RAMBLING...WHY SUGAR FREE??

I can see this is somewhat of a repeat from a few journal entries ago, this was part of my introduction to the group of people w/ the same goal. I think I go into a little more detail than I did a few journal entries ago.

Well… first of all, you have to realize that I’ve been doing WW for over 3 1/2 years now. I love it… it’s so simple. Eat whatever if you can fit it into your points, right? But at some point, about a year or so into it, I realized that I wanted to start looking at things more nutritionally… like a healthier/thinner person. So, I’ve been trying to cut out processed foods. All of the white stuff… white flour, white rice, white pasta, etc. It’s been tough to cut out things like snack bars & such, so many low point snacks are still highly processed. Sugar is a highly processed substance, too. I have found that I am at my worst when I am eating sweets. I have absolutely no control (of course I didn’t realize this until I was trying to control it!!). I CRAVE sweets & other bad carbs. They call to me. I’ve been doing “the dance” (up/down/up/up/down) w/ my weight for the past 2 years, mainly because of my struggle w/ sugar. PMS times are the worst… that whole week or two before my period I’d be completely out of control & it ticked me off that I couldn’t control myself. Talking to my doctor, she said that it’s not just in my head… that alot of women crave sugar during PMS… it’s a chemical thing. Felt like an excuse to me, but I went w/ it!! LOL! :o) At some point my doctor recommended a book to me… Potatoes Not Prozac ...to help deal w/ depression issues, but what I found is that it deals alot w/ SUGAR ADDICTION & how it affects mood & cravings & such. It’s an amazing book… I’m still needing to read it all, but it helped me make a decision early on…. time to break away from my sugar habit!

It’s hard to do… sugar has a major grip on most of us. Ever eat something sweet & 20 mintues later you’re wanting to eat more, or just eat “something” in general? Ever take a nibble of something sweet & then try to ignore it but it calls your name from across the room?? So you go back for another nibble, then another, then another? That’s sugar. (want to learn more? Sugar Addiction

Anyways… I find that after several days off of sugar, ALL cravings are gone. I could go all day & not think about food. It’s like night & day. I do sooooooooo well OP (on program / WW) when I’m sugar-free. I’ve been trying to be sugar-free since probably early spring this year. My mood was better, my “willpower” was fantastic, my weight losses were consistent, which has been a major problem for me over the past few years. Then I think “what’s wrong w/ having that piece of birthday cake?” Nothing, right? Just this once. Nope…it just knocks me over. Seriously. I figure I can catch it quickly & get it back under control but it does something to me… TOTALLY changes my mood, cravings are INTENSE! I’ve had 2 bouts w/ sugar since I started this… the first one lasted 6 weeks (after about 8 great weeks!), then I was great for a month (& lost all of the weight I gained over those 6 weeks), till another piece of birthday cake said it was okay… then I was gone for a month… till I got so down, I was weepy & moody & I HAD to weigh-in because the month was up, so I just did it, faced the 8 lb gain & used it to right myself. That was this past week… my first good week after a really really bad month….... NIGHT & DAY, completely. Each time I slip w/ the sugar it makes me more aware of how it affects me. So, I can use these bad periods as great learning experiences…that’s the good thing about it.

Speaking of “bad periods”, LOL, those God-awful sugar cravings I have when I’m PMSing?? When I’m sugar-free, they don’t exist… smooth sailing. Crazy, huh?

So… I just need to figure out how to make it work for me. The doctor who wrote “Potatoes Not Prozac” has a great website called Radiant Recovery ...worth checking out. Not just about the issue of how sugar plays into weight issues, but also substance addiction.