Starting Over

Following the Great Greg Caper my eating went all to hell. The birthday is a mini-holiday season; the difference being that it lasts about 2 weeks instead of a month. I knew it would happen; my friends like to eat, drink and bake. So there was pizza. And chocolate. Ice cream. Little chocolate donuts. And even Oreos. A steady stream of sugar, in fact, that culminated in mocha-choco-latte-yayas and Grotke cupcakes. After 4 months of good eating, my system rebelled at everything. Nothing settled well and yet I ate on, knowing full well this episode would end in the bathroom just like the rest. Insanity.

I felt like a sugar junkie, incapable of saying no to it, relishing the burn and the high and puking every time I ate it. My body just doesn't want it in my system anymore.

So on Monday I stopped the insanity. Cleared the starches and sugary stuff out and gave them to neighbors. But the craving is there. Making the shopping list from the supermarket website I noted every baked baddie, every bit of junk on sale. Spaghetti made it onto my list, then was scratched out. Just say no, right? It ain't that easy, Nancy.

So tonight I baked up some sweet potatoes and onions. It's a healthy middle ground. I'll be damned if I regain the 40 pounds I fought off. Sugar is like junk to me. So things like carrots, sweet potatoes, onions... I figure they're like methadone. They're sweet but healthy, and cheap enough, too. Toss them in a roast pan and in an hour there's a dinner that staves off the craving without blowing my waistline, budget or guts later. I really wish I'd just stayed with the eating I was doing. That was a reckless detour that did nothing but get me sick. But I've started over and it's going well. I've learned that lesson, I hope.