Before I had Lamp we ate a lot more vegetarian dishes. Being prego and even post-partum I craved meat. So lately I’ve been wanting to get back to more vegetarian fare, and just healthy wholesome, good tasting food. Additionally I’ve been wanting to once again get my sweet tooth under control and finally drop some pesky baby weight that’s been hanging on for dear life. So I’ve found some new great recipes and stocked the fridge with fresh fruits and veggies. Meals have been more vegetarian, healthy and delicious. So here’s the problem. I’ve been telling myself that I’ll just eat really healthy yummy food, and that it will be SO healthy and delicious that I won’t even want sweets. So I eat healthy stuff until I’m full. And satisfied. For an hour or two…and then I cave and inhale some cookie dough to scratch that sugary itch. And now, all I’ve done is eat twice as many calories. Yes some of them may be more healthy calories, but they’re calories just the same. It seemed like a couple weeks ago when I was still eating healthy (but maybe not as healthy) but allowed for the sweets I was feeling and looking a little slimmer. I wouldn’t eat as much dinner because I knew I wanted a little sweetness after so the total calorie intake was lower. I know sugar is bad for you and can catch up with you in the long run, but I think I’d rather feel (and look!) a little slimmer even if it meant I couldn’t shake the sugar habit completely.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? There was a time in my life when I didn’t crave sweets so much, but that was before I had kids. Now it’s my knee-jerk reaction to reach for sweets when I’m feeling the kid-stress…any suggestions for kicking this habit?
If you’re interested here are some of the recipes we’ve been enjoying.
ps–So the carrot ginger dressing is taken from a recipe Gwyneth Paltrow posted on Goop a while back. In this post Gwyneth says, “This dressing is the jam!” And now I can’t stop saying that sentence in my head when I think of this dressing…and I can’t decided whether it’s cute and cool in an old-school sort of way, or pretentious and snooty in a hipster sort of way. But either way, now you have it in your heads too. This dressing is the jam!
i always say things are "my jam" or "the jam". goop is totally biting my style. also, i like to live by the 80/20 rule. 80% of what i eat is pretty healthy, and i can do what i like with the other 20%. it's pretty manageable and i don't obsess about what i eat anymore.
I know this will sound weird…but if you are able to get away once in a while…maybe there is a gym nearby that has one…but Sauna will help kick that sugar habit. No Joke. It was an unexpected bonus for me. I also have been in the special needs trenches for almost 5 years…and sugar is my crutch for the stress. But wow…not only was it relaxing, I didn't want to eat any sweets after.
The sugar thing is hard. I would usually state that I am a salt kind of girl, but this last pregancy totally changed all that. Instead of binging on the sugar now, I drink flavored water. Yes, I know, not "real" food, but better than bad calories with the added benefit staying hydrated (super important for a breastfeeding momma). I just pick out my flavor and drink the 8oz of water. It works out pretty well. I still eat amazing baked goods and creamy frozen stuff, just not in the middle of the day, three times, before lunch.
Hello, I followed you here from Design Mom's post about a murmur of starlings–I wanted to see your photos of bats! And then of course I wanted to know more about Lamp. Just wanted to say that I like reading about her. She is darling. Beanie is darling. Your posts about our beliefs as Mormons are spot-on; I should take the time more on my own blog to explain, as you do.
I always gravitate toward learning about families who have something unexpected and hard to experience; like Sister Jones, I also had a baby who was born and died prematurely, though without warning, rhyme, nor reason.
I also wanted to compliment you on the fact that you're sharing, as you said in one post, things that seem so intimate and difficult. I worry about information on the interwebs, too, which is why I kept my blog private. I am not as brave as you are. But I also know that you never know how your blog can affect one person, lift them up, make them smile, help them deal with whatever they do. So I wanted to tell you that it affected me, so that you know.
I was raised to eat just cookies for dinner… for after all if you eat dinner AND a cookie, its just more calories. So why not just eat what your early want? That's how my mom lives her life. She also excersies so she can eat. Not a very hip way, but she's just a skinny thing! That's a little exaggerated of her healthy habits, but I've learned to be a little more easy with it all. Hard core calorie counting is never fun for me, even if it is just cookies. But then hard core healthy eating can be a bear too. So i think what my mom really taught me was balance in all things… even the sweets, even the hip and "healthy" ways of eating, balance in eating meat, balance in eating sweets, balance in exercise… balance in all things. Don't tell her, but I think she's right.
She also thinks the word "healthy" is bogus! Whenever I say, 'oh THIS is healthy…" she looks at me with that- balance in all things is the healthiest way-look….
but does it help you LOSE weight? Or do you have to get a little extreme to actually LOSE? That's where I'm at a total loss for what I was taught, and what actually works. OH THE BABY WEIGHT.
it has helped me to LOOK UP:) (From my blogpost…)
Ah, isn't it so hard? Is it the late night (after say 9) snacking? I found, yes, it is an itch, but it's also a HABIT. The first few days suck, but after 2-3 weeks, I find I'm not even craving that snack. If I was a dummy and skipped a meal, so I'm really hungry, I try to eat a sandwich or something not so bad. BUT, if (when!) I fall off the wagon, then I have to work hard for another month or so to break it again. Boo.