"Nic" Fits

As part of my detox program, I am eliminating/reducing my intake of refined sugars and other bad carbohydrates. I am a certified sugar addict, thanks to the good ol' American diet full of high-fructose corn syrup and other fun sugar-laden products. Over the past couple of months I've realized that my sugar cravings are along the line of a nicotine addiction. Or, at least, I assume it is (being that I've never smoked even a single cigarette). When the sugar craving strikes, it's as though someone in my head is whispering "eat carbs, carbs, carbs, carbs, carbs, sugar, sugar, sugar...." And it's non-stop. Which is why I liken it to what a smoker's "nic fit" would be like, but instead it's a sugar fit.

Last night that tapping and screaming in my head for sugar would not stop. I had done really good for the previous two weeks, eating minimal to no refined sugars everyday. But, last night's craving was too strong and I gave in. Trying to find something that wasn't going to aggravate my gallbladder as much, I shyed away from the cookies and ice cream (or funnel cakes from the county fair down the street) and made some pancakes and ate them with butter and grape jelly. Yummy. The sugar craving stopped, but oh did I pay the price for it. When I laid down to go to bed I was greeted with a nasty case of GERD. Without going in to the gross details, it felt as though nothing digested and was slowly making it's way back up my throat. All of this despite taking my digestive supplements after eating the pancakes. Ugh.

What does that say about the diet that we follow? Are we meant to digest such overly processed carb laden food? After two weeks of improved GERD/acid reflux from eating a more "whole foods" diet, binging on a few pancakes made my digestion go right back to where it was. Perhaps if the jelly was homemade, like my mother-in-law does with regular table sugar and fresh grapes, as opposed to high-fructose corn syrup and artificial flavoring and other junk, and the pancakes homemade (they were a box mix) the results might have been different? And did I mention that my mother-in-law's homemade grape jelly tastes amazingly light years better?

Anyway, this experience has started to make me think even more about the foods we eat. Overly processed foods, such as in the American diet, filled with high fructose corn syrup and other artificial ingredients are difficult to digest-- even with digestive aids-- and cause some rather uncomfortable side effects, but also cause us to crave those foods we can't digest even more! It's a vicious circle, and a difficult one to break. I know my sugar "nic fits" will subside even more as I detox my body and avoid processed, sugar-laden foods. But what to do until then? How can I quiet the voice in my head and that banging feeling it causes in my brain?