The lure of over-indulgence

I’ve never learned to like the bitter taste of coffee. I love the smell, but the taste, um, not so much. I mean, every once in a while, I’ll have a little coffee with my cream and sugar.

Until. Until our latest adventure in Puerto Rico. My son and daughter-in-law took us to breakfast one morning, and my DIL ordered a mocha—a cup dipped in Nutella and then plunged into Oreo cookie crumbs. The beautiful chocolatey mug was then filled with mocha, and a creamy heart was painted on top.

And so, when Dan and I returned home from Puerto Rico, we added Nutella and Oreos to our grocery list. My husband was gracious enough to take care of the frosting in between the Oreo sandwiches (thank you, Dan). I crumbled the cookies, dipped and plunged mugs, and constructed the coffee/chocolate component. (I failed at crafting the creamy heart on top, but I think it’s because we don’t have a foamer thingie.)

Mocha—rimmed in Nutella and Oreo cookie crumbs—my fav new, (overly-sweet), pure, unadulterated coffee beverage!

My homemade version—not as artistic, but still … a pink mug

For the record, there was quite a long period when my diet consisted mainly of fresh veggies and legumes, fish and poultry, whole grains, and healthy fats and sugars (read: olive oil, avocados, honey, molasses, pure maple syrup).

And then, in the year leading up to COVID, I met Dan. He and I became our own little bubble—mostly hiking and snowshoeing and baking and cooking. Since I had someone to bake for who loves sweet things, I didn’t waste any time pulling out the baking pans and cookie sheets.

And of course, while Dan is sampling cobblers, and pumpkin/ banana/ zucchini breads, and cookies, I may have eaten them, as well. And now I like sweets too much. (Did you see how I did that—how I blamed it on Dan?)

When I was on staff at St. Charles Cancer Center, the registered dietician had a general guideline about eating not-so-healthy foods. “All things in moderation,” she said. Which means, go ahead and have a cupcake at your kid’s birthday party, and enjoy that slice of pizza after the basketball game. But eat mostly healthful foods.

All things in moderation vs. indulgence. For more healthful living. And better quality of life.

When it comes to the Nutella-and-cookie-crumb-dipped mocha, moderation for Dan and me means maybe once a month, or twice a year, say, on Valentine’s Day and Christmas.

All this has inspired a goal on our part to go a full month without eating processed-sugar-things, beginning as soon as we polish off the German Chocolate cake I made for Dan’s birthday.

The idea is to see how we feel after the month, and then to include processed sugars back into our eating habits, but in moderation.

Now, if we can just get Dan’s friend, Al, on board … (if you’re Al, you know what that means).