Bet'cha can't have just one!

So I’m sitting all alone in my office at work right now, staring down a bag of Sour Cream and Onion chips. It’s a small bag, and there’s likely only about 15chips in it. I don’t remember them being here when I worked last, so they’re also likely very fresh. No one is even around to see me eat them…

It’s the eve of the first day of the actual cleanse and I can’t get junk food out of my mind. It doesn’t help that I’m working midnights alone, and inside our office is the junk-food store for the entire building, as well as a free candy jar filled with M&M’s that I’ve been encouraged to eat by the evil temptress that brought them in. I actually just popped in a half piece of sugar-free gum – my usual attempt at curing a sweet craving due to boredom, and immediately realized that gum probably doesn’t fit into the program. The full list of ingredients isn’t even on the package, but it does advise me that it includes, “soy lecithin, and aspartame”. Doh. The good news is that I’m not really craving a pop like I normally would. I made it through a brutal caffeine headache last night and I’ve felt fine since!

Actually I haven’t felt that hungry all day, until now. It’s helping me to realize that much of my food consumption (MUCH!) is done completely out of boredom or as part of a social activity. A common practice for Nick and I is to go out for food after a rehearsal. Last night we hit the grocery store instead and came home to make hummus. I wouldn’t use the words “epic fail” necessarily to describe what we ended up with, but I did mention that it smelled a little like cat pee. Today I made a blueberry smoothie for breakfast with almond milk, mango, protein powder (brown rice protein – that is 3x’s the price of whey!), and some cinnamon – which I thought might spice it up a little. It spiced it up a lot…blech.

Hopefully with some practice (and maybe a little less creativity for a while) I’ll be able to make some really tasty and palatable food and drink. It sure is easy to see how I, and so many others, want to reach for the potato chips instead of something more healthy that needs more preparation, or going without anything at all. It's handy, it's tasty, and it doesn't seem like a bad choice since it comes in a small portion. I can't go throwing away the last few days of clean eating though. Even if no one is around to see, I will know - which makes me sound super honest, but really I just know I'll end up blurting it out to Nick and I'll lose our unspoken bet of who can stay on program the longest. :) All jokes aside, I really don't want chips to be a regular part of my diet anymore.

Lesson learned tonight: If I’m hungry for Sour Cream and Onion chips but not for the cat pee hummus in my lunch, I guess I’m not really that hungry!