Everyday Systems

I had soup and sandwich for dinner and a sugar free pudding. It occured to me that this pudding, or the sugar free jello I eat as an add-on to my lunch might be counted as second?? I make a point of eating it IMMEDIATELY after lunch, in order to not eat anything until dinner. Do you think that's still ok??

Any suggestions welcome! Thanks!!

My verdict? It's a sweet. Fake sweets are still sweets. I don't care how many calories it has - if it looks/tastes like a sweet, it's a sweet.

The goal is to train your habits, which you don't do if you undermine them with stuff-that-looks-just-like-what-you're-trying-to-avoid.

But I have some pretty strong opinions about "fake food" anyway... so you might want to see what others have to say.

I'd have to agree. No problem with the timing, but I would call even sugar-free pudding a sweet and only allow it on S days. The habit learning part of your brain won't be able to learn if you keep trying to trick it.

Julie

Don't stress. Just stop eating fake sugar (it causes cancer in lab rats). Wait for an S day and eat the real chocolate pudding. It is so much tastier.

Karinatwork,
Good job on starting No-S. I agree pudding is a sweet, Splenda or no. But when you stop eating sweet stuff during the week, after a few weeks, I think you'll find that even some minor piece of chocolate or something tastes so indulgent and decadent when you have it on an S-day. Just like when you don't snack, meals become more satisfying. I love that part of No-S. Everything just tastes better.

Hi Karina,

Ultimately you have to make these calls. What works for you is what works for you. This isn't about ideological purity, but about solving a practical problem.

That being said, I would warn both about fake sugar and semi-seconds. Both are likely to smudge the clarity of your behavior, to make it harder to build habit and easier for excess to creep in. If you think you can manage these risks and that the trade off in pleasure is worth it, go for it. But the risk is not trivial, and to my mind, the payoff is not great, so consider it carefully. Real sweets on S-days are so much more pleasurable and so much less dangerous. Why not leave it at that?

Best of luck, whatever you decide,

Reinhard

Thanks for your input everyone!
I asked for your opinion because I wasn't sure myself. But now I know and I'm dropping the pudding/jello...

Karina, I think you won't miss the pudding/jello after a surprisingly short while. And you'll enjoy "the real deal" SO much more on S-days!

A number of us have noticed that when we cut the quantity of sweets (and other "treat" foods) that we eat, we choose to eat better quality foods for our weekend treats... and they're much more satisfying.

I have not lost a great deal of weight with No-S (didn't have a lot to lose), but I have dropped a tremendous amount of guilt and anxiety over what I eat! And THAT makes life much better.

Again, welcome.

Like others here I'm a bit puritanical about Splenda: don't want to keep feeding my sweet tooth, worry about the health effects, etc. But I do depend on eating some fruit (even something sweet like pineapple in juice) or a bit of sweetened yogurt at the end of dinner, just for the flavor contrast. I include a tiny bowl of it as part of my plate. I don't think it's hurting me to have it.