Friday, May 16, 2014

My sugar-free (-lite) week (isn't over yet)

You know those things that seem like good ideas at the time? Yeah, taking a week off from sugary foods never seemed like that. But at least when Sarah and I decided to take a week off sugar, I didn't know that it would quite be like this.

And it's not even like I'm a big sugar snacker--I thought. Sure, sometimes we'll get a treat at the store. Sure, sometimes I'll throw chocolate chips into my already-sugary yogurt. Sure, sometimes I'll have sweetened almond/coconut milk for my smoothies, and then put in a pound of frozen fruit, and then top it off with chocolate chips, and then, while I'm walking past the kitchen, I'll take a few more chocolate chips. And sure, my vitamins are gummy. But I don't eat that much sugar, right?

Then I spent last Monday dragging my feet, my mouth flooding with saliva at the idea of a pie, wanting to claw my face off.

Which kind of tells me that maybe this experiment is worthwhile, since we only stopped eating sugar on Sunday, and we didn't really go cold turkey. I may not be a big candy eater, but there's clearly a lot of added sugar in my life.

And what's crazy is that I'm not avoiding all sorts of sugar. I've got a kitchen full of my favorite fruits. Or near favorite: granny smith rather than pink lady or honey crisp apples. The fruit is fine--oh man, but those apples dipped in just a little bit of honey...--but it's clearly still a struggle.

Some of this must be psychological: I can't have it, therefore I want it. I'm not a stranger to this sort of self-torture, building up the suspense for when I finally do that thing I want to do. (For instance: scratch the mosquito bite.) But how much of this feeling is actually physiological? On Sunday when I eat chocolate chips again and can think clearly, I'll try to figure out.

Man, I'm glad I never got into drugs. Other than sugar.

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