Why Would Someone Stop Eating Sweets?
By Alexander Kallaway
As you may or may not know, I have committed to take the challenge of not eating any sweets for a week. I expect this experiment to be a bit harder than the previous: the week without social networks, just because of how much I like sweets of all kinds: chocolate, cookies, ice-cream, etc. You name it, I love them all.
So why do I think this experiment will turn out to be a little more challenging for me? I’ve noticed that I have certain habit patterns when it comes to eating sweets. There seem to be a few triggers that cause me to look for something sugary and delicious. One of them is my mood – I eat sweets to make myself feel better when I feel sad, depressed or when I have thoughts of the “I’m not good enough” kind.
Another big contributor to my habit is the fact that ever since I was a child, I’ve been eating something sweet after each meal. It became almost a ritual for me. I would always wait until the end of the meal (no matter how tasty it was), to get my chocolate bar. Now, as an adult, I still find myself craving something sugary after every meal, and if I don’t get it, I feel like something’s missing. Like there is no closure that I so desperately need.
Also, I often have tea or coffee during the day, and it just doesn’t feel right to have my drink without something sweet to accompany it. This increases my sugar consumption even more.
There is another thing that increases the volume and frequency of my sugary self-indulgence – it is the habit of buying sweets whenever I go to a grocery or a convenience store. I don’t buy just one chocolate bar, I buy “enough”, so there would be no need to go to the store again to get some more if one wasn’t enough. That means 3–4 types of sweets per trip to the store.
What is also interesting is that by sitting down and writing about my habits, I start to better understand myself, the triggers for my behavior, and why I do certain things. Even though on some subconscious level I was aware of everything I mentioned above, having to identify all these behaviors and habits has brought them up to the surface where I can analyze and correct them.
This is an incomplete list of reasons why going 7 days without sweets might become challenging for me. However, I made it easier for myself by creating clear guidelines that I will follow during this week:
1. During the next 7 days, I will not eat anything sweet. (That includes everything sweet you can think of: chocolate, marshmallows, cookies, ice-cream, waffles, etc.) I will stick to this rule no matter what.
2. I am making one exception to ensure that I don’t completely lose it this week: I am allowed to eat 2 pieces of fruit a day: one in the morning, and one in the evening.
It will definitely be an interesting experience, and I will share the results of the experiment with you,
What about you, what are your habits when it comes to sweets and diet in general? What tactics do you use to eat healthier?
Photo credit: PetitPlat – Stephanie Kilgast / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
If you liked this article, please scroll down and recommend it! That’s some good karma points right there!
