Let them eat cake

       Let Them Eat Cake is an often misquoted statement that Marie Antoinette said when asked what to do with the starving masses in France. In a movie I saw it portrayed as though she had so much cake laying around her house from partying that she figured , well, cake is food isn't it. Which brings me to this cake is food. It is the highlight of most parties. People don't stay at the party just to see someone make a drunken fool of themselves, dancing with the lamp shade on their head. Actually, sometimes that can be the best part. But most people hang around for some of that cake. Birthday cake used to be a two layered 8'. Now they are huge. Wedding cake bakers make enormous amounts of money selling the towering inferno of cakes. There are even shows on TV all about crews that make the most elaborate cakes you have ever seen. That being said, there will always be cake in our lives.
       Last weekend , I went to the bridal shower of my beautiful niece. I consider this kind of party a DANGER. Why? Because guests just sit around and eat and talk and eat and drink and eat and open presents and eat. It was a family affair so someone made a giant pan of ziti in bolongnese. There was a pan of Jamaican beef patties(my son Jake finished those off by himself). There was shrimp cocktail. You cannot go wrong with a couple of shrimp. I ate a couple of shrimp but I was leary of eating any thing else. Just as I finished my second bottle of water , a goddess appeared bearing a large platter of cut fruit. I have never been so happy to see fruit in all of my life. I got up and made myself a plate with sliced pineapple, whole strawberries, kiwi, orange slices, blueberries and melon. It felt so good to munch on fruit instead of chips. I was on a natural sugar high. Not long after that, another goddess unveiled a tossed salad. I leaped from my seat to refill my plate; this time half salad and half with fruit.
     We played all the bridal shower games and the bride opened her presents. The maid of honor had planned this party to be a tea party. At the end of the party what should appear but cups of tea and three tiered platters of petit fours. These horrible gremlins were laid right in front of me on the table. I thought of the wonderful fruit that I stuck to eating and the wonderful salad. But then I thought should life going on without a little cake in it. Well, should it????? No it should not. I had to teach myself that you should allow desserts in your life once and a while. Weight Watchers has taught me to eat better and make better choices so allowing the piece of cake or petit fours is a good thing . Let's see what the good behaviors I followed that day;
*I got up early and walk/jog combination 4 miles
*at the party I avoided filling up on higher calorie foods even though they looked good
* when given the option, I went for the fruit platter
* I avoided the mayo based potato salad and opted for a tossed salad with a little dressing on the side
*I moved around as offten as possible. I even helped my son walk a party guest's dog around the neighborhood
*I had the dessert and it was delicious and I did not suffer guilt because I followed my plan
       Sometimes you have to remember that food really is not secretly plotting to make you do the wrong thing. Once and a while you're going to have a craving for a comfort food that is outside of your comfort zone. But if you have been following your plan, being honest in your journaling and helping your body become healthier, then you can let yourself eat cake.