Good Carbs & Bad Carbs

For a couple of years now, I have been focusing on “good carbs and bad carbs”—mostly removing them from my life in hopes that they will remove the little extra ‘muffin top’ around my middle! For example, I LOVE white rice (it’s in my genes), but I have become a fan of brown rice and crushed steamed cauliflower—which, if you don’t look too closely, can double for mushy white rice. My mom, who is the connoisseur of rice making, begs to differ with my comparison of the two. In her mind, cauliflower will never be Japanese white rice—Chinese white rice, maybe, but never Japanese…

My anti-carb campaign has been successful to the point that I have even indoctrinated my kids! Sandwiches with whole grains, whole wheat French Toast etc. etc. But it came to bite me in the ‘muffin top’ during the Jake’s church class on Sunday. The children’s class leader—who is also a good friend-- was teaching a lesson on things we can eat that will make our bodies healthy or unhealthy. Kids would come up to the front of the room, pick a card with a picture of food or drink on it, and tell the class whether it was good or bad for your bodies. First few kids go up and it goes something like this… “Peaches?”—Good for you! “Eggs”---Good for you! “Cigarettes?”—Bad for you! So then a little boy goes up to draw a card and low and behold, he draws a picture of freshly baked dinner rolls—white dinner rolls. Jake says “Rolls—These are Bad for you! Because of all of the bad carbs in white bread! You shouldn’t eat these.” All of the kids were laughing at him...He had no clue what was so funny.

So today, I offered a concession to my children who have been deprived of eating PB&J’s on soft, fluffy Wonder Bread or burritos made with flour tortillas. I baked white rolls for them for their after school snack—and they ate every last one!

And yes, I cheated—I too ate a roll and I LOVED EVERY BITE.

Long live the muffin top...