The Sweet-Tooth Button

Hi friends!

I spent an absolutely glorious weekend camping with friends.  It was just what I needed to clear my head and move on to a (hopefully) smoother and more relaxed chapter of life.  Yay for good friends, nice weather, and state parks.

During that camping trip we found ourselves talking about the differences between how we cook/eat now and when we were growing up.  Some memories were nostalgic (remembering cultural dishes that "mom used to make") and some just showed our age (like how we used to be able to eat a lot more than half of one s'more before feeling sick).

Well friends, it's that time of year when people starting eating sugar waaaaay beyond the point of feeling sick: sick to their stomachs, sick of their lack of discipline, and sick of being sick!  That's right: the holidays.  Pretty soon the "fun size" candy bars will be doing their damn best to convince you that you can have just one.  And it will be FUN!

Uh-huh. :)

That "just one" is what I call activating my sweet tooth button.  When I was a kid, I could eat a lot of s'mores.  And I did.  I ate sugar like there was some kind of national sugar shortage and the President himself had asked me to make sure I stored all of it in my belly for safe-keeping.  And let me tell you what, I took my job seriously and I was good at it.

I'd like to think those days are behind me, but they're not; I still have that sweet tooth.  But it's been modified. It's new and improved!  Now it has a button that has to be activated, and I alone hold the key. 

What activates it? That first bite.  As soon as I eat something super-sugary, the button has been pushed.  And just like the machine that my body is, it starts a-chuggin.  The gears start to turn, the whistles blow, and the conveyer belt begins to roll towards my stomach, looking for more sugar.

I think you know what I am getting at here.  If I am asleep at the wheel, that conveyer belt will get loaded down with all sorts of crap I don't really want to eat.  But once that button has been pushed, it is really really really hard to remember that until later, when the gas has run out and everything grinds to a halt...and I have a sugar hangover.

And let me tell you, friends, that ain't pretty.

Do you have a sweet-tooth button?  When does it get pushed?  As we head into the holidays, keep an eye on it and remember:

YOU are the only one who can push that button.  And YOU can also pull the plug.  Just don't wait until you have to unbutton your pants to do it.

Sometimes the scariest things at Halloween are wearing a "fun size" costume.  Keep your wits about you.

Good day!