Well, I cheated last night….
There once was a time that cheating on my diet meant giving in to an intense craving for something on the no no list, be it ice cream, pizza, chips, snickers bar or some other irresistible treat.
And once I caved, well, I might as well have some of the other junk that I’ve been resisting, you know, since I had already screwed up. Might as well screw up big right? And then it would be easier to stay on track tomorrow because I had already eaten those things and would no longer be tempted by them. Ugh, the things we tell ourselves. No wonder I’m in the mess I’m in with my weight.
Yesterday we were away from home all day. We went to a steak house for lunch, of course they brought out a fresh bread basket, full of warm, fluffy, insulin spiking evilness. I didn’t touch the bread, but I thoroughly enjoyed my steak, steamed veggies, and ice cold water. It was my first grain-fed (or as Alton Brown describes it “blandified”) steak in over a year, I must admit even though I’m totally sold on grass-fed beef I really enjoyed it (I prefer the “blandified” flavor, but the grass-fed benefits).
Later after several hours of appointments and errand running I was feeling a little on the weak side, tempted to throw all caution to the wind and have an off plan dinner. But I didn’t (yay, me). Instead we went to my favorite chicken place and had sugar-free, grain-free, legume-free, crispy, yummy hot wings with celery and, again, ice cold water (which was unusually satisfying yesterday). Then we went to Matt’s parents’ house to pick up the kids and saw that they fed the kids pizza. And there were leftovers, too! As much as I love pizza and as tempted by off plan foods as I was yesterday, it didn’t even cross my mind to sample a little of the leftover pizza.
So back to last night, when we got home I was still craving something. I wasn’t quite sure what just yet, but my usual on plan snacks just weren’t what I wanted. Then I saw it – a locally grown, tree ripened, perfectly soft, sweet, and juicy peach. And I ate the whole thing, instead of the 1/4 or 1/2 of a peach that I’d normally eat (not that peaches are bad, but I need to keep sugar, even fruit sugars, down since I still have a lot of weight to lose). And it was so satisfying. And that was it, the end of my weakness, I didn’t want anything else, I didn’t crave anything that was totally off plan. I was quite content. It’s amazing what a difference a couple months of eating well makes.