So I'm not a salad person. I mean NOT. I like sandwiches. Meat and cheese and sauce piled on bread. Lettuce? No thanks. Salad? No, really, I'll just have the croutons and the toppings… maybe on some bread.

Then I found myself in a horrible place. I discovered that I could no longer continue to eat the way I've been eating and remain sane, let alone physically healthy. Willingness and open-mindedness and courage and fear all at once propelled me towards a change in my life. Somehow I found Atkins. How that happened probably has something to do with divine intervention, but that's for another thread. And I digress.

After 17 days of following this new way of eating to the best of my ability each day, I discover that I've been eating… salads. And liking them. And actually craving them from time to time. And then I discovered butter lettuce and things got really, really good.

Those soft, smooth, green, little pillows on my plate, holding curls of shredded cheese, rare sirloin sliced impossibly thin, tender chunks of ham and turkey… how delightful. How tasty. They wrap themselves like a lover around tiny cheese cubes, holding on tight. In color, they are neither the dark green of spinach leaves nor the anemic green of iceberg lettuce; not quite emerald green, closer to spring green or grass green. And smooth. Did I mention smooth? Taste and texture… smooth. Butter lettuce is not stringy or bitter or boring. It is creamy and delicious; it doesn't stick to my teeth or get caught between them; it doesn't get soggy with olive oil, and it is as soft as can be.

So if you think that salad=iceberg lettuce, please, I’m begging you, find some butter lettuce, pile the plate high with the puffy little green clouds, add all the protein you want, and enjoy.

Ann