Bold declarations

Hey, it's almost the end of the year! Time to make pronouncements about what I will do differently next year. I reviewed my goals for 2009 only to realize that I am not quite there.

1. I did cut back my decaf consumption... on weekdays. I bring a travel mug of coffee from home to work and I haven't been to Sbux for a supplemental dose in months. Weekends are a different story, but oh well. I give myself 60-75% accomplished on this one.


2. Sugar? Well... not so much. I got pretty lax about treats. I kind of, ummmm, forgot about this goal somewhere along the way. Zero per cent accomplished.


3. Didn't do so well limiting grains and bread, either. I'll give myself a generous 10% accomplished here, only because I try to limit my pasta/rice to one cup per meal. Sometimes.

On the other hand, I did make a few (and I mean few) other changes I hadn't thought of in January:

• I cut my diet soda consumption by perhaps 75%.


• I became more vigilant about avoiding HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) only to read this article which made a lot of sense but confused the issue even more for me. I do still try to avoid HFCS, but I would probably be better off avoiding sugar, honey, and sweeteners in general.


• I decided that non-nutritive sweeteners were bad news too and have (mostly) eliminated them. I bought some Truvia, the new stevia-based sweetener, and am using that in the few instances I used to use Splenda. Still using sugar in my coffee, though.

What about 2010? I'll keep working on my 2009 goals and am considering adding another. Inspired by Alton Brown, I'm close to declaring 2010 a French Fry-Free Year. I don't eat them often to begin with so it should be an easy goal. If I really wanted to put some teeth into it, I should include potato chips, which I do indulge in more often than I should. Can I live without Black Pepper Kettle Chips? I'm not sure, but I could stand to try.

My cheese consumption could stand some scrutiny, too. I was doing pretty well back when I decided cheese was to be treated like butter, but I fell off the wagon somewhere along the way.

Speaking of sweeteners, I had planned to post my favorite cookie recipe today but left it at home. Would it be bad form to post it after all my grand posturing about cutting back on sweeteners? As long as I do it before New Year's Day?
:)