I have an enormous sweet tooth.
Cookies, candy, doughnuts, sweet breads, Pop-Tarts, Frosted Flakes you name it as long as its got some ungodly percentage of your daily recommended sugar intake, Im going to love it.
Much like the sugar glider, or petaurus breviceps, what Wikipedia defines as a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass, native to mainland Australia and named for its fondness for sugary, nectarous foods, I need lots of sleep and frequent, small snacks.
The sugar glider also has an astonishing heat tolerance, up 104 degrees Fahrenheit, much like myself and my undying fondness for space heaters, impossibly warm cars and, in general, cranked-up heat.
Although that general desire to be very warm at all times has little to do with the central theme of this column, it is another comical similarity that I share with those fuzzy little mammals.
However, alongside admitting that I tend to go for all things nectarous, I have to say that Ive learned to keep these cravings in check. Although its hard to not go to Dairy Queen every night for a hot fudge sundae, I know thats something I cannot do if I also want to keep up my exercise regimen and fit into my current wardrobe.
Its all about balance.
I consider myself to be quite lucky because I am in good health: low blood pressure, a low body mass index, a slow heart rate. Sure, some of these things probably relate directly to the fact that Im also a 23-year-old who was raised by a couple of health-food-eating hippies, but I digress.
I owe all of this not only to the good food that I eat but also to the abandonment of the classification of food as being truly good or bad, at least in moderation.
One thing that many diet plans dont touch on is the fact that food has a very real, very important emotional place in ones life.
Sure, it might be better to avoid all things processed, even when eating at the company Christmas party, but is that really going to satisfy you if all youre doing is thinking about how good those chocolate crinkle cookies must be? There are some very admirable folks out there who make a point to always eat clean, and if you are capable of divorcing comfort foods from their place in your psyche, thats what you ought to do. Those are the kind of people who wont feel a tinge of sadness over neglecting the dessert table at a party.
But for the rest of us, I firmly believe that beyond eating entirely clean, or focusing on consuming all of one food group and none of another, balance is key. So, go on, have that cookie.
