diet update

my diet changes are mostly going well!

since i haven't gone fully "no carb", it's not striking success, but it is success nonetheless. 

1. the biggest habit break is the tea sweetener. i haven't added honey in a week, i think. and i still drink a lot of tea with milk. i told myself that it is okay to use stevia or this natrium-stevia mix they sell here. but i really don't like the taste, so i just go without.

2. i have had the occasional apple or part of a banana, but it's rare. and i have been skipping the raisins, which makes a big difference.

3. last wednesday i fell off the wagon. but instead of considering the project done, i simply got back on it thursday morning.

am i less pudgy? maybe slightly. i feel like my muffin top is ever so slightly smaller. hopefully it will keep shrinking and i will keep up these good habits and keep improving steadily.

my relationship with food is difficult

here we go again with the "eating right" attempt.

i have a sweet tooth. and when i eat sugar, my sugar cravings just gain momentum. so it's not like i can have one cookie -- it just makes me crazy for more cookies.

i have about a month and a half before i travel again, and i'm going to try to make that a month and a half of good eating choices. i do have one exception i know of: kimmo's birthday is at the end of the month and i will have some cake then. but otherwise i am going to try to avoid sugar.

it sounds so easy and i'm embarrassed that it's so difficult to do.

for meals, my system is in place and i feel reasonably good about it. i cook mostly from scratch and avoid gluten and overall that is working for me. my fail points are:

1. snacks -- i can eat a lot of sugar via fruit during the day. the biggest problems are apples and raisins. yes, they are healthy. but they are not healthy when you eat a lot of them, and i have trouble with keeping it to a reasonable amount (see above)
2. game night desserts -- most saturday nights, we get together with the neighbors and play a board game and eat some kind of homemade dessert. i really enjoy this ritual, and so do the other three people involved. i'm not sure about the best plan: make a small dessert to share and allow myself the once-a-week thing, since it's not like i can easily get more the next day? try to do only savory treats, like nice cheeses (possible, but only when we are hosting)?
3. tea - i use a lot of honey in my tea. i'm trying to go without honey, full stop.
4. other social events when i'm hungry and we're out and about -- at norwegian cafes, it's quite difficult to find savory but gluten-free options. i can sometimes just get a coffee or tea and add lots of milk and sugar and not eat anything, especially if we're heading home soon. but that doesn't always work because we aren't heading home soon. i can pack lots of snacks for myself, but that gets frustrating because kimmo and the kids eat it too and then i end up with not very much at all. i can choose to eat gluten but nothing sweet, which means i have less of the sugar momentum. none of those options sound great. maybe the liquid plus snacks thing. maybe it's a matter of finding low carb snacks that the kids hate (chili peanuts?).

let the challenge begin.