not the least bit...

...guilty over that yummy soft pretzel from the mall, or the marinara sauce it was dipped in. Due to the fact that I have plans to change my eating habits on January 2. It's pretty drastic, but I am optimistic. Hoping to be successful, and willing to start over as often as necessary if/when I fall off the wagon.

I accidently looked at a Utube video a couple of months ago that was so interesting and thought provoking, it sounds like something we all need to attempt. It can't hurt, and could likely make a big difference in lifestyle if successful long term. So - jump in, let's give it a try.

This guy - some where in Europe, I think Austria or Germany - decided to go for a month without eating any sugar. I don't recall the details, but he spent four weeks reading labels and deliberately avoiding stuff with refined sugar as an ingredient. He reported drinking a lot of water that replaced some of the other things he was drinking, and claimed to loose a bit of weight. But the most interesting part was that it changed the way he eats, and sort of retrained his taste buds/appetite to not crave so much sweet stuff. We all consume far too much of sugar, especially those people who are chugging the energy drinks and living on caffeine. And kids consuming way to much of the stuff that is replacing real nutrition.

I've been paying a bit more attention in recent weeks, looking at labels. Reading the fine print for ingredients that come in a variety of disguised forms but all mean: sugar. And thinking about what I will have to eliminate to be sugar free for a month. It's not impossible, just requires being aware and conscientious. We all put things in our mouth without conscious thought, snacking on stuff we sometimes don't really even like.

For instance: me leaving work yesterday, going to the employee break room before walking out and seeing a huge cake someone ordered and failed to pick up, observing co-workers eating big hunks of tasty cake with gobs of butter cream icing. I scraped the icing off, and ate a slice of yummy cake, that I really did not even want. If someone had said: 'you have to eat the icing too', I would have refused the whole thing. But instead, without another thought, cut and consumed a good sized piece of cake that should have been left in the box. It was really good. I tell people all the time that we make the best cakes in town. Better than any catering service.

Of course, I knew better than to even think I could start something like this in December. With all the opportunities to eat stuff we should not, I knew it would not work to attempt cutting out sugar over the holidays. But now that I have finally had my slice of fluffy pumpkin pie, I think I am ready to give it a try. No sugar for a month? I'll let you know....