Sweet Tooth

Posted in life lessonsTagged , , , ,

“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” – Edmund Hillary

My math brain likes to discern patterns. If you call me out of the blue at 4pm on Monday and then do it more than once, I’ll jump to wondering what you are doing Mondays at 3pm that makes you think of me.

The patterns that interest me most are the ones that take me a long time to pick up on. Here’s one.

I have a sweet tooth. Like a big sweet tooth. More than one – actually, a whole mouthful. I’ve frequently argued with it, sometimes ignored it, but very rarely analyzed it.

My dad had a big sweet tooth as well. Are these kinds of things inherited?

But recently I was describing my sweet tooth to someone as something that starts with Halloween, carries through the holidays, and best case, abates sometime around Memorial Day.

When I started stashing those mini candy bars in my pantry again, I chalked it up to the pre-Halloween availability of those bite size snacks. Besides, I’m especially busy, so it’s just part of keeping up the quick energy to get everything done, right?

And then my recent description of my sweet tooth jiggled something loose. The memory that last year my reason was that it was because I was traveling for work. And the year before that? I don’t know – probably post-pandemic back to in-person school or something.

The point being – I have a new reason every year. If I look at the pattern, it starts with fall. I start feeling like sleeping more with the earlier sunsets and crisper evenings. And it’s a little harder to get up at 5am in these cold, dark mornings. I’m looking for the natural summer productivity that I get here in Seattle with the 16 hours days, to be all year round. When my body tries to pick up the seasonal cues to slow down, I jack it up on sugar.

You know what? I bet my dad did that to a degree too. He also had a problem slowing down, being anything less than on-the-go. So is it inherited? Well, maybe it is. The go-go pattern not the sweet tooth. Not that I’m ruling that out either.

Now that I see it, I wonder if this is a pattern I want to pass on. Isn’t that a funny thing about families? Sometimes it’s hardest to see the patterns closest to us.

For a related post about change in energy, please see my Heart of the Matter post Department of Low Energy.

50 thoughts on “Sweet Tooth”

  1. Pingback: Department of Low Energy – The Heart of the Matter

  2. The photo captures the challenge: the dazzling color of sweetness. Well, you are a sweet person, so no surprise you should have a sweet tooth, too, Wynne!

    Liked by 2 people

  3. That’s a very interesting connection! What you’re saying makes a lot of sense. I had SAD syndrome, so I need to pay extra attention to caring for my mental and physical health during the shorter daylight months.

    Liked by 3 people

  4. That is an interesting observation, Wynne! I can see how the fall invites us to slow down. I just looked out the window now and saw the beautiful color of the leaves and it was darker when I got up this morning.

    I hope you take advantage of these months to slow down… and yes, enjoy a few chocolates. So much temptation in the grocery story aisles these days as we ramp up towards Halloween.

    I’ll need to think about the patterns now that pop up in my days.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. I’m not sure about whether a sweet tooth is inherited, although I’d guess that having a go-go metabolism is. One thing I would suggest, however, is that you probably don’t want to spend a winter north of the Arctic Circle! 😏😊

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh, I think you are right about a Winter North of the Arctic Circle, Jane! And I like how you put it – a go-go metabolism is just about right! Hope you are enjoying this Monday morning! ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  6. It’s so true, Wynne. Sadly, I believe it is a pattern that we pass on. I drove myself hard as a younger person (until my body said NO). Now I see it repeating in my adult children.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. So interesting you mention this, VJ. This is my story, as well. I pushed myself too hard, and my mom, all of her siblings, and their father have all been work-a-holics, as well. Whether genetic or not, there almost certainly is a pattern.

      Liked by 3 people

  7. How interesting that your sweet tooth correlates with the seasons. Now that you mention it, my sweet tooth ramps up in the summer, when I’m feeling particularly lethargic in the miserable heat. I have no problem, on the other hand, passing on the fall treats when the air is crisp and nippy. I’ll have to pay more attention to this… I’m intrigued.

    Liked by 3 people

  8. I think you’ve touched on just one more of those generational “issues” that get passed on within families Wynne. While being on overdrive may not fall into the trauma category of generational learning I have no doubt it is a learned behavior and humans suck those environmental examples up just like those little chocolate bars when they are sitting on the shelf and available 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Love your reflections about all of this. Seasons changing…drawing in…while you also have a lot in transition in an ultra-active way. It’s almost as if those little chocolate bars (or those salted caramels, LOL) speak to you! 😎

    Liked by 2 people

  11. With so, so very much here resonating deeply with me, I’ll focus on the piece closest to surface for me. I’m day 6 keto/very low carb (which makes my asthma symptoms virtually disappear) again, and started–no joke!–salivating the moment I saw those sour straws. Sour straws, yum!

    (Also, YAY, math, and YAY seeing patterns, the biggerer, the batterer!)

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Funny, I thought of you and all the patterns you discern when I was typing this. And my apologies for the pic of the sour straws. I’m glad that diet makes your asthma disappear but it sounds hard!

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Yes, you do get it! We get an awful lot of life in the summer. I learned we are farther north than 2/3 of Canada, I believe. Yep, sugar helps. But having a little protein actually works better… 🙂

      Like

  13. Beautiful colors in the candy in that photo. I think of candy season as starting on Halloween and going through to Valentine’s Day. Those months are the ones when I notice candy. Everywhere.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. I, too, have an uncontrollable sweet tooth, Wynne. I have never really looked for patterns with it, though, but you make a good point about energy levels in the darker days of fall and winter. I have been trying really hard to avoid candy during my work day and have been tracking my success. Maybe I need to take a closer look at when the cravings call.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I love your tracking of your sweet tooth on your monthly goals. I haven’t disciplined mine nearly as well but I do really well in the summer. I’m curious to see if you find a pattern!

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Love how you look at patterns. “When my body tries to pick up the seasonal cues to slow down, I jack it up on sugar.” Instead of sugar to help get more things done, maybe your body is telling you that you need more time for yourself. Maybe not, but something tells me that you’re a pretty tough judge of yourself. No matter what . . . I think most of us get the challenges of being a sweet tooth. It’s a challenge . . Ha, ha.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Hi Wynne, I’ve missed you! I’m finally catching up on my beloved bloggers today and so much has happened while I was riding across Spain! It’s so funny that you mention your sweet tooth (teeth) because yesterday I was food shopping, trying to refill the empty refrigerator, and those stacks of hug bags of candy called me, before I realized what the hell I was doing there were two bags of treats in my cart! I justified of course, Halloween is just around the corner. I need to be organized! Bahaha. The truth is I just love those mini bars! My sister and I have the same issue so it is definitely inherited and therefore not our fault. Stock up, enjoy. Hugs, C

    Liked by 1 person

  17. That’s an interesting and plausible theory about your sweet tooth. My own sugar craving cranked up when I don’t eat properly throughout the day and combine it with staying up too late at night (late could be as early as 8pm on those days). That combo is like opening the monster’s cage 😱

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Funny, when my kids were young we talked about ‘candy season’. Ours started at the end of Sept at our local Fall Parade, where we scrambled to catch candy that was thrown from floats, continued thru Halloween, Christmas, Valentines, and Easter. I, for one, have learned to reel that in, because I usually feel pretty crummy if I indulge in too much sugar nowadays. But, maybe we learn comforting behavior in our childhood and it stays with us over the years?

    Liked by 1 person

  20. I’ve had a lifelong sweet tooth as well. Healing work (hypnotherapy) has helped to quiet it and has shown me origins in both my very young life and in past lives (fascinating stuff). I wouldn’t be surprised if there is indeed an inherited component. The irony is my son much prefers savory, having quite a penchant for salty and crunchy snack foods.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I love this perspective from hypnotherapy and healing work. Fascinating indeed! And if you bring in epigenetics – the study of how environment affects our DNA it brings in so many perspectives. Maybe your time at sea affected your son’s tastes? 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  21. I started drooling at first glance of the photo, but then I remembered that my unruly sweet tooth gave way to some miraculous turn of events that morphed me into an “eh” person when it comes to sugar. I’m not sure how that happened, but whatever it was,I am truly grateful. I was always broke as a kid because I’d squirrel away my allowance and spend it all up on candy whenever I had the chance—and when no one was looking. You could buy A LOT penny candy in my early sweet tooth days. My poor widowed mother’s dental bills were outrageous. Thanks to her, God bless her, I still have teeth in my head at this late stage of life. Once, during an Overeater’s Anonymous meeting, one of the participants said, “I can now be trusted in a room alone with a cheesecake.” Ditto. Thank goodness.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Well, isn’t this such an interesting comment, Julia. A miraculous turn of events can change it all – probably is true for most of the things we get addicted to, isn’t it? And God bless your mom – for many reasons but especially for having the delightful you!! ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yes, the MTofE happened with both my smoking and wine addictions, too. Those cases were even more miraculous because they happened quite suddenly, once my half-hearted willingness turned into true willingness. Delightful back atcha!

        Like

Comments are closed.