Completely off topic: Help Find Lauren Spierer

Lauren Spierer, 20, was last seen around 4:30 a.m., 6/3 near the intersection of College Avenue & 11th St. • Info to Bloomington police: 812-339-4477 • #FindLauren • For anonymous tips call: 800-CRIME-TV • http://Findlauren.com/ • We encourage you to RT: "20 yr. old student, missing since 6/3, HELP #FindLauren, http://twitpic.com/5b16w5, follow @NewsOnLaurenS"

As you can all tell, the diet blog has ended, but I checked my stats and people are still visiting this site so I figured I would try to help -- in some small way -- by writing about a missing Indiana University student in Bloomington, Indiana.

I have never met Lauren Spierer. I have come into contact with her parents, and I can say that they are warm, caring people. It hurts to think that someone knows where Lauren is but won't tell authorities. I know college "kids" can do stupid things, as I had my share of stupid incidents during my undergraduate years. I think the reason it is hard to shake this story from my mind comes down to how lucky I -- and others I have talked to -- feel. How many times in college did I walk a few blocks home in the middle of the night? Many. I know I never thought walking a few blocks from my friends' dorm to my dorm was dangerous. Nor did I think that fellow students I'd known for a few weeks or months would do me any harm when I slept on their couches. I am sure it is that way with many college students. I wish we could convince them to be more careful. I hope that Lauren's disappearance hits home -- hard -- with teenagers today. Be there for your friends, and before you do anything risky, think twice. No, think three times.

When a former co-worker asked me to be her son's Godmother, I agreed. At her baby shower, her friends passed out cards with different ages on the top, and they asked everyone to write a note to the child at the age on the card. I remember writing to the future 18-year-old boy that I hoped he would go to college, and if he should decide that was the right step that he would be smart about the choices he made in college. It is so easy to see how naive we were when we have been out of college for more than 10 years! At 18, it is hard to listen to the sage advice of our parents or other adults. It is also hard to realize that one decision could change your life forever.

Like thousands of others, I want Lauren Spierer to be found. I want her family's anguish to end. You can see the sadness on the faces of her parents. Stepping forward with information was always the right thing to do, and it is not too late. I hope someone calls the police soon with information that will end the family's torment.

And if you live in Bloomington, keep your eyes open for Lauren. She is everywhere. You can find more information on the NewsOnLaurenS website or follow @NewsonLauren on Twitter.

Day Thirty-One: Orange Creme Bar is a Hit and a Miss

Orange Creme Bar from Nutrisystem

It's safe to say that after a month on this diet, Husband and I are a bit tired of it. I'm dying to eat whole food rather than processed meals all day. We trudged along halfheartedly on Saturday. I made Fiber One pancakes for breakfast (half as many as we normally have), and we actually used syrup! I used light syrup, and I left it out for Husband so hopefully he had it too instead of his usual pure maple syrup.

Today was a long day of work in the yard, but the pancakes kept me full until lunch at 1 p.m. We worked off a lot of calories, so we were starving by dinner time. We ate our leftover pizza for dinner, and I made cabbage (they don't go together well, but that was all that we had left in the house).

After eating dinner, we decided to go grocery shopping to restock our supply of produce and protein. The trip did not take long, and we stopped on the way home for dessert from our favorite shop that has non-fat, low cal, no carb, no milk soft serve ice cream. That hit the spot! We didn't let our eating slip out of control by devouring too much food so maybe we're both growing accustomed to controlling our cravings.

We've been having Weight Watcher ice cream bars or CarboLite for dessert lately. The Nutrisystem ice cream selection leaves something to be desired. They send everyone the same ice cream orders, so we ended up with several Orange Creme Bars. Husband and I are not enticed by fruit ice cream, so I gave my parents one each when they last visited. My mom really liked it! She is so lucky because I recognized how much she liked them and decided to save all the other Orange Creme Bars left in the freezer for her!

Day Thirty: Out of Control Friday!

Classic Sicilian pizza has sauce on top

It's finally Friday, and I had to go without meat again. I was prepared this time with a cheese tortellini Nutrisystem lunch (I've had many of these from my first order). It was fine, and I was not too hungry in the afternoon.

Husband and I were both exhausted from a very busy work week so we went out to dinner for our one "splurge of the week" (this helps us maintain our sanity). We went to Mother Bear's Pizza where we had a special – one large one topping pizza (deep dish) with a house salad and bread sticks. We were good though because we did not eat all of the pizza. We took home four slices of pizza (I had pineapple and he had chicken sausage).

We were both fine the rest of the night. Maybe we need pizza to keep us full. Is there a pizza diet out there? Surely there must be one.

Day Twenty-Nine: Weigh-in Day

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bar

This is the day I've been dreading all week because even though I've been "good," I had a few rough spots in the last week (like getting nonfat frozen yogurt and then topping it off with Oreo cookies and chocolate sauce and maybe a few cookie dough bites). Husband wasn't too eager about getting on the scale either because he had some "fun" times on his weekend adventure. However, we both maintained our weight for the week, so we were both happy.

I tried the Nutrisystem Peanut Butter and Jelly Bar for lunch. It's one bar with a lot of calories (210 calories, 8 grams of fat, and 12 grams of protein) and protein to keep you full. The photo is from the Nutrisystem web site, but my bar looked just like this one on the inside. It tasted fine. I cannot say the peanut butter was fantastic. However, it was not bad, and it would be good for someone who never has time to eat lunch. The bar is about 2 inches shorter than my mechanical pencil, and as you can see it's not very thick. I have one more at home, and I wonder if Husband wants to give it a try one day when he does not get time for lunch.

Dinner was another meal I'd had before -- cheese ravioli.

Today was fine. The real challenge, as always, will be the weekend.

Day Twenty-Eight: Fasting and Fish

Salmon sashimi -- Yum!

Today is Ash Wednesday, which means a day without eating meat and a day of fasting. I told Husband on the way to work this morning that if I fast anymore, I’ll be practically eating nothing. Unfortunately, the rules of Ash Wednesday don’t make me suffer as much as when I was a child and had to eat fish sticks or cooked fish. As an adult, I sometimes go a few days without eating meat. However, the fasting between meals is difficult for me, so that is how I will suffer and be challenged today.

When packing our lunches, I forgot about the no meat requirement so that means I have to go find healthy non-meat food. This means sushi because there is a sushi restaurant a block from my downtown office.

6:00 a.m. Status Update – I select one of the new breakfast cereals I've just received – bran flakes. The flakes are delicious, and it’s a good thing the cereal is already portioned out because I would’ve eaten half the box. This did not feel like much food.

10:05 a.m. Status Update – I’d like to eat something, but it’s not time yet.

11:14 a.m. Status Update – Starving and stomach is rumbling.

11:55 a.m. Status Update – Way past hungry. I've picked up my food, and I am going to eat.

12:15 p.m. Status Update – The sushi was excellent. I had salmon sashimi and a salmon roll with a seaweed salad. I also ate a yogurt, apple, and the Nutrisystem "dessert" bar since I cannot snack between meals. I hope I don't get hungry!

2:45 p.m. Status Update – Success! I’m not hungry yet.

6:00 p.m. Status Update – Husband is still working. I end up running errands after work, and I have to stop for dinner because I am shaking and faint. I get a 6-inch Subway Veggie Sub. It hit the spot! I can finish my errands now, and hopefully Husband finishes work soon.

By the time we got home tonight, Husband was about to fall over from starvation (we got home at 7:30 p.m.) I put together his dinner quickly, and before I know it I'm packing Thursday's lunches.

Day Twenty-Seven: Pizza Party

Thick Crust Pizza

After getting home from work, my box of Nutrisystem meals was finally delivered! I tore the box open and found the one dinner I had been dying to try – Deep Dish Pizza. This is a ready-to-go meal so there is actual cheese inside the box. I'd like to know how the company keeps it from spoiling, but something tells me I am better off not knowing what they use to preserve it.


Back to the pizza...This is the first meal that has some assembly required. The crust is in an airtight wrapper, the sauce is in a separate packet, and the cheese is in another packet. Husband had not tried this dinner yet either, so he also opened his pizza meal and assembled his dinner while I put together huge salads. It was much easier to assemble the pizza than it was to wash, dry, and cut the lettuce.

We both agreed that the pizza tasted good. The cheese, unlike the frozen Nutrisystem pizzas, was visible. As you can see in the photo, the cheese actually ran over the edges of my pizza. The dough was somewhat thick. I think Husband was happier with his dough than I was because I had been hoping for a thick crust similar to those at Pizza Hut or Little Caesar's (pan pizza.....yum). I believe he gave me one of those looks when I told him about my expectations.


I'm definitely glad I ordered a few of these dinners because the pizza was filling, especially after we ate one head of lettuce (just plain romaine – nothing else in the salad).

Red Beans and Rice with Chicken Sausage

Dinner was much better than the lunch I ate. I cannot remember if I ordered more of the Red Beans and Rice with Chicken Sausage meals, but if I did I won't be eating that meal again any time soon. This meal tasted fine, but my digestive system did not like it. There are lots of black beans in the meal, some rice, and just a few chunks of turkey sausage (three pieces actually). The meal has a kick to it so it is not for those who dislike spicy food.

As you can see in the photo, the food is not very colorful (of course the box made it look much better). I ate cauliflower as my vegetable (it's in a light cheese sauce, which is why it looks orange). The rice and beans kept me full for a while, and I was not thinking about a snack until 3:45 p.m.

The meal made me very thirsty too. This is one big problem I've had with the Nutrisystem meals – too much sodium. The lunch meal I had today contained 580 milligrams of sodium! That's the downside to processed food. On the plus side, the extra salt makes me drink more water. However, since I'm not a fan of salt (I rarely use any), this is a huge drawback to the Nutrisystem diet, and it's certainly not good for Husband's health or mine. Just one more month go to though, and then we can dine on "normal" food.

Day Twenty-Six: Where is my Food?

My dinner: BBQ Sauce over Beef, Beans and Rice

This is the second month that Husband and I have had Nutrisystem, and it's the second month that something has gone wrong with the delivery of our food. Last month, our frozen foods were delivered late. Now, my 28-day supply of ready-to-go meals is late thanks again to UPS.

Husband received his food Friday. Both boxes were  shipped on the same day, March 2. On Friday, the UPS tracking information showed that my box of food would arrive Monday, March 7. When I got home from work, there was no box. I looked online, and UPS had goofed. They sent my box of food to Muncie, Indiana. So it will be re-routed to me with a new arrival date: March 8. This must be a sign!

I have been completely out of breakfast and snacks for days now. I only have a lunch left for Tuesday. I have several dinners still at least. I'm not sure if we're just "lucky" with having two delivery problems, or if this is typical. I'm guessing we were just lucky.

Anyway, I really hope to see that box on the front porch tomorrow so I can "pay back" Husband. I've already given him some ice cream to compensate for the "borrowed" desserts/snacks.

Chicken Quesadilla

Tonight's dinner was a new one for me. I'm not sure why I picked it other than for variety. However, it was good even if it looks awful in the photo. The BBQ sauce was sweet. The beans were good, and there were actual chunks of meat in the dish with plenty of sauce to spare. Aside from its unattractive appearance, this was a winner. I would like to know who takes the photos of the meals for the boxes though. How much "make-up" are these meals getting for Picture Day?

Lunch was also a win. I ate my last frozen lunch meal today. It was the Chicken Quesadilla. It was delicious! Also, it was not too small. I've felt like the frozen steak and chicken melts from Nutrisystem have had too much dough and not enough filling, but you can see from the photo that the filling is oozing out of the tortilla. I wish we could order the frozen foods à la carte because this would definitely be a lunch I'd order again.

Today I felt more hungry throughout the day, but I think it's because I had a few good foods (aka "real food") over the weekend. I think Tuesday will be a lot easier.

Day Twenty-Five: Back to Reality

Husband's dinner: Mac and Cheese with Beef

After a weekend of socializing, I figured that eating Nutrisystem food was going to be difficult today. I managed to survive by staying busy. I had 3 hours of errands to do plus grocery shopping to keep me busy and away from the temptations of the kitchen until Husband returned from his weekend trip. 

Husband and I had dinner after he came home. He tried the Macaroni and Cheese with Beef, which he said was much better than the plain Macaroni and Cheese. However, the noodles were still a tad crunchy, and the cheese sauce a bit thin. It was a fine meal, especially after we ate baked sweet potatoes for our vegetable. I'm going to have to find more "new" vegetables to eat with dinner. I'm thinking about leeks. Not sure what Husband will think of them.

I'm sure everyone is wondering how this diet works since all you see is a plate of warm Nutrisystem food on our plates. Well, on this plan the dieter has to add his or her own fresh fruits, vegetables, and dairy. Going to the grocery store is easier now because I mostly buy vegetables, fruit, and yogurt. I get to skip most of the isles in the middle of the store. However, we still spend the same amount of money at the grocery store most weeks.

Some weeks I buy OJ or cottage cheese, but mostly I buy salad, bell peppers, scallions, cabbage, sweet potatoes, and a variety of frozen veggies. We figured we'd come out even each month on the total cost of groceries (including our weekly trips for fresh food and our monthly shipment of Nutrisystem). After a full month of the diet, I am afraid we were mistaken. You still have to buy fruits and vegetables as well as dairy products. Also, some of the meals we get require a bun, which we also have to buy. One week we only spent $36 at the grocery store, but this past week we spent $128 because we were low on vegetables (completely out except for some salad).

Vegetables are the most expensive items in the grocery store aside from meat, and we're not even buying meat. We are so sick of lettuce (and we've been buying the kind you have to cut and wash yourself, not the bagged stuff) and green beans that I've tried to buy a variety of veggies that we like. My cart today had the following: Cabbage, red leaf lettuce, an onion, scallions, strawberries, blueberries, apples, bananas, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, cilantro, asparagus ($4.50 for a bunch!!!), 4 bags of frozen green beans, 1 bag of frozen Brussels sprouts, 4 bags of mixed vegetables, 3 bags of frozen strawberries, and 3 bags of cauliflower.

I also had to buy husband his carb requirements, which included a bag of whole grain English muffins (low fat) and a bag of bagel thins (also low fat and whole grain). I bought him one container of OJ (he gets a 1/2 cup a day, and he measures it!) and 2 containers of cottage cheese. I bought myself 5 Greek yogurts. I felt like I had the healthiest cart as I stood in line to pay for the food. The only "bad" item in the car was a box of Swiss Miss Sugar Free hot chocolate, which is an evening treat we sometimes enjoy.

Another view of Husband's dinner

Whenever we go to the grocery store we see signs posted by the store that apologize for the high produce prices. The signs blame the rising cost of fresh vegetables and fruit on the weather. I've been reading articles about food prices, and one article stated that while processed food prices remain stable, the cost of fresh produce continues to rise. Another article said,  that consumers — "already stung by higher prices for gasoline" — will be adding bread, cereal, meat, vegetable oil and other groceries to the list of products that will be rising in price. The USDA revealed in today's New York Daily News that fresh vegetable prices have jumped 24% this year. The article explains that tomato prices have gone up 24% compared with last winter, broccoli prices jumped 73% and lettuce is up 221%.

Maybe we need to plant a garden? That sounds like a lot of work, and I'm not ready to wage battle against the deer, rabbits, squirrels, and raccoons that are already eating our hostas. I also don't think we could plant a garden in our yard because there is no where to put one. Maybe we should sign up for the Influenza Diet — it's low effort, low cost, and lots of sleep!