturated and healthy, and no sleepiness!

I was the only one who came out feeling like I'd eaten well.

Then we went to the bar, where I survived on low-carb liquors. Lovely.

I am going to turn into such a low-carb Nazi... I'm trying to hold it in, but it's hard! And at the same time, I'm getting more male attention than I've gotten in years. And all these aforementioned friends do see the change.

Good for you ! Bet it felt so good to make such a great choice! And not feel depreived, but far more wiser then the rest!

It's hard to not say things, like at Lunch time at work yesterday, after eating with 2 others who had a mountain of carbs.................... come afternoon coffee break.............. guess who was yawning and complaining they were not going to make it throught rest of the day....LOL

Kathy