Eating Healthy Sucks

Eating healthy presents so many challenges.  So many challenges that thinking about it makes my head spin.

Over the past few years, I have done the HCG diet each spring.  I don’t do it to lose 20-40 lbs.  Instead, I do it because it is an amazing cleanse that helps me lose the 10+ lbs I typically put on over the winter.  It helps me feel better, have more energy, have fewer migraines and a happier tummy.

The problem with it is that it makes me OBSESS about food.  I can’t focus on anything else.  No matter how hard I try.  I can work on a prospecting list at work and get drawn to chocolate at the receptionist desk.  If I’m watching a webinar I feel the constant pull to the break room where sugar cookies from Kneaders scream my name.  While I’m writing a proposal, I am having to make a conscious effort to focus on the document in front of me and not allow my reader full of amazing recipes and pictures distract me.

In order to help me through this diet I chew bubble gum.  Which technically is NOT allowed because of the sugar in it.  Plus sometimes it just makes it harder.  After chewing bubble gum for a while, I want chips or something salty.  Sure, an apple with salt on it “works” but it totally doesn’t satisfy.

The HCG diet is extremely strict.  It isn’t fun, but it truly does make me feel so much healthier.  Sure, I could just eat the foods allowed without the shots or the drops but then it is even easier to cheat.  I think that if I had health issues and the doctor told me I could only eat certain foods, I might be able to get past my cravings and accept my new lifestyle.  If I wasn’t allowed to eat gluten because I was celiac, I would gradually be able to ween myself.  But the fact is, I’m not celiac.  I’m not even gluten intolerant.  Although I am lactose intolerant, it doesn’t keep me from eating cheese or enjoying a milkshake.  So I don’t really know what it is going to take me to really eat better.

In a matter of days to weeks, I am going to have to get in a swimsuit.  Will I feel comfortable? Nope, but apparently that isn’t motivation enough for me to be good.

How on earth am I going to eat healthier?  How can I do it without food becoming the focus of my day?  How am I supposed to eliminate the foods that give me headaches and stomachaches if I’d prefer to feel icky than pass on the chocolate?

Aw man, I need help.

How do you avoid sugar or chocolate or milk or gluten?  If you quit one of them, how long did it take?

PS- My job isn’t helping my eating habits.  Monday is bagel day, Tuesday is Kneaders and sugar cookies, Thursday is pizza and Friday is donut day.  Seriously folks, it is killing me.