Both of you who read this blog have asked me to relate how it went—my goal of a sugar-free February. Well . . . (I do not mean it went well) . . . well, it was ok except for the incidents already noted. It is difficult, as already related, to eschew sugar when Wendys hands you a free Frosty. It is equally difficult to avoid consuming significant quantities of sugar when you are making chocolate chip cookies. I will here add that it is impossible to not scrape the bowl and consume half the batch when one is making penuche, especially when it turns out well.
There were, however, positive accomplishments. I sat, for example, in an all-day meeting in Washington DC with a bowl of miniature Hershey chocolates sitting in a plastic bowl in front of me, and they disgusted me. Both the chocolates and the bowl looked equally yummy. El Cheapo chocolates have disgusted me for a long time now, ever since I went sugar-free for several months in preparation for hiking up and down mountains at Philmont with the Boy Scouts.
And I was able, during the post-Valentine’s Day days of February, to withstand Easter candy, most notably those rich Cadbury eggs. And its funny, I ate one of those a few days ago in March, and though it was wonderful, it nearly killed me. It reminded me of the time I was in a training class in Phoenix and I bought a six-piece-box of Sees truffles and ate them all in one sitting—and then I couldn’t sit still in my class. My legs wanted to climb Mount Everest and then run the Boston marathon, but I was in class, and I had to sit still.
So, I’m still feeling the positive results of my almost-sort-of-totally-sugar-free February. Cake, the kind of cake they serve at awards banquets with Crisco frosting is disgusting. It always has been, but I hadn’t noticed. Both donuts and doughnuts are revolting. Jelly beans, though plentiful this time of year and quite appealing, can kill you if you eat more than six. And non-diet sodas taste like carbonated maple syrup. So it’s a good thing to cut the sugar. It takes away the craving for the worst of junk food. Tootsie Roll, anyone? Yuck!
But now in March it’s nice to be able to wolf down a few world class cookies and to savor some exquisite candy—as I had done when I stepped over the line a few times during my sugar-free February and then afterward had to look honestly at myself in the mirror and say, “Wow! That was delicious.”
There were, however, positive accomplishments. I sat, for example, in an all-day meeting in Washington DC with a bowl of miniature Hershey chocolates sitting in a plastic bowl in front of me, and they disgusted me. Both the chocolates and the bowl looked equally yummy. El Cheapo chocolates have disgusted me for a long time now, ever since I went sugar-free for several months in preparation for hiking up and down mountains at Philmont with the Boy Scouts.
And I was able, during the post-Valentine’s Day days of February, to withstand Easter candy, most notably those rich Cadbury eggs. And its funny, I ate one of those a few days ago in March, and though it was wonderful, it nearly killed me. It reminded me of the time I was in a training class in Phoenix and I bought a six-piece-box of Sees truffles and ate them all in one sitting—and then I couldn’t sit still in my class. My legs wanted to climb Mount Everest and then run the Boston marathon, but I was in class, and I had to sit still.
So, I’m still feeling the positive results of my almost-sort-of-totally-sugar-free February. Cake, the kind of cake they serve at awards banquets with Crisco frosting is disgusting. It always has been, but I hadn’t noticed. Both donuts and doughnuts are revolting. Jelly beans, though plentiful this time of year and quite appealing, can kill you if you eat more than six. And non-diet sodas taste like carbonated maple syrup. So it’s a good thing to cut the sugar. It takes away the craving for the worst of junk food. Tootsie Roll, anyone? Yuck!
But now in March it’s nice to be able to wolf down a few world class cookies and to savor some exquisite candy—as I had done when I stepped over the line a few times during my sugar-free February and then afterward had to look honestly at myself in the mirror and say, “Wow! That was delicious.”
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