Over the past month I have been almost assaulted with amazing and delectable smells coming from what seems like every corner of the world. I realized that when the local gas station smelled delicious due to a new latte they were making in their quick serve area, things had gotten out of hand!
So while I am able to say to myself I AM NOT HUNGRY, I still don't want to walk around during the holidays...or any time of year...feeling like I'm being deprived. I decided that I had to come up with a more active plan for not feeling like I was saying no to treats 24 hours a day.
For a few days I kept careful track of the smells that were calling out to me and being the basis of cravings that didn't really make any sense, like wanting to have a cookie at 10a while still feeling actually satisfied from breakfast but smelling them baking as I walked into a hotel of all places! What I realized is that richly spiced and caramel were the two things that made me salivate most. So I starting thinking of what I could do to get those flavor profiles to me with a limited amount of calories.
The first choice I made was to buy So Delicious quarts of Eggnog and Pumpkin Spice non-dairy milk. The Eggnog was more calorie rich than I like-90 calories in a half cup, but just 45 in the Pumpkin Spice. I found that by using 1/4 cup of either flavor and an equal amount of either Almond, Coconut or Cashew milk (unsweetened of course) to my coffee, I could have an amazing treat that let me enjoy that same scent and flavor profile.
Additionally, I bought a number of sugar free coffee syrups and would add a pump or two of them to a 24 ounce tumbler of coffee.
But one day I had a coffee around 4p and regretted it until after midnight as I lay in my bed wishing and begging that I could fall asleep but caffeine had other plans and my sleep that night was limited. So I decided I had to pull back on my coffee intake, but what else would do the trick?
TEA!
I bought several chai, winter blends and fall favorites to try out. I looked for herbal varieties of course, did not want to trade one vexing beverage for another and found that I did not even have to use the milks, but simply the tea as a stand alone and sometimes with one pump of the syrup.
And for those times I might have been tempted to grab a cookie and eat it mindlessly, I found wearing compression wear was a wonderful helpmate as well! The feeling of that snug second skin layer was a great reminder to me. I also find a belt and fitted clothing works well, too! I am not a fan of overly tight clothing, but well fitted and form fitting is a wonderful 'time delay' item that gives me the moment needed to tell myself that food isn't worth it and save my calories for something that IS worth it!
And while I'm waiting for that worthy item to cross my path, I shall be drinking tea in my Spanx!
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