No more added sweeteners...

Wow, this is a tough one for me. I love sweet, sweet, sweet foods, candies, junk food, you name it! So when I'm trying to lose weight, I have always felt that an artificial sweetener is the answer for me.

Apparently not so, says Bob Harper in his book, "The Skinny Rules," which I am thoroughly enjoying reading...again!! He researches everything in his book, so he knows what he's talking about. Even artificial sweeteners skew our brains to expect hypersweet tastes. Not to mention all the potential horrendous side effects that are suspected for these artificial sweeteners.

This is a really tough one for me. I've switched to having just milk in my coffee, no sugar or sweeteners. The one positive out of this change is I'm certainly not drinking as much coffee these days! It takes a while for my taste buds to acclimatize to this big change.

I used to even put a packet of sweetener on my morning oatmeal. Now, I'm using fruit, cinnamon and a touch of vanilla to make it just as delicious, or maybe better!!

What a tough ride this is, to lose weight and to keep it off. I'm going to watch my "skinny" friends this week, how they push away from the table when they're full enough, how they talk at get-togethers rather than hover by the food table, how they say "no" to dessert. They must be doing something right!!

As I started this new week, I remembered the verse from the book of Proverbs, "a righteous man (woman) falls seven times and rises again." Last week was only so-so for me, and I am starting fresh again this week. God, please re-wire my thinking processes to be like Yours, and to be honouring to You in my food choices this week. Amen.