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This is a short little tale about my experience with a hotel buffet.

The back story…

My husband was honored recently. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame. The ceremony took place at the venerable Hilton Hotel in Milwaukee.

The place is beautiful. When I was a little girl the hotel was called The Mark Plaza and was one of the two fanciest hotels in the city. Lots of crystal chandeliers and big, open hallways with fancy carpeting and beautiful furniture.

After the big ceremony dinner, I woke up hungry the next day. We were meeting some of my family members for breakfast, so we agreed to eat in the café on the first floor. They had a hot breakfast buffet and a cold one. The cold one was cheaper, of course, and I wasn’t really all that hungry, so I opted for that one.

I fully expected the bagels, the toast, the cereals and all the rest of the sugar. I also expected fresh fruit so I knew I could dig into that. I was hoping for yogurt and there was some.

For breakfast lately, I have not been eating a lot. I usually eat unsweetened, full-fat, lactose-free yogurt that I sweeten with a little vanilla and a few stevia drops. Because lactose is milk sugar I avoid some of the carbs by buying lactose-free and it tastes wonderful, so why not. I did not expect lactose-free yogurt on the buffet. That would have been too much to expect but I was hoping for some full-fat yogurt; sweetened with fruit or not, I knew I could eat a little and be satisfied. It’s the fat in the yogurt that keeps you full and focused until lunch. When I am at home I eat 1/3 – ½ cup of the yogurt and I’m full until about 11:30 AM. I don’t need a full carton of it. I’m satisfied with less.

So I crinkled up my nose when I saw all they had was one of those “lite” yogurt offerings with the fruit added. I took one anyway and just resolved not to eat all of it.

Then I was tempted.

Around the bend from the yogurt was a display of mini-muffins (sort of half-sized). They drew me in. I had not had a muffin over six years, so I thought I’d taste a mini one. They had banana nut and I used to be a banana nut bread fiend, so I took one of those.

I made my way to my seat and sat down to eat my breakfast.

I opened the yogurt first and took a small spoonful and put it in my mouth. I am glad I was sitting at the end of the table because the face I made might have scared the person across from me. I was not expecting the onslaught of gross flavors in my mouth. The artificial flavorings and the artificial sweeteners assailed my taste buds. I almost gagged. I literally had to put my spoon down and stared into the cup like I was looking at a bad science experiment.

So much for that, I thought.

Onto the muffin. I originally thought I’d only eat one bite but now I was ready to eat more. It was a treat, so let’s take advantage of it.

I bit into it fully expecting it to taste like a mini-version of my mother’s old-fashioned banana bread. I could not be MORE WRONG. It too was chockful of artificial sweetener. They must have used sucralose to sweeten it; thinking they’d save me some calories. YUK.

Well, they did save me some calories. I picked at it, but I could not finish even a mini-muffin. It was so bad I decided to just hold on until lunch. Hungry I would be.

I learned my lesson. I know the world is a minefield of artificial sweeteners and artificial flavorings. Over 6600 products in the normal grocery store now contain some amount of aspartame. That stuff is not good for you, and that’s saying it mildly. I knew that already.

I just didn’t realize how when you get that stuff totally cleared out of your system how BAD it tastes when you encounter it again and bite into something expecting it to taste normal and all you get is a blowback that tastes like a combination of lead and sewage. There’s a metal aspect to it and another element that is hard to describe except to stay it tastes spoiled. I’m not even sure there was any real banana in it. It might have been banana flavoring.

So be forewarned. One of the healthiest things you can do for yourself is get those artificial sweeteners, the flavorings, and the preservatives out of your system. One of the nasty things you can do is try eating them again.

My body was trying to tell me something.  I listened and got it loud and clear.

Cheers,

Egg Muffins

The best low carb breakfast ever.