You’ve heard the old saying – “A balanced diet means a cookie in each hand.” My mom used to have a sign hanging in our kitchen with those very words. Well, those words rang very true for me tonight … but instead of cookies, it was cupcakes 😦

I am a sucker for two kinds of foods – free food and sweets. If I encounter free sweets, I might as well throw in the towel before I even consider trying to be disciplined. Someone brought chocolate cupcakes (with peanut butter frosting) to Youth Group. You see, no one likes “little miss perfect” … I am confessing right here and now that I am far from perfect when it comes to my eating. I have a major sweet tooth, and it has gotten much worse now that I am pregnant. Brandon and I keep joking that Baby Tress wants the cookies or the ice cream or the brownies or the cupcakes. In fact, tonight I even said – “The baby made me eat the cupcakes.”

So, now that I’ve confessed to my major weakness/borderline sugar addiction … let me try to give you advice about how to curb your cravings 🙂 Here are some things that work for me occasionally, and things that you should try if you struggle like I do.

• Keep gum on hand! Sometimes gum can be enough to satisfy a sugar craving make you feel like you are eating something.
• Brush your teeth right after you are finished with the healthy aspects of your meal (before you are tempted to grab the cookies, brownies, chips, etc.
• Always keep healthy snacks around. I bring at least 5 or 6 healthy snacks in baggies to work every day to curb my cravings for unhealthy foods (carrot sticks, celery, berries, cereal, whole grain crackers).
• Consider the gratification of knowing you were disciplined – versus the very temporary gratification of eating 2 cupcakes.
• Track your food on a site like caloriecount.com so you can plan out your day and be intentional about what you put in your body.