5/1/2014
One day at the beginning of March my husband brought home a box of my favorite cookies. Most people who know me, know how much of a sugar addict I am. I normally abstain from eating sweets on a daily basis but when one of my favorites is put in front of me, I have been known to eat the entire thing in one sitting. I grew up eating that free cookie at Publix, eating Poptarts for breakfast and adding sugar to unsweetened cereals. So you would think when I saw my favorite cookies sitting there that I would be excited. Instead, I was actually mad. I had been eating really “clean” for a week or two and felt really good and did not want to ruin it with cookies. It may surprise some of you that will-power is not something I have when my favorite sweet is put in front of me.
After thinking about the cookies and debating eating the cookies, I decided to look at the nutritional content. One serving size was 2 cookies for 140 calories, 7 grams of fat and 10 grams of sugar. I could have 2 cookies, no problem. However, if I ate 2 cookies, I would want 2 more cookies. If not that day, the next day, and the next day. So I added up all the calories, fat and sugar for the entire box and it came to 1,050 calories, 52 grams of fat and 75 grams of sugar.
So I never intentionally gave up sugar or omitted it from my diet, I believe in eating most things in moderation. However, when I came across sweets; I thought well if I am not eating the cookie which is what I wanted, why eat something else that really isn’t that good. So I didn’t eat sweets. Other times I came across sweets, such as the banana bread loafs at the front of Fresh Market that are buy one get one free, I thought about it the same way as the cookies. I thought about how many calories were in both loafs and all of the sugar and fat that I would put in my body over a short period of time.
It has now been about 6-7 weeks and I have not had any sweets, not because I gave it up for Lent or any other reason than I just changed my mindset about it. That also does not mean that I recommend anyone to give up sweets or anything else. I do believe in most foods in moderation. However, I also believe in a healthy lifestyle and doing the best things for your body because your body will in turn do the best things for you. I feel like that is the best decision for me and my body. But that is exactly what it is, a decision and one that only you can make.
Food is meant to nourish and fuel your body. You can also enjoy your favorite foods and snacks, in moderation. I just believe that when you make the right decisions for your body, your body will return the favor!