Marie WheelerSince I have done literally nothing in photography in the past couple weeks due to the dreary scenery and my wholesale lack of creativity, my weekly roundup is a reflection on prioritizing food choices, especially when you are busy and all you want is some sugar love.
This past month has been a frenzy, with meetings encroaching on or taking up my lunch nearly every day each week. I was too preoccupied each morning with the anxiety of the day to plan for each day and as result, I ate out of craving and desire and not for health and nutrition. I ate more fast food in the past month than I have in the past year.
I feel disgusting.
As a counselor, I talk to my Clients about planning around triggers for use as if you are confronted with the substance (in my case sugar and bad fats), your ‘willpower’ is often not enough. You will use with greater frequency if you don’t plan.
I didn’t plan, I used at greater frequency and my triggers for use increased.
One of the things I often talk about with a Client is the initial triggering event: What started this behavior chain? We work backwards from the use to the event or emotion that precipitated the use. Doing this for myself, I realize now that not only did I not plan for positive food choices, I primed my brain for negative food choices. What do I mean by that?
If you have ever tried to quit sugar (all sugar, not just processed, including sugar from fruits and vegetables and all levels of sweeteners and dairy), you will know that if you slip once, you are more likely to keep slipping. Your brain gets primed for the substance and you want to use more. I had done this inadvertently through a nightly hot cocoa.
Have I mentioned that substance-craving brains lie to you? In this case, my brain decided to conveniently forget that hot cocoa packets were loaded with sugar. Loaded. Add milk with its naturally occurring lactose and I was having a sugar bomb every night before bed.
This sugar bomb every night set me up for bad choices the next day and I kept repeating the cycle.
So last night, I ran out of cocoa and decided that I needed to return to the store to pick up more. Please note that I never make special trips to the store at 7 pm unless I am on my way home from work and grabbing ingredients for dinner. This was the level I realize now that I was at with the sugar. So while in the cocoa aisle, I took the time to look for the ‘lowest sugar’ option with no artificial sweeteners.
I was horrified.
I needed another option. I wanted chocolate, but I didn’t want all the sugar.
So, in the health food section, I found something called Crio Bru Maya, which has zero sugar. It is roasted cocoa beans brewed like coffee. I am a fan.
The website identifies numerous health benefits and challenges the reader to take the 10 day challenge to enjoy increased energy, focus and reduced appetite. I don’t know about all of those claims, but what I do know is that I slept better last night knowing I was making a better choice for myself and setting myself up for a more healthful week just by cutting out around 25 grams of sugar per night.
P.S. That’s about 6 teaspoons and the maximum of what an adult female should consume in a day. Seriously.
