At the beginning of Week 7, I recommitted to living sugar and flour free after my weekend digression caused my sugar craving to come back in full force. Unfortunately, this was easier said than done.
The first couple of days, which were leading up to Thanksgiving, I easily avoided flour and sugar. While driving to my mother in laws house, I snacked on leftover meat when I got hungry. This might sound unappealing, but it was easy, satisfying and fit the plan. When I arrived, there was an enormous bag of gummy bears in the pantry. I instinctively reached for a handful, but then I remembered my pledge and never thought of them again. On Thursday, I vowed to eat no pie, and made a Power Food Salad as an addition to our Thanksgiving meal. However, even with the best intentions throughout the day, when the pie was served, I had a slice.
I was proud of myself for eating the Power Food Salad for lunch and having half of my plate at Thanksgiving dinner filled with vegetables. I was completely satisfied and full. However, I just couldn’t pass up my sister in laws homemade pie, which I have to say is the best pie I have ever had. Unfortunately, I ended my day overstuffed and had trouble falling asleep. Certainly an improvement over other Thanksgiving days, but I was still disappointed with myself.
One would think that one piece of pie would have done it. Sadly, I found myself justifying why I could have pie again on Friday. Then Saturday, we were at dinner at my parents’ house, and my mom made steamed pumpkin pudding, which is amazing and she has made maybe three times in my life. Okay, one more day of flour and sugar, and then I’ll get back on track, right?
Wrong again. I abstained Sunday and Monday and figured I was good to go. Then on Tuesday, while I was filling the advent calendar for my children, I ate 6 Dove chocolates. This was really quite pathetic, but that chatter that it is a special time of year was so much louder than I thought it would be.
Wednesday was a bit rough. The sugar cravings were back in full force. However, there were no more “it’s a special occasion” justifications, and I remained sugar and flour free until the end of Week 8.
These two weeks were challenging, but I have proven without a shadow of a doubt that once I start eating sugar, it is hard for me to begin abstaining again. Once I was able to reign in my eating towards the middle of Week 8, I did notice that I was more satisfied with the food I was eating. The habit of choosing sugar and flour free food was becoming more automatic. Although I wasn’t pleased with my digressions, I was thrilled to see signs of this habit taking root. In addition, because I also ate tons of vegetables while I was eating flour and sugar, I was able to maintain my weight loss.