Take a Stand

I just want to preface this blog with this: 

The word diet has so many negative connotations (I've mentioned that before, I think). However, what we eat is our diet. If that changes, and the foods you can/will eat are limited, that's just a new diet. What I'm about to talk about is my current diet, of which I just began week two of six.

One of the hardest parts about giving yourself a strict diet--one on which you have to eat certain things at certain times of the day, and on which you can't have certain foods--is eating with and/or around other people.

Don't get me wrong, I dislike eating alone. If I'm alone all day (well, before my scheduled six-meals-a-day lifestyle), I could eat maybe once and not even notice that I hadn't had regular meals until my stomach growled. Eating alone just feels weird to me. However, when you're strict with your food consumption, eating with other people can often be very, very difficult.

I've said it before. I'll say it again. I love sugar. I'm sure it's because I've allowed myself to eat sugar for the past 27 years whenever I wanted. I'm sure that I have a mild (yeah right) addiction to it. I'm sure there are a million reasons why I love sugar, but they're all irrelevant, because at the end of the day, all I know is, I love it. I crave it. I battle my desire for it many, many times each day.

On my new diet, I'm allowed very little complex sugar, and no simple sugar. Translation: I get fruit a few times a day, I get vegetables a few times a day, I get just a teensy-weensy bit of milk in my coffee, and I get absolutely no instantly satisfying, hip-widening, belly-fattening chocolatey goodness (except for carbo-load-body-reset day, which happens once every two weeks. You have no idea how much I look forward to that day.).

For a sugar addict, going from simple sugar whenever I wanted to almost no sugar is tough, but it's manageable if you have will power and someone (like a wonderful husband) to support you. However, when you're faced with people around you eating it...it's feels nearly impossible.

I'm not upset with anyone. 

I don't want everyone around me to alter their diets while I'm. 

I'm not judging what they eat (if anything, I'm jealous!) or when they eat it. 

Rather, I'm discouraged with myself, because I can't control my brain enough not to panic a little when I see someone else eat chocolate, or ice cream, or potato chips (I know they're not sweet, but they're carby, which is just as good), or even drink juice. Something in my brains says, "They get it! You should, too!!"

My brain is a big old whiney baby. It needs to shut up.

True, it's tough to not be able to eat what I want when I want it, but it's way tougher to be really out of shape and really over weight. I've struggled my whole life with keeping my weight down, and I'm finally on the path to getting it to a healthy range while getting in shape!

Is it still going to be hard to sit by and watch people eat chocolate or ice cream when I won't let myself? 

Of course. 

Am I still going to crave chocolate chip cookies randomly? 

Yes. 

Am I going to break down and let myself have those foods, just because they would taste good? 

No. 

Two months ago, I would have said yes, but not anymore. For the first time, I'm taking control of what I eat instead of letting it control me. 

Food should be the fuel that keeps us going--nothing more and nothing less. You only get the one body, so give it the fuel it needs. You wouldn't put corn syrup in your car's gas tank, and you can't drive on empty. If you struggle with food-stuff--whether it's eating too much, eating too little, or just eating the wrong things--I encourage you to take a stand and to take care of your body.