Monday, July 23, 2012

How Sweet It Is - Part 2

About a month ago I decided to try something new: I eliminated sweet foods from my diet. My motive was frustration. I had gained ten pounds over the last year, mostly due to an increase in snacking at night as a way to deal with work stress, and no matter what I did, I could not get those pounds off. I couldn’t seem to eat less either. Then one day, I noticed a connection between my appetite and eating things that were sweet, and – voila! – the idea was born. It seems only fair that I give you an update on how this very unscientific experiment has worked out.

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!

4 comments:

  1. 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.

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    1. I 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!

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  2. I'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...

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    1. I 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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