Sunday Night Ice Cream
On Sunday nights my neighbors and I have a bit of a tradition. At 10 p.m. we watch Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on HBO and then directly after that we watch “Breaking Bad.”
I highly, highly recommend both shows, and I frequently have Larry David moments in my life. In fact, just the other day I was on line in the grocery store in the “5 Items or Less” lane, and a woman was ringing up over $200 worth of groceries. It felt like a scene in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and I turned to the customer behind me and said, “I’m having a Larry David moment,” and the entire line laughed. I then said to the woman with all of the items, “You know, if I was Larry David, this wouldn’t be going so well for you.” [expand]
She didn’t say anything back to me.
On Sunday, before the show, I make it a point to buy ice cream to eat while watching the show. My favorite brand of ice cream is Haagen–Dazs and my second favorite brand is Breyers. I usually get Breyers because it is cheaper, but Waldbaum’s in Southampton was having a sale on Haagen-Dazs where you could get two pints for $6. And so, I bought a pint of chocolate chip and a pint of blueberry cobbler, which I have never tried and is a new flavor and is a limited edition.
I got to my neighbor’s house and started digging into the blueberry cobbler, and to be honest, was slightly disappointed. The ice cream might as well have been sorbet because it tasted so fruity, but I went with it and before I knew it, had eaten the entire pint. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” was just ending.
I was feeling really full, but I was also very disappointed with what I had just eaten and decided that I would have just a taste of the chocolate chip ice cream. Twenty minutes later, I had gone through that entire pint and too be quite honest, had a slight stomachache. I can eat a pint of ice cream pretty easily, but two pints? That was pushing my luck. I ate so much ice cream Sunday night that while eating it, I stopped tasting the flavor of it, I was just going through the motions of it.
I think that out of all the bad-for-you snacks that you can eat, ice cream is by far the healthiest. It’s basically just milk and sugar, and if you compare it to potato chips or a bowl of heavy pasta, I’d take ice cream any day. First of all, it tastes better than anything else, and second of all, it’s high in calcium and is also more filling than bread-based snacks.
But two pints is just too much.
Overnight, I gained four pounds, didn’t want to get out of bed, and felt like I had been beaten up by somebody. I literally felt sore, and could barely open my eyes, and everybody at work asked me if I went out partying all night and had too much to drink. “I’m hung over from eating too much ice cream,” I said.
It truly is amazing the relationship between what we eat and our health. One of the most important things you can do for yourself is pay attention to what you eat, and to not eat too much junk. A diet of mostly fruits and vegetables that is limited on everything else is what is best in my opinion. What you eat affects your mood, your energy level, your ability to think clearly, your ability to play sports and workout, and of course your weight. It’s amazing to me.
I don’t think I ever want to have another cup of ice cream for the rest of my life, or at the very least, a full three hours.