Sugar Free – 10 months on
Hi there,For those of you new to ‘
Kelly Martin Speaks’, I gave up refined sugar in January this year (2013). Probably nearly as much a challenge as giving up a drug habit. In the post
What is hiding beneath your sugar addiction? I discussed how much a heavy sugar habit can hide many emotions that stunt our personal growth as we hide behind the sugar addiction. In
What causes sugar cravings? I discuss how we can have different types of sugar addiction, including health issues that cause sugar addiction. I have written a lot about my sugar-free journey, experimented with cooking without sugar here, and now I am at the 10 month mark.
Relaxing My Sugar-Free Journey
For a long time I was very strict on my sugar-free diet. At the start of the first few months I needed to be completely sugar-free (including healthy sugars like honey), while my taste buds adjusted. I gradually introduced occasional honey in baking, coconut sugar and Sweet Freedom more recently. I primarily sweeten things naturally with fruit and put xylitol and Sweet Freedom in my coffee on my trips to coffee shops.
My taste buds have changed a lot. I now prefer dark chocolate as all the sickly sweet milk chocolate, cakes, biscuits and chocolates I ate before are now too sweet. I am more flexible now. Primarily when dining out, I won’t say no to chocolate sprinkles on my cappuccino, and if someone offers me cake I’m not going to say no, even if it has refined sugar in it. I simply choose to allow this into my diet occasionally, primarily when away from home, on holiday or out for the day. And I go home not craving those super sweet foods as my body has fully adjusted to this change now.
Yes, it’s not easy but…
Going sugar-free, no it’s not easy, but if you want to mentally and emotionally change your perspective of yourself and life, diet has a huge effect on how we experience our world. Don’t kid yourself to think it’s irrelevant. If you suffer from anxiety, depression, mental health issues, feel unmotivated, stressed, tired, your adrenal glands could be totally overworked from flooding your body with too much insulin.
If you try everything to lose weight and your hormones and mood swing from one extreme to another, you really need to look at changing your diet. I promise you, once you get over a six month sugar hump you will feel in better control of your emotional response to your world and your inner landscape.If like I did you :-
Drink a lot of Coca Cola, soft drinks, fruit juices
Eat biscuits, milk chocolate and cakes
And have coffee and tea regularly with sugar.
Well, your body is probably working so hard to keep you healthy, it has no room left to let you experience emotional and mental balance too.
You don’t need to give up all your goodies
As you embark on a sugar-free journey you discover new ways to enjoy sweet foods. Your taste-buds shift and if you use
EFT on the cravings you will find you have no real urge for sugar-laden foods and beverages.
So what are you waiting for?
When is the perfect time?
What if your resistance is actually the very thing
that could propel change in your life, attitude and well-being?
You never know until you commit to this change.
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Kelly Martin
Kelly Martin, author of ‘When Everyone Shines But You’ is a dedicated writer and blogger who fearlessly explores life’s deepest questions. Faced with a decade of profound anxiety and grief following the loss of her father and her best friend Michael, Kelly embarked on a transformative journey guided by mindfulness, and she hasn’t looked back since. Through her insightful writing, engaging podcasts, and inspiring You Tube channel Kelly empowers others to unearth the hidden treasures within their pain, embracing the profound truth that they are ‘enough’ exactly as they are.
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If I can find a way to deal with the stress I sometimes get at work through over stimulation and not having the time to process my feelings, it will help. Don't quite know what the solution is yet, I guess I just need to stop trying too hard. Never been big on soft drinks and have less juices than I used to, although never that big on them either. Hate sugar with tea. So just chocolate and cakes lol .. Good to read about your continued journey with this.
Great post Kelly! For once I am not reading on a mobile device and can leave a comment. Just want you to know I've been following along with great interest. 🙂
Hi Lisa, thanks hun, seems blogger is poopy with disqus and commenting but I managed to iron a few creases out with the system. It is the best thing I did going -refined-sugar free my taste-buds love so many more foods now.
Have you thought the food is what is causing the over stimulation? Perhaps your feelings would be easier to manage if your blood sugar is balanced?
I doubt it's the only thing. Last time I 'resolved' to be healthy I ended up having a very stressful day two or three days later, the kind where I worry about losing my rag if I don't get some kind of pick me up. I was thinking last night about how EFT worked for you, not tried that one yet.
It will be harder in the beginning when giving up sugar and life does not feel as easy in the beginning because our crutch is gone and withdrawal is hard. EFT really did work well xxx
I started on low-carb earlier this year, but due to financial problems I had to go back to my old ways – pasta and frozen pizza being cheaper than meat and vegetables – the more carbs you eat, the more you want to eat…queue sugar cravings.
I started getting headaches again and serious digestion problems, plus there was the weight gain. I can't wait to get back on low-carb, but boy are those sugar cravings hard to beat, and it is exactly like an addiction…I find myself trying to bargain with myself, just like when I was a smoker and trying to quit using willpower methods.
Hi Jay, yes those sugar cravings can be really tough. I am on a very low budget so don't lose faith it can be done, just buying cheaper cuts of meat and loading up on protein in other sources to stem cravings. For example yesterday (I had some craving as after a visit to see family up north I had no choice but to have some sugar so its taking little while to adapt my tastebuds again), I wanted chocolate so opted for a large spoon of peanut butter (this really helps me with cravings), I also find having some sliced meat in the fridge helps (doesn't have to be expensive meat – we buy in bulk our chicken etc from iceland). I love peanut butter spread on sliced apples and have a lot of little cheats to get my sweet taste without the effects sugar can have on me. Also one thing that totally helps is EFT a form of tapping on pressure points, where friends still struggle with cravings this has helped me have no urge for refined sugar cakes and carbs at home or when out. To me they look more like cardboard and taste icky now. I can seek out a video or something that may help on this let me know. Here is my first 18 days on my low carb, it was the beginning that was the hardest which I imagine you experience too.
It's not going to be practical to try and give it up before the New Year but maybe watch this space in January 🙂