Saturday, September 15, 2007

It came. I saw. I conquered.

It came yesterday with a slight whish through the mail slot. It used to enter the house like a bomb, like fireworks, like a gospel choir. The See's Candies catalog. I used to go through it and circle my favorites (sometimes numbering them in order of deliciousness) and crossing out the ones I hated (chocolate-covered ginger sounds good, but bleeck; tasted like medicine!). Seriously. I was like a kid with the Toys R Us Christmas catalog. (A quirk of mine that tickles my best friend so much I'm going to see if it works in my book.)

Then I went off sugar and I feared the catalog. I came home and found it with the rest of the mail and picked it up and raced it to recycling, holding it away from me like a stinky diaper or a vial of crack (does crack come in a vial?). I didn't want to be tempted. Let me be clear: Godiva, Ghirardelli, Cadbury, Hershey's, nothing next to See's. If you can eat sugar and you haven't had the See's experience, hustle on over to the website now. You'll thank me (or hate me, depending on how hooked you get). If you need to limit sugar, like moi, try this. You'll really thank me.

But yesterday the catalog arrived and I opened it, flipped through the pages, and felt nothing. No happy memories about the last butterscotch square (chocolate-covered brown sugar and butter; #1 in deliciousness) that melted on my tongue. No desire. No craving. It had no hold on me. I looked at it and put it in the recycling bin like any other flyer. And today, going to the site to get the url, I noticed this. My holiday chocolate-ordering just got a whole lot easier. Life is sweet, my friends.

7 comments:

olufunke grace bankole: said...

carleen:

it's inspiring to read how you've reduced the sugar in your diet. lindt is likely my favorite chocolate brand, but i'm willing to try see's. ;)

Jamie Ford said...

See's is the BEST! My grandma used to send us a pound of soft-centers every Christmas.

But then my dad got diabetes and my mom would hide the entire box in my room. (And she wondered why I got so many cavities?)

Stay strong. Sugar-free, or at least less sugar is the way to go. I'm still working on it.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Lisa said...

I have several Type I diabetics in my family and people who know they're diabetic will often send them sugar free chocolate around the holidays. My only word of warning: beware binges with chocolate sweetened with sorbitol. It's totally fine in moderation, but chocolate-deprived diabetics tell me if you overdo it, you will find yourself locked away in the bathroom for a good part of the next day ;)

Carleen Brice said...

Iyan and Egusi Soup, Lindt's not even close. Trust me.

Jamie, There *is* something old-fashioned and grandma-ish about See's. That's how I found out about them too--my mother's mother.

Lisa, Good to know! :-)

Madeleine said...

ha, luckily they don't sell See's here except for at Christmas. I'm not as tempted to mail order.

(moonslice from aw)

Sustenance Scout said...

Congrats, Carleen! Willpower rules!

Carleen Brice said...

It's not willpower anymore. I'm free from the hold sugar had on me. If I want something sweet, there are things I can have and enjoy, but not become addicted to as I do with high-fructose corn syrup and refined sugars. And I don't miss the other stuff. Something I never thought would be possible.