Are you a sugar addict? I am.
In 2005 I vowed to quit and began
writing about life without sweets.
This site contains a forum,
product reviews, my journal,
educational Sugar Challenges,
and the Stop Being Sweet ebook.

Feeling Famished

March 25, 2010 • Comments (0)

I have vivid memories from when I was a kid of being really, really hungry just before dinner. I can recall crying to my mother that I was starving. She’d tell me dinner would be ready in 40 minutes. I’d be dying for something to eat. She thought I was being impatient.

Low Blood Sugar

What was happening, unbeknownst to me, was that my blood sugar levels were crashing. I was getting the shakes and that “I need to eat something RIGHT NOW” feeling. I had no idea that the food I was eating (you know, all those things that come in colorful boxes and claimed to be part of a healthy balanced diet) were causing me to become sugar sensitive.

I still get the I-need-to-eat-right-now feeling now and again. Usually it happens after I’ve not eaten anything for an extended period of time, or after I’ve eaten at a restaurant and unknowingly consumed food with added sugars.

Posted in My Personal Journal on 03/25/10 • Comment

Sugar Challenge: March 2010

February 28, 2010

Overview:

Get someone to join you and have a contest with them. Put something at stake, create a prize. Set the start. The end date is March 31, 2010 at midnight. Begin!

Details:

Have a contest with someone to see who can go the longest without eating sugar. Pick a start date and then avoid all sweets for one month (or for the longest time).

This will work best if the person is your partner, but can also work well if you are coworkers, roommates, or good friends.

Create a healthy reward promise in case both make it to the end of the month sugar-free. Something like a movie, a weekend getaway, a day off. Whatever works to motivate.

Let us know how you do!

Posted in Sugar Challenge on 02/28/10

What If You Ate Sugar By Accident?

February 24, 2010 • Comments (6)

So, the other night, Gwenn and I made cookies. I usually make the dough (sugar-free) and then she takes her portion and adds chocolate chips. I add unsweetened carob chips to mine. That’s how we do. That’s what we did. All was well.

The cookies had been baked, removed from the oven, and cooled. In fact, we’d eaten some of them by the time I walked into the dark kitchen and reached for my last cookie of the evening. I picked up one of mine and took a bite only to find it was one of hers. Whoops! They look the same in the dark. It tasted like chocolate. It was sweet. I ate a bite of cookie with chocolate chips that were sweetened with sugar. But life goes on.

For anyone who isn’t a “sugar addict” you’ll think this is a silly post. Who the heck cares if I eat sugar? I agree.

For anyone who is a sugar addict you’ll understand that this kind of mishap is a dangerous spot where someone’s monkey mind might convince them that it was fate. The devil on your shoulder might tell you that you should roll with it. Perhaps go on a week-long sugar binge since you tainted your sugar-free stretch. Had I been two weeks into my sugar abstinence, I might have cracked.

My Point

The only way to stay off sweets is to stay off sweets. You have to stick it out. It’s all about choice — YOUR choice. The world works in mysterious ways and, given the fact that many major corporation in the food industry work 24/7 to put them there, sugary foods will somehow make it to your lips from time to time. Sometimes it’s by choice. Sometimes it’s by accident. Either way you have to roll with it. It doesn’t mean you messed up and have to “start over.” You already started. You’re on and you stay on. Just keep going and live in the now.

Posted in My Personal Journal on 02/24/10 • Comment

Peter Jennings Reporting: How to Get Fat Without Really Trying (video)

February 23, 2010 • Comments (0)

The following show is 43 minutes long. Peter Jennings investigates America’s obesity epidemic. It’s a wonder how some of the people interviewed in this video can sleep at night!

This video contains a big picture overview of the food and agriculture industry. It also features Rick Berman from the Center for Consumer Freedom. He’s been mentioned before on the SBS blog here and here.

Posted in Tips, Tricks, Info & News on 02/23/10 • Comment

It Doesn’t Go Away, But You Can Handle It

February 22, 2010 • Comments (1)

I went to a workshop yesterday. It was held at the host’s house, in the living room. As a courtesy, there was tea, coffee, and cookies in the dining room. They had several types of sweeteners for the tea including honey, brown sugar, agave syrup, and Stevia powder. There was also a plate with peanut butter Girl Scout cookies sitting just beside the teapot. And I wanted some.

Every time I went past the dining room I noticed the cookies. There were eight (I think) to begin and I watched them slowly dwindle down to one. I took the last one, gave it to Gwenn, and vicariously enjoyed it through her.

After being off sugar for a long time you will know better than to “just have one” because one turns into one more the next day. And then two the day after that. And then it’s all over!

So while your sweet cravings never completely go away, they certainly diminish and often remain dormant. When they do come out they’re not as strong as when you’re whole body craves sugar and it’s easy to stay on track.

One bite at a time.

Posted in Tips, Tricks, Info & News on 02/22/10 • Comment