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Project Eat Healthier continues, albeit with a few little bumps along the way. The calorie blow-outs of December are gone (good) but every once in awhile I hit a snag in my progress.
Like last week — I came down with a terrible head cold and was miserable. To comfort myself, I ate a lot of comfort food like pastas and breads (bad). I also felt too miserable to exercise and ruined my good track record of getting to the gym most days. When I finally did work out on Monday morning, I could tell my body was really out of it (also bad). It’s funny how missing just a few days of exercise can make such a difference!
One thing I’ve been reasonably successful at for a couple of weeks now is cutting out all refined sugar from my diet. No chocolate. No mint cookies. No gummy bears or M&Ms. Nothing. And interestingly enough, I feel a real physical difference.
Head cold aside, I have more energy during the day and don’t feel like conking out for a daily nap at 3:00. And I have almost no headaches! I hadn’t realized that my almost daily headaches might be caused by sugar. I’m sure lots of people could have told me that, but I never bothered asking. I just assumed I was one of those people that had lots of headaches. Who knew?
I even played around with it one day and had some sugar — a candy bar or something. Sure enough, I felt all sleepy about a half hour later and came down with a slight headache. I also was surprised by how sweet the food was. Almost cloying! It’s funny how quickly your body adjusts to change.
Anyone have any suggestions for getting through Valentine’s Day?
Marie Cinti lives with her husband and two children in Penfield. A former college academic advisor and school counselor, she is passionate about community service and blogs about life in Penfield, books, events, and more. She enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and geocaching. If you have an idea for her blog, please email Marie at sfinkels@rochester.rr.com.
