Sugar Is Holding Me Hostage
But I Have A Plan To Break Free
My name is Sabrina and I am an addict. They say the first step to overcoming an addiction is admitting that you have a problem. And I have a massive problem. Today my drug of choice is sugar in all its glorious configurations.
As I sit at my table writing this piece I have already gone through seven freshly baked peanut butter and Nutella cookies. I had to quickly hide them away. Because as I’m typing and they are sitting on the counter cooling, the delightful smell is beckoning me away from my work like a cartoon aroma smoke pulling me by the nostrils towards the freshly baked pie on the oven.
The situation is getting critical as my addiction has added plenty of unwanted pounds to my frame and threatening to push me into the diabetic territory. I find myself smuggling in copious quantities of chocolate goods. Seeking out new hiding spots in the house to avoid detection until they can be shamefully devoured in the privacy of my bathroom.
Right now I hate to admit that my cookie count is now up to ten. The need is so strong that I have been known to get out of bed to bake a quick batch of cookies or burn through four slices of four layer cake. How did I get to this point? Addiction runs in my family and I've had my struggles with alcohol and heroin at one point in my life. Even back then when I couldn’t get my fix somehow the sugar always made me feel better.
During a stint in rehab, my counselor would bring me a king size Hershey bar and a cup of hot chocolate each night to help me sleep. So it makes sense that since I have traded in the narcotics the sugar decided to step in to fill the void.
Whenever I was irritable, depressed, angry, or anxious I’d find myself raiding my pantry looking for something sweet to calm my nerves. I didn’t even realize that whenever I hadn’t had any sugary treats I’d exhibit those same emotions. It finally occurred to me that my sugar habit wasn’t just your average sweet tooth, but I had a full-blown addiction to it.
Research Proves That Sugar Is Extremely Addictive
I came across an interesting research article looking to answer the question “can sugar be a substance of abuse and lead to a natural form of addiction”? The answer they discover during their research was yes.
There’s an increasing body of research that tells us sugar could be just as addictive as some street drugs and have similar effects on the brain. The link between sugar and addictive behavior is tied to the fact that, when we eat sugar, opioiods and dopamine are released.
According to Dietician Cassie Bjork, R.D., L.D., research shows that sugar can be even more addicting than cocaine. Think about that for a second. Sugar is even more addictive than cocaine, and the average American pumps about 152 pounds of sugar into their system in a year. No wonder there are so many options on the market when it comes to the sugary confections. The food industry knows the power of sugar and capitalizes on it by adding huge quantities of it into their products.
Another article goes in depth to explain how consuming sugar affects the brain and triggers the same chemical reactions you would find linked to illegal drug use. In a CNN article, Dietician and Author Brooke Alpert believes we are in even more trouble when it comes to sugar because there is so much of it hidden in the foods we think are healthy.
The salad dressing we put on our salads, all the wonderful bread, sauces, and soup we eat. Not to mention the amount of sugar that is in the liquids that we drink throughout the day. All this info lets me know that kicking my sugar habit is going to be an uphill battle. But not impossible and so I’m devising a plan to rid myself of the monkey that has been on my back for too long.
So What’s The Plan You Were Talking About?
If you google sugar detox all types of cleanses and regimens come up. There are fast you can do, powders and pills to take. Some diets would have you avoiding certain foods or all foods in favor of liquids. Past experience has taught me that denying myself certain foods only makes me want them even more. So I know to eliminate foods completely isn't going to work.
Sugar makes you fat, ugly and old. What we’ve discovered in the last couple of years is that sugar is keeping us overweight. It’s also a leading cause of heart disease; It negatively affects skin, and it leads to premature aging — Brooke Alpert
Alpert believes that going cold turkey for 3 days is the best way to go. She believes that cutting out all sugars, fruit, starches and starchy veggies like corn and sweet potatoes will help your palate relearn what sugar is supposed is supposed to taste like. I can see the sense in that and actually it does work. A few months ago I had some dental work done and couldn’t really eat anything solid for a bit. By the time I could eat again I didn't crave sugar anymore and when I did eat something that I usually ate often, I found it to be overly sweet. Unfortunately, I allowed myself to get reacquainted with the sweet stuff again and I was off to the races.
So my plan is to let go of the sugary juices and only drink water. I've decided to give apple cider vinegar a try to help me curb the cravings. Instead of reaching for cookies and candy bars, I’m going for fruits and apple sauce. Since I love to bake, I can adjust the sugar content and find alternative means of sweetening my baked goodies. That way I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself of the things I enjoy.
Keeping track of what I eat has helped in the past so I’ll add that in. I’m committed to getting this monster under control because it’s really starting to have an adverse effect on my health. I’ll report back in a week to let you all know how things are going with operation sugar smackdown.
Let’s keep in touch🙂
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