• Day 229: Panic in Dukan Park

    Date: 2010.10.08 | Category: Uncategorized | Tags:

    Day 4 of the Dukan diet is coming to a close and while I feel good right now, it’s been a day on the edge.   There was no sign of the energy and euphoria I felt on the second day of this diet.

    Today I got up and then spent 45 minutes on the sofa contemplating how I needed to buy groceries so I’d have some more food (read:  protein and only protein) to continue this diet.

    But getting up off the couch – never mind washing, dressing and walking out the door – seemed an overwhelming proposition.

    At the same time, as I found out when a friend called, I talked so fast he could barely understand me.

    Life without carbs, it turns out, makes one as jittery and hyped-up as a tweaker from Fresno.

    I ate my morning yogurt with oat bran, and then made the pilgrimage to Monoprix to buy supplies.  Never a great idea to stroll the supermarket aisles while, basically starving.

    Then it began.  I could only find smoked salmon so asked a cashier if there was any fresh salmon.

    She looked annoyed and waved over to the smoked salmon.

    “Tous qu’on a est la-bas.” Whatever salmon we have is over there.  And like, don’t bother me with more dumb questions.

    I really didn’t like her Frenchitude.  Normally, it’s something that rolls off me.  Not today.

    I got home and began working on a story about the horrible toxic sludge spill in Hungary.  The head of the environmental committee in Hungary’s Parliament told me that the fast-moving red sludge, which has killed 7 people and injured 150 people so far, looks like something out of a “movie about Martians.”

    I also spoke to a scientist with Hungary’s most powerful environmental group.  He was so bright that he spoke English faster than I do but our connection was not good and it was difficult to understand him.  I felt like snapping at him – this guy dealing with Hungary’s worst ecological disaster in history.

    Fortunately, I managed to remain pleasant, but it was an effort.

    It was even more difficult when I was writing the piece – and was trying to figure out the area involved in the spill based on different accounts from different sources.  Mathematics is not my strong suit on the best days, but please don’t expect me to elegantly translate square kilometers and hectares into American English when under the influence of the Dukan diet.

    On Day 1, I just wanted to make it to Day 2.  Now that I am finishing Day 4,  I just want to get a week in the bank.

    I have a lot in front of me.  As I’ve said to one friend and one cousin who I want to do this diet with me, I believe it’s now or never.

    Do you know the point at which you realize you probably have one chance to reverse something and get back to who you were – or you’ll never have that chance again?

    This is it.

    Then again, if if I fell off the wagon tonight and stuffed myself with a piping hot pizza reine and a dessert of puff pastry with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce (better known as profiteroles), I should only be grateful I didn’t lose my home and my village to a frightening wave of toxic sludge that has ruined some lives forever.

    Köszönöm,