David Vanadia

Quit Sugar, Step One

April 17, 2006

Many of you have been asking me how to quit sugar. While all of the points are listed in various posts on this blog, here are a few key points to keep in mind:

YOU ARE NOT QUITTING SUGAR FOREVER.

Don’t try to quit. What you need to do is make the CHOICE to live a healthier lifestyle. I have not quit sugar, I quit sugar for a year. But what I’ve really done is made a choice to live a healthier lifestyle.

Get to know yourself.

Most likely you can’t control your sugar intake very well or you wouldn’t be reading this. What you need to do is learn how tight the sugar demon has a grip on you. Can you last a day without sweets (yes, without ANYTHING sweet)? Can you last a weekend? A week? Two Weeks? A month? More than a month? I’ve been through all of those. Right now I’m working on a whole year.

More to come…

Posted in Tips, Tricks, Info & News on 04/17/06

Easter Day

April 16, 2006 • Comments (0)

Last night I was at the New Seasons supermarket searching for goat cheese when I ran into a couple who attended my Sugar Stories workshop a few months back. We stopped to talk and they said they have cut down their sugar intake considerably.

It was good to see them and be reminded of the personal interaction I experienced in the workshops. It also sparked the inspiration to get a little more active in helping other people work with their sugar addiction.

After finding the goat cheese I began to shop for something chocolate to give my girlfriend and I grabbed a chocolate bar from the shelf and made my way to the check out when I suddenly got really paranoid that the couple would see me, think the chocolate was for me, and completely lose faith!

That didn’t happen though, thank goodness!

Posted in My Personal Journal on 04/16/06 • Comment

Staying on the Wagon

March 19, 2006

Avoiding sugar has become a habit but lately and I’ve been stressed and craving sweets. Tonight I’m working on my website and it’s the perfect time to eat a giant box of cookies, pound down some ice cream, or get sick on easter chocolate. But I’m not doing any of that.

Instead I’ve eaten cheese, peanut butter, and apples. Soon it will be six months since I quit sugar!

Posted in My Personal Journal on 03/19/06

They Must Think I’m Nuts

March 14, 2006

I’ve made up my mind that I’m going to eat sugar—anything I want—during the three or four days between Halloween and my birthday and then quit again for the remainder of 2006 and into 2007.

Creating this ritual allows me to eat sweets (which I really don’t want to give up) while also avoiding them all year long. It also doesn’t glorify sweets for me as I have to jam them all into a short window and I’ll no doubt over eat, binge, and feel like crap afterwards.

So that’s my plan.

Yesterday I was invited to attend a small and exclusive storytelling workshop. The thing is, it falls on the weekend between Halloween and my birthday. I said no and added, “That’s my sugar weekend.” They must’ve thought I’m nuts. It sounds so, “I’ve got to do laundry,” or, “I’ve got to wash my hair.”

But it’s true!

They prodded me, “Can’t you eat sugar the weekend before, or after?”

“No.”

Perhaps they don’t have a personal ritual. If it was a religious thing they’d understand. If it were job related there’s be no questioning. But I’m going to be eating sweets and it’s going to be an event. It’ll be an extravaganza!

I’m going to be doing it big with photos and a written log of how I feel. Maybe I’ll make a movie. I’m going to eat more than I can handle. I’m going to load up to say the least. It’s not gonna be pretty and it HAS TO HAPPEN on those specific days for it to fit into my ritual and effectively keep me off sugar the rest of the year.

By allowing myself to eat on those days, it lifts the burden through the rest of the year. I really like sweets. I miss chocolate. I WANT to eat all those things but several things keep me from doing so. They are:

1. This website.

2. You’re watching me!

3. I made a commitment to myself.

4. Eating sweets will make me feel bad and reinvigorate the cycle of sweet induced highs and lows.

So in any case, I’m not doing anything that weekend but eating sugar. Consider it my own private church. Consider it work-related.

That’s what I’m going to do.

Posted in My Personal Journal on 03/14/06

Dinner and Dessert

March 10, 2006

As of late I’ve managed to maintain my eating habits as well as my energy levels.

The other night I was out for a nice dinner when it came time to order dessert. The “sugar issue” came up again. Everyone at the table knows I’m not eating sugar but not everyone seemed to understand why. Some offered their own stories about getting the shakes and how sugar is the only thing that gives them that immediate burst of energy so they reach for candy. I said that’s the worst thing to do but they didn’t seem to care because it doesn’t happen often enough.

The interesting thing was that none of them seem to “get” that if I start to eat sweets it’s just a matter of time before sweets are all I eat. The good thing is that at this point they all know I’m not going to eat dessert and so nobody thinks twice when I don’t get any.

Posted in My Personal Journal on 03/10/06

About David

I realized I had a sugar problem back in 2003 after a weekend-long binge on raw chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate covered pretzels. As a result, I began trying to quit sugar but kept failing. Finally, I figured out a way to stay off sweet junk food for good. Read more.