Put carbon molecules under great stress and the pressure will reduce the interstitial spaces in the molecules and in the atoms, squishing the whole thing together so tightly that the once rather soft element becomes that hardest in the world – a diamond. What a beautiful result, right?

Yeah, well, I didn’t have that kind of response to the stresses over the last months.

I’ve heard of people who lose weight during stressful times. They just “can’t eat a thing!” I don’t have that problem. I eat like I’m never going to see food again. What started out as a stress muffin top is now much more like bundt cake overflowing it’s pan. It’s not a pretty sight.

Time and again, I’ve talk to you about starting over and getting my food choices a intake back inline. It seemed like every time I made the decision to get back on the wagon, something would happen to send my stress levels way back up into the red zone. For months now, every time I opened my eyes, that was my first thought, “What can I eat?” Seriously. Now, with the house out of foreclosure and a solid plan to keep it that way, my first thoughts upon waking aren’t about food. Well, they aren’t about food for me, anyway. There is usually some furry thing (generally my cat Lucy) letting me know that a bowl is empty and that this state just cannot continue. They, of course, are all convinced I’m trying to starve them if they can see the bottom of the bowls. Thankfully, I no longer feel this way about myself.

I no longer feel like I’m starving every minute of the day. However, I don’t think for a minute that this means that getting back into the groove of eating only healthful options is going to be easy. I have a refined sugar addiction and I’ve let it have its way for too long. I stopped eating refined sugar yesterday and I did okay for the first day. My body didn’t kick up much of a fuss; however, I believe that it will in the next day or two. By Saturday, I’ll probably be willing to trade a kidney for a Blizzard – even in a flavor I don’t like. On Sunday, I’m headed to a birthday celebration in Memphis where my cousin Faith – an incredible cook and baker – will, no doubt, have made something to tempt me. There will be several diabetics and vegetarians at the gathering; so, maybe there will be some options that won’t kill my nascent efforts. I’ll report or confess next week on that.

At this point, my efforts really are like those of any recovering addict – one day at a time. I can’t focus on the long goal of getting back into my size six clothes. Right now, the goal is to reduce the bundt cake back to a muffin top.