Tag Archives: sugar

Day 335: what’s your favorite holiday cookie?

2 Dec

I broke my two year streak last night.
I at a cookie.

Not just any cookie.

I ate Pam’s Chocolate Chip cookies.
They. Are. To. Die. For.

Pams_Cookies

Seriously. Two years ago I couldn’t stop eating Pam’s cookies. I would eat an entire plate of these chocolate chip cookies. They have some secret ingredient that Pam refuses to reveal (personally, I think it might be crack.)

This weekend I caved to the crave.

I ate Pam’s cookies!

But, I now have the self control to stop myself from gorging and devouring all the cookies on the plate.

In the past I would have boxed out everyone at the party to keep the platter all to myself and then licked it clean …with my tongue …right off the plate. I would have hid Pam’s cookies in my purse in order to take the sweet treats home and then gulped them down in secret.

What am I saying… I have done all of the above.

Pams_Cookies_2

But, I have now learned my lesson.

After giving up sweet treats and facing my sugar addiction last year during the first year of The Promise 365 I have learned about sugar boundaries.

I have learned many lessons about sugar actually.

The most important is this: the less “sweetness” I have in my life the more “sweets” I crave in my diet.

So I am proud to report that I ate not forty or twenty or twelve, but only three of Pam’s cookies tonight. Trust me, it’s progress. Believe me, they are worth it.

But my favorite, most crave-orite cookie is the crinkle — as in Chocolate Crinkle Cookie.

Why?  Because Mama Sling made these scrumptious delights at Christmastime.

And it is when I miss my mama most that I crave sweets.
Whenever I crave sugar, I really want a hug from Mama Sling.
When I pine for pie, I really want her kisses.
When I reach for chocolate, it is her laughter and that special brand of jolliness that I want to fill my life.

Knowing is half the battle.
I still limit my sugar intake and certainly don’t cave to every crave, but before I let loose and treat myself these days, I evaluate why I want it. Because there’s always a reason. 

So here’s my favorite cookie recipe. It’s not Pam’s but it’s pretty darn good.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookie recipe here

May your life be sweet and may you sugar responsibly. 

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Day 82: the cookie monster who ate monster cookies

22 Mar

Today I toured the Cottey College campus and saw some very familiar sights.

Including my old dorm room (do you recognize the door to our room, Laura?)

And, Hinkhouse, home to the Student Government Association where I spent most of my time.

But, the place on campus that caught my attention most was not a building. It wasn’t a classroom or a pretty path with blooming flowers either.

It was MONSTER COOKIES.
As I picked up my tray and grabbed my food items for lunch, I turned the corner and recognized an old friend, just sitting there waiting for me.  Staring at me.  Calling my name.

It was a plate of MONSTER COOKIES.
I’m not exactly sure just what is in MONSTER COOKIES but I know there is chocolate, maybe some M&M’s and possibly some oatmeal.

It’s funny what can send a crashing wave of nostalgia over one’s head, heart, body and soul. Like the giggles and singing in a lunch line, the giddy conversations and deep debates over a dinner in the dining hall.  Or, even the confiscating of MONSTER COOKIES in napkins to take back to our dorm room.

It’s not the cookie. It’s never the cookie.
It’s the time, place and people the cookie represents.

Isn’t it amazing what a cookie can represent?

I have not had any sweets for almost a year now, since I said sayonara to my sugar addiction last May.

I’ve been so good by not eating sugars that I no longer crave them.
The-Girl-Who-Always-Ordered-Dessert and The Cookie Monster are no longer inside me.

I’m proud to report that today I passed up a MONSTER COOKIE.
I didn’t even reach for it.

Some things may still look the same and never change,
but other things are remarkably different.

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Day 311: soda, soda, everywhere and not a drop to drink

7 Nov

The road trip continues.
Today we drove through 4 more states; Maryland, Washington D.C. (I know, not really a state), Virginia and North Carolina.

At one local grocery store near our final stop, I couldn’t help but notice this product: Chubby Kids Soda.  Really?  A high-sugar drink that blatantly markets to children?

I suppose it doesn’t surprise me. Sugary drinks, in all forms, are everywhere.  Especially on the highway between Boston and Florida.

And who am I to judge?
I was a self-professed Coca-Cola fan until a year ago — and inside I may still be one.  Even though I don’t drink it anymore I love the brand, I grew up on it.

I once ordered a Coke at a lunch meeting while I was pitching the Pepsi marketing team.  Yeah… try talking yourself out of that one.  (I eventually did.)

Coke was my choice in the Soda Wars — Pepsi vs. Coke?  No contest.

Today, on one of our many stops we pulled into a road side rest stop where my thirsty soul tried to find something to drink.  There were no shops or stores.  Just big vending machines.

My options were:

Coke
Pepsi
Juice
Water
Diet Dr. Pepper
Lemonade
Ginger Ale

I happily forked over two dollars and fed the big box and pushed the button for WATER.

The words SOLD OUT ran across the screen in bright red dashed letters.
So I pushed the other WATER button.
SOLD OUT.
Finally, I pushed my last WATER button option.

Surprise!  I was greeted with those same dancing letters.
SOLD OUT.

One would think running into this issue would be easily resolved with the push of the REFUND lever sticking out right next to the dollar eater.  But, no, not this trick vending machine.  Nope. Nada. No refunds. Not happening.

So it was, there on a highway road stop, that I engaged with a vending machine in a full-on stare down.

I didn’t budge. It didn’t either.

I poked and prodded the REFUND lever to no avail.
It held its ground and my dollars.

I was left with a choice — wondering what would be the best of the worst sugary drinks. Would juice be better?  What about lemonade?

I reluctantly pushed the Ginger Ale button and out popped a big, green, plastic bottle. I turned it over in my hands and read the label. What— 59 grams of sugar!?

Ugh. Bad. Choice.

Just as I turned to leave the vending machine another couple was making their way to the dollar eating area, when it occurred to me — I could just give them the drink I held in my hand.

It would be benevolent! It would be like paying it forward! I mean, I was certainly not going to drink it. They would be so happy! I would do a good deed!

As they approached I flashed a big smile and outstretched my big, green Ginger Ale offering.

Their faces turned to disgust and they started waving their hands in the universal sign of that-toxin-will-kill-me motion.

The man rubbed his stomach and said:
“That stuff really messes me up. Sorry. Thanks for the offer.”

I don’t know why I was surprised, that’s exactly what I would do if in the other shoes.

Instead of giving him a can of soda, I shared another kind of gift.
A friendly warning that the evil vending machine was out of water and if provoked would eat his dollars.

The Soda Wars continue it seems.
But, I know, nothing was the better choice as something for my body today.

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Day 307: a courageous holiday :: 5 strategies to stay on track with sugar

3 Nov

It’s a cold day here but I’m all bundled up and warm inside.

It helps to have some green tea at my side.  Believe me, coffee sounds way more warm and delectable. But I’m learning that tea does the trick.

There’s so much to look forward to this winter.
For one, we leave for Florida in the morning. (On the 6 AM ferry—ouch!)
But once we arrive in the sunshine state there will be warm weather, followed by holiday travel and friends and family to visit.

I know this winter and holiday season will take great courage for me to get through without totally breaking down and breaking my promise around coffee and chocolate and sugar.

I just opened my O Mail tonight from Oprah’s Life Class and the headline reads:
What will you do that you’ve never had the courage to do before? 

It has my holiday heart spinning.
I will embark on a new tradition this winter — one of taking care of my head, heart, body and soul — instead of taking every opportunity to sample all the treats, cookies, candies and pies!

In order to have the courage to follow through with this I need a plan.

Step One: Get Boundaries
My daily intake of sugar is limited to 25 grams.  It’s easy to stay in this range when I don’t have sweets and stay away from packaged goods.  Fruit alone can fill this requirement.  So, while, my holiday boundary will remain the same, 25 grams a day, I will have to plan out my sweet tastes.

Step Two: Get Real
I realize there will be temptation and I need to be real about my own expectations.  If I REALLY want to stick with my sugar pledge I have to be sweet to myself.  Planning nightly baths and good self-care will be in order.

Step Three: Get Support
I will ask the people who love me most to help here. Sometimes just saying it out loud and from the heart is all people need to hear to understand the importance of this sweet commitment.

Step Four: Get Cooking
Hey! If I can’t eat what’s there maybe I need to make my own sweet treats. Looks like I need to find a no sugar recipe to share this holiday so others can enjoy what I bring to the table too. And when it comes to holiday eating can you ever have too many options?

Step Five: Get Out
If all else fails, flee the scene of the crime!  As in, take a breather or a break.  Drop the cookies and get some fresh air.

It may sound silly.
But I think it’s courageous.

Either way, this holiday will be a test — one I’m willing to take!

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Day 262: what do you know for sure?

19 Sep

It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.
—Mark Twain

There are so many things I don’t know, and, the deeper I go into this year and this promise, the more I am learning about what I don’t know.

Tonight I met up with my dear friend Gavin at a restaurant, getting in a little time to catch up during my short stay in Boston.  As we chatted, Gavin asked me about what’s changed in my life during this year and specifically what will I keep doing once the year is over?

The answer was easy: Sugar.
I never before knew just how addicted to sugar I am, or how terribly evil sugar can be on the human body.  I was never aware.  I just didn’t know.

Not only did I not know how very destructive sugar could be, rather, I KNEW that I loved dessert.  And, I thought it was completely normal to be a sugar aficionado, a woman who never left a restaurant without ordering dessert.

In fact, I would always complain that restaurants should have a tiny chocolate chip cookie that was warm and gooey available for dessert — just so you could have a tiny sweet treat even if you were stuffed and couldn’t stomach a full blown dessert.

It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so that gets you into trouble.

Now, I know, at least about sugar.
I also know a little about meditation and the power and peace it brings. I know about toxicity too, and the importance of detoxing my body.

But, what I don’t know (although I feel I am getting closer to understanding) is that ever present question: what is the soul?

This weekend Deepak Chopra touched upon some soul food and some answers.  He pointed out that when it comes to the soul, science cannot locate it.  Through body scans, PET scan, radiology, surgery, the soul cannot be located … therefore, the simplest explanation is: if you can’t find something in the body, it’s not there.

The soul, he described, is our core consciousness and it is not local.  Meaning, it is not locatable in time or space.

Then, he had the audience, the entire 4,000+ person audience sit in silence and listen to him speak.  As the room fell silent and his voice filled the void, he reminded each of us that the one listening to him, the one focusing on nothing else but being present, is the soul.

Try it for a second if you like.
Sit in silence.  Who is there.  Who is hearing the trees blow in the fall wind outside your window? Who is hearing children in the room next door?  Who is hearing the hum of the air conditioner?

Who is it with you, when you sit in silence and observe?

I may not know …yet.
But, I’m going with Deepak on this one:  It is the soul.

“I am not in the body.
I am not in the mind.
I am not in the world.
It is in me.”

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Day 218: the sweetest part of keeping my promise

6 Aug

By far, some of the hardest moments, in this year of The Promise 365, are the group outings and group eatings.

Groups revolve around food.
Meetings are scheduled around food.
Holidays, reunions, weddings, casual get-togethers …they all have something in common: mangia! mangia!

Life’s sweetest moments are usually fully loaded with sugar.
Which I love.  But, this year, I’m not having it.

Just this last week alone I turned down more chocolate, sugar and goodies than Betty Crocker could shake a spatula at.

I have been known to devour a complete tray of brownies, before they got out of the pan and over to the cooling rack.

I have eaten entire plates of chocolate chip cookies (Pam Peterson, calling Pam Peterson), buckets of raw cookie dough (I had partners in crime Miss Laura and Miss Lisa), and have been known to drink three mochas in one day (yes, Justin, I admit to begging you to drive me through every coffee stand down the coast of Oregon).

It’s like my chocolate craving didn’t come with an ‘off’ switch.
But, I am learning to live without my dear mocha, cookies and brownies.  All for the sake of taking care of my body and giving it a sugar break.

Not because I want to, but because I realize my level of addiction.
I am aware.  Oh, boy, am I aware.

I am also aware of my deep yearning for pastries, muffins, baked items of any kind.  Give me something sprinkled with sugar on top and I will make it disappear.  Like magic.  Or, more appropriately, Jamie Sugarfield, The Sugar ‘Slinger.

So, it was, last week, with a host of events — a wedding, reunion, and many moments of sweet get-togethers — I found myself staring straight into the middle of sugar mayhem; including:

Rehearsal Dinner cookies and treats:
(Cookies and brownies and chocolate chips, oh my!)

Wedding cake….oh, scrumptious wedding cake.
(Endless slices of wedding cake!!)

A dinner AND DESSERT at The Outermost Inn in Aquinnah!
(Ginger ice cream, berry cobbler, chocolate brownie with caramel and coconut ice cream.)

And, morning muffins at the venerable Art Cliff.
(Blackberry brown sugar scones!)

I have to admit, it’s painful for me deny myself all this sugary goodness, it’s hard to enjoy both a sweet moment with family and friends and pretend not to drool over their shoulder and dessert platter.

But, I know (somewhere deep inside, I know) it’s a good lesson for me.

Once dessert has disappeared (and not at my own hands) it feels, dare I say “good”.
Because, I did it.  I kept my promise.
And, that is, well …pretty sweet.

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Day 137: throwing out chocolate

17 May

Today I made a bold move.
A really bold, in-your-face move.

I threw out all of my chocolate.

I have been saving bars of chocolate since the cleanse started.  Those chocolate squares sat lonely in my cupboard for the last month all wrapped in foil just waiting for me to finish this little experiment and unwrap them.

I decided it was time.
It’s a new day over here.

Today is the first day of my life, post cleanse, that I am in control of my diet.
So, I threw it all out.

Ironically, it is also the day that a man named Don Gorske ate his 25,000th Big Mac.

25,000 Big Macs?

It made me stop and think:  how many Big Macs have I eaten in my lifetime?
10?  100?  1,000?

I have no idea.
(I mean, all those elementary school t-ball games through high school basketball pre-game grazing parties add up, you know?)

I do know that I haven’t eaten a Big Mac in years.

However, when I start thinking about how much SUGAR I have ingested over the years, I get a little queasy.  Between all the soda, brownies, cookies and sweets I could probably sink a battleship, if not just my diet.

Good news.  A new movie is out to show diet is the answer.
It’s from the research of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, the author of The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health.

The movie?  Forks Over Knives.

The feature film Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.

I’m still waiting for the movie to hit a theater near me.

In the meantime, sugar is out, and the chocolate is gone.
Believe me, I still have a sweet tooth, I am just learning to control it (and rummaging through the garbage doesn’t count!).

Plus, I know SOMEDAY my body will thank me.
All this makes me wonder:  what could you throw out?

Here’s a preview of Forks over Knives if you would like to learn more:



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Day 122: oh, sugar … honey, honey!

2 May

Oh, sugar!

Yesterday, I wrote about my terrible experiment with gluten free/sugar free cookies. (And, I received some helpful tips from some of you out there regarding what you love and where to find good substitutes, thank you!)

Today, I read the New York Times article “Is Sugar Toxic?” forwarded to me by a dear friend.  The article explores the impact and potential destruction sugar plays in our American Diet and how it contributes to the All-American diseases of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

It ends with the statement, “sugar scares me”.

Well, it scares me too.

It’s with great sadness I report:
I believe I am a sugar addict. 

I’m pretty sure that’s my conclusion of the moment and of this cleanse.
I haven’t done a double-blind study or conducted experiments on lab mice, but sans quantitative data, I know this:

I adore the sweet stuff of life, and I’m not talking about precious moments with friends and family (love those too!).

I have planned entire days of my life around sugar (Dunkin’ Donuts morning coffee, lunch time mocha, mid-afternoon break with a dark chocolate square, and then of course the post-dinner dessert).

In fact, it could be a genetic hand-me-down. I was born to a woman who sprinkled brown sugar on vegetables just to trick me into eating asparagus!

Plus, I have been known to perform magic tricks making an entire bar of chocolate disappear in less than an hour!

The smoking gun?
I used to market sugar for a living (in the form of ice cream for the one with the 31) for goodness sake!

Today, the sugar article, put it all in perspective, coming on the heels of my cleanse.

It’s no surprise to me that sugar wreaks havoc on the body and liver.
I have studied nutrition and health for the last year with Integrative Nutrition and absorbed the ins and outs of diet, health and wellness from all angles imaginable.

What is a surprise to me is ACTUALLY removing the sweet substance from my life, and observing my bodily reactions living without it.

It’s not all physical.
In fact, I would argue it is much more mental. It’s a psychological roller coaster of sorts.

ME, the girl who always orders dessert, the lover of mocha, the queen of ice cream, the never met a dark chocolate square I didn’t love, the cookie monster, okay, you get it…

I guess, I’m just saying this:
The best way to understand what you KNOW in your head is to LIVE it in your life.

And, although it doesn’t feel very sweet right now, I know my body will thank me for living a less sugary life …eventually.

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