What a difference a week makes. After our somewhat
devastating announcement last week, we've hit the ground running! Healthy meals, daily morning walks, a successful week of food journaling, and we've even shed a few pounds.
It looks like all we really needed was a swift kick in the ass to really get us serious about our health and well-being. But I've got to be honest with you, my will power is starting to fade a little. Yesterday there was a box of Samoas at the Assignment Desk at work, and I spent all day negotiating with myself about whether or not I could have one. Thankfully, someone ate the last cookie so I didn't have to worry about it... but I was close.
Sweets are my weakness. And, I'm at the pivotal point in this journey where the cravings are about to become out of control. Especially with Easter right around the corner. So what I need this week is some advice:
How do you stay on the healthy path, when you have temptation all around? Do you have visual reminders of your health journey? Or maybe you have a mantra you say to yourself when things get tough? I'd love to hear what you have to say, and possibly start developing a system of my own. Leave your feedback in the comment section below.
Right now I am all about finding alternatives. I really hate depriving myself of my favorite foods, and very rarely do I do it, because it just makes me crave them even more and then eventually give in to the temptation and then feel like trash.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently on an ongoing mission to find the best options for meeting my various cravings- I am also a huge sugar addict, but I've been working really hard to meet those cravings creatively- I eat tons of fruit, both fresh and dried. Still sugar, but maybe a healthier option for me than a handful of chocolate. Sometimes I will have sliced up fruit with a sprinkling of chocolate chips, or a drizzle of honey, or some nutella or cookie butter for dipping.
I've been learning to make various crunchy snacks from healthier items to meet our need for chips/crackers- roasted garbanzo beans and peas (still perfecting that one), apple chips, kale chips (OMG have you TRIED kale chips? AMAZING), etc. It's a work in progress, but I am working on turning these food choices into habits so that when I desire dessert I immediately go for the fruit instead of the kisses. (Except on Fridays, then anything goes).
I don't know if all of my advice is the best advice but I feel like it works for me as a decent compromise between eating WHATEVER I want and depriving myself of EVERYTHING I want.
Sharayah, I love your feedback. And I just read your post about your nature cabinet, and you crack me up.... but I digress...
ReplyDeleteThe thing about sugar for me, which I probably should have put in this post but was just trying to get something up to create a posting schedule (a work in progress for me) is that processed sugar, while I love it and am quite possibly addicted to it, makes my stomach hurt.
I went through a year of insulin resistance (pre-diabetes) and I was on a diabetes drug to level out my blood sugar, it totally screwed with my digestive system, and now if I eat anything remotely processed or unnatural, I get horrendous stomach pains.
So, while I don't want to completely give up my love of sweets-- I sort of have to, or endure the physical pain. Except when it comes to holiday celebrations and birthdays. I can handle pain a few times a year.
I really want to learn how to make dried fruit, and apple chips and banana chips-- because we would devour those. And I need to teach Jason to eat more fresh fruit-- that would help to have sweets in the house that are naturally sweet.
I'm going to stop while I'm ahead, because I feel like I've almost written another blog post :) But thanks again... and I will check out kale chips because they sound amazing!