Quitting Sugar All Over Again
No too long ago I performed an experiment. It started with sugar free Oreo Cookies. I hadn’t eaten chocolate in a long time and sampled the new product. Well, sugar free Oreos are fine if you want to feel miserable, so I moved on and returned back to snacking on natural treats. Until recently.
While in the Wild Oats health food store, I spotted some chocolate chip cookies that had no added sugars (other than what was naturally in there) and the sugar content was low. I purchased one and ate it. I meant to write about it. You know, I was experimenting with eating some chocolate and figured it would make for something interesting to say on my quiet blog.
The cookie had no ill effects. I felt fine. It tasted fine. It was sweet, but not too sweet. The following week I was at the store and again got a cookie, well actually I got two. It wasn’t everyday that I got near the store and so I figured two would be fine. And they were just fine. I got a little used to the idea of eating chocolate.
So…
While in a health food store near my house I noticed grain sweetened chocolate chips. No added sugar! Riding high (possibly literally) on the low sugar cookies, I opted to try the grain sweetened chocolate morsels. Low and behold, they’re not half bad. They were so good, in fact, that I went back the next day and got some more. The second bag was as good as the first and so I got another. Maybe even another.
That’s when I tried the carob chips. They taste just like sweet chocolate. Well, they are sweet. Not too sweet, mind you, but sweet. But the grain sweetened were enough sweet for me. Until I went to Whole Foods.
(Warning: avoid the bulk food aisle!)
There in the bulk food aisle at Whole Foods was my dream-come-true. Grain sweetened chocolate covered pretzels! I just had to try them. And let me tell you, they are delicious! They have 4 grams of sugar per 8 pretzels. That means I could eat 24 pretzels and only be consuming 16 grams of sugar. That’s not bad. And it wasn’t bad. I felt fine after eating 24 of them. So fine, in fact, that I went and got 24 more the next day. I’m sure you can see where this is going.
Two nights ago I went into Whole Foods and filled a paper bag with pretzels. I lost count as I tong-shoveled them into my bag like a construction crew. 24, 34? I am not sure. Then I wrote 5438 on the bag, by rote. When I got to the cashier she looked at the bag and said, “Chocolate covered pretzels!” How did she know?
When it came time for me to go to bed that night I just couldn’t sleep. I lay awake until after 1:30 am worrying. I worried about my life. I worried about my income. I worried about my health. I worried about my work. What was I doing with my life? What have I done with my life? Things like that ran through my head while I promised myself that I’d quit sugar all over again. No more chocolate covered pretzels. I finally drifted off. In the morning I woke up feeling sluggish and half-dead. I promised to quit all over again.
Last night, after a day of eating well, I couldn’t sleep. I lay awake until 2:30 am worrying. I worried about my life. I worried about my income. I worried about my health. I worried about my work. What was I doing with my life? What have I done with my life? Then it hit me. Maybe it’s not the sugar. Finally I drifted off.
So, as I write this, I am high on about 30 Chocolate Covered Pretzels. I figured I should really see if it’s the pretzels. But as soon as I ate them I could feel a difference in my body. And you know, no matter if I sleep tonight or not, I’m quitting all over again.
Won’t you join me?
10 Comments: Quitting Sugar All Over Again
That’s a familiar story David. The chocolate covered pretzels have me drooling by the way - my faaaaaaavoooooorite food (next to ice cream, cookies, and chocolate). Currently I’m off of sugar - must be at least a month (feels like forever). I dabble in the no sugar added ice cream. I know now, however, if I bring it home I should expect it’ll be gone within 24 hours. So, I know the “no sugar added” foods are intellectually an option, but I know I’m damned if I go near them. I’m rooting for you - and me too. Hang in there.
I feel your pain! With the exception of one or two small slips I have been sugar free and white flour free for 6 weeks now. The pretzels do sound delicious but they would be a sugar and flour trip for me. Thank goodness I don’t have a Whole Foods near by. Just remember the first few days are the hardest. Drink lots of water to flush the sugar out of your system. You can do it!!
Stay strong David! your little blog here helped me to quit sugar over a month ago, and I feel great!! I know you can do it, and thanks for being my inspiration! 
Hello David,
This is my first comment EVER on the internet, and I believe it’s a well-placed choice. I quit eating sugar, gluten and most grain-derived products last September. Even when I ate gluten-free pancakes, I felt heavy and lethargic thus less wheat, rye, etc. A few months back, I don’t even remember what catalyzed the change, I began to eat all those foods again. It started slowly, as in your experience. I found that I felt okay, fine even, after a little treat. Wow, I thought, maybe my body just needed a little break and now it’s ok. So now, I have fallen again into the abyss of sugar addiction. Last weekend, I ate an ice cream cone, and 3 other sugar-loaded items I can’t remember. On Wednesday, I ate some delicious Baklava then a coconut sugar/butter delight from Seattle’s Best. I have been suffering from sugar hangovers and have forgotten the sweet, soo sweet feeling of clear-headedness and a happy, healthy, energized body. My joints are feeling stiff, negative thoughts course through my brain with no sense of respect for the respectable being there.
So, I need your support and this blog’s support. It’s time to say NO all over again. I am an addict and simply lose control when I go over a certain threshhold, NOT FUN.
May 27th, 2007 8:21am I am finished with sugar. Tomorrow, May 28th, 12 noon, I will move on to NO GLUTEN and less grain products. I am making my roommates German Pancakes tomorrow so . . . . the last exception. Honey also still has a place on my shelf and in my stomach. There we go:)
Thank you
I know this scenario all too well. Staying awake worrying (about all the same things). I’m not sure how it is that we are able to lie to ourselves about the content of certain foods and treats? Some sort of whacked out justification as to why it is ok and won’t affect us THIS time. Can we say denial? The sugar hangovers suck. Been there for sure! Ugh… I commend you for stopping again.
The only advice I might offer is to stay away from all ‘sugar-free’ products. Kathleen DesMaisons explains why their makeup still affects the brain chemistry of a sugar ‘sensitive’ / addict and lead us right back into addictive binges. ~ thommi
I’m starting today, again.
Just as an experiment, I’ll go from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
I’m pretty scared right now, coming off of a sugar binge.
I’ll stay in touch.
What an adventure. Day 1.
I just searched sugar addict(ie. me) and this came up. It gives me motivation and fear. I have no real specific reason to quit the sugar but its killing m,e, its a complete addiction where I have even had my glucose checked numerous times for diabetes. Its good to know when i go to the smoothy life I can have a lil of this and that. colld turkey will noyt be healthy for me
wink
Okay! I’m here to join all of you once again! I’m tired of sugar controlling my life! My quest is to have no sugar other than my stevia tabs I carry in my purse...let’s see if that works! Hang in there everyone!
FYI… when a person has a P.E.T scan (to see if cancer has spread) you are not allowed to eat any sugar for 48 hours before your test. At the test you are injected with radio-active sugar “radio-active” so it will light up on the scan. But sugar is used because the cancer cells will immediately consume the sugar before it reaches anywhere else in your body. Frighening, isn’t it. I’ve been through chemotherapy twice, and am happy to report that I am sugar and cancer free. PTL!
OMG! It’s as if you all are writing my thoughts and experiences of late and in the past. I determined I was a sugar addict 2 years ago amongst other food allergies. I became a sugar-free vegan and my life changed dramatically. I remain a vegan but this year dipped deeply into grain sweeteners and agave nectar, convincing myself that I was okay even when I couldn’t stop consuming 16 cookies that I baked. It hasn’t mattered what the flour was, gluten free or not. The “discovery” of grain-sweetened chocolate chips was my original undoing. This month I “discovered’ my beloved chocolate covered pretzels in grain-sweetened form. I thought I was alone in this love for the choco-covered pretzel which began as a little girl. I had some today and can only think of getting more, knowing that my brain will be fogged and my work ethic destroyed. I convince myself it’s okay today because I will be starting a cleanse soon and will “clean-up” like an alcohol or drug addict. We are addicts and this is OUR drug of choice, the sweetener; not just sugar cane....anything sweet, anything chocolate. It doesn’t matter how broke I am either. I will steal the money to satisfy the beast. Thank you for showing me I’m not imagining my cravings. For showing me the truth of my addiction. Thank you for being here.
Kathy
May 25, 2007