I might as well face it…
…I’m addicted to sugar.
No one ever tells you that when you get married, your health habits are likely to completely change.
Ideally they would rise to the level of the healthiest partner. More likely, however, they’ll fall to the level of the unhealthier partner or – as in my case – find a ‘happy’ medium.
Water is for bathing…
When I met Chris, he ate one meal a day and it was usually McDonald’s. (When it wasn’t McDonald’s, it was Burger King.) Completely unexposed to water, he was drinking a 2L bottle of soda…in a day!
[Meanwhile I grew up in a house with no soda, no sugar (except on birthdays and holidays), no Lucky Charms, and a crapload of vegetables, brown rice, and water.
Imagine my pain when I spent the night at my friends' houses and discovered that they were actually allowed to drink soda. And have Coco Puff's for breakfast! They had whole pantries of heaven stuff with absolutely no nutritional value.]
I definitely could have improved in the exercise department (I was only dancing two nights a week) but my diet was pretty healthy when we met. So while I was busy introducing him to the concept of “water”, he introduced me to the fast food restaurant.
One thing I noticed was that if we waited too long to eat, I would start to feel intensely, horribly nauseated. (A reaction I’d never had before!) My diet had changed and the effect on my body was less than kind.
It took, of course, a couple years for me to catch on.
I finally pinpointed the culprit; I was insulin resistant! (My father and grandfather are straight up diabetic and were probably originally insulin resistant.)
Sugar!
The more research I did, the worse it got. Sugar – and refined carbohydrates like bread, pasta, and white rice that your body rapidly converts into sugar- is all kinds of bad for you.
- Sugar causes wrinkles and attacks your collagen.
- Sugar rapidly spikes insulin levels and your body, in an effort to regain equilibrium, quickly converts it to fat. (Or stores it in fat. Whatever. The point is that sugar = fat.)
- Sugar compromises your immune system for at least 4 hours. So if you are constantly eating sugar, your immune system is constantly compromised and you’re more prone to being sick.
- Sugar immediately affects your muscle strength and diminishes it!
- Sugar also drastically affects your endurance.
- Sugar rots your teeth.
And because of my insulin resistance, even ‘natural’ sugars affect me badly. I can find no delicious refuge in honey, fruits, or whole wheat products. I have to quit – chocolate, cupcakes, donuts, brownies – everything!
The problem is, now I am hooked.
And I’m married to someone who doesn’t see a problem with “occasional indulgence”. It’s partially my fault; when we met I told him that I find chocolate far more romantic than roses and being serenaded. (It’s true. Unless, of course, they’re chocolate roses in which case I stand corrected.)
So I’ve been trying failing to kick this sugar thing. I’ve started more times than I can count, but I never seem to make it past three days. Three stinking days. I could cry.
I need a plan. Scratch that. I need every plan I can lay my hands on!
Plan A
Instead of trying to quit sugar forever, I am just aiming for 30 days. (It’ll be my personal 30 Day Challenge.)
I’m sure I’ll end up shaking in a corner, curled in the fetal position, muttering “it’s only a month” to the wall.
At least it won’t be boring.
Plan B
I need to reprogram my brain; eliminate the concept of “I deserve it” and what actually constitutes a “reward”.
So every time I feel the urge to seek out new sugar and new confections, to boldly sadly go where my taste buds have gone before, I’m going to give my self a facial. Or take a bath. Or find something to moisturize.
"Makes you smell like fresh baked cookies."
Instead of buying desserts to “treat” myself, I am going to buy Lush: Fresh Handmade Cosmetics. (I already use their shampoo cakes and am in heaven.) I’m sure I can convince my husband that this is the only way.
Which brings me to…
Plan C
I will not be able to do this myself. Or rather, I can do this myself but only if my beloved will stop surprising me with deliciousness. (My willpower is not yet that strong.)
I will make him pinkie swear to not intentionally or unintentionally submarine my efforts in this noble quest. Advise him that he will probably have to say “no” at some point, no matter how much I assure him that whatever-it-is will make me happy. And I will offer a compelling incentive for this assistance.
Wish me luck!
11 comments
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April 8, 2009 at 7:20 pm
thedailydish
OH HAYDEN – I really truly am sooooo sorry, and you will understand why when you get your prize in the mail. Feel free to mail it back.
hayden tompkins says:
Are you crazy? That’s why God invented the freezer.
P.S. Thaaaaaaank yooooooouu!
April 9, 2009 at 1:07 am
nat @ book, line, and sinker
i would walk through fire for mashed potatoes, pasta, and baked goods. that’s just the kind of girl i am. i feel for you…but can’t imagine your agony. it is so hard to live without sugar–especially natural sugar. i wish you luck and the determination to make it through!!! xoxo
hayden tompkins says:
If it gets really bad, I can always buy a “sugar cookie” candle and sniff away.
April 9, 2009 at 3:54 am
Night Writer
Twenty-some years ago my aunt believed that sugar was an acquired taste and if a baby were never exposed to it he’d never develop a desire for it. Therefore, with her first baby, she went out of her way (literally, miles out of her way) to be sure he had completely sugar-free baby food and liquids. This went on for about 18 months. One evening after dinner she and her husband were eating chocolate ice cream with the baby on her lap. Absently, she gave her son a little chocolate ice cream on the tip of a spoon. Immediately his eyes bugged out and he grabbed her wrist with both of his little hands and tried to wrestle the spoon back to his mouth. The sugar ban was soon lifted.
Interestlngly enough, we have two parakeets that we’ve always fed with seeds designed for ‘keets, which we bought at PetSmart. We’ve done this for years. We now learn that that diet is the equivalent of feeding our birds junk food day-in-, day-out. We were advised to switch to a more well-balanced budgie-chow It comes in little gray-brown pellets. Our birds refuse to eat it, even though we withhold the seeds. We even left them with nothing but the pellets for a couple of days and they’d barely touch the stuff. Meanwhile they were getting very antsy and aggressive about wanting food. They’d peck through their food dish and literally chuck the pellets out onto the ground or the floor of their cage. We don’t want them to starve to death (which we’re told they really will do) so we’re mixing seeds back into their diet (to great rejoicing) in moderate amounts and still trying to get them to eat the pellets. It looks like it’s going to be a hard fight.
hayden tompkins says:
It’s like you want me to cry.
April 9, 2009 at 6:20 am
Pinja
Hi Hayden,
good post (been there, done that…). If you are serious about quitting sugar for good, you might want to check out Kathleen DesMaisons’ ideas on the subject at http://www.radiantrecovery.com. Her ideas really work, and they are about first putting the good stuff in and only later taking the wrong stuff out, which makes all the difference in the long run.
Good luck!
hayden tompkins says:
Thanks for the info!
April 9, 2009 at 12:53 pm
dreemwhrld
Sounds like you’re fighting the same fight my mother fought, only with a different incentive.
Just a bit of background, my mom is the epitome of what you would call a chocoholic. She was in love with ANYTHING chocolate; cakes, brownies, ice cream, Hershey’s, you name it. My dad would always get here the giant (I’m talking 3lb) Hershey’s kisses for Christmas. But when my mother was diagnosed with pancreatitis, she was told that she could only eat 10grams of fat a day – or less – or she risked sending herself back into the hospital.
So her choice was: indulge in a single Hershey kiss and not eat much of anything for the rest of the day, or forgo chocolate completely. Though she’s found a few small fat-free substitutes for her chocolate, she no longer enjoys eating as she once did. She’s also much healthier (aside from the pancreatitis) than she used to be. And whenever anyone asks how she feels about giving up her biggest vice cold turkey, her response is always “Pain is a great motivator.”
hayden tompkins says:
I’d like to avoid torturing myself to quit. You know…if possible.
April 9, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Kristen
Sadly, I too am insulin resistant. The only difference however is that this also causes me horrible acne (I’m 24) and I have tested this over the course of two years.
Now, I LOVE chocolate… I could give everything else up but never that. So what I’ve done is gotten everything sugar-laden out of the house but kept one good bar of organic dark chocolate in the freezer and every so often I eat a tiny square of it.
When I want to bake, I reach for alternatives which are usually more expensive so that means I bake probably once a month. I use organic brown rice syrup and dark agave syrup as sweeteners. It is said that the agave syrup, even though it’s a sugar, will enter your bloodstream at a much slower rate, so it doesn’t cause insulin spikes.
Sugar is basically a drug, it’s hard to come off it, just like caffeine, etc. I watched my husband go through a month and a half of migraines and nausea after quitting pepsi cold turkey. It’s actually quite shocking when you realize just how much of hold something has over your body.
Best of luck to you in your fight with sugar! It’s a difficult one to break.
hayden tompkins says:
I think I’m going to have to grab a blood sugar tester and just experiment with the ‘alternative’ sugars. Thanks for the suggestions!
April 9, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Birdie
I’m trying not to overdo the sugar unless it’s in fruit, etc. I’m addicted to cookies though.
I think that’s a great idea – buy candles that smell delightful, or pamper – paint your nails, moisturize something. I may try that!
hayden tompkins says:
Cookies!
April 10, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Samantha Darko
Well I totally know what it is like to have an addiction like that. I’m addicted to Mountain Dew. A soda is my down fall. And a major source of my excess caloric intake. I did a 30 day challange, but when I start to have a bad day or something goes wrong, it is like any other addiction, I “NEED” Mountain Dew. It makes me sad really.
hayden tompkins says:
[HUG]
April 10, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Night Writer
I’m not trying to make you cry; perhaps you’re a little on edge?
I’ve always had a big sweet tooth, but even I’ve outgrown some things. Pop, for instance, is something that I used to drink a lot of, but now it just tastes too sweet. I’ll have it every now and then, and the funny thing is that just by drinking it I’ll get a craving for more. Fortunately it’s pretty much out of my life. My big weakness is soft, fruit-flavored candy like jelly-beans, jujubes, Mike & Ikes — stuff my wife calls “stupid candy” when she buys it for me. To her, the only legitimate candy is chocolate (and I like that, too – but the darker and more bitter, the better for me).
hayden tompkins says:
“stupid candy”
That is hilarious!
April 13, 2009 at 6:27 pm
goldenamber
Hayden, low carb works best for me too…. I can’t do the sugar thing. It makes me sick.
What I have found is that sugarless candy is good. If I need a treat…like during my time of the month, I buy myself some of that.
Another good tip… Eat the sugar with lots of protein. So never just eat it alone. Eat it within an hour of a protein filled meal and you won’t go too nuts. Plus you’ll be full and wont feel the need for so much of it.
Once you are off sugar for two weeks you will stop wanting it. When you do taste it again it won’t taste good. Im not really picky with stuff I bother to eat with sugar in it.
hayden tompkins says:
Well that definitely gives me some hope!
April 20, 2009 at 10:51 pm
motivatedmama
Good luck. I have tried to get off sugar before. I never completely was able to abolish it, but I am much more in control now. One of the things that really helps is focusing on your breakfast. I found that if I ate something remotely sweet in the morning, I would crave sugar all day long…it was a losing battle. For breakfast I started eating oatmeal made with water and an egg white mixed in then cooked. The extra protein helped (you couldn’t really taste the egg white) and if I needed an indulgence, I added a little butter, salt, or plain cinnamon.
I just tackled my diet coke addiction (http://motivatedmama.net/2009/04/my-diet-coke-addiction/) and have been aspartame free for almost 2 months. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done.
Best of luck and keep us posted. We will be cheering for you!
ali
http://www.motivatedmama.net
hayden tompkins says:
Thank you! And thank you for sharing your aspertame story.