December, unsweetened, No. 8

12/11: Free food! (Uh, oh.)

This blog chronicles the author's attempt to endure the month of December, 2019, without eating sugary foods or drinks.

Today, I will face my first significant test. I've been invited to attend a luncheon at a restaurant that, I suspect, will be offering an all-you-can-eat buffet. I've always had trouble with such meals, always monitoring my intake to make sure I'd eaten at least enough to cover my cost.  If I ate more, of course, I felt like a winner. A winner with indigestion, but a winner. I'd have gotten "a deal."

Yes, I know that's not a healthy attitude with which to approach a meal. The idea of getting good value, though, is also in play when free food is being offered. Mercifully, I can afford to buy food, but when it's free, I stuff it in my face like I haven't eaten in a month.

The buffet lunch, this afternoon, will be free. Normally, I'd pace myself on the savory entrees so I'd have plenty of stomach room available to try a few desserts. I'm clearly going to have to coach myself through the meal. I assume there will be several dessert options displayed on the table, none of which will be allowable during my unsweetened December.

I'll report back on lunch in a later blog.

Health check:

When I began this mission, I weighed 159 pounds even, and had no apparent physical problems. On my first two unsweetened says, I had persistent headaches that I'd rank as a 7 on the pain scale. I was craving and consuming more carbohydrates than usual, and was also clearly irritable and on-edge.

As the days went by, the headache subsided and I began to feel more like my usual self—maybe a little cranky, but not Ebenezer Scrooge cranky. Now, 11 days in, I seem to have stabilized. And although I'm not doing this to try to lose weight, I've dropped three pounds.

Perhaps most significantly, my sugar cravings have yet to diminish. I'm hopeful that day will come soon.