Cereal killer strikes

Last night was rough - and I don't really know why. I wasn't feeling depressed, per se, but I wasn't feeling jovial either. I was in a funk and found myself in a losing battle against an old nemesis: Cereal.

I know, it sounds lame, but I love cereal. A lot. When I first moved out of my mom's house, the first thing I did was buy crappy, sugary cereal and stock my cabinets. When I broke up with my ex, I existed on Gatorade, cigarettes and Froot Loops for months. They made me "happy." Cereal was a favorite dinner after a long day of covering grass fires. Cereal was a favorite snack when there was "nothing to eat" in the house. But I had no idea I had a problem with cereal.

I stopped buying cereal months ago, for no other reason than I replaced cereal with oatmeal and have been quite happy. It wasn't really a conscious decision to remove anything from my diet. It was more a decision to put good, healthy, nutrient-packed foods into my diet, you know? But when oatmeal got boring, Kevin started buying cereal.

First, he bought some sugary cereal that's existence on this planet is merely to annoy moms and inflame ADD. Mmm you gotta love Honey Grahams.

Seriously, I ate a tiny handful as a little snack and woke up with an actual craving the next day! I looked at the nutrtion information and thoroughly tore the cereal to shreds. There was nothing of substance in it!

Round Two saw Kevin bringing Kix into the ring. Honestly, they aren't too terrible. The serving size is huge (1.25 cups!) and the sugar isn't bad. They make a great mid-morning snack when you feel all munchy because it takes awhile to shovel that much cereal into your mouth. I've been taking them with me to school for the past few days and usually eat have the baggy for my mid-morning snack and the other half on the way home. It's been doing wonders for my terrible habit of snacking.

But eating so much cereal lately has clearly awakened the sleeping giant that is my cereal addiction.

I spent the evening at Kevin's last night and got that munch feeling that hits while I'm studying and don't want to be. I raided the cabinet and found 9 different cereals! Did I grab a handful of the Fiber One? Of course not, I went straight to the Lucky Charms. And the Chocolate Cheerios. And the Chocolate Cap'n Crunch. I did try (and loved!) the Blueberry Special K, but with so many really good bad options around me, eating something healthy, or even just not eating anything, just didn't seem a valid option. I was in the throws of my addiction, lost in a sugar high of epic proportions.

I think I ate about 5 cups of cereal - at least. No milk, just hand to mouth shoveling of sugar into my body. I gained two pounds from it and am now nursing a major sugar hangover.

My name is Natalie and I have an addiction. It's been 11 hours since I last ate cereal ...