Day 111

Good things that happened today:

1. I took my 30 minute walk, even though I really didn't want to!
2. I cooked all three meals!
3. I curbed the munchie feeling with gum!
4. I'm posting in the blog two days in a row!

I also discovered one of the reasons why sugar is such an enemy for me. I hadn't thought about it until watching this vlog at The Token Fat Girl. She talks about how even sampling sugary foods leads her down a dark path to more sugar, and I realized it's the same for me. I have a box of 90 calorie fat-free chocolate popsicles in the fridge for a little treat now and then, and so far, I haven't abused them. But I had one after dinner tonight and, about halfway through eating it, I felt this strong urge to go get a second one. It's not the first time that's happened since I've had them in the house. It's like, the sugar high didn't last long enough, and I need another hit. See?? Like drugs! Just taking note of this was enough to drive away the urge to have more. And if I don't have sugar in the first place, the desire for it is less potent than after I've already had some. I think that sugar will always have this effect on me. I know I will never be able to give it up entirely, but I also know that A) it's dangerous to keep it in the house and B) no matter how "healthy" or "low-calorie" the sugary snack is, I will always be tempted to overindulge. It's better to just cut it out entirely.

I bought some apples, mangos, and prunes today, and all three do a really good job of satisfying my sweet tooth. But I found I had the same problem with the prunes, which don't have any added sugar, but are really sweet on their own. So those are going to have to be moderated. The sugar-free gum really helps too. Just gotta keep lots of healthy substitutes handy!

It's just really helpful to see how much of a trigger sugar is for me. It's as if, the minute I have some, I become less able to think objectively...it makes that little evil voice in my head that says, "Have another one, they're only 90 calories, and it will taste really good!" even louder. So I'm going to do what I can to stay away from it and stick to healthy alternatives like fruit.

For dinner tonight, I made a DELICIOUS soup! It's another recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen: Yellow Split-Pea Soup.

It's mmm mmm good!

I can be kind of funny about soups, so this was an experiment...and it really paid off! I couldn't find yellow split-peas, so I just used plain old green ones, and they were delicious! The red pepper flakes gave it a great spicy flavor, and even though I skimped on green peppers and onions (another texture thing I'm weird about), they added a nice flavor too. The recipe called for fennel seed, which I didn't have, but it tasted great all the same. It was a perfect, hearty, filling meal for a cold night.

I know, I know, I was supposed to have black bean soup today...but I didn't realize it needed like five hours to stew, and I didn't start until around 5:30. Oops! So I just swapped it to Friday. I only had to let this simmer for an hour, and it was ready to go.

So go make yourself some soup and stay warm, everybody! Be careful if the roads are icy tomorrow! Love y'alls!