eat less sugar

Damn.
Not sure why I slipped up,(Stress? Being too hungry?) but I’ll try to figure it out. Also, I’ll try to renew my committment to staying on target.

I did very well the last two days. It was hard to avoid some of the temptations thrown at me, but I managed.

of oye_veyajera, and reporting more frequently on this goal so I can keep better track of it.

Actually, I have a new trifecta: three goals with marvelous synergy that will all help one another. I want to eat down the pantry (there is so much in there!), eat less sugar, and waste less money on buying prepared food outside the home.

So yesterday, I looked in the pantry, and saw a near-expiration date can of blackeyed peas and a saffron rice mix. That’s what I made for dinner, and it met the trifecta of goals.

In other news, I’ve been okay. Not perfect, but life isn’t perfect. I did eat 2 marshmallows yesterday and drank about a third of Frogette’s soda five days ago. (What was I thinking?) But I didn’t have any other dessert or candy this week, so there’s definitely been a decrease in unnecessary refined sugars. I’ll give myself a C+. Which will be good enough for me.

Next week, I’ll shoot for a B!

in hopes that I could get a sense of the pattern of difficulty I had with the past. It’s been very on again/off again for me, and I was embarrassed reading all the times that I thought I might have it under control and that I eventually succumbed to the sugar addiction once again.

I have to remind myself that there is nothing to be ashamed about- that it is better to try and fail than not try at all. The one thing I must do above all is take it not even one DAY at a time, but take it one FOOD CHOICE at a time. Every time I make a good food choice is a step in the right direction. Every time I make a poor food choice, I have another opportunity to learn something and try again.

I’m not sure if I believe the last two sentences I just wrote, but I’m going to try to believe it, because feeling ashamed of myself is counter to another goal I have (being kind to myself), and I suspect that beating myself up about this will get me nowhere. If berating myself for my failures in proper nutrition were what it took to make myself eat better, I’d be a size 6 by now.

So here’s to a healthier lifestyle, both physical and emotional, where I reduce my sugar intake and INCREASE my self-care and kindness.

Now that I’ve successfully quit the meds, I want to once again reduce my sugar intake.

So here are the ground rules, redux:
1. No soda
2. No candy
3. No desserts

I am not stressing out about carbohydrates, even simple carbs, which I know are broken down into sugar, nor am I going on a diet of any sort. Many people would say that it doesn’t do much good unless I watch the sugar content in everything I eat, or avoid processed food altogether, or (god forbid!) cut out all carbs. However, I don’t want to deal with a compulsive kind of strictness on this. It is, however, reasonable and doable to cut out the three items above. In fact, my shamefully frequent and large consumption of these three items is such that even merely cutting those out will make a remarked decline in my sugar intake.

I expect and allow occasional slip-ups and even a few intentional cheats of these rules, because my goal is reduction, but the blanket rule will help me stop a slow slide towards pre-goal consumption of sugar.

Massive Fail.

I am on the right path again. I am not quite where I was, but I am getting there. Plus, my portion control is back where it should be too. Yay, me!

This is the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. It seems like a Sisyphean task sometimes, and it makes me feel so badly when I screw up, which I do often.

I need to take it one choice at a time. I need support and help. I need to stay committed to being healthier AND I need to continue being kind to myself even when I make unhealthy choices.

I can greatly reduce my intake of candy, desserts, and soda. I CAN DO IT. I CAN.

I noticed the other day, as I snarfed down a pastry that I didn’t even enjoy so much, that I have a definite compulsion towards dessert foods. I don’t know if it’s a physical sugar addiction, or if it’s an emotional compulsion stemming from feelings of lack. Either way, I wonder if I should join some kind of eating disorders group.

I have found the last few days much easier because Frogette was ill, and I wasn’t in the office. There is something about being in the office that makes it much harder for me to eat well. Especially when well-meaning people leave free junk food in the staff room!