"I'm not fat, there's just more of me to love." "I'm not fat, I'm fluffy." These are just two of the many lines I've given myself over my lifetime. Sometimes I've been overly hard, but, truth be told, the dial on the scale has been creeping up on me over the past few years. While I've always yo-yo-ed a bit, since starting grad school just over 3 years ago I have slowly but surely gained about 15 lbs. I'm an adult, I can control what I do with my body (unless I've had too much to drink) and I understand the fairly basic math of calories in minus energy expended = weight. So, in that light, I've been trying to take a more moderate approach to food and couple it with increased exercise. The problem is that I'm thwarted at every step! I make a healthy, fiber and protein rich whole-wheat pasta dish, and look what jumps out and smacks me in the thighs. I love ice cream, but usually I'm a Ben & Jerry's devotee. Haagen-Dazs really isn't my thing (I could go on and on about ravines of chocolate versus swirls and whole cookies versus chocolate chips - I don't like cold chunks of chocolate in my ice cream, they become too matted into the surface of my teeth - but that's not so important right now), although, like B&J, it comes in it's own hand held cardboard bowl that I really enjoy. But last week while my local heinously over-priced Gristedes, I saw this little beacon of joy and puggy-dom gleaming behind the frosted glass. It's a special edition "Sticky Toffee Pudding" flavor. S.T.P. STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING!!! Can we think of anything more delicious? Being a shameless Anglophile made it that much more irresistable. Fortunately, I polished off the pint last night so that I could get back to my more health-conscious ways...