Girl With The Curl

I am that girl! You know the one..."There was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very very good, and when she was bad, she was HORRID!"  When it comes to eating right, that pretty much sums me up!  When I eat right, I am extremely careful, my diet gets very limited and extremely healthy, and I feel much better (though often frustrated and bored by the narrowness of my choices). When I "fall off the wagon,", which is more like "when I jump off the wagon gleefully, yelling 'Yahoooo!'," then I eat all sorts of things that are bad for me. Top fail foods: Lindor truffles- top of the list always. I love them!; pizza- it's really a cheese craving but translates into a pizza craving; pastries- doughnuts, danish, Little Debbies Honeybuns or Pecan Pinwheels. 

So, what can I do? Well, I observed that I consistently get pizza-chocolate cravings. I started to wonder, "Why always those two together?" I think I have the answer to that. The pizza part is really a cheese craving. Cheese is high in calcium. And chocolate is high in magnesium. The calcium-magnesium balance in the body is an important one. They work in harmony. So...if I take my calcium-magnesium supplement (I use Shaklee's Osteomatrix), then the craving for cheese and chocolate fades away. Sigh. I always have mixed feelings when I accomplish that- sad to see pizza and truffles fading from my view, but also very relieved to have that battle off my agenda. It's a hard fight, and I miss the yummy things, but I am always relieved to be back to eating right and I do feel much better physically. I've also observed that when I take those supplements, my foot cramps go away! The Cal-Mag balance must be an important building block of muscle function too. Or nerve function. Whatever it is that is awry when I get leg/foot cramps. Nice to be able to take a pill for that!

The pastry part? Well, that, I believe, is simply an addiction to sugar. I'd be thrilled to learn there is a vitamin I could take to make that go away, but I really believe it is a simple addiction, like any other addiction. When I fight the good fight and avoid sugar altogether, the craving fades. If I have even a little bit, the Need comes back full force and I go on a sugar bender. So how can I fix that? One thing I'm really learning is that the first building block I need to put into place is adequate sleep. When I'm tired, I make poor decisions, like eating sugar. So, I am really working on getting adequate rest, so that I will have a good foundation on which to build, and to give me the strength to make good food choices. My good friend Beth spoke some wise words to me the other day, about where I'll end up if I don't get rest. My tendency is to get all inspired and start exercising, and working hard on the house...while still being sleep deprived. She helped me to see that the first thing I need to do is the sleeping part, and that will enable me to do the rest of it without depleting myself.

So....the things I am prioritizing right now: sleep (at least eight hours- I got nine last night!!!), and taking my calcium-magnesium supplements, and drinking enough water. I often try to do too many things and then fail at all of them, give up and go buy chocolate. I'm hopeful that if I focus on just these three, it will enable me to do the rest without getting overwhelmed. Simplify, simplify, simplify!