sugar, cont.

I'm still not eating sugar.

Well, mostly.

I still get my chai every day, because chai is a reason to force myself to get out of my office, take a walk, and sit for a few minutes. I am a better and saner person for that. 

Also, I have to allow myself some sugar. I am not the sort who does well with no-sugar-ever-or-bust. I will bust. So I get one exception per day, and usually that exception is the chai. 

Additional exceptions are permitted on Friday and Saturday night if out with people who order something scrumptious (I do not allow myself to order it, except in the form of an alcoholic beverage when applicable).

On Sunday all bets are off, except that I do try to stay away from excessive amounts of sugar on Sundays.

Oh, and birthdays/parties. Those are exceptions, too.

Basically the entire thing is exceptions. Cancel the first part about not eating sugar.

What really happened is that, in taking a few days off of sugar two weeks ago, I realized that a diet consisting largely of Sour Jelly Bellies and Chewy Sweet Tarts was perhaps not... ideal. Or healthy. Or sustainable, in the long term. 

So I no longer buy bags of candy.

I avoid those cookies someone brought into the office. 

I don't stop at the donut place when it occurs to me to pick up a dozen and bring them to work.

I don't order the organic soda at the pizza lunches. 

It doesn't sound like much - I should get a treat every now and then! - but it turns out that recently my life was almost entirely treats. All day. Every day. Because I neeeeeded them. 

That just cannot go on. Pretty soon an occasional treat has turned into a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup and Red 40. 

And it had.

I wish I could be one of those moderation people, but I know better than that. My taste buds do not know the meaning of moderation. 

One exception per day (except Sunday) is a good rule for me. My bones and heart and muscles will thank me when I am 80. 

But sigh. The sugar craving has not gone away. Not yet.