There have been quite a few temptations around here lately, especially the leftover lemon bars from the wedding. I love lemon bars! I’ve kept them in the upstairs garage freezer, but they’re still there. I’ve eaten some that were still frozen, and they’re not even very good that way. My brownies have only four grams of sugar in them, and I’m not all that into the butterscotch ones so their sugar content isn’t too relevant to me, but the lemon bars are 12-13 grams per tiny little tart. That’s not too bad, but only if I eat just one. Which is pretty well impossible.
But it’s been borne in upon me, as it as so many times before, that the most important tool I have in controlling my sugar intake and my weight is my mind, most specifically what words I deliberately choose to think. If it’s, “Oh well, these little treats won’t make any difference,” then I’ve given myself permission to indulge and there’s no firm bar limiting me. Remember my Abstainer tendencies! If you’re in that camp with me, you find it so much easier to steer clear completely of whatever it is you’re trying to avoid than to be moderate. If the words I choose to think are more along the lines of, “I don’t need any of this stuff, and I won’t be happy later if I indulge, so no,” then I’ve drawn a clear line that I don’t want to cross.
And why do I need be such a killjoy, for Heaven’s sake? Well, the old A1C has crept up again. My at-home test of several months ago had registered a 5.3, which is truly stellar and which came after a fairly long stretch of my being extremely strict about sugar intake. But a couple of weeks ago I had a blood sample taken at the doctor’s office and it was 6.2, almost a whole point higher. What made the difference? All those little treats! All those little indulgences that stemmed from telling myself that just this once wouldn’t matter. But it did. (And no, I don’t think the home test was inaccurate—I’ve had similar results from the home test and the lab test in the past. The difference came from the way I ate over the preceding months.)
So, once again, back to being strict. Back to being very faithful about going for a walk five days a week. Back to the morning weigh-ins. Every day, every, every day.
As I often say, just because I try not to eat sweet things that doesn’t mean that I don’t thoroughly enjoy good food. Two wonderful items that have been on the menu lately: salmon and avocado. How I love them both! Today for lunch I had a sort of tostada on a crispy corn tortilla with cheese, half a sliced avocado, the last of the leftover baked salmon I had in the fridge, and some of my newly-developed Avocado-Jalapeno Ranch Dressing. So, so good. Full of flavor and good fats.
Later this week I’ll be sharing about the food I’m making for the Chorale picnic on Saturday, but for now I’ll give you a quick description of how to make the dressing, which is a variation on my Basic Ranch recipe:
½ cup mayo
½ of a large avocado or a whole small one (The buttery avocado substitutes for half of the mayo)
½ cup sour cream or full-fat yogurt
½ cup water
Freshly-ground pepper, to taste
1-2 jalapenos, with ribs and seeds removed, cut into chunks
Cilantro—maybe a third or half of a bunch
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons buttermilk powder
1 tablespoon lime juice
¼ tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried onion flakes
½ tsp. MSG (optional)
Throw everything into the blender or food processor and zip it up!