As I mentioned earlier, I went on the South Beach Diet about a month or so ago. The short story is that it really does work. I lost a lot of weight quickly (about 10 pounds in the first couple of weeks) and I think that I’ll be able to keep it off. I like seeing how many more vegetables I’m eating, and learning some new recipes. But it requires what feels like a cultural change—like moving to another country.

Food is a big part of life. We eat about three times a day, and the ingredients that make up our food are, in a way, part of our landscape. When I went onto the South Beach Diet, the landscape changed. The staples are different: instead of grabbing an extra loaf of bread at the store I’m grabbing an extra bag of mixed greens. I go through onions and bell peppers now instead of apples and bananas. All the new foods and recipes have the same set of new ingredients in common, but it’s a new set. The main kitchen smell is different. I’m in a different place.

Learning how to cook all of these new recipes was a challenge, too, and I knew it would be. The first week especially felt like having to meet 2 or 3 project deadlines a day. The only reason I had the courage to undertake this diet at all was that I believed that these new meals would become easier with practice, and change from being center stage to background scenery. This has happened with several meals already, and I enjoy discovering that I can put together Savory Chicken Sauté now while carrying on a conversation or hassling the kids about their homework.

I keep reminding myself that this is a permanent move. A part of me is tempted to hit my target weight and then say, “that was fun”, and relegate it to my portfolio of Things I Can Do But Don’t Do Anymore. That won’t work here. I want to make sure that I’m in this new country as a naturalized citizen and not on a tourist visa.