Anyone who knows me knows my love for all things fashion, but the only thing I love more than fashion (or at least equally) is sugar – cupcakes and cakes to be specific, but I don’t discriminate any sugar will do. My whole life there have always been challenges that I have dealt with head on – instead of avoiding a situation I just embrace it and forge through it. Drop 60 pounds in 6 months? No problem. Quit smoking cold turkey? Done! Finish Bachelor’s Degree in 2 years – you know it! But the thought of giving up sugar makes me break into a cold sweat. You see, I’m not your typical sugar lover I’m a sugar addict. No really, I read the book and took the quizzes – there are four different types of sugar addicts, most people have one or two types of sugar addictions – I’m all four! And unlike weight loss support groups and alcoholics anonymous there are no such sugar addict support groups – believe me I looked.
For those of you that might not understand what sugar addiction is I will briefly explain to you why I’m a sugar addict:
1. I eat refined sugar every day
2. I can’t go more than a few hours without eating something with some type of sugar in it
3. I crave sugar and/or peanut butter at least 4 times a day
4. If a pastry or candy is around I can’t stop eating it until it is completely gone (even if that means making myself sick)
5. I will hide sweets around the house so I can eat them later
a. I’ve even taken candy from my children’s Valentine’s Boxes, Easter baskets, Halloween Candy, and Christmas stockings
6. I would rather eat dessert at my meals than actual food (and usually do)
7. Do I really need to go on?
Within the last year I have read more and more reports about the potential negative effects of sugar and why I really should limit my sugar intake to special occasions only, if not give it up completely. Because I eat healthy, exercise 5-6 days a week, and I don’t drink or smoke I convince myself that having sugar as a vice can’t really be that bad. But the longer I go without getting a handle on my sugar addiction the worse it becomes and instead of truly enjoying the delectable sweets I actually feel an overwhelming sense of guilt each time I eat them. Not to mention the fact that those last 5-7 pounds I can never get rid of is a result of this addiction. So, enough is enough – I’m putting myself on my own Beat Sugar Addiction regimen. My ultimate goal is to completely do away with sugar, but I also don’t want to set myself up for failure. According to the National Heart Association I should only consume 21g of sugar each day, so for the next 30 days I will only consume natural sugars found in fruit – as well as no more than the 21g of refined sugars.
I’m going to keep track of everything I eat and my struggles and accomplishments in this process. Hopefully, with me tracking this process and with all of you reading it I will be successful in this journey; and juts maybe help others out there who are also suffering from sugar addiction.
GOOD LUCK!!!
ReplyDelete