December 27, 2019 - 105 - "Sweet-aholic"

     Hi.  I'm Susan...and I am a Sweet-aholic.

     I know this about myself.  For me eating sugar is the top of a slippery slope leading nowhere good.  A sugary drink leads to candy, candy leads to pie...and next thing you know I'm having chocolate for breakfast.

     I know better than to think I can have 'just a little'.  What makes me feel my best is to eat a lot of nutrient dense food with emphasis on vegetables and lean protein.  The closer I stick to this approach to eating, the less I crave sugar.

     But even when I am consistently avoiding sugar and eating an optimal diet...I still want sugar.  You could wake me up from an exhausted sleep at 2 a.m. and ask if I'm in the mood for a piece of pie...and I would say 'Yes!  Where is it?  Let me at it!' 

     I've read and seen documentaries saying that sugar has the same effect on the brain as cocaine.  I don't doubt that even a little.  No matter what my rational mind says.  No matter how awful I know it is for me...I still want some of the stuff.  All.  The.  Time.  Seriously.

     For the past week or so I've had a lot of sugar.  Passengers and other crew members brought it to us.  Hotels provided it.  My mom made candies and pies.  Other family, friends, and neighbors brought or sent us sugar.

     And I made that Red Hot Salad.  I'm sure you know by now that this is my kryptonite.  I could sit down with a big bowl of it and a spoon and not stop until my tongue glowed a bright red from the dye and my nerves were tap dancing with the sugar rush.

     So, a week in, and I was ready to get off this addictive treadmill.  I Googled information on Sugar De-toxing.  (There's a lot of it out there.  Clearly, I'm not the only one on the sugar hamster wheel.)

 I followed the advice on the video and:

1-Drank a ton of water
2-Ate a protein and fiber snack (apple slices with peanut butter)
3-Ate a probiotic.  (Bubbie's sauerkraut)
4-Exercised.  (Kayla Itsine's Sweat app 'Abs' workout)

Before all of the above steps, I did two steps she didn't mention.  I first:
1-Put on my new workout outfit my stepdaughter and her husband gave me for Christmas.  (The color is pretty, but also very light.  I was not only motivated because it's a new  and cute outfit, ad because  I was finally actually in my workout gear, but also...because that color shows every sugar-induced bloaty/puffy inch of me.

Very motivational.

2-Then I ate my last bite of red salad and cleared out the rest of it,...plus all the other sweets from the refrigerator.  (I warned Michael.  He also had one more thing...but then was all-in on getting rid of it.  He's right there with me on the zero self-control around sugar thing.)

    Getting rid of everything was hard, but I was starting to feel so yucky I managed to make myself do it.

     I took the extra measure of putting the sweets under layers of trash, so I wouldn't be tempted to go looking for them later.  (Yeah...it would have crossed my mind, for sure.  That's how strong my sugar cravings can get.)

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Here are a few more ideas about getting off of sugar:

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    So....now I'm back on a healthier path.  Yay.  Here's to getting back to feeling our best!  (At least until New Year's Eve...then, well; we'll see.)

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     Hope your holidays are both happy and healthy!

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"Sugar is the sociopath of foods. 

It acts sweet...but it's really poison." 

-Karen Salmansohn

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