Sweet Tooth

One of the things that I have learned over the past 3 years trying to lose weight is that I have a Sweet Tooth.  While there are many foods I love that aren't really great for me (cheese, butter, pasta, etc.) I would have to say I love nothing more than sugary/sweet things.  Seriously, my Sweet Tooth is so strong that it deserves her own name - oh what the hell - let's call her Dulci.

Dulci really loves cupcakes, ice cream, and chocolate.  When she doesn't get anything sweet - she bugs me all night and I can't sleep.  If you look at the weight change tracker on the side - you can see I fell off the wagon big time.  That happened in a large part because Dulci persuaded me that eating ice cream and gelato every day was the right thing to do. 

So I need to reign Dulci in.  It's not realistic of me to think that I can let Dulci go cold-turkey without dessert.  I think that is just asking for trouble.  So I have decided to go with something like a "You break it, You buy it" policy.  It's called, "You Crave It, You Make It"

From now one, if I want something sweet or desserty - I will have to make it.  This will require thinking ahead of time because I will need to make sure I have what I need on hand in order to make it - ingredients and tools.  It also means that I have to work to actually get my sweets made.  Let me tell you - making cupcakes are not easy.  I think in a past post I referred to a fat footprint - similar to a green footprint (for all the environmentalist).  Making my own desserts decreases the fat footprint on my body (although its probably more of a symbolic than actual reduction).  I'm also going to embrace my inner Sesame Street and insist on sharing my dessert bounty with the people around me.  When making sweet things - I will bring things in for my office mates, my sister, my friends.  That's not only satisfying Dulci, but it's increasing my karma.

In order to do this - I am actually ordering myself a ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  I know - kind of counter intuitive, but I'm really excited about this.  I am dying to learn how to make ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and granitas.  There's something about making your own food that just makes it taste better, and you want that taste to last - so I've also found out that I tend to spread out the consumption of said food.  For example, I made awesome cupcakes for a co-worker the week before last.  I still have something like 6 in my fridge- and they are still good.  But I'm not eating them everyday - and that's progress.

Living life with Dulci can be hard, but I think that I am going to manage.