The Sugar Monster Strikes Again

I have got to lay off the sugar.

I've been improving on my intake- far less runs are being made to Cub Foods for their sinfully rich (and overly processed) and tasty brownies- but I'm not the best at it yet. Take for example, Starbucks new mini doughnuts. The double chocolate doughnuts are fantastic- and quite addictive. For the last few weeks, they have been my little "sugar rush" a few times a week.

Here's what happens when I eat them, or any other sugary treats.

The yeast in my body starts to grow and get out of control. Not kidding you, I can feel the "dampness" level in my body increase dramatically. I start to get mucousy in the my throat almost immediately, and then it travels to my nasal cavities. I've also noticed that I sometimes get really thirsty afterwards- I think my body's attempt to help my kidney flush everything out (which is probably not a good sign, btw).

So, I need to stop allowing myself these "treats," right? Easier said then done. I told myself today that when I went to Starbucks for my Tuesday afternoon snack (I eat lunch at noon and don't get home to eat dinner until 8:45pm on Tuesdays so a snack is a necessity) I would not get a "treat" unless they had the double chocolate doughnuts, and if not, I was out of luck. Totally ignored my rule upon going through the drive-through. They were out of the doughnuts, but I decided to try the double chocolate cookies instead. Doh!

New rule. I need to bring my own healthy snack to work on Tuesdays so I don't go to Starbucks and give in to temptation. The drug of sugar, salt, and fat is way too strong for me.

Sometimes I wonder how I managed to detox my diet and way of life so much almost two years ago. But then I look back, and I had non-stop heartburn, nightly gallbladder pain, was severely lacking in sleep, and had ongoing anxiety attacks. A diet change was a walk in the park compared to what I had been dealing with on a daily basis for a good year before that.

Here I sit, mildly sick from all the food I ate today (I literally ate and grazed from the time I got to work at 1 until I left at 8:30- not good) in addition to the supplement I took to take the strain off my gallbladder/digestive system, and I think to myself "I could change my diet again if it meant not feeling sick like this." Yet, tomorrow I will wake up and feel fine and probably not have any nausea, digestive issues, or any other things that make me feel uncomfortable. It's just not as easy as it was two years ago when I was feeling sickly 100% of the time.

I've got to take baby steps at cutting the sugar back out. I've taken the first baby step of reducing/eliminating after dinner trips for brownies. Now, I need to cut out the sugary mid-afternoon snacks. Next, I need to limit all sugar intake to only those found in nature: fruit, honey, maple syrup.

Funny enough, I just got my latest Clean Eating Magazine in the mail today and it had a little article about how we consume too much sugar in the US. According to them, we consume 22tsps of added sugar a day (355 calories). Their recommendation to cut down to your 5-9tsps a day of sugar- eat 3 servings of fresh fruit daily to satisfy your sweet tooth. Fruit is coming in season- this should be easy to do!