No Sugar For You!

Imagine that title in the Seinfeld Soup Nazi voice. This is my current "diet". No sugar.

Let me clarify, I still eat bread, carbs, etc. When I say no sugar I mean no "treats". No ho-ho's, no pop-tarts, no coke, no ice cream, no homemade dark chocolate chip cookies, no candy bars, no sweet treats.

If you know me well, you know that I love me some chocolate! By cutting out sweets, I am basically cutting out one of my food groups! Which is why, of course, I had to do it.

For my birthday Christian gave me a book called Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst. The book is about how we often go to food (or other things, but she talks about food) when what we really need is comfort from God, rest or even to celebrate! Food is wrapped totally around how we women deal with our emotions. I don't know about you, but this is totally true for me. Terkeurst says that her book is not about a specific diet necessarily, but that if you are trying to conquer food battles her book is an enocuraging "companion" for you on your journey.

To be honest, I started out wanting to cut out sweet treats, chips and fast food (all of my emotional foods). That worked for about a month, but that was very, very hard. I have regressed to making sure there are no sweet treats in my life for the time being and that is challenging enough. Sweets are my biggest battle.

Some of the things that have happened to me as a result of this "sweets-fast" so to speak are:

* I have lost about 9 pounds!
* My taste buds are changing to prefer less sweet foods.
* I drink way too much diet soda now (which I know is also not good for you).
* I drink my coffee and tea with milk only.
* I have discovered that with the exception of diet coke or diet pepsi, I really don't like sugar substitutes. I would rather it just not be sweet (like tea and coffee).
* I have maintained a steady weight for about a month now (the first time since I've been married that my weight hasn't gone steadily up.)
* I realize now that when I'm tired, my body is craving sleep or protein- NOT sugar.
* I am more aware of my emotions and can work on identifying and fixing whatever is upsetting me instead of "treating myself" to a better mood.

My proudest no sugar moment:

It has definitely been a struggle to say no to sweets while everyone else partakes (Christian has started buying ice cream to eat as a treat for himself for example). And I have had some serious dialogues in my head in moments of temptation, but my hardest one was at a baby shower I threw for a friend a few weeks ago. Someone had made this beautiful, amazing homemade chocolate cake. It looked delicious. I kept telling myself things like "This would be the perfect occasion to just have half a piece and then be really conscious of your choice by eating really well the rest of the week. You'd prove to yourself that you're really able to handle eating some sweet things." But finally my inner strength won and I was able to say "no" to the piece of cake. While everyone else (and I mean every one) enjoyed a piece of the chocolate cake, I ate a plate full of watermelon. And it was good. :)

Do you have a food battle? What things have helped you overcome it?

“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12