The Siren Call of Sugar and Processed Carbs

Every one in a while, I'm not sure why... we go through a bit of a junk food spell. One, or both of us, will cave and crave chocolate.. or sugar... or processed carbs.

Maybe it's because of a "bad" day... or an emotional day... or a hard day or... a good day! Maybe we got a lot done on the house or in the garden and... at the end of the day... we just want something to "reward" ourselves.

I am not sure why that reward has to be sugar but it is deeply ingrained into both of our psyches. Perhaps it's a leftover from childhood... "if you're good, you can have an ice cream". Although it's not ice cream we crave!!

For me... my kryptonite is Ritter sport chocolate bars. If I'm going to have chocolate, don't just give me some generic plain Eat-more (although that will do in a pinch). No, I wand the crème de la crème of chocolates (at least that are stocked in our local grocery store).

And my kryptonite comes in two yummy flavours... Praline... and dark chocolate with hazelnuts. And yes, I heard about the news article that dark chocolate can have high lead and cadmium. Charming. Anyhow... I vacillate between these two chocolates...

I wish I could say that I cold just eat one row of the bar and be done but... no... one row turns into two rows... turns into 3 rows and... well... at that point, you might as well finish it off!!

I'm not sure if the makers of Ritter Sport, with the efficient grid-like pattern of squares, thought that a person could stop with just one square of chocolate... because that is not my experience!!

And yes, I do know that chocolate and processed/refined sugars are bad for me. I know they increase inflammation. I know all these things and yet... there are days where I just want...chocolate.

Oh... and then... there are the salty treats too... let's not leave those out. For me... it is Hawkins Cheezies. None of that Cheetohs crap. No... Hawkins Cheezies are where it's at. They are soooo good... as long as they are cool. There is nothing worse than a warm Cheezie... ick! So crunchy... so cheesy... soooo... just... badly good!

When I spent a year living in the USA, my friends would send me care packages with bags of Cheezies because... gasp... the entire USA does not KNOW what they are missing!! They don't have Cheezies... scandalous, I know. But our big secret! Oh... and they don't have All-Dressed chips either... go figure.

Anyhow... the Cheezies... and then... Ms. Vickie's Sweet Chili and Sour Cream chips... They too are soooo good. And so bad.

While my tastebuds love the salty treats, the inside of my mouth just can't handle it anymore. The sharp edges and the salt just trigger inflammation in there so fast. And so I can only have a few of these before my mouth calls it quits.

I wish my mouth would do that with sugar too. Although... lately, I have noticed that my tongue does not like loads of sugar - like a whole Ritter Sport bar - particularly the praline flavour. It gets irritated and upset with me.

Perhaps it is good to have an internal regulator like that... although I would have to actually listen to my body instead of just munching steadily through a bag of cheezies and a chocolate bar.

Listening to my body is not something I do all that well. It craves water and I ignore it. It dislikes sugar... and I ignore it.

I think that needs to stop. My body and I are a team... so it's best for us to work together. I've been starting by being more attentive to water cravings... so that is one small step.

But when the junk food craving hits... it might be the time to really touch base with my body and see if that craving isn't a cry for something else.