Eating L.A. goes on a diet

I'm not sure why I've had so much trouble staying at a good weight lately. It probably has something to do with the fact that I insist that everything I put in my mouth be delicious, and sticky rice and mango is surely a guilty party as well. It's really not fair, though. I never eat fast food; unlike scads of posters on Chowhound's recent Guilty Pleasures posts, I have absolutely no knowledge of the wonders supposedly available at Jack in the Box, Del Taco or the Cheesecake Factory. OK, I do cop to a perverse fascination with orange chicken, but at least it's Chinese. Nonetheless, simply exploring L.A.'s culinary goodness seems to be too much for my pathetic metabolism to handle, and so I've embarked on a kind of foodie Atkins plan. Unlike Jeffrey Steingarten, the first thing I did was not order a goose liver by mail. The last time I did Atkins, I found out you really can't have all that much cream and bacon if you want it to work. But I've found it is possible to have some very good meals that more or less fit the protein and veggies criteria. This week's highlights were a selection of sashimi at Sushi Gen downtown, and a salmon lunch at Luna Park. At Sushi Gen, I had an impeccably fresh albacore appetizer on a bed of tatsoi, an order of tuna sushi (couldn't pass up a tiny bit of rice), and a lovely order of intensely buttery toro. At Luna Park, although it took ages to arrive, (don't be in hurry at lunchtime) I had a crispy, perfectly medium rare salmon filet on a bed of green beans and fresh cut corn. I know, corn has carbs too, but it was so sweet and wonderful it assuaged my dessert cravings. Tomorrow night, I'll have Thai food -- probably spicy beef salad and maybe tofu larb or garlic pepper shrimp. I've found white rice to be the easiest thing to dispense with, and don't need it with most Asian food. Bread and pasta are harder, although the advent of Dreamfield's pasta is most intriguing. Progress updates to come.