This is where the number counting starts to pose a problem! But I’ll stick with it as I haven’t eaten any of my nuclear red products… but i wonder if I’m stretching the definition here! Day 7 of what exactly now?! Of this time I recommitted to OA?

The kids wanted pancakes for breakfast so we all had pancakes with sugar and lemon for breakfast. Not ideal, but on my eating plan in OA, no foods are out of bounds. i just need to watch for foods that i eat alcoholically. So sugar on pancakes is still sugar… but not something i eat alcoholically.

We had a healthy lunch and then went sledging. I packed an apple for my mid-afternoon snack. However, we ended up hiking for miles in a snow storm and I really didn’t want to sit an eat an apple in a slow blizzard on the top of a mountain! I also don’t need to have snacks, so I decided to bypass it. We got down from the mountain at 6.45pm and I was STARVING. Child3 still wanted to sledge, so he and the Saint stayed out sledging and i went into a cafe/restaurant to get warm and have a drink. I wanted to eat everything on the menu. Thankfully the boys came in shortly after and we decided to stay for dinner. Dinner was enormous German-sized quantities and I was really full. I had spotted a rhubarb meringue pie but thought no that wouldn’t be reasonable when trying to quit bad habits, and the addict head was going on about how much exercise i had and it’s not a food i eat alcoholically… The waiter came to ask if we wanted desserts and the Saint said “I think so” and in that split second i ordered the pie… The annoying thing is i knew it would be underwhelming too and also was not on plan.

It took me a long time to trust myself to not order an alcoholic drink when i quit drinking. When asked in a restaurant or bar what i wanted to drink, i was never sure until i actually said it that i wouldn’t order an alcoholic drink. Sometimes before going out i would practice in front of a mirror what i would order. I think I’m going to have to do something similar with eating out and desserts.

There is a saying in OA “failure to plan is planning to fail”. I was also guilty of that today but i don’t want to be totally rigid and inflexible either. I like a bit of improvisation, but admittedly it does often lead to poor food choices. It will come with time and practice I’m sure.