As might be expected, the first few days were awful. I felt
so DEPRIVED. I drank tea without sweetener. Ate my morning oatmeal without
sweetener. I gave up Diet Dr. Pepper. Let me repeat that. I GAVE UP DIET DR.
PEPPER. Believe it or not, that was the worst part of the deal, giving up my
afternoon diet soda habit. And everything tasted so blah. I thought I would
have to abandon the experiment but I told myself I would stick it out for at
least a week. At the end of that week, a funny thing happened.
I stopped thinking about sweetness.
It was a subtle shift. My evening food cravings seemed less
intense. I started noticing the actual taste of the foods I usually added sweetener
to. Plain yogurt was suddenly pretty yummy all by itself. Not only that, but
water quenched my thirst way better than a carbonated soft drink. I continued
to eat fruit, which was the only sweetness I allowed in my diet, and it began
to taste fantastic. I remember one particular peach that left me moaning in gastronomic
ecstasy. And my weight dropped two pounds. I don’t think I lost those two pounds
because sweet calories are more fattening than non-sweet calories. I lost them
because I ate less without that non-stop sweet rush to stimulate my appetite.
Now after about a month, my weight is down five pounds and I
don’t miss sweetness at all. I did have a piece of cake for my birthday last
week, and then another piece for my husband’s birthday two days later. They
were good and I enjoyed them, but they seemed like a special indulgence,
nothing more. I had stopped drinking wine for the first few weeks also, but I’ve
had the occasional glass of dry red recently without a problem. I think I’m
going to keep doing this for a while.
We are told that the way to keep a healthy diet sustainable
is to allow yourself a regular treat; often the advice is to work in that treat
on a daily basis. (By the way, the word “treat” is usually code for sweet.) I
think that’s wrong. If you eat too much chocolate, for example, and decide to
deal with that by eating just a little bit of chocolate every day, you are
keeping alive your beliefs about how much you need chocolate and the temptation
will always be there. I don’t think we humans do so well in a state of constant
temptation.
I’m sure some of you will read this and think it’s complete nonsense.
After all, what is life without chocolate? But it works for me. Maybe someday I’ll
be evolved enough to handle a daily dose of sweet tooth. Until then I say: How
sweet it ain’t!
You have a valid point. I've been trying to get there. Haven't made it yet, but getting closer. For me, I can track my blood sugar numbers, and if I have regular sweets, even moderated and balanced, my numbers go scary high and weight gain follows. I'm trying to get my brain wrapped around not feeling deprived.
ReplyDeleteI think deprivation is a many-headed beast. Some of it is just plain old withdrawal from something you've become addicted to, in my opinion. But I also think we've been sold a lie, that we are "entitled" to have these super tasty foods on a regular basis. A hundred years ago, sweets were an rare treat for a special occasion. Now we expect to have them every day. So if you give them up and everyone around you is still eating them, it will seem like something is wrong. If you want to try this, you just have to take it one day at a time until you break the habit. Not easy, but it can be done!
DeleteI've been thinking lately that I do indulge my sweet tooth wayyy too often, even with artificially sweetened things. I would like to try this experiment. Not sure I can do it. I'm pretty sure the weight would drop off of me too if I could abstain...
ReplyDeleteI went cold turkey, which was very difficult for the first week. If you want, you could try to give up just one thing. There is no right or wrong here, only what works for you.
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