Starting May 5.

[hej]

OK. I'm back to do my 2nd whole 30. My first one was in January. The first week was awful, but my husband and I are still married, and he completed it too. By the end, I was fully transformed and feeling good. I still feel good, lest for mild sleep deprivation and mild stress with raising two young boys (3 1/2 and 9 months). The one main problem (I think it's a problem), is that I've returned to my daily chocolate habit (eating one $4 bar of yummy dark chocolate each day). I eat chocolate when I want an energy boost, improved mood, or as a treat/escape from parenting. I don't drink coffee, but I could easily get addicted to that. I love coffee actually, but I feel like crap when I drink it. 

 

So- I'm not quite as motivated as I was back in January. I already did this once, and we are maintaining increased vegetable intake and have avoided, decreased or modified things on the no-list, and I feel pretty good. But my husband is doing it and another friend is trying to start. It took me 5 days to actually resolve to do this (I was supposed to start May 1). But it got to be just annoying to talk about doing it without actually doing it. 

 

But, I'm wondering what to do about this chocolate habit after this is all through. I really enjoy eating chocolate, but my concerns are:

- is it unhealthy to use it as a coping mechanism... or, is it a rather good and easy coping mechanism. During the last whole30, because I didn't have my coping mechanism, we found ways to decrease stress and make my life easier.

- is the sugar intake (despite it being low and spread out in little doses all day) messing up my hormones and metabolism? Am I going to have chronic health issues from this or is it so minor, that it's not that big of a concern.

- it is expensive. 

 

So, please weigh in- I could use some motivation and also some feedback on how to return to normal life afterwards with regards to what to do about chocolate. 

 

Thanks!

[ladyshanny]

Hmmm....I feel like in your questions you already have the answers.  

 

PS.  That is a lot of sugar, not a little bit of sugar.  A lot.  Every day.  

 

Check out this article on moderators vs abstainers and see if you might need to make a new rule about chocolate altogether.

 

http://www.gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/2011/04/quiz-are-you-a-moderator-or-an-abstainer-when-trying-to-give-something-up/

[hej]

Thanks for weighing in. Yes- I'm definitely trying to plan for what I do with chocolate after this whole30, since I gradually went back to my chocolate habit after the last whole30. Thanks for the article about abstaining vs. moderation. Good things to think about.

 

Convince me more about the dark chocolate being a lot of sugar. I was eating 10-20 grams of sugar with either a half or whole bar. An apple has 20 grams of sugar. A sugary muffin has 40 grams. A mango has 46 grams. I know the whole30 diet allows for sugar that comes with it's food, but to avoid eating fruit all by itself, for example, because that can feed the sugar dragon. 

 

I think I am eating super healthy, though sneaking chocolate. But the little devil in me says, "but it's very dark chocolate, and it really isn't that much sugar."

[ladyshanny]

Apples and mangos come with fiber and micronutrients that are bound to the sugar. A chocolate bar is unadulterated sugar designed by food scientists to be as addictive and craveable as possible. I won't comment on the muffin since we don't really do muffins here.

You are free to do as you please post Whole30....of course. My concern would be that you are working really hard to justify this....so I suspect that you have an underlying sense of "not exactly the best thing ever" in your mind.

I say this coming from a fellow chocoholic who would go and raid the husband's garage for cheap ass old halloween candy right now if it weren't for the fact that I know he'd find out.

[hej]

Yep. You are reading me like a book. Thanks for the honesty ... well, I have 29 more days for this internal dialogue to sort itself out. BTW- we are going screen-free for a week... so, I'm over and out for now. Thank you again!