Sundays Are Full of Options

When working out my meal plans for the week, I plan to cook dinner 5 times a week.  I then plan for one night of leftovers and one night out to eat at a restaurant.  This makes it the easiest for me to control what I am putting in my mouth all week, plus as Joe and I are trying to stick to a budget, eating out only once a week (a opposed to the 2-3 times a week we were doing before) really helps.

Part of my new life style is that nothing is off limits.  No foods are prohibited and we aren't supposed to deny our bodies anything as that can lead to overeating on that item later.  While this is all liberating and good, I'm not about to fill my house with chocolate chip cookies.  In order to stay being healthy, I need to continue to eat balanced meals and then allow myself 'fun options' every now and then.  So my plan is to not have the fun options in my house but to allow myself a fun option when I go out to dinner once a week.  (You may remember that I did also go out to lunch on Wednesday with a friend, but I won't try to have my fun option at lunch because to me, dessert should be a dinner thing.)  That way, I am not denying myself of desserts completely, but now I have a more special night out once a week.

Tonight Joe and I went to Steuban's.  It is probably my favorite restaurant in Denver.  It is best known for its comfort foods and cool atmosphere.  My favorite thing to get there is the pulled pork sandwich that comes on texas toast and has coleslaw on top.  They give you a choice of two BBQ sauces on the side that you get to put on yourself.  I learned years ago that this sandwich is best eaten with a knife and fork, so when I ordered it tonight, I took off the top piece of the texas toast and ate my sandwich open faced.  In the past, I have eaten the entire sandwich as well as a few sugar rolled hush puppies (yes, they are as good as they sound).  Tonight, I only ate until I was full (leaving a whole piece of toast and about a 1/4 c. of meat) and I ordered the green beans instead of my hush puppies.  While the hush puppies could have been my option, I decided that I would rather have a real dessert.  Plus, I haven't had any fried food in a month and was afraid the hush puppies wouldn't sit well with me.

The dinner was delicious and filling, but I totally left enough room for dessert.  After looking over the dessert menu, I chose a chocolate cupcake that Joe agreed to share with me.  Thankfully it was a normal size and not one of those huge cupcakes.  We asked for a knife, cut it down the middle and oh man....it was soooo good.  I was really glad that Joe wanted to take half of it, because I don't think I could have stopped myself even though I wasn't tasting the last bite of my half.  He saved me from eating something I wasn't going to fully enjoy because that half would never be as amazing as my first bite.  Isn't that the same thing Meth addicts say?  Chasing the first high?  Well, I'm not embarrassed to say that finishing any dessert is like chasing the high of the first bite for me.  It'll never be the same...at least not for the next 30 minutes.  Another reason I am glad I don't have fun options available to me at home.

Hello my name is Beth and I am a sugar addict.