Sugar is the Devil

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - sugar is the devil. I've managed to kick the habit in past eat local challenges, but this time is different. Even though giving into my cravings inevitably leaves me disappointed and guilt ridden, I'm still have a really hard time with it.

Case is point: Yesterday.

I started the day well: two fried eggs straight from my own chicken coop, a Door County peach, and local yogurt. Somehow I was hungry again a few hours later, so I snacked on some of my all time favorite local cheeses - Ceasar's Oaxacan style string cheese, and a Ginger Gold apple from Door County. So far so good.

Like many expectant mothers, I've been a little obsessed with all of the stuff I'll need for the baby. I'd been wanting to make the two hour trek down to Chicago to the nearest Ikea store, and we somewhat spontaneously picked yesterday to do it.

Though eating local off the freeway is impossible, we managed to find a relatively healthy lunch at a Chipotle restaurant in Rockford IL. Brown rice, black beans, "natural chicken" (whatever that means), veggies... could have been worse.

Ikea was a disappointment. It was so crowded that you literally couldn't move around. With all the people and all the carts and all the hubbub we found ourselves disappointed and somewhat disgusted by the experience. We bought one thing, a small piece of furniture to hold baby clothes, waited in line for 40 minutes to check-out, and finally got back on the road.

Maybe it was the frustration of the shopping trip, maybe it was the heat, maybe it was a combination of the two plus the extra exhaustion of being pregnant, but somehow I decided it would be a good idea to stop at an A&W on the way home for a root beer float. It sounded so good that I just couldn't resist the idea once I had it in my mind. I consumed the cheap ice cream, carbonation, and corn syrup, and then immediately felt a little sick, both literally and figuratively. Mild nausea combined with the guilt of knowing I had given into something that I should not have - not a great feeling.

It seems to me that there's a connection to be drawn between the Ikea experience and the sugar cravings. The desire for new, shiny baby stuff is almost as strong as that for sugar. Both seemed really great in my mind beforehand - both were disappointing afterward and left me feeling unfulfilled. Whether it's unhealthy food or consumer goods shipped from China - neither leaves me with a good taste in my mouth, but both are hard to resist. There's a lesson there.

When we got home, I dug around on the Internet to learn more about sugar addiction. Interesting that so many people have the experience of not being able to resist sugar, yet most of what you find on the Internet is people simply asking if it's addictive. Of course it's addictive - it's just so common and so destructive that we don't like to think of it that way.

Dinner was leftover potato soup from the night before. Thank God for leftovers.

Today has been a lot more successful on the food front, and we've gotten a ton of things done - a good day overall. Breakfast was local peaches, yogurt, and slivered almonds. Another mid-morning string cheese snack, and a lunch of garden tomatoes, fresh okra, more cheese, and a glass of milk. I know that doesn't sound too exciting, but the tomatoes are so good that they are really a meal unto themselves.

We went to the Community Garden this morning and dug our potato crop. I don't have a scale, but I'd estimate we yielded between 25 and 30 pounds - should last us a while. I'm especially pleased considering what a dry season it's been and that I only watered these potatoes once. Given my pregnancy, this was probably the most neglected I've let a garden get, but we still got quite a bit of sustenance out of it.

Later in the day Stanley and I tag teamed the house cleaning, and started moving furniture around in our bedroom (which will also be the baby's room) It feels so good to get some tangible work done in preparation for baby, and we didn't have to buy anything!

We're going to my Mom's for dinner. Local food will highlight the menu I'm sure, but I'm also sure there will be ingredients that aren't local. That's OK - the food will be delicious, the company will be good, and that's worth more than keeping to a strict diet.