Pepper Brown taunts me with her gingerbread house
I like sweets. I blame Mum for this one. Every time she sees me looking bored, she suggests having a piece of pie or cake, or a sweet bun. One day she asked what I wanted for dinner (I think I was in high school) and I said “cake” (as a joke). She kept asking and I kept replying “cake!” Eventually she gave up, left the apartment, and returned with an entire cake from the bakery downstairs. It wasn’t even a tiny cake; it was at least a 16″ traditional Chinese sponge cake with a layer of fruit and cream inside. I ate half of it for dinner.
I don’t think I eat as much dessert as I used to, but my friends still think I consume more than the average person. Not so long ago, Phil asked how many cupcakes I ate and I replied “I only had two.” “Only two?!” he asked “in how long?” That’s when I realized he was talking about the cupcake eating contest I took part in a while back. “Oh, I thought you meant how many I ate today!” “You ate two today??”
On a monthly average I probably consume one pie, half a cake, two donuts, half a box of cookies, two bowls of ice cream, 1/2 a jar of sweet spread, 35 spoonfuls of sugar (in coffee), a couple of sweet buns, maybe one or two Twinkies or other spongy snack-sized cakes, and a few handfuls of chocolates. Nothing crazy.
Two days ago, I started to wonder how long I would last if I didn’t eat any sugar at all. Denis has been off of it for a few years now and tells me that he feels much better as a result. I decided I’d try it.
It’s only day two and I’m floundering! I’m now using honey as a sugar substitute in my coffee and trying desperately to avoid all the cake, boxes of chocolates, and decorated gingerbread houses in my apartment. It’s not easy. I ended up eating a piece of 70% dark chocolate but it just wasn’t enough. I might have even broken down tonight while playing Rummikub directly across from two very yummy looking gingerbread houses. Ang got scared. I don’t know how long this can go on for…
I’m of the opinion that completely denying yourself the simple pleasures in life isn’t the way to go. Yes, cutting back and limiting the sweet indulgences is a good idea, and a very welcome idea for most everyone. Getting rid of it entirely just seems like you miss out on the sweeter side of life (pun intended).
One of my friends has a good way of doing it. Instead of having really cheap chocolate or dessert, spoil yourself and get really fancy stuff. It tastes amazing but you won’t do it as often since it costs more.
However, if you are super set on going off sweets, then power to you. I will refrain from another bite of my cookie in your honor.
That’s actually a really good idea — only eating ridiculously expensive chocolate / dessert! I’m sure I’ll appreciate it more if I do that. Thanks Jenn!
Cutting sugar is actually one my goals this year. I’ve become too dependent on it. Especially for coffee, I must have 3 sugars or I won’t drink it.
3 sugars is pretty excessive for just one cup of coffee! I’m starting to suspect that you don’t actually like coffee all that much. I don’t mind using honey instead of sugar in my coffee, especially if the coffee is a strong dark roast. I find that the honey sort of neutralizes the harsher coffee flavours.