Why I feel like a drug cheat – New Year’s resolution update

I feel a bit like Lance Armstrong today. It’s Tuesday – my day of reckoning – where I have to ‘fess up to how I’ve fared in the past week as far as my New Year’s resolutions have gone. And quite frankly, it’s all about the sugar. I’m aspiring to be like Emma the Guru (who hasn’t had a lolly in SEVEN years) and Sarah Wilson, author of I Quit Sugar, but next to these role models, I’m a failure.

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong

Some say that Lance Armstrong showed little emotion or remorse when interviewed by Oprah Winfrey about his drug-cheating scandal. Not me. On this level, we’re fields apart. I’m lying prone on the floor, beating my fist to the ground and vowing to change my wicked ways. You see, last week I confessed to eating a Choc Top at the Gold Class Cinema.

 

This week I have sinned not once, but THREE times!! Which means I have completely failed in the first of my five resolutions – to quit sugar – or at least stick to the ONE LINE RULE of not consuming anything above five per cent sugar.

Connoisseur chocolate icecream

Connoisseur chocolate icecream

It must be something to do with me watching movies. Because the second time I fell off the sugar-free bandwagon, I was watching a movie at home with my daughter, Veronica, when she pulled out a tub of my favourite ice-cream. Connoisseur Chocolate Obsession… I watched her enviously as she devoured a bowl and after that, couldn’t get the image out of my mind. Knowing all the while that very tub of ice-cream was only metres away in the freezer, begging me to try some. So I relented. BIG TIME.

I thought I’d grab the tub and just eat a few teensy, weeny mouthfuls, but that turned into a glutinous gorging spree and I finished the whole bucket.

Jersey caramels

Jersey caramels

Then it got WORSE. Veronica had also had friends over to celebrate the end of school holidays so she’d put together a lolly bowl. After the ice-cream, she pulled out the leftovers and there, tempting me viciously, were my most treasured of all lollies – jersey caramels. My much adored, dear-departed Grandmother and I used to share a packet when she took me to the movies as a child. Well, I thought, done my dash with the ice-cream, may as well go the full hog. So I did.

The third sinful moment came when, the next day, I was down the street buying the kids a bakery treat for afternoon tea to mark the first day back at school and that smell of sweet, fresh bread sent my hunger pains into overdrive. Another treat I’ve really missed on this sugar-free caper is the fruit bun. Dried fruit is very bad. But I’d lasted a month, so for my reward, I bought one and gobbled it up while traipsing through the supermarket aisles. Couldn’t even wait till I got home.

As for my other resolutions – not playing I-phone games, exercising at the gym at least three times a week, not smoking and tidying my office – all big ticks for this week. In fact, with exercise, because of my new trainer, I’m going great guns. Maybe that’s why my body has weakened this week with the sugar thing?

Scoops Gelato and Yoghurt Bar -  Acland Street, St Kilda

Scoops Gelato and Yoghurt Bar – Acland Street, St Kilda

But I do have some good news for all the anti-sugar campaigners out there, searching for substitute treats. I found a beauty down Acland Street, St Kilda on Sunday. I was prepared to go without when the family opted for an afternoon ice-cream, but then I spied a sign – sugar-free natural yoghurt!!

 

Sugar free yoghurt with Stevia

Sugar free yoghurt with Stevia

I bought a tub and it tastes AMAZING. So good, I have planned to cover a story about a shop in Acland Street this afternoon so I can pop back and get some more. This is the best sugar-free discovery I have made yet! Ice-cream has always been my weak point, so now, I may just have found a solution to satisfy that craving.

Hopefully I’ll be able to bring you a better report card next week.

 

 

5 thoughts on “Why I feel like a drug cheat – New Year’s resolution update

  1. I have been going sugar free since New Years also. It must have been the resolution to make this year. My husband is going great guns without the sugar, but I have found myself breaking it on occasion too. My breaking point the other day was the banana fritters that I cooked for the kids. It had vanilla icecream and chocolate sauce and the house smelled amazing after I cooked the bananas. My trouble is that baking is a hobby for me, so I’m always trying new recipes and seeing everyone but me eat them is really difficult!

    • Hi Jen, well, I still have to say – good on us for trying! And I am going to stick with it. I agree – it’s so hard when cooking too! Plus some people (like me) are naturally ‘sweet-tooths’ while others find it easier to give up the sweet treats. 🙂

      • Yes, I’m a natural born sweet tooth too. I think sometimes my body works better with some sugar in it though so I try not to be too hard on myself. I only have 3kg more to my goal weight and we are going on a cruise in a month, so the incentive to keep going is pretty high.

  2. Interesting – that you took your kids to get sugary-treats to celebrate something. In this case not a culturally significant event (like birthday, Christmas) but a fairly regular day and regular occurance (going back to school). Are you not leading them down the sugar-free/low-sugar path with you? Just curious.
    I’m dabbling in sugar-free too, I find nutrition fascinating. The psychology as much as anything else. The all-or-nothing attitude is no doubt the downfall of most new eating habits.

    • Hi Katie, No, I’m not enforcing my sugar-free regime on the kids. Since I took up the new eating program, there are definitely less sugary treats in the house, but given neither of the kids are overweight nor do they want to adopt my sugar-free path, I don’t see why I should force them to follow suit. I DO tell them what I’m learning along the way and encourage healthy eating, but I also don’t want to be a dictatorial Mother who becomes obsessive about their eating habits. From what I’ve learned, doing stuff like that can be even more damaging and lead to eating disorders. Treats – yes, but in moderation.Cheers, Jen.

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