Oh the letdown

So I read an article about the Flat Belly Diet. It intrigued me, so I googled some other articles on it to get the general idea. I am not interested in shelling out $30 for the book!

The basic principles are to avoid foods that bloat and to eat a monounsaturated fat at every meal, which is supposed to target the breakdown of the visceral fat in the belly. That means--seeds, nuts, olive oil, avocado etc. I tend to eat those types of things anyways, so I thought why not try adding them to each meal more purposefully.

That is not the letdown. We'll see in several days to a few weeks if I have less belly fat.

Gum is my problem. I love gum. I've been in love with gum since my mom's yellow pack of Carefree gum. In fact, I bought it myself for many of my adult years. Until Orbit that is, which is my gum of choice.

But...gum causes bloating. At least that's what they say. But, gum helps me get through sugar cravings. There is nothing like a piece of gum and a Diet Coke to get me through a midafternoon slump.

Midmorning I was in need. I thought, it can't be that bad. I'll just chew the gum and see what happens. I'd read that when you chew gum, you swallow extra air which creates the bloat. Guess what. They were right. My whole gum chewing experience was ruined because I could feel myself swallowing the air. Something I had never noticed before.

Is it that big of a deal? Probably not. But...gum also contains artificial sweeteners that I know it's better to avoid. As does the Diet Coke. What food can I eat and enjoy?? At least chocolate is natural :)

I guess I may avoid chewing gum sometimes. Especially if the clothes I'm wearing are tight fitting on my stomach. But at other times--I'll take the bloat to avoid consuming unecessary calories.

On another note, it's been 3 days since I've had a Diet Coke. I've had some caffeine free Diet Coke, but none of the real stuff. It's part of a slow process to rid my life of artificial sweeteners. Plus I recently learned that the phosphorus in soda leeches calcium from your bones and I don't want osteoporosis. I know that I will probably completely erradicate it from my life. But that's okay. A few a week or a month is much better than 1-2 a day!

By the way...my mind is telling me it's chocolate time. 9:30pm. But honestly I'm not hungry. So I'm keeping away from the chocolate. Gotta drop these last few pounds.