Sigh. Sugar is like crack to me.
I wrote here about the challenge of social situations, and one of them was my weekly Monday night dinner at the halfway house for addicts in recovery. Tonight it was just impossible to eat like I’d want to. First off, these guys are just not salad dudes. We always end up with some meaty entrée and a big starchy side dish. Often I can just take some meat and a bit of the starchy whatever, take a little taste of it and then push it around on my plate.
Tonight, though, two problems. The first was that the main dish was sloppy joes. For anyone outside of the
The second problem was the GIANT BOWL OF POTATO SALAD that accompanied the main course. And the gentleman who made the potato salad and was quite proud of his first attempt at doing so was sitting right next to me. So I put a smallish glop of it on my plate, and he said “Oh, here, it’s really good, you’re going to want more!” He reached over and PLOP—fixed me up with a big hefty pile of it.
Well, I took my time and nibbled a bit of it and ate my semi-virtuous open-faced sandwich. I could just feel my palate tingling with sugar-love and potato-lust. Oh, white minions of Satan! Vile, carby temptresses! I will not succumb to your siren song!
The potato thing I’ve kind of gotten over in the couple of hours since dinner’s been over, but I’m sitting here craving something sugary like you wouldn’t believe. After I left the dinner/meeeting I went shopping to distract myself, and now I’m sitting here writing and sipping tea in an effort to tell my body to just chill out. Yes, crack may make us feel good in the short term, but we really don’t like all of the collateral effects—the weight gain, the shame, the loss of control. Not to mention the crappy sugar-hangover the next day. Who needs that? I got me some tea, some will-power and some words to write, and I shall ride out the craving until it turns into something else. Sleepiness, probably.
4 comments:
Hi Luna!
This might sound really strange - but sometimes I find brushing my teeth helps when the cravings are really bad. I don't know why, but a fresh clean mouth seems to help.
Having said that - I have been completely hopeless lately. I completely fell off the wagon on the weekend and now I am off to London for a work thingie for a couple of days. With buffets and booze everywhere - AUGH! Willpower is key! :D XXX
Ugh! I'm trying to figure out how to fight my craving demons. These week I've been plagued by them more than usual. Yesterday I completely gave into the craving. I didn't over eat, which is a personal triumph but it's still annoying to have allowed the craving to win. Usually I just try to wait out the cravings. And it tends to make me a bit irritable so I do alot of glaring at my husband :). I nearly clobbered him the other day when he LAUGHED at my "crabby face" & said he'd never seen anyone so mad just because they couldn't have ice cream. Spoken like a true life long skinny person! :)
Meegan- A happy wife
Hi Squilla! Ha! Back to the teeth. You know, I actually do that as well--once your mouth is all clean and fresh, it actually is a bit harder to muck it up with a snack.
Hi Meegan! Whoo-hoo to the not overeating; once I give into a craving, I'm just done. Binge-city. I applaud your willpower that you kept it under control. I had an awful, awful day in terms of cravings today...I didn't give in, but I was about ready to start nibbling on my desk. It was ROUGH! I drank tons of water, which seemed to help a teeny bit. Still. This is hard work.
Hi Luna Bella,
I have sugar free tropical flavored popsicles as a first line strategy. Generally speaking, I avoid SF stuff, but the tropsicals are my one exception. I have been known to have two on occasion!
If that fails, I go for a 1/4 - 1/3 c. canned mandarin oranges, sometimes with a tsp or two of coconut on it. Canned fruit is a bit easier on my stomach, though I've also gone with < 1/4 c chopped mango, apple, lemon juice and pecans. That is pretty darn tasty and has some crunch to it.
Holding out doesn't usually work for me. I don't usually need much, but if I know that I can satisfy the craving.
Mazel Tov on finishing your PhD. I hope to get mine done by July.
*S*
Post a Comment