Mindless Eating and a Sore Throat...

A month has passed since undertaking the Zaleo Challenge!  An update is in order!

After revamping the ol' diet, there have been some pretty remarkable changes and revelations.  Probably the most startling thing I learned was HOW MUCH MINDLESS EATING I was doing!!!  If you asked me to define my daily eating habits, I would have said healthy.  I'm a pretty boring eater, so I really don't mind eating the same things repeatedly...for breakfast, plain oatmeal with blueberries and cinnamon...lunch, either tuna with spinach or turkey...and dinner, chicken and a vegetable, lots of fruits throughout the day, etc.  Sounds good, right?  If we're being honest, there are several things I'm leaving off that list...

Take for example eating the little bits and pieces of food left on the kiddos plates at breakfast.  Then, handfuls of pretzels throughout the morning masked as "just getting snacks for the kids".  At lunch, for every sandwich made, a knife full of peanut butter is consumed (and I don't even love peanut butter!).  Since crusts are taboo to my children, I go ahead and make them "disappear" (the crusts, not the children).  A slice of cheese for the young ones equals a slice of cheese for the momma...and so on and so on.  One day, I realized there was some type of food in my mouth and I stopped in my tracks and thought "What am I chewing on?  I don't even know what's in my mouth!"  After dinner, here's a Hershey's Kiss for you...and one for me.  One for you, one for me.  Oh, I'm done clearing the table?  Have a Kiss.  What?  I left the bag of Kisses on the counter?  Well, I should eat one before putting the bag away.  Let's not forget the late night snacking which may consist of some salty treat like chips and cheese or a sweet morsel like cookies or maybe both.  And can we talk about Ranch dressing and it's creamy goodness???

Now, I realize that when looked at individually, some of these things are not inherently bad foods.  Pretzels, whole grain bread crusts, cheese?  Not too bad...BUT.  The amount!  It's no wonder I haven't been able to achieve the goals I had set for myself.  Namely, losing the baby bulge belly. 

So, in the past month, I have become acutely aware of what I eat, when I eat and how much.  At first, it was really difficult and I had to employ some pretty lame tactics that, embarrassingly, I stole from the Biggest Loser.  Chew Extra! Sugar Free gum to avoid senseless snacking! 

We have not taken any new measurements yet to compare to the original numbers, but I have gone down a jean size, lost some lbs, and been able to lift more weight!  We're moving in the right direction!

There is one thing that I cannot find an answer to, though.  Since eliminating refined sugar, I have only given myself 2 "free" meals where I can eat whatever I want.  Both times, I had some sugar and both times I immediately got a really sore throat!  Like, really sore!  What's up with that?  I tried to find an answer by surfing the inter web thingy, but to no avail.  Anybody have an answer?  Anybody?