December, unsweetened, No. 2

12/2: Hey, c'mon, it's an 'energy bar'

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

I couldn't possibly be the only one who thinks about having dessert after breakfast. Could I?

Technically, having something sweet after breakfast isn't really dessert, right? It's not even unusual to enjoy such things as part of the meal, like toast with jam, for example. There are even those (including me, at times) who have a muffin, glazed doughnut or frosted pastry, wash it down with a large coffee and call it a breakfast.

Breakfast, on the first day of my unsweetened December, was delicious—egg and cheese on a toasted, buttered everything bagel. A morning meal like that is usually satisfying enough to keep me from desiring a dessert-y item afterward. I will admit, however, that if some sort of pastry is readily available, I'll probably grab it.

After my breakfast sandwich I felt no cravings for anything sweet. Pulling on my jacket a few minutes later, however, I discovered a chocolate brownie Clif Bar in a pocket. My knee-jerk reaction was to peel open the wrapper and start gnawing away on it.

Hey, it's called an "energy bar." It's "made with organic rolled oats," weighs a mere 2.4 ounces and packs nine grams of protein. So, what's the harm?

Then I read the "Nutrition Facts" a little more carefully and found the harm—21 grams of sugar. After a few minutes of feeble rationalizing to convince myself that Clif Bars are "health foods" and should be included on my "acceptable" list for December, I tucked it away in a kitchen drawer.

Saying no to a Clif Bar was far more difficult than I thought it would be. That 2.4-ounce chunk of chewy, chocolatey sweetness wandered across my mind several more times as the morning wore on and I wrestled mightily with the temptation to reach for it.

Mentioning that mental battle to Holly prompted her to utter the word, "addiction."

"Addiction?," I thought to myself. "Pffft. Seriously? Uh... no."

Later that day, after taking a couple Advil for a headache, I Googled, "sugar addiction."