Rebelling against sugar

Since I’ve been on my low-carb diet, I’ve discovered some things about my hunger-satiety-fullness cycle, and I’ve learned about how some foods affect me.  My mom has gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) which results in her having laryngitis when it gets really bad.  (Remember when Ashlee Simpson lipsynched on SNL and blamed reflux on her loss of voice?  Yeah, it’s not the bullshit I suspected, either.)  She rarely ever experiences heartburn, but I have it ALL THE TIME which leads me to believe that I’ve inherited it from her.  When I was engaging in uncontrolled eating (that is, without planning – often resulting in overeating), I now realize that I mistook heartburn for hunger.  They both have a churning, burning sensation, so I would always feed that sensation.  Now that I’ve taken time out and stepped back from eating whatever the hell I want, when I want, I’ve started to recognize the difference between hunger and heartburn and treat both differently. 

Now that I’m figuring out the heartburn/hunger continuum, I’m perplexed by a new symptom.  Since the holiday season has hit, I’ve indulged a few times in sweets.  Not anywhere close to the overindulgences I once took part in, but for the plan I’m following now, they’re definite splurges.  Like today – we always make baked goods to share with the neighbors on Christmas Eve, and I made mint brownies this morning as our first Christmas baked good of 2009.  I had to try a piece, just to make sure I wouldn’t poison anyone (and also because I made up the “recipe” myself).  I cut the 9”x13” pan into 48 pieces (I think that’s right) and had half of one piece.  Then about half an hour later I grabbed a small Pepperidge Farm cookie off a tray Mom brought home from church…

…followed by a small chunk of brownie that fell apart when I was moving them from the pan.  These three so-not-big sugary things gave me a sore throat like nobody’s business.  I experienced this last weekend at our family Christmas gathering, too – I ate waaaay more sweets than I’m used to (which is now NONE) and got a sore throat that would make Chuck Norris cry.  This afternoon, it finally subsided a few hours after I had eaten the sweets, but I snitched a couple of other things and it came right back immediately.  Now, normal people would say, “this is a sign.  Quit eating sweets and shut up about it,” but I’m not normal and I want to know what’s going on!  Is this a side effect of GERD, too?  Is the sugar burning my throat itself?  Has anyone experienced either before?

My cat is yelling at me to pay attention to him, so I’ll wrap this up quickly.

Luscious minty brownies = 1 box brownie mix + 1 bag Toll House Dark Chocolate & Mint morsels.  Melt ~1cup of the morsels and stir the melted chocolate into the batter, then dump the rest of the morsels into the batter before spreading in a pan and baking according to the box directions.  AMAZING!!!!

When we went to the grocery tonight, I found a product I’ve been looking for for months!  I got these little Two-Bite Pumpkin Tarts last year at Halloween for a party and have been thinking about them all year…

…and I’m happy to report that they’re every bit as good as I imagined, if not better.  Mom and I each had one, and I put the rest in the freezer for later.  She joked in the store about the line in Home Alone 2, “Kevin, what is it with you and Christmas trees?” and said “Katherine, what is it with you and pumpkin?”  I don’t know, but if it’s wrong, I don’t wanna be right. 

When we got home, I made a giant salad that could only fit in a huge mixing bowl – I forgot a meal today…no wonder I was ravenous and dizzy!

Dad brought home a Zaxby’s grilled chicken salad he had ordered at work and never got to eat, so Mom and I split it and supplemented it with more greens.  I added some gorgonzola, yogurt ranch dressing, and bunches of green Tobasco sauce to mine!

Speaking of pumpkin, I’m turning into one.  'Night, folks!!