Am Dying
Anyone who claims sugar is not addictive is LYING.
Am having major withdrawals here. CANNOT TAKE IT.
Ahem.
But I will. I will persevere! I will conquer!
(Maybe.)
I know I said I would allow myself a reasonable treat today, it being my birthday and all, but you know what? The fact that I am feeling THIS deprived by not having sugar for one little day leads me to believe my problem is dreadfully serious, and I really, really, desperately need to be doing this.
I have made it so far (it’s 10:30pm), but not without about 30 million trips to the kitchen before realizing what I’m going there for and remembering I can’t have it. This is unbelievably hard. And you know something I noticed? Every time I got that craving, it was directly related to my mood. Specifically, as soon as a situation got minutely stressful, anytime I got the slightest “down” feeling at all, I realized today, my automatic response is to go rummage through the cupboards for something sugary.
I read something last night, a review for either that book I linked to (The Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Program) or another one by the same author (Potatoes, not Prozac), that explained how sugar does give you an emotional lift–for a little while. Like, it’s been studied: Your serotonin or dopamine or whatever the happy hormones are, I forget–anyway, they go up for a bit, but then they plummet–and end up lower than they were to start with. So you reach for more sugar, go back up, then down, and that cycle continues a few times and suddenly you’ve got an addiction.
I’ve probably oversimplified it all, but that much fits perfectly with what I experience. A perfect explanation for why I find myself stealing cookie dough from the fridge every ten minutes throughout the day, only to whip up a fresh batch of cookies as soon as the kids are in bed.
No more!
Do I sound determined? I wonder if my library has either of those books. I need to read the recommendations and I hear there are even some recipes or at least suggestions of what to eat. All I know is the baked potato every night, and to eat protein at every meal.
I think protein would be a big help, but I need more sources. Right now I’m munching on this bag of walnuts that came in one of those fudge-in-a-box mix thingies, which I insisted my husband leave out when he was preparing the fudge last week because, eww, why would I want something even remotely healthy tarnishing my fudge?
Filed in: health • self-reflection | June 16, 2009
Christine Gross-Loh
Hang in there. Give yourself about 2 days and I think you’re going to feel very different!
Courtney
I am a random person who stumbled upon your blog. Anyway, must have been providence, because I am here to cheer for you! I have kicked the sugar addiction myself, (though I relapsed during pregnancy when I just needed to eat SOMETHING and didn’t care what it was). Anyway, I will tell you it gets better over time–eventually your taste buds will regain their purity. You will start to find sugary, junky foods less appealing as you adapt to liking wholesome foods more. I can’t even drink fruit juice at regular concentration any more because it tastes like syrup to me. Yay! Success! But if you really have a sweet craving, try keeping agave cactus juice on hand as it is a low glycemic index sweetener that won’t make you have the spike/drop cycle of other addictive substances like refined sugar.
mom
Good for you, Kate! You can do this. You have a lot of strength and determination when you set your mind to something. Keep up the good work, darlin’! I love you!
Rachel
Oh, I feel you. Just READING about going 21 days without sugary treats makes me feel a little panicky. Just think, though: people quit smoking every day. Quitting sugar can’t be as bad as that, eh? As for myself, I think I’ll wait until my kids are older before giving up my dopamine high. :)
grannie
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Today was Scrabble/UpWords day. The four of us ate chocolate and JellyBEllys. Not quite binging but satisfying for the week. I know it’s not good for me, but we laugh so much it gets my endorphins hiked enough to lessen my arthritis aggravations. You have more stamina and resolve than I . Love you much. Grannie
grannie
Well, I don’t know what happened to what I just wrote…so I’ll just repeat the Happy Birthday part. Hang in there!
Simply Mother
Thank you, all of you, for your words of encouragement!
Today I managed to make a cake for my daughter’s birthday without so much of a drop of batter or a lick of frosting!
I’m so proud, and yet I am still doing this out of sheer will-power. Hoping the desperation goes away sometime soon. Looking forward to the day when something might taste “too sweet.” Right now, the concept is unfathomable.
Rachel Coombs Holmes
I am right there with you on the stress eating. Each time I try to get myself back in gear, it seems the bottom falls out. Keep it up, you are my hero for this one.
nat2
I’ve noticed the same thing, that I hunt (on the sly) for sweet things when I’m tired or annoyed. Then I get more annoyed when all I can find is a bag of old stuck-together marshmallows because I’m too cheap to buy junk food. I’m glad I don’t usually grocery shop when I’m tired/annoyed/other-negative-emotion.
P.S. I do eat the old sticky marshmallows, furtively.
P.P.S. I was reading about how the effects of say one marshmallow on an adult’s system are far less than the effects on a child’s. That has scared me off eating a lot of sweets (baby in utero) or feeding much to kids. I cringe when I see little children carrying pop around.