April! Finally!!

I don’t know about anyone else, but boy, March felt like a loooong month.

I woke up this morning feeling extremely relieved to finally be able to turn the calendar page.

I think part of my problem is that the “no sugar for Lent” thing is starting to wear on me a little.  The Pancake Supper (my last taste of sugar!) feels like it was forever ago, and it’s STILL almost three weeks until Easter.

Oh, how those 40 days can start to drag!!

The thing is, at the beginning, I thought the no sugar stuff was a piece of…well… bad way to put it, but a piece of cake.  I was shocked at how easily I kicked the Coffeemate habit.  I was quite satisfied with fresh fruit for dessert.  After about a week, I wasn’t even craving anything sweet anymore.

Of course, there was the whole “healthy brownie” debacle, but after that, I came to the conclusion that I was better off with no dessert at all rather than a pan of blech masquerading as dessert.

I even bragged about it.  “I’m good with no sugar or sweeteners.  It’s really not that hard!”

But something has changed in the last few days.  And it’s not just a craving.

It’s become a fantasy.

Ever seen that old Max Fleischer cartoon about the kids dreaming about  candy and baked goods and ice cream?  I feel like those little kids…

You guys.  It’s a teensy bit ridiculous, but when I let my mind go there, I literally dream of sugar.  I imagine Easter Sunday, and the first thing that comes to mind is a pile of big fluffy pancakes drowning in golden maple syrup.  (yes, this is officially what I will be having for brunch after church that day.) Then I imagine chocolate covered peanut butter Easter eggs and jelly beans and little sugar-coated jujube bunnies and those heaven-sent Cadbury Mini Eggs.  And I keep changing my mind about what the perfect dessert for Easter dinner would be… a giant piece of Butter Brickel.  No, wait, a Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  Oh – oh – Cherry Cheesecake!  Or a Black Forrest Trifle.  NO WAIT!!!!  I want Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing!!!  And I’m going to down it all with a nice big giant icy glass of Diet Pepsi… mmmmm….

  

You see the pickle I’ve gotten myself in to?  The sweet, sugary, dripping-in-icing pickle?

can’t.stop.thinking.about.it.

Last week, I felt like I was distracted a bit by the Clean Eating Challenge.  I was so focused on sticking to my meal plan and not goofing that up that I didn’t have time to daydream about pancakes and Easter eggs so much.

But this week, it seems to be all I can do not to drink corn syrup from the bottle and eat brown sugar straight out of the bag.

(Okay, okay… that might not be true.  My teeth hurt just typing that.)

The fact of the matter is, I know that giving up sugar and artificial sweeteners has been very beneficial to my body.  I don’t ever intend to go back to putting Coffeemate or Splenda in my coffee, and I know that Diet Pepsi will remain a treat on odd occasions, like when I go out for dinner or go to the movies.  In all honesty, dessert is such a rare occurrence in my life anyways, reserved mostly for family dinners and birthdays, that it’s not like I’m going to be having pie and cake every day of the week once this is over – I never did before, and that’s not going to change.

But I do intend to get a good sugar buzz going on Easter Sunday.   I WILL be eating all the pancakes and Easter eggs and dessert I can get my hands on that day.

And until then, I’ll be making do with my new favourite fruit (the Ataulfo Mango…mmmm…), and my current crutch for when sugar fantasies hit (a spoonful of natural peanut butter drizzled with local honey… or several spoonfuls…whatever)

It’s finally April.  Less than 3 weeks to go…