I am an addict

I’m having a really hard time with the sugar free challenge today. Not so much because of the sugar free, but because of how my stomach is reacting to what I’ve been eating. 

My stomach is not happy. It has not been happy for the last 2 days.

I think my stomach is not happy because the amount of iced tea I’m drinking. I know I have a caffeine addiction, and I can seriously feel the effects of reduced caffeine and sugar. I am exhausted. I am sluggish. My runs/rides are affected. I haven’t worked out a good solution for fueling exercise, and today’s run sucked ass. That is not going to work, with a race in 2 weeks.

I had 2 pieces of bread with breakfast this morning, trying to get my stomach to calm down. I really do think it’s an acid thing, and tea with lemon certainly has acid. The bread, of course, had sugar (and gluten, which I’m not supposed eat because of my thyroid, which has also been acting up lately).

I have only had one cup of iced tea today. I tried to make coffee with just half and half, not my usual coffee candy creamer. That didn’t work. The good news is my coffee now has about one serving of coffee creamer, instead of the half bottle I normally use. It’s still sugar though.

I think my stomach is also not happy because of the dramatic change in food sources. My diet so far this week has predominantly consisted of leftover burgers from Memorial Day (each with a slice of cheese and no bun), leftover salad (including tomato, summer squash, celery, and several different types of lettuce), and smoothies consisting of spinach, various frozen fruits, and a protein mix. I bought a whey mix, but it caused some uncomfortable bloating. I tried a straight soy protein today, which does not appear to have the same affect. At least there’s that.

I also gave in to the diet soda monkey that’s been beating me about the head and shoulders for the past 2 days. 2 sips last night and 1 this morning. That’s all it took to shut the monkey down – a sip. Obviously this is a mental addiction. Knowing I can have it makes it ok to not have it… I hope.

I need a better meal plan, but that in itself is a problem. Dr. J emailed me yesterday, mentioning among other things how she and her husband have been eating healthier. She is a big fan of Martha Shulman, who publishes recipes in the New York Times. These recipes are apparently delicious, and lean heavily toward vegetarianism. I’m sure they are wonderful. I’ll probably never know, because cooking for me is an occasion. I rarely turn on the stove, and I simply refuse to cook every day. If I do cook, it has to be something quick and easy like the eggs I made this morning. I only do long and involved for holidays, and most the time not even then.

My abhorrence for cooking is why I made what I called glop for so many years. Mother’s Mess. Toss one of everything from the refrigerator into a pot, add garlic and spices, then simmer. Throw the results over noodles or rice. Garnish with cheese. Most of that was vegetarian as well, but without the boys here to help me eat it, it’s just not happening. One pot was enough for 3 of us for the week. It was only appetizing half the time anyway. I went through my freezer and threw a bunch of it away several months ago, because I knew I’d never eat it. I miss my boys cleaning out my freezer for me…

I don’t necessarily eat a lot of processed foods, but I do eat a lot of quick meals. I don’t know how to quickly prepare more substantial fare (for just one person) that doesn’t include salad dressing, bread, yogurt, or dried fruit.

I guess I’m going to have to learn.