“Forget love – I’d rather fall in chocolate!”
-Attributed to Sandra J. Dykes
Although I very much love… well, being in love, the above statement has rang true almost my entire life. Desserts and sweets of every kind have been a kind of addiction for as long as I can remember. And by addiction, I don’t mean the I-go-crazy-and-do-horrible-things-if-I-don’t-have-it addiction – but more like the I-need-to-have-it-to-survive-and-feel-right-about-life kind of addiction. Whether my parents know it or not, they started this whole shebang. My dad loves brownies. I say loves because I know that right now, if I called and said I was heading over, he would still put a batch in the oven for his loving daughter. He loves them because of their taste and their undeniable availability and convenience when it comes to needing a last minute dessert for an unexpected guest. I remember eating brownies after many a dinner meal in my house growing up. It wasn’t so much of a we-need-a-dessert-after-dinner need, but a this-is-what-we-do-after-dinner-to-bond need. To this day, I do not regret our brownie nights – nights filled with laughter, and sweet fellowship with my family.
Having said all that, after leaving my parents house when I got married to my husband, I got confused really fast. I began to understand that other people weren’t raised on brownies the way I was. Didn’t see that coming at all. ; p
On my husband’s and my first joint trip to the grocery store as husband and wife, I was so sure of everything. I knew what I needed to eat and was confident of our future supermarket needs. As we went down the cake/spice isle, I casually picked up a brownie mix and threw it in the cart. The next thing I knew, the mix was back on the shelf and I was standing open-mouthed in front of my husband. I was literally stunned, and had no idea why what just happened did, in fact, happen. Regaining my posture, I stood self-assured. “We need a brownie mix”, I said matter-of-factly. “Why?”, husband replied calmly. Before actually thinking, I replied, “I’ve always had a brownie mix in the house!”. Whoa. Hearing that come out of my mouth, I knew it wasn’t what he was looking for. “It’s a good dessert for when you have people over!”, I added, obviously trying to recover from my senseless first answer. After standing there for awhile, I realized I wasn’t going to be having brownies much anymore. Ha. Turns out, my husband isn’t much into sweets in the first place, and that day allowed me two sweets to take home from the grocery store.
It’s a funny story that I tell pretty often to explain that we take on a lot of our family traits and habits even thought we hardly ever recognize it until they’re threatened. And honestly, I wouldn’t have had it any other way! I love my family so much. However, to this day, I have an INSANE sweet tooth after every dinner meal. And after realizing how much I rely on sweets to curb a relatively unnecessary craving I have every day, I have decided to be done with it.
I love fuit. Really, I do. It’s just hidden by every cookie, doughnut, piece of cake, and snickers bar I have ever eaten. Fruit is sweet to the taste. So are the calorie ridden, fat-filled treats that I call “sweets”. (And btw, I understand that a lot of you make healthy sweets now. I totally get that, and that’s awesome. Truly. I just did not eat those…things 🙂 So… the plan is to trick my taste buds into thinking fruit is candy and ice cream and cake and doughnuts and pie! Well, not really. But the idea is the same.
I am not eating sweets for the entire year of 2014. That is basically saying that I will never eat what I would call “sweets” again! …cause I mean, after a year, I probably will hate the stuff! (here’s hoping) I will instead eat fruit during or after dinner to suppress my sweet tooth that has plagued me all my life (not really) but will now encourage the consumming of foods healthy for my body! It’s a win-win for me, really. I can’t wait to see how this changes my health and desire for foods that are good for me.
So sweet! Truly.
That is WhyiDont {Eat Sweets}
Editors note: This blog post is not meant in any way to discourage the readers to rid themselves of any food that they themselves enjoy. This post was only meant to explain the reasons the writer has for not eating sweets at the current time.
WhyiDont 