Today marks 100 days since I decided to take a challenge offered by lifehack.org to improve my life. In their article “60 Small Ways to Improve Your Life in the Next 100 days,” they list actions you can take to, as the article’s title suggests, improve your life. I am always a sucker for one of these challenges, so I accepted.
It would be nearly impossible to do all 60 items every day, so I selected four or five items from the list and started on my 100 day journey. By the end of the first week, I was down to two or three items I was still consistently doing daily. By the end of the second week, I was down to one. I guess I wasn’t doing very well with this challenge.
The one item that stayed as part of my daily life was removing a food from your diet that sabotages you. While trying to determine which food would be removed, my first thought was ice cream. I absolutely love ice cream and quickly dismissed it as an option. There is no way I could go for 100 days without ice cream.
My next thought was chocolate. Chocolate seemed like an easier, but still challenging option.
I have a love/hate relationship with sweets. I go through stages where I turn my nose up at any treat. Inside declaring I am too good to eat whatever gooey delight is put in front of me.
Then there are times when anything sweet is my evil friend. It is so wonderful while eating it, but not long afterward I feel the pangs of regret. At the time I decided to complete this challenge, I was in the throes of love relationship with chocolate. I could not seem to pass over anything chocolate and bought a candy bar almost every time I was in a store. I thought it would be really difficult to not eat at least the occasional piece of candy.
It was surprisingly easy to cut chocolate out of my diet. There were only a few times near the beginning of the challenge that I really wanted a candy bar but stayed strong. Before long, I didn’t even miss chocolate. I only had a small tugging of a craving that was easily ignored and not long forgotten.
Interestingly, by deciding to cut chocolate from of my diet, I unintentionally limited the number of treats available to me. I did not realize just how many treats and desserts have chocolate in them. Chocolate is also in many “healthy” treats like protein bars or fiber snacks and protein shakes and smoothies. We have such a love affair with chocolate, you cannot escape it.
Often, I could not find a chocolate free option. Because the options were so limited, I frequently went without dessert or a treat. While I didn’t feel I would need to cut all treats from my diet, I ended up passing over more than just chocolate items.
On the whole, I eat fairly healthy. But like most people, I enjoy eating a little something sweet on occasion. Now, my little something sweet largely consists of ice cream. The item I could never willingly cut out of my diet.
Now that my 100 days are over, I am allowed go back to eating any dessert I want. After not eating chocolate for 100 days, I no longer crave it. I don’t miss it.
It is true what they say about sweets. If you reduce how many sweets you eat, the less you want them.
I think I will try for another 100 days. Maybe I will add another food item to the list. What food would you cut from your diet for the next 100 days if it would mean a healthier you? Let me know by leaving a comment below!