Hi, my name is Amy and I love ice cream. I think about ice cream every day, often a few times a day. I dream of my next scintillating encounter with this sweet, cold, creamy, melty satisfaction. Oh. My. Gawd.
It makes me grabby. “Gimme your gelato!” I grunt as I snatch your ice cream cone like a toddler with no conscience. At least, that’s what I imagine doing sometimes. Especially with this local, organic cantaloupe gelato from L’Albero Dei Gelati in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I still have flashbacks. It was National Ice Cream Day. Or Weekend. Or Month, Year …
But it isn’t just ice cream. My cravings encompass chewy ginger cookies, decadent chocolate truffles and fancy French desserts like these harmless little macarons at Bosie Tea Parlor in West Village, Manhattan …
… or those 100 Grand candy bars that combine mass-produced milk chocolate with gooey caramel and puffed-rice crunch.
Did I ever mention what this blog is supposed to be about? After weight loss, there’s maintenance. Here’s how to maintain the healthy lifestyle, body and fitness you’ve (I’ve) achieved: (insert wisdom).
You see, I lost a bunch of weight more than five years ago, and the active, healthy — yet not rigid — new lifestyle curbed my craving for the white devil, i.e.: sugar. Before bedtime, I would savor one Dove Promises dark chocolate morsel and read the endearing/witty message inside the foil wrapper and feel like I had a treat. I would eat the actual suggested portion of no-sugar-added ice cream with equal parts fresh fruit on top, sometimes with nuts. A shared dessert once in awhile when dining out with friends was still a thing.
But I didn’t crave sugar.
Now I do. All the time.
It happened slowly. The Sugar Monster found a crack and has been picking at it, prying it open to flood my system with short-lived ecstasy, followed by post-cookie regret, belly bloat, shame, weight gain, guilt, insomnia, exhaustion and mood swings. Sugar high, crash and coma? Oh yeah, I know it.
I also know sugar is addictive. And artificial sweeteners are worse. So I’m calling on you, dear readers, to watch me take this lumpy road to sugar liberation. I’m not sure whether the gradual elimination approach or the drastic all-or-nothing way will be most effective. I suspect the latter. I’m kinda like that.
Stevia in my coffee won’t be the first to go. You’ll have to pry my fingers off the mug. It just might have to be da-dummm — ice cream. (Signal campy horror flick scream)
But chill out. I’ve created cool, creamy dessert substitutes that worked in the past, like frozen bananas food-processed with cocoa powder and peanut butter. Or my latest treat: Greek yogurt cherry-strawberry popsicles, but with Stevia instead of sugar.
So now I’ve said it. Whew. That felt good. Almost as good as that cantaloupe gelato caressing my panting tongue. But come to think of it, cantaloupe itself is a satisfying summer sweet. For real!
You know what else is sweet? Success. Freedom. Achievement. Those long-lasting, sustainable rewards that make me feel good the morning after.
What do I eat now? 
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