Tuesday, April 06, 2010

eh, I have my doubts.

I have never dieted in my life. I eat sensibly most of the time, but I admit to having a major sweet tooth too. I guess I have always been so active that my indulgences have always succumbed to a 2 hour swim practice or an hour run. But, I have slipped a little bit. For the last 20 months after Z was born, I have been finding every excuse not to run, and also every excuse to indulge my sweet tooth. No wonder I cant shake the last of my baby weight, right? I think that feeding Z lunch and eating the leftovers off his tray doesnt help matters either. I went through my closet the other day and was so bummed that half of my jeans from 'before Z' still sit gathering dust in the back of my closet. really, a year and a half later. This combined with the fact that a friend of mine, just 6 months after giving birth, is looking healthy and as trim as ever. I can no longer use the baby thing as a reason for my 10 pounds. no more. I asked my friend how she did it and she said that 6 years ago, she was told about the South Beach Diet. She went on it to lose weight for her wedding, and ever since then, it has changed her life. It changed the way she thought about food, lessened her cravings and as I found out yesterday when I told her that I didnt think I could live without sweets, it introduced her to Splenda. Now, I am a purist when it comes to sugar, always have been. I hate the idea of replacing sugar with anything. I bake, and sugar does wonderful things to baked goods that using Splenda just cant compete with.
 browning for instance.

I found something funny on the Splenda website that just made me want to laugh, and cry:

"In the baking process, sugar caramelizes to produce the familiar golden brown color of baked goods. Baked goods made with little or no sugar do not brown like recipes made with sugar. To help achieve a more golden brown color when baking with SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener, lightly spray the batter or dough with cooking spray just before placing in the oven"

Seriously? why would anyone want to do this? yuk.
anyway, despite my doubts, I bought the stuff.

For the first 2 weeks, the SBD has you following a strict phase to weed out your cravings for sweets and carbs. I have a really hard time believing that this will actually happen, but I am trying it. So far, I have gone a day and a half without eating any sugar whatsoever and no bread, pastries or donuts. no carbs of any kind. this just goes against my makeup. To add insult to injury, you cant even eat fruit for the first 2 weeks. so, I ask, what the heck do you eat...yeah, I know, meat, eggs, veggies and cheese...but, whats for dessert? I have been dying for something sweet, hence my reluctant Splenda purchase. I bought sugar free fudgcicles (so-so), sugar free jello (have yet to try it) and just now, I made a 'lovely' dessert of ricotta, splenda, cocoa powder and vanilla. It is supposed to resemble tiramisu, but I would like to think of it more as 'what-the-fu-tira-ma-who?' I can see it already, I may be able to adapt to eating less carb and sugar, but to give up what I love completely for the likes of this (below) is just. not. going. to. happen. ever.



But, I will carry on. The first 2 weeks is the hardest, and from then on the diet actually resembles what I would eat normally, if I was eating sensibly all the time. If. This is my goal, I guess, to eat more sensibly and smartly. To indulge my cravings, but not nearly as often as I do now. I do think that this is possible. It has to be, because I will never stop baking with sugar. never. ever.