Tag Archives: habits

Losing the Taste for Sweet

I would have said at one time that it was impossible I would lose my taste for sweets, but to my surprise, after the last few years of very low carb eating, my taste for sweet has vastly diminished. Last night I was out to dinner with friends, I didn’t give the bread basket a second thought, then a dessert sampler was ordered for the table by one of my friends. I would have declined dessert if we had ordered individually. But, my friends are not on my low sugar-starch diet, and I don’t make a big deal when out with others.

So this big dessert platter with four desserts was put in the middle of the table. At one time I would have dived in and had my fair share, but instead I nabbed the strawberry settled on some whipped cream, had one tiny bite each of two of the desserts, an apple tart and a sticky pudding, and had no desire for more, indeed it was a ‘ho-hum’ experience. I just had no desire for any more. At the time I was not thinking much about it, but when I got home I realized what a different experience I just had from the years when I had to have my very own dessert in order to enjoy the meal.

So, take heart if you are still struggling with avoiding sweets. By maintaining good habits at home–no sweets live here–and avoiding most situations that are personal triggers, like convenience stores were for me, then given enough time, months to a couple years, we do gradually lose our super-sweetened palates and find pleasure in much healthier options. I make pumpkin custards, almond flour cup cakes, mousses, etc.,  sweetened only with a little bit of liquid stevia, and enjoy such treats as much or more than the old heavy sugar desserts.

All the negative issues with weight, inflammation in the cells, brain fog, and other such bad reactions to sugars-starches-artificial sweeteners, are enough to keep me on the path of good health which for me is anti-sugar.

Even when you fall off the wagon, and we all have, in the early days especially, take heart–it will get easier.

When you no longer feel deprived, you no longer want what is bad for you. To get to that point requires both habit changes and a change of mindset, but the good news is that it can be done.

Yours in learning,

Nan aka Sugarbaby

More on Habits

I love synchronicity!  I was checking in at MarksDailyApple.com,  and found a blogpost from earlier this month (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/akrasia-or-why-you-act-against-your-own-better-judgment/#comment-806307) on “akrasia” a term which essentially means why we act against our own best interest. This of course is directly related to the subject of my recent post on habit, and the new information coming out this month in Charles Duhigg’s book on “The Power of Habit.”

One of the best things about this age in which we live is that the information stream is increasingly broader and deeper. We are learning so much, primarily it seems from people’s own experiences (the great engines of science turn slowly), about why we do the things we do: the influences from corporations, government, our habits learned very early in life, friends, family, etc.  The more I read–and I read a lot!–the more convinced I become that nothing we do that’s related to elemental things,  like food, safety, relationships,  is simple. Complexity, meaning the astonishingly complex nature of how our bodies work, how life works in community, and so on, is probably why our brains need to habituate, to find short cuts for daily activities. Think how exhausting it can be to learn something new, like a language, or just about anything that puts us back at true beginner status. Not until some things become habit, do they feel easier.

I’m finding this new understanding of habit very encouraging, for it will help me to avoid the pitfalls that come with thinking “just this once” about a behavior that can quickly cause one to revert to old habits.

Yours celebrating synchronicity,

Nan aka Sugarbaby