Day 4: This is getting harder.

My husband caved first. Last night, a few hours after dinner -- a small pork cutlet each and some potato salad with, wait for it, lots of celery-- he wandered into the kitchen and started poking around.
"I want something sweet," he said.

"Brush your teeth again," I suggested. "It worked last time."

He ignored me. His eyes lit on the candy basket on top of the fridge. "M&Ms," he said, with almost a religious fervor. Without looking at me, he grabbed a handful.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "But this is getting hard."

Not that we're starving; clearly, we're not. But we're realizing how much discipline this requires-- and that we don't have much. We're used to eating what we want, when we want, without really thinking about it. That is a luxury that many people don't have, and one that I have selfishly taken for granted.

But this week, our budget didn't allow for sugar. We still have quite a bit of food--the picture shows all that's left, which should be enough to feed us till day 7--but it's not always what we want to eat. Having to budget so tightly takes so much of the joy out of eating. Mealtime feels more like a chore to be accomplished than something fun to enjoy. For a week, OK, I can do this. But imagine how draining this would be if it were your daily reality.