You've eaten really, really well lately. So well that you posted a picture of your 10
pound weight loss on Instagram and got 84 likes! You wake in the morning and
feel ready to leap into your day. Then
it happens. (Signal Jaws music) You see
a group of people walking in unison.
They are smiling and singing.
Then you see the object in their hands with candles flickering as a
warning sign. You remember it is Steve
from accounting’s birthday. (Cue damsel in distress scream) Not a birthday cake!
So what are you to do?
There is a cake 10 feet from you.
You didn’t plan for it, but there it is, mocking all your hard work. Someone is shoving a piece in your direction,
just assuming that you want some. It
smells so chocolaty good.
Sure it’s easy to eat well in a vacuum. The real test is to see how you eat when
temptation is thrust in front of you. I
am a confessed sugar addict. I curbed
my Frappuccino drinking, ice cream licking, jelly bean gorging ways out of pure
desperation. My motivation: nothing made me lose weight and keep it off
quite like limiting refined sugar.
So what do I do when put in this dreaded situation? The first thing I do is attempt to bargain
with myself. The part of us that craves
sweets has the maturity of a two year old.
You have to give her something to quiet her screams. I think of my jar of unsweetened applesauce
in the fridge. I could go home tonight
and put some cinnamon in it and it would taste kind of like apple cobbler. Or I tell myself I will reward myself for not
eating cake with a mani and pedi. Some
times these bargains will work magically.
Other times, this makes my two year old throw a full blown
temper tantrum! She says, “I know
applesauce isn’t cake and I want cake now!” Ok, what now? I put about two bites worth of the treat on
my plate. Then I slowly savor, enjoying
all the flavors. The result? The two year old stops crying and the adult
in me takes charge. The adult recognizes
after two bites, “that was good but nothing to get all bent out of shape
about”.
What happens though if that doesn't work? What happens if I eat the whole piece of
cake? This will result in a blood sugar
rush and then dip, leading to more intense cravings for sugar. That is when people ditch the diet and fill
their shopping cart with pints of Ben & Jerry’s. Think of this phenomenon as a two year old,
overdue for naptime, running out of control on a sugar-high. My
response is to run right to the fridge and grab as many vegetables, whole
grains and as much good quality protein as I can. Good quality whole foods will help restore
proper blood sugar, keeping a cheat from turning into a binge. In fact, much of the time we crave sugar, our
bodies are just trying to tell us that we need protein.
The bottom line is there is a place for cake in any healthy
diet. My rule though is that I decide
when I’m going to splurge, not somebody else.
I choose the situations to indulge because I know it will be worth it
and I make the decision ahead of time.
Don’t give someone else power over your diet! Just look that two year old in the eye and
tell her it is naptime. She may cry at
first, but before you know it she will be out.
Now that you survived cake, you are ready for any hurdle
that comes your way!
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