Day 268

Thank God the holidays are over.

I don't think I was mentally prepared for eating ZC through the holidays. I wrote beforehand how holidays were so entwined around food and how different they would be without all of the treats. I thought I was ready for that and it wouldn't be an issue. However, when the rubber actually hit the road, I ate off plan way too much.

The strange thing was that I was fine in the day to day. The treats available at work or just around weren't a problem. The problem came with the "traditions", times when doing something with the family had always included treats. Those were the times I caved, unfortunately.

Well, the holidays and those traditions are over for the year and the good thing is that I have nearly a year to prep for them next time. I will also know what to expect and how to handle them different. It is time to come up with new traditions, too, I think.

Thinking back to before Thanksgiving, I think I have also pinpointed another culprit. I had been doing meat and water only for nearly three months and was feeling great and really slimming down. We went down to K's parents' place for Thanksgiving and I added dairy back into the mix because it made it easier to deal with the lean and tasteless meat eating at someone else's place. I pretty much instantly felt different and had more cravings after that.

It is pretty clear that dairy is a gateway drug to me. I do fine with it physically, except for my sinuses. However, mentally, I feel more on the edge. That great feeling I had before Thanksgiving I call my ZC Zen. Zero carb is just effortless at that point. However, add in the dairy, and that good feeling dissipates and ZC is a bit more of a struggle. I start thinking a taste of this or that won't hurt and then all bets are off.

So the dairy is finally gone again. I am back to the day to day normalcy like before the holiday season. Instead of being disappointed, I feel relief to flee back to the safety of ZC. Hopefully next year, I will be strong enough to get through the holidays without succumbing.