Confessions of a sugar-aholic

True confession: I have a sweet tooth.  I love sugar. 

Any surprise?  Probably not.

I can't recall a time in my entire life that I passed up an offering of something sweet. In fact, I find it nearly impossible to pass on it, even if I know that I'm not hungry or I've consumed way too many calories already.  It doesn't matter, when it comes to sugar.  They are so. dang. delicious.

When we were young, I remember my sister and I had a bowl of ice cream every night before bed, often covered in chocolate sauce.  It was a wonderful ritual.

I've been told that I once hid a fudgesicle under the radiator in our old house when I was really young.  Probably to devour at a later time when my sweet tooth hit.  I think I learned pretty quickly that it wasn't a very good hiding spot for a frozen treat (or maybe my parents' found it and its melted glory before I had a chance to hide another). 

All signs point to an early attraction to sugar. 

Now as an adult, when I go to my parents' house, I almost immediately go to the kitchen to the corner of the counter where they keep cookies.  You see, my dad loves sweets just as much as me, so they often have some sort of cookie or sweet.  (He continues the nightly ritual of sweets before bed, usually accompanied by a big glass of milk).  I usually stick to a modest two cookies when I'm there, but inside I'm wishing for more. 

Most recently I quietly went to grab a cookie after dinner at their house and was disappointed to find muffins in the container instead.  My dad, without missing a beat, shouts from the other room, "We don't have any cookies!"  He knows me well.

My biggest problem: I can't pass up on sweets when presented the opportunity.

If we have sweets in our own house, I'm known to eat most or all myself.  My husband (foolishly) bought Snickers ice cream bars at Sam's Club because he thought they'd be good treats to have.  I'm pretty sure I ate 2/3 of that box, if not more, and had one every single day until they were gone.  I would look forward to dinner only because I had told myself I couldn't have one until after we ate.

Seriously, I have no self control.  This could very well get me in trouble.

My office is probably the worst place for someone like me.  Quite frequently we have a celebration of some kind, which always involves Costco cake (irresistable, right?) and cookies.  And our receptionist does catering and loves to make up little bite size treats for the office.  Mini key lime desserts?  Yes, please.  And worst of all, my co-worker that I spend most of my time with, and usually at her desk, supplies a variety of candy for the communal table by her desk.  It is sooooooo hard to pass on those treats when I see them 10 times a day.  Fortunately, there are other sweet toothers in my office so the candy doesn't last all that long...but it's long enough to tempt me.

This Lent, I decided to give up chocolate.  I knew it would be a tremendous sacrifice for me, but I also knew that I could rely on other non-chocolate sugary goodness to tide me over.  I made it 2.5 days.  But the moment I broke my promise was accidental, in all honesty.  We were out to dinner and decided to stop at the frozen yogurt place on the way home.  I, in typical fashion, loaded up my cup with chocolate yogurt and was sprinkling oreo crumbles on top when I realized what I was doing.  Jon and I burst into laughter.  But I couldn't very well waste what I had just served for myself.  And so, there went my Lenten promise.  I haven't given up on it completely, but I admit I am weak when it comes to passing it up too.

Last Saturday, I had decided to stop at Arby's after a movie for their mint shake.  Wouldn't you know, I couldn't stop thinking about that shake through the movie, and I'm even salivating a bit thinking of it now.  (It is so delicious, people).

And most recently, last night I made a bowl of pudding, simply because I wanted something sweet (and the strawberry pastry thing we bought from a fundraiser was frozen and needed 8-12 hours to thaw).  I certainly didn't need any sweets.  In fact, besides some serious laundry and folding in the morning, I'd been pretty lazy and hadn't even mustered up the energy to get on the treadmill or move from the couch most of the afternoon.  But I did have energy to go to the kitchen to whip up some pudding. 

Of course.

Though it may seem I consume a lot of sugar, I wouldn't say I go overboard with the quantity of sweets in each sitting (I don't eat a whole package of cookies or candy at a time). I might be 400 pounds if that were the case.  So at least I have that going for me...

This is the story of my life, sugar and all.