Extreme Problems Require Extreme Solutions

I have a problem, and I’m finally getting around to admitting it.  I’m addicted to sugar.  I’ve always had a sweet tooth, but lately (meaning the last few years), I haven’t had the ability to control what sugar I’m eating.  I vacillate between times of trying to moderate my sugar and binge eating on whatever is in the house.

I finally realized I needed to do something more extreme this past week at Halloween.  I was giving out candy at my mom’s house and thought I was just “snacking” on what was in the bowl and my sibling’s candy bags.  Before I knew it I had eaten about 50 pieces of candy!  50!.  I felt so sick physically, not to mention the emotional toll of feeling bad that I ate the candy and feeling ugly because of the effect sugar has on my body (I’ll explain later).  The next day it happened again, and then the next.  I couldn’t say no! 

I’ve tried every form of moderation in the book: having candy only once a week, once a day, having a cheat day, only a few servings a week, etc…  I’ll do great up until I allow myself to eat the candy, and then my body just can’t say no to more of it, and I end up getting off track just like that. 

Now the normal person would just get sick and de-energized from candy, but I have psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, both of which are autoimmune diseases that in my case are triggered my sugar.  I get scaly scabs on my arms, face, and legs, and I get joint pain that really affects what I’m doing.  You think that would be enough to avoid it!  Then in this last terrible pregnancy, sugar made everything worse.  It made my protein levels go up, my blood pressure go up, and I felt so much more sick and tired, but I still couldn’t stop eating it even though it was killing me and my baby!  Am I sick or what?! 

From the research I’ve been doing, I’ve finally had to admit that I have an addiction to sugar.  Apparently sugar stimulates the same part of the brain as addictive drugs, and I need to treat my addiction the same.  So I’m here to announce that I am cutting sugar cold turkey.  Basically my guideline is I’m not eating anything in which sugar is in the first three ingredients (except fresh fruit).  I’ve realized I am physically unable to have sugar in moderation, so I need to cut it out completely.  I’m setting a goal right now to last a year with no refined sugars.  Honestly, it’s going to be one of the hardest, if not the hardest, thing I have ever done.  This is why I’m telling the whole world, so I have someone to be accountable to.  So please, ask me how I’m doing!  Text me, call me, facebook message, whatever.  I need to be accountable to as many people as possible!

I know in my mind that this will be amazing for my body: the psoriasis, the arthritis, the preeclampsia (not even a chance of having another baby if I don’t change my diet drastically), losing the baby weight, my energy, my skin, etc…  I just have to physically make the choice every day to do what’s best for my family and me.  I’ll be doing updates each month on how I did.  In the meantime, feel free to ask me.  Thank you all for your support!

p.s. Joseph is doing it with me, which will help a lot, thank goodness!