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January 24, 2007
On Setting a Good Example
I'd have to admit, I've been a bit concerned as of late that some of you have the idea that I'm some sort of ice queen of food perfection. I mean, you sounded so shocked when I ate some hummus! If you want food discipline perfection, you've got to look to MR. Cause I do pretty well, much better than ever before, but I'm by no means invincible. That's one reason why I build a little margin into my daily calories, so that I don't end up messing up my long term CR program. Life happens! It's okay!
For instance, today I had a savory megamuffin for breakfast, lovingly toasted in the toaster oven by MR with a piece of nonfat cheese on top, flax oil and mustard added at table. Then for lunch I had my usual salad plus yogurt, plus flax oil plus almonds (I knew I'd be out tonight for a meeting so I wanted some flax at lunch instead of the usual dinner flax.) Oh, and I got some Emerill's green hot sauce and it's so good! So I put that on top of the salad and yogurt too.
Then I got to the office (I'd been working at home this morning due to a series of unforeseeable events, all of them good, but basically I hadn't had time to walk to the office yet I was so busy!) I was hit with this MASSIVE sugar craving! I wanted fruit! So I ate some of the dried apples and cranberries out of the Christmas present I gave one of my co-workers... she's pregnant and isn't feeling the sweet stuff right now, so she's been giving her dried fruit away. I ate the last of it (not much, about sixty calories) and still had this wacko sugar craving. Didn't seem right since a) it's not the right time for the PMS chocolate craving b) I have been adding fat to my diet and doing well, whereas usually eating too little fat causes sugar cravings. I couldn't figure it out. But I wanted sugar. Really, really bad.
So I ate (and yes I read the nutrition info to figure it out) 40 calories worth of the M & M's that live on our accountant's desk. They were pretty yummy. I eat them once a month for my PMS chocolate craving fulfillment. I didn't eat many this time, and then I was fine. But I was puzzled by the unusual sugar craving, and I started to worry that my readers would be very disappointed that I ate gak!
Then I started to think about it. I wrote to one of my favorite readers and mentioned the situation to her. She gave me a great pep talk (she's good at that) and reminded me that (as I am always saying!) food is not a moral issue! So I thought some more, and realized, it's not healthy for the blog readers to have this image of me as the perfect ice queen of food discipline freak show from hell! (It's okay if they think that about my boyfriend, but he's unusual, and a bit orange.) They should know that just like them, I struggle with these issues and make good decisions most of the time but suboptimal decisions some of the time. They should see how I learn from my experiences and don't get discouraged. In fact, this eating of M and M's can even been seen as a positive experience, since it is such a perfect teaching moment! Maybe I should eat the entire bag!
Just kidding. I didn't eat the entire bag. I love you all, but I'm not willing to go to that extreme!
I went about my day, finished up at the office and went home to change so I could hit the gym before heading out to my night meeting. While at home I happened to email a reader that I was on my way to the gym.
Then it hit me. I was on my way to the gym. I'd had a horrible hiatus from working out... between my mom's illness, the holidays, stress, blah blah blah, I hadn't darkened the door of the gym since before the holidays. Until yesterday when I had a great workout. Realized how very much I miss working out, and how good it is for stress reduction. Not to metion bone health, which we CR girls need to pay a lot of attention to!
Between being in minor calorie deficit (as you know, I'm taking my calories GRADUALLY lower, and so I've been under my average for many days in a row without a going out big meal day to make up for it and boost my average) and adding intense exercise, no wonder I was having a sugar freak out! I just hadn't thought about it. I'm eating less and burning more. I'm going to be hungry. I've got to plan for it, so I don't end up blowing the benefits of exercise by eating more calories.
When I got home from my night meeting I explained this all to MR. I already had the solution figured out: Just Blueberries. They're the dried, unsugared, nothing added blueberries that we use in our megamuffins. I love them, and usually skim a little off the top (calorie counted and weighed) "for expenses" when I'm helping him make his muffins. I had considered bagging up some measured servings of these to add to my lunch or as an afternoon snack, as we had thought it might be nice to put a bit of fruit in my diet. I typically eat fruit only twice or so a week, and blueberries have flavenoids that may protect me from dark circles under my eyes. So the problem is solved: I will satisfy any future afternoon sugar cravings with pre-measured, calculated in blueberries! Delicious!
The moral of the story is: nobody's perfect. This isn't about being good, moral, righteous or invincible. It's about making the most of your life, moment to moment, such that you achieve both your short term and your long term goals. We face a lot of challenges in this obesogenic environment, but the key is to learn from our experience and keep pushing on.
And carry a small bag of dried blueberries. Cause you never know.
Posted by april at January 24, 2007 9:44 PM
Comments
Thanks for the great entry April--you totally provoked me to stay up late composing a new Gratuitous Musing for my blog in response. It's been a few days since I've devoted much attention to my blog, so thanks for the inspiration! GREAT TOPIC!
Posted by: Chris at January 24, 2007 10:32 PM
This truly is what I love about being CRON. So many other plans and programs and groups are so black & white and limited. This "8 week plan", that "12-week program", "must follow 100% to receive all the benefits." "Cut out this".."limit that to 10% or else!!" This has such an unlimited feel to it. So you eat something not quite right..well, it will balance out with better choices tomorrow. Or your week averages out to a one level of CR this week and another level the next. You can be strict 35-40% CR'd or just a mild 20% (or even less) The point being..life as a CR practitioner is all about balance and acceptance of few food bumps and curves thrown your way. It's very pleasant.
Posted by: Deborah at January 25, 2007 9:04 AM
hey april, can you tell me more about what you mean by certain diet sodas being "okay?" you included diet dr. pepper on your list, but that has phosphoric acid... which i thought was definitely bad.
oh and i am already a seltzer addict -- that's what got me to stop drinking a million diet cokes a couple years ago. i stock vintage seltzer by the case!
Posted by: cat at January 25, 2007 9:15 AM
Just bought my first copy of Grazia ever to see your article. Not had a chance to read it yet, but the photos look great, better than the NY Magazine ones!
Posted by: Brooke at January 25, 2007 9:59 AM
I definately find that if I'm not working out (or not sleeping well) that I'm more subject to sugar cravings and blood sugar fluctuations in general.
Posted by: thatgirljj at January 25, 2007 10:15 AM
What's wrong with hummus? I eat lots of veggies with hummus at least 3 times per week - I consider hummus very healthy.
Posted by: jayo at January 25, 2007 4:19 PM
Aww, April has her very own "en case"! (ala Ms. Guillano). I think blueberries definatly beat soy nuts.
Posted by: Christina at January 25, 2007 5:16 PM
Amen. CRON is for the long haul and not about being perfect. It's about eating less calories than you would like to - forever. It's not about eating "perfectly". We are all human (except for MR, perhaps?) and occasionally must have fun or go crazy or whatever.
Posted by: Little MR at January 25, 2007 5:45 PM
yep, i'm 99 percent sure i'll be there!
Posted by: cat at January 27, 2007 10:25 AM
Jayo, I'm all about the soy nuts. Protein! ;)
Posted by: Erin at January 27, 2007 8:07 PM