Sugar or Meat?

Every since I was a little girl, I have always been the Queen of What If questions. I remember asking my mom, "What if you had to choose between being blind or deaf? What would it be?" My mom would give me a funny look and say, "But I don't have to choose between those." I kept bugging her to her to pick anyway. Once I got one answer, I would just push on through to another question: "What if you HAD to live in another country for the rest of your life? Which one would you pick?" She never knew how to answer these questions. I just loved all the possibilities and could keep the questions coming for hours. Well, yesterday morning, I woke up with a new question in my head: What if I HAD to live the rest of my life without any sugar or meat? Which option would hinder my life the least? I went over this over and over in my mind for at least 20 minutes as I was driving around town yesterday. I would say I could live without sugar, but then start thinking about delicious chocolate chip cookies, right out of the oven. Then I would switch to giving up meat, but remember how much I love Chick Fil-A chicken nuggets. Oh, what torture!

It only took till the end of today, however, to make up my mind on this difficult topic. It all began with a delicious breakfast of fruit and yogurt. I mixed blackberries and strawberries into my smooth Greek yogurt. Mmmmmm....I got to school at the usual 7:00am time. By 9:00am, I was so hungry, for some reason. I was hungry enough that I considered going to the vending machines, something I think I have only done twice in six years! Luckily, Dennis, my coworker, picked up some chocolate chip cookies from the cafeteria for the student government kids. All right! I grabbed a cookie. It was still frozen, but it helped ease my hunger.

After this 1st period class, the school got divided up by Academies (kind of like what future careers these kids want to have) for a closing social. We watched performances by various groups and gave out certificates. At the end of the party, we opened several boxes of assorted doughnuts. Now, I am not a doughnut person. I never eat doughnuts, actually. But for some reason, the Red Velvet doughnut this morning grabbed my attention. I picked it up. I started licking off the cream cheese frosting. I ate half of it and started feeling sick, so I threw the rest away. It did make for some pleasurable initial bites, though. I was starting to feel too full and that was not a good feeling before lunch, so I decided: no more sugar!!!

Lunch came at noon. I went into the Faculty room and had my pasta with salad. It felt good to eat something that wasn't sweet. Oh no, but on the table right next to the teachers was a huge, free Cookies and Cream cake from Sam's Club. Seriously? Cake today? I do love cookies and cream. I decided that one bite couldn't hurt. I stuck the fork right into the cake and had a good-sized bite. Tasty. Ok. I could feel my stomach churning. At this point, I was really done with sugar.

3:00 hit. School was over. Oh, but I forgot that today was a Bridal Shower for a teacher at the high school! Great! I went into the Faculty Room to see it all decked out in streamers and confetti. On the table was the most delicious looking punch imaginable. It was filled with sherbet and berries. I had to have a little glass--after all, it is not every day a teacher has a bridal shower! Then, someone brought in homemade cookies, just right out of the oven. Oh, those are my weakness! I admit that I enjoyed every gulp and found delight in each bite, but it wasn't until I was ready to go home that I wondered if those small moments were worth it.

Tonight at 6:30, there was a Parent Meeting for the newly elected Student Body Officers. I asked the SBO president to get some healthy snacks. What did he come back with? Over 100 cookies and a small container of grapes and raspberries. By this point, it wasn't hard to look the other way and avoid the Snickerdoodles like the plague.

Who knew that this crazy What If question would bring about such a sugar-coated day. Luckily, this sugar overkill cured my sweets cravings for a long time. I think that tomorrow I will visit a Brazilian barbecue.