Sugar Free Challenge!

Prior to yesterday's post about my issues with sugar addiction I had already been planning this challenge. For the past few weeks I've been painfully aware of how much excess sugar I've been consuming. In fact, I think I've talked about it almost every post for the last month? Maybe? Anyway, my sugar consumption needs to be reigned back in. Sugar in large quantities becomes toxic in our bodies and creates imbalance in our organs and nervous system. I personally believe overconsumption of sugar is the main contributing factor to many of today's deadliest diseases and is the driving force beyond the many other health problems that have spiked in recent years. For example, food allergies. I don't have any numbers for you about that, but I hope to sit down someday and start compiling the statistics.

The statistics aside, for the past few weeks I have been planning a sugar-free challenge for during lent. These past few months, as I've had some setbacks in my overall feeling of health I did some soul searching to determine exactly what was different in my diet from now to when I first made this lifestyle change in July of 2008. I've tried cutting gluten back out, that wasn't it and I've discovered I NEED gluten for my digestion, I've tried experimenting with various levels of dairy consumption, not it, and I've tried bringing the veggie consumption back up, not it either. I reduced meat consumption, I added in more herbs, I starting reintroducing more digestive supplements, none of that worked either. Final conclusion: sugar is the culprit. For almost four months in 2008 when I was in the early stages of the detox diet I had more energy than I could remember in, well, forever. Despite my body still "detoxing" and my frustration about if and when the "detoxing" symptoms would stop after every meal, I felt amazing. Even the "detox" after every meal made me feel energized! My energy was through the roof and I required no more than the occassional caffeine from, gasp, green tea. Yup, green tea which contains a fraction of the amount of caffiene of a cup of coffee was enough to perk me back up on long days.

During that time I ate little to no sugar, of any sort. Breakfast was the only meal that contained even a moderate amount of sugar in the form of honey and fruit, or some rice milk. That was it. And I felt amazing.

I want to feel that amazing again. My head felt clearer, my body felt energized, and my mood was fantastic. I miss feeling good like that and want it back. Lent is the perfect time to make that happen. Although I don't consider myself a religious person, I am spiritual and I also believe in self-improvement. Making a sacrific of giving up something you love during lent teaches you a powerful lesson about not only self-control, but of self-empowerment. You are more than that peice of chocolate, you are more than that TV show, you can do more than you imagined without those things, and new possibilities can happen. Long story short, it makes you a better person. And I'm all for making myself better. The best part about it, I become healthier physically and mentally as a result. Why not take advantage of this tradition of the Catholic church, right?

Wednesday will officially begin my sugar free challenge and it will last from Ash Wednesday until Easter. The only sugars I will be allowed are honey and maple syrup and even they will be used sparingly. I will say good-bye to even my beloved Agave Nectar because I have discovered it's tastiness is just as addicting as a piece of chocolate. As always, I will blog through the whole journey to keep myself on track and to share the challenge with you, my few but mighty readers.

And just in time for my sugar free challenge, I stumbled on the blog Naturally Knocked Up and she happens to be just finishing a 30 day Sugar Free Challenge! It was meant to be. Warning, she rambles a lot in the video, but the information is great so it's worth a listen.