My Key West Diet Secret

Earlier this year I had some stomach troubles and I lost my enthusiasm for those acidic foods that I have always been fond of. Beige foods became my thing: oatmeal, grits, toast...After a couple months of bland food and a hiatus from coffee, my stomach started to feel better and I got excited about eating again. So Excited that I got a little carried away. So at ten pounds above my pre-stomach issue weight, I came up with a diet plan. Some people go for the South Beach Diet but I think the Florida Keys diet is the way to go. My husband and I like to call the Keys "The land of bad food."
It's always amazed us that this area is surrounded by ocean and yet good seafood is hard to find. Sorry but Shrimp should not be rubbery like a flip flop. So I squeezed into my favorite jeans and off we went for a motorcycle trip.
The first day in Islamorada we had a great time kayaking and then we borrowed bikes from the motel and rode off to get some dinner. (Ahh exercise, diet secret # 1)
The sunset was pretty, the beer was cold and the food was...not so good. Because we barely touched our food they took one entrée off the bill and gave us a piece of key lime pie. This was a nice gesture. I'm normally really happy to see key lime pie. This had the consistency of cool whip. Sorry Folks, I'm from South Florida and my family has been here a long time, you are not fooling me with this fluffy decoy. Key Lime pie is tart and custardy and has meringue on top. Really, they were doing me a favor. (Bad food, diet secret # 2)
Because we rode the motorcycle we were limited in what we could pack. This is my favorite diet secret. Diet secret # 3: Only pack one pair of jeans and wear them for several days. By day 3 they will have stretched out and you can enjoy the illusion of weight loss.
On the second day we rode from Islamorada to Key West...in the afternoon...in the heat...Diet Secret # 4: Sweat profusely and stop at a gas station to have cheese crackers for lunch.
To be fair there are two excellent places to eat in Key West. Blue Heaven http://blueheavenkw.com/ and The Flaming Buoy http://www.theflamingbuoy.com/. Unfortunately, Blue Heaven was closed and Flaming Buoy is only open for dinner. So sad but good for my waistline.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, our motel was great except for the rock hard bed. How much should you really sleep while on vacation- shouldn't you be awake as much as possible so you get the full experience?  Diet Secret # 5: Tossing and turning all night.
So this brings us back to the coffee that saved my life. After the first sleepless night we were directed by the friendly hotel desk clerk to a place walking distance from where we were. There we discovered perfect cappuccinos and French pastries so light and buttery that I forgot all about my diet. If you are ever in Islamorada you must stop here. Bitton Bistro Café @ 82245 Overseas Highway, Islamorada, 33036.  Here is a photo of my wonderful coffee. The quiche was also amazing and be sure to have a croissant. As you can see, I only ate half of mine. Yeah, right...

My Husband & I will have to think up a new name for the Keys. We can't really call it the land of bad food anymore, not after Bitton. Perhaps we'll call it Paris without jet lag.
Even after eating the whole croissant, the quiche and drinking my giant cup of coffee, I still managed to loose four pounds over the three day vacation. I'm not sure if this would have happened if we had found Bitton Bistro sooner.
Merci beaucoup, Mr. Bitton! We look forward to visiting again.