Sugarless Summer: The Halfway Point!

It’s July 19th. July 19th, people! That means I’m more than half-way through my Sugarless Summer! I can hardly believe it myself – I truly doubted whether I would make it more than a week on this adventure.

Yesterday was my husband’s birthday. I had told myself from the start that if I wished to have cake on his birthday, I could. I baked the cake, made the frosting, frosted the cake, cut the cake, served the cake, and…didn’t eat the cake.

Don’t get me wrong – I indulged in junk food yesterday on his birthday. I ate a McD’s egg and cheese biscuit for breakfast, had a can of Pringles for lunch (yes, you read that right), and ate a hamburger with fries when we went out for dinner. Score yesterday: Vegetables, 0, Junk Food 50 billion.

But I didn’t eat the cake. It was a decision I made on my own. I just didn’t want to risk it. The dang thing smelled absolutely delicious – and that’s what worried me. Could I really eat just ONE piece of cake and not touch it again? I doubted it.

The most wonderful thing about NOT eating that cake is I didn’t even do it just to stay true to this bet with myself, to this sugar-free dare. I did it because I honestly feel better not eating the sugared things. I feel more even-keeled (please note the MORE; my family would agree I’m still, um, a bit on the moody side), more in control, and just better about myself when I’m not in the clutches of the Sugar Devil.

Still, this is not easy. Today I made cornbread from a mix – a mix I bought without checking the ingredients, apparently, as just as I was about to indulge in a piece, I looked at the box and discovered, to my chagrin, that sugar was the second ingredient, and that there were double-digit grams of sugar per (puny) serving. The cornbread was out.

Between that and the cake yesterday, my willpower is feeling quite low, and the sense of deprivation is clawing at my belly today. So it’s possible, it’s possible I might order a pizza tonight.

Y’all can give me grace on that, right? Because I didn’t eat the blasted cake, and part of me really, really wanted to.