The other day, my New You partner Donna put up a post stating, among other things, that healthy grocery shopping cost more. I think she said she used to spend $40 on a trip to the grocery story; now a similar trip runs over $100.

Got to thinking. (Dangerous, I know.)

Is living healthy more expensive?

I know all the information about long-term expenses -- less hospitalization, better quality of life in my later years -- all that stuff. But what about now?

According to CNN, we're halfway through the New You. I lost half the weight that I wanted to lose, and today is my half-birthday.

Today, Chef Billy from Cooking Light magazine came to the house to show me how to cook. Well, he was teaching and my wife was listening mostly. I was thinking, "I'm a doctor, and he is a professional chef, I don't tell him how to diagnose people, and he shouldn't tell me how to cook!" After all, I don't ask people to try operations at home. Why should I try cooking at home?

Actually, I do like to cook, but I hate to clean up. So what I need is a meal that I can get ready with minimal preparation time, minimal work, using only one pan, that is about 400 calories, and doesn't come out of the box. In addition, it has to be low sodium, low fat, and low cholesterol. Oh yes, it has to taste good and be something the kids can eat too. Does anybody have any suggestions?

I'm still having trouble finding the time at work to sit down and eat. Although I'm taking carrots and celery sticks and other snacks with me to work, I find that I'm still grazing rather than eating. I guess this takes time.

I am, however, getting better at exercising. I don't think I'll be doing any marathons in the near future, but I am finding the time to get on the treadmill on the days that I'm not going to the gym.

Turned 40 Saturday. At age 40 and two days, at 9 p.m. last night, I blew through the 10 minute mile barrier with a time of 9:32. The time for my 2.16 mile loop was 22:45, half a minute faster than my previous best (last week!) and nearly 9 minutes ahead of my December times.

Never thunk that coulda happened. And so, completely full of myself, I turned to the web to uncover the significance of this milestone, this achievement.

Uh oh.

Our U.S. Army has a fitness test tool: Hooah 4 Health. And the worst time a 40 year old guy can run to squeak by the 2-mile test is...18:18?!?!

Put another way, if I ran two 9:30 miles back to back and was in our U.S. Armed Forces like my friend and fellow New You'er Pedro Rampolla, I'd be stamped for the glue factory.

Sense of humility thus restored, there's no sense getting discouraged about this. If night-owl-cercise has cut my mile times by 5 minutes in just a month, then by early March I'll be touching the world record, and by March 28 a time of 0:00 is in sight!

Ahh, but something tells me it doesn't work that way. And that's fine.

We all reach a point in our plan where we hit a plateau, some early, some late, where the frustration with not getting what you expected from all the hard work, exercise and struggling with what to eat, gets the better of you. I reached that point this week. I am still getting pain when I work out.

I have been trying harder in the past week, but have had some setbacks. Yesterday was my son Scott's sixth birthday. We went to Chuck-e-Cheese, because I knew there was nothing for me to eat. (We had almost an entire pie left over, which we took home and the kids ate the next day) I feel as if my plateau is as large as Machu Picchu, because I have not been losing any weight for the past five days. Staying at the same weight is tough when I'm doing all this exercise and watching my diet.

I got a DVD on Pilates for the Inflexible. While I qualify for this category, I am still not sure what a Pilate is -- I thought it was a diet food! I still haven't gotten up the nerve to watch the DVD, nor have I had the time. I'm sure that I still have some of the Jane Fonda workout tapes on Betamax (Yes, I still have a working Betamax at home!). I found I was never able to copy what was done on the tape. I have enough trouble with that when I am in front of my trainer, and Jeff has to stop the exercise to show me which foot goes where and when. I know now why I went to The Bronx High School of Science, so I would never have to dance at a school dance!! (Painful memories of school dances - right Lisa W? - who would never go out with me)

I have heard from some people I knew in high school who wished me well. I guess they also realize that the 30th reunion will be upon us soon. They recall that I worked on the 10th reunion the 20th reunion and the 25th reunion, but I am not going to work on the 30th! The "New You" is enough work for me at this time.

I spoke with Mark and he is still losing weight. Maybe I will send him a pizza?