I was talking with a friend of mine who has come off of sugar, gluten and all artificial sweeteners. Needless to say, he’s feeling better all-around. He’s wide awake when he gets up in the morning and never lags throughout the day. He has lost weight, and pain in his joints has miraculously gone away. He says food even tastes better now.

So my immediate reaction is, “Sign me up!”

And then I go to the grocery store. Oh, I’m out of wheat thins, let me grab a box of…no, never mind. Hey, look! My Peach White Honest Teas are on sale for a dollar a piece. Wait…even though they are low sugar, they are still sugar. Okay, breakfast, where are the biscuits…doh!

So now my reaction is, “This is too hard. I’m giving up and going back to all my normal, comfortable stuff.”

And then his words ring in my ears. “We’re looking for progress, not perfection.”

Oh, so I can just try to make a few better choices, and that will help steer me in the right path, huh? Interesting. So maybe I trade my canned soup that I eat for dinner most nights for a bag of frozen vegetables and some chicken breasts. Maybe instead of a six pack of sprites I pick up a pack of Izze low calorie sodas. Maybe I pick up a couple of Peach White Honest teas, but I supplement with a large bottle of Gold Peak Unsweet tea, which I like as well. Maybe I pick up a pack of bagels for breakfast, but just forgo the dinner rolls.

Progress.

When I think about all I’m supposed to be considering when I go to the grocery store, it is SO easy to just throw my hands up. No gluten, no sugar, no bread, no pasta, organic-only, no hormones, no dairy, and I can only shop at Whole Foods for the items so I better pick up an application for a second job there while I’m at it. It’s enough to say screw it and pick up a diet coke, some fried, dinosaur-shaped, mechanically separated chicken nuggets and a pack of red hots at Walmart for dinner.

But I can work with progress. So this morning while I chow down on yummy breakfast pizza my husband made us, I do so without the guilt of veering off course, knowing that I will make better choices with the rest of my day, focusing on realistic life choices that I can manage rather than striving for perfection and falling flat on my face.

Maybe one day I’ll be as disciplined as my friend, but for now, baby steps.