Thursday, August 27, 2009

Dear Sugar aka A letter to Satan

I typically post a mini column called "dear dairy". It's my adorable play on words in which I complain about my dairy free woes. Or, more often than not, my attempting to give up dairy woes.

Two years ago when I did a candida diet, which isn't really a diet per se, it's more of a way of eating to cleanse your body of unwanted yeastie monsters, I noticed several things. My energy level was kkkrrrraaazy after about 2 weeks of being on it. My skin, while normally very clear, was even glowing with health. My weight dropped off like buttah on a hot cob of corn. And my attitude & depressive tendencies were G-O-N-E gone!

However, it is very very very hard to stay on that "diet". I've mentioned this before but it warrants mentioning again....you are supposed to, for the first 4 months, give up dairy, sugar, wheat, vinegar, yeast, mushrooms, alcohol, pork and all cured meats like bacon, caffeine..... and fruit. Dude.

I always start my diet that way, and give up a day or two later. Sometimes an hour or two later. While knowing that this eating will totally make me feel awesome, I appear to not care. I just want my cheetos. And starbucks, and taco bell. But who can blame me, look at all the things you have to "give up"! It feels like a prison sentence.

So, this time I only gave up sugar. I thought instead of overwhelming my body with such a huge change, I'd start small, but really? Sugar was probably the hardest to give up, so it felt huge.

To prepare for this, I got rid of ALL evil sugars from the house, and I brought in healthy sugars, like agave nectar and fruit juice sweetened cookies, as well as loads of fresh veggies and sweet fruits. I use to think that the raging headache I got a few hours into this diet was due to the caffeine withdrawal, but this time the ONLY thing I gave up was sugar, and - you saw this coming - I got a huge headache. SO, obviously the sugar was the evil culprit all along.

But, let me tell you. I feel awesome. I gave up sugar 7 days ago. Given the fact that I made a raspberry cheesecake for someone and received that package of goodies from sugarmohawk, I have eaten a little bit of sugar. But compared to my daily consumption, it has really been nothing. My energy level is getting back to normal, and my mood was improved within a day or two.

I exercised for an hour on the treadmill a few nights ago, and still had enough energy to go for a fast paced walk around the neighborhood with my hubby. You don't know how good it feels to get your life back.

It seems ridiculously obvious that sugar is the devil, but do we ever stop to really pay attention to what is going on in our body that might be caused by sugar? Are you tired? Are you at all mopey or hopeless or down? Is your memory slipping? Well, if you said yes to any of those, then it is so worth it to at least try giving up sugar for a week. Once you feel the difference and see the results, you won't want to go back. And, thankfully, with the great natural sugar alternatives available today, you don't need to.

I may start writing just about sugar for awhile, but I do plan to eventually eliminate dairy and wheat again. I will document each step though, so I have a clear understanding of what exactly my body reacts to.

I'd love to hear your sugar experiences, and tips if you have any! No artificial sweetener info though....I don't do fake.

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