It has been two weeks since starting the Simply Sweet Challenge and I’ve had a few days where I said to myself “to heck with all of this, I’m just going to eat what I’m craving.” Then I remembered WHY I’m doing this and it brought me back to level headed thinking. Knowing and connecting with your why is key to staying the course with a goal that you set out to achieve.
Everybody is going to have their own personal reasons for setting goals for this challenge. I encourage you to write down your list of why’s and dig deep into what it means to you. Here are some of my reasons why I am doing the Simply Sweet Challenge.
- My Health:
My health is important to me, but I started to realize that my food choices were not in alignment with my health goals. I was eating larger than recommended serving sizes of ice cream, multiple cookies and snacking on chocolate throughout the day. These foods are high in saturated fat and calories which can cause weight gain and elevated cholesterol, both of which I was experiencing rising trends with. While sweets can fit into a healthy meal plan, the quantity and frequency is key to keeping it within a healthy range.
- Understand My Triggers:
I was reaching for sweets to “feed” an underlying trigger. Oftentimes it was stress, boredom, and even thirst or hunger. When I stopped myself from grabbing the sweets and asked myself what do I really NEED, I was able to take care of the source of the trigger instead of masking it by eating calorie laden sweets that basically fed my trigger, keeping it coming back for more.
- Reset My Taste Buds:
We all have sweet receptors on our tongue responsible for the sweet taste of foods. We get used to the heightened sweetness of foods with added sugars. However, the taste buds regenerate about every 10 days or so. The combination of reducing added sugar intake and regeneration of taste buds make naturally sweet foods actually taste sweet and can reduce cravings for added sugars.
- Increase Fruits & Vegetable Intake:
I’m embarrassed to say that my fruit and vegetable intake was not meeting the minimum of 1.5 cups of fruit and 2 cups of vegetables per day. While I am a dietitian, I am also human, and things that are good for you require you to work at it no matter who you are and what you do for a living! I want to at least meet the minimum intake of fruits and vegetables because they are full of vitamins and nutrients that are important for my health! (see reason #1)
- Be an Example for My Kids:
My kids are 15 and 12 years of age. They make their own food choices but I am still setting an example for them and I want to be a good role model for what it looks like to be a person who treats their body well by nourishing it with healthy foods. Because I am making the extra effort to have fruits and vegetables washed and at the ready, I have noticed that they are reaching for these foods more than they ever have in the past. This makes my mama heart happy. 🙂
Whenever I feel like giving up or caving in to my cravings, connecting with my WHY brings me back to staying the course with my goals. These are my Why’s.
Find your WHY? Dig deep. Connect with it. ♥️
~Megan
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