Watch Sandy Candy and Hurricane Weight Gain

Wind? Rain? How about weight gain?

*Please note this was written before Sandy devastated the area, I would never make light of what's happening in our city. 
I would guess that, aside from water, our family could survive for a month with the items in our pantry, fridge and fruit bowl. Obviously, a loss of power would change those calculations. This knowledge didn’t stop me from hitting the grocery store. I felt compelled to get another bunch of bananas, milk (we had a ½ gallon and a spare), eggs, Mast Brothers dark chocolate with sea salt, you know “just in case”.  I was housebound during flooding in New Orleans, back in college, with carrots, tomato paste, ground coffee (not that interesting when there’s no water) and uncooked brown rice. Though I survived, it wasn’t fun. Clearly, I am not alone in my unfounded food panic Westside Rag reported a run on bagels, pasta, turkey burgers and scallions (scallions.. are people smoking them or something?). 

We are not in a low-lying area or “Zone A” so my Hurricane Sandy fear is not the legitimate concern for our home or property. We are not getting evacuated. If we were I’d be attending to all the goes along with that. Instead, I have the luxury of bitching about school being closed, my workday scrapped and hours upon hours housebound and sedentary. The idea of this makes my skin crawl. And compounding this there’s another source of anxiety, what will my cooped up clients be eating?  I want to grab the microphone away from reporters in windbreakers near beaches and scream "everyone knows that beaches during storms are unsafe, what about kitchens?" In the event that you’re inside contemplating cake or Halloween candy, some dietary sandbags:

Plan your food for the day.

It’s easy to use food to pass the time; however, if you’re less active and eat more you will roll your way into Halloween. You see where this is going. Make yourself a menu for the day. Maybe use up some perishable items or cook something healthy. Warning: cookie baking may lead to "storm surge" in unexpected places.

Juice

If you own a juicer, while you still have power, use the veggies you have lying around in a juice. Washing and cutting takes some time (you have plenty) and you’ll be able to start your Sandy day on a healthy note.

Don’t raid the pantry, organize it.

If you’re in the house for the foreseeable future and any of your shelf contents are unappealing, they will always be unappealing. Use the time inside to gather up giveaway items.

Carve

Do you have that pumpkin sitting around uncarved? Carolyn informed me pumpkins were sold out at Whole Foods yesterday so some of you snagged them. Maybe some Sandy-inspired art? While you’re at it, roast the seeds. What else do you have to do?

Dance

I’m the type who needs to move or I’m unpleasant to be around (my husband would likely have a different adjective than"unpleasant"). I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to risk my life to get to Flywheel at the JCC tomorrow (with a bike dangerously located near a window) but I will have a family dance party or we’ll shoot some hoops in my son’s room and I may even use some of the purged cans (hearts of palm that predate my children) for hand weights. Our intern Katelynn plans to embrace elevator-less-ness and she lives on the 19^th floor.

And when all else fails shop

We might not be able to get our Sandy Special to you during the storm but we can at least provide a light at the end of the hurricane.

Let’s have some fun with this.

As always you can #TIDEI (tweet it don’t eat it) if you’re tempted to eat any unnecessary Sandy snacks.

Post on our Facebook page how you’re “working out” during the storm. I welcome creativity but keep it PG rated (do what you want but just don’t tell me about some workouts) 

At the end of the day, Sandy may lead to a lot of devastastation; she doesn’t need to make you fat.

If you went to the grocery store before a storm, what would your essentials include? Why do you think we’re tempted to eat when stuck inside? Any idea about the scallion appeal?