Setting healthy boundaries for yourself is essential to self-care and inner peace. It’s not just a question of knowing thyself; it’s a question of knowing when to say no when your competitively stubborn dark side attempts a hostile takeover. Just recently I was able to avoid a potentially dangerous situation at Cafasso’s Fairway Market in Ft. Lee, New Jersey. If you’ve never been, it’s a family-owned grocery store that boasts an impressive section of prepared foods, fruits and veggies, cheeses, seafood, and homemade baked goods all at waaaay better than NYC prices. My whole family has been happily shopping there for eons.
While I was stacking up containers of their super fresh cilantro lime shrimp, cucumber salad, and simply grilled eggplant rounds, one of the chefs behind the counter ushered out a huge tray of piping hot seasoned waffle fries– my all-time favorite version of a potato. All those ridges seem to hold that spicy flavor like no other tuber iteration I’ve ever sampled. Plus they are crinkled and fun to eat. I like both the crispy ones and the soggy ones. They are usually too big to dip into a small ramekin of any kind, so thank goodness those taters taste terrific just the way they are. Let’s face it– waffle fries are particularly spectacular as a side food or snack. The only downside is that they are deep fried, a million calories per bite, and incredibly unhealthy. So there’s THAT. And that downside would be a steep tumble for someone in my current careful calorie counting condition.
Anyway, right there in front of the baked Alaskan salmon, chickpea salad, and gently fried vegetable dumplings, I was forced to have a fairly aggressive conversation with myself. Basically it was a loud five-word warning consisting of, “Step away from the fries.” First my mouth watered. Then my eyes watered. So grocery basket in hand, head hung low, I left the area and headed for the checkout line.
After I loaded my healthy options into the trunk, I sat in the safety of my car and took a deep cleansing breath. The old me had the unspoken policy of No Fry Left Behind. The new and improved me has become just too disciplined to allow deep fried friends to infiltrate my otherwise smart choices. Once the fry floodgates are opened, it could spell disaster in the form of completely falling off the wagon– a fall that would contain catastrophic disappointment for me. So it’s not going to happen.
I’m happy to report that the cilantro shrimp was incredible over a big salad and the eggplant rounds were tender and delish. I also picked up some gorgeous tomatoes, house made Tzatziki, grilled lemon chicken, super ripe watermelon, roasted broccolini and a few boxes of those Yasso yogurt bars that I’m obsessed with. Yum.
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