Will Run For Ice Cream

If you've ever tried to give up sugar, then you know it's not an easy task. I've done it before, and I'm currently doing it again. When I re-introduced sugar back into my life, moderation became an issue again . I'm hoping this time around to get the moderation part right! So here are my personal tips for helping myself when giving up sugar.

I did it before, and I plan to do it again. I'm giving up sugar for the next 14 days. Why? Because when I gave it up last time, I felt amazing! ( What Happened After 14 Days Free Of Sugar ) I saw TONS of personal health benefits. And then I re-introduced sugar back into my life. However, moderation became an issue. So I feel that I need a personal reset. I'm not sure resets even exist. I think it's just become a word that companies have used to convince people they are doing something good for their body. So maybe I need a different word? ha. But to me, I'm hoping that by eliminating sugary junk food for a couple of weeks that I can

If you struggle with sugar like I do, and if the thoughts of cutting it out makes you break out in hives, I do have some tips that might help. First of all, I admit I'm still struggling with moderation. In fact, I'm planning on cutting sugary junk snacks ( except for dark chocolate ) for the next couple of weeks. Why? Because I'm drinking way too sugary drinks, eating too many donuts, candy bars and other sugary snacks. Sigh.. I know. But you know what, it's a journey, and it's a learning process. And, it can also be fun to experiment and find out what does or does not work. So, I'm not discouraged. I'm learning, and learning to me is progress. So, I reset, and then find my moderation. I can do this, and you can too if it's your desire to do so. And what I found when I cut out sugar last time ( How I'm Going To Overcome Sugar Addiction ) was that after a couple of days I really did crave dark chocolate. No seriously, it was bad. I tried a magne...

As I unwrapped the Godiva truffle, I trembled a little. I kid you not. The velvety chocolate melted in my mouth. And I honestly thought I would eat just one. I did the first time. But as the day went on, I had another, and another until by the end of the day I wound up binge eating about 8 at one time. I felt horrible physically and emotionally. It was my first binge of all or nothing in almost a month. How could I so easily slip back into old habits? I ate an entire bag. The following days consisted of brownies, cupcakes and cookies. And I felt sick... physically sick. I was bloated, my joints swelled and hurt, cranky, extremely moody with extreme highs and lows. I was no longer sleeping through the night, and by the 3rd night I woke up with night sweats. If you are disappointed in me, trust me I am even more disappointed in myself . And I told myself it was time to get a grip. I'm on my 1st day of no sugar. I don't have a predetermined amount of time that I wi...

I would say no sugar this past week, but that's not completely true. ( Confession Time About Eating Sugar)  but I have for the most part kept it in check. What I have struggled with this week was stress eating and eating just because. You didn't think that after 26 or so days that I would never struggle again did you? I didn't. Yes it is easier to recognize what I'm doing and stop the behavior. But there are still times that I find myself struggling not to eat out of stress or just because. I'm not reaching for cookies, but reaching for something even healthy just because I'm stressed or bored or whatever emotion still isn't something that I want to do. And I found myself eating several times this week past the point of being full and yet I continued to eat just because. I reached for snacks at night just because. So it looks like it might be time to pull the coloring book out more. It's hard to go for a walk at 9pm as a distraction ( or it is for m...

I said that I wouldn't eat sweets until the 21st, but the dark chocolate was just calling my name - constantly. The baker's chocolate did help, but I was still seriously craving dark chocolate. So I had a piece of Ghiradelli intense dark with sea salt and almonds. It was the sweetest tasting creamiest thing I've had in a long time. And one piece did the trick. The following day though I really wanted more which makes me concerned that moderation may be hard. Anyway, yesterday I had a piece of Ghiradelli intense dark, and later that day we made our gingerbread house. I did take a nice lick of the icing, and to keep from eating more, I had another piece of the Ghiradelli intense dark with sea salt and almonds. It was the most sugar I've had in over 21 days. We also had the waffle house for lunch. But I've been eating carbs ( bread here and there and potatoes ). By last night

For anyone curious about how this all started, you can read that here ( How I Am Going To Overcome Sugar Addiction ) And to recap, I'm eating fruit. I'm eating carbs. I'm eating my fruit flavored Greek yogurt (and yes I know there is sugar in that ). What I am NOT eating is sweet junk food and baked goods. But after 14 days, this is what happened:

I thought I'd give a brief update on how I'm doing with sugar. Saturday was a struggle. I wanted some cookies. I wanted the bowl of candy bars, and for a split second I almost caved and gave in. But I wasn't craving the taste ( although I'll admit a gooey chocolate chip cookie sounds good right now ).  What I wanted was

Day 7 - did I just type that? No, seriously - did I just go 7 days without sugar? Is this even real? I have tried for years and years and years to try to give up sugar.What was different this time?

And here we are at Day 6. Today has been one of life's stress days - nothing major - just normal every day life. You know.. like being out of certain things that I didn't know we were out of.... dirty dishes, laundry, attitudes.. you know.. just the little life stressors that often sends me reaching for chocolate. But the reality is, eating a snicker isn't going to magically put chicken breasts in my frig that I needed today. It's not going to fold all of the laundry, clean the floors, clean the kitchen, make lunch or anything else that I was stressing over. And that temporary moment of pleasure won't last. In fact, it creates a pattern that I've been struggling to get rid of. So, no I didn't eat the snickers or any other junk food. I wasn't hungry. I was stressed .

Yes these cookies are STILL here.  Day 5.. honestly.. I'm still a little in shock that I'm able to type that.  I've never gone 5 days without having some type of sugary sweet. I guess I should say I don't remember the last time that's happened. I'm sure at some point in my life that happened! Today has been fairly easy. I am still finding myself reaching for things out of habit. I was reaching for a a candy cane which I hardly ever eat. I didn't eat it. I decided if I wanted peppermint I would make some tea. But by the time I got around to making tea, I forgot about it. The 3pm time is still when I feel myself wanting something sweet. But I'm finding that

Well, I didn't know what to expect on the other side of Day 3.. but I have to say... today was fairly easy. Other than some cravings after lunch after I had a greasy burger and fries (Five Guys), I wanted something sweet. But really, I haven't really wanted anything sweet for the most part today. And my orange that I had at breakfast tasted amazing! So far the differences that I'm noticing by Day 4

Day 3 - the day I've never been able to get past because I've always caved. Today, at times, I came close to throwing in the towel. I don't think so much because the cravings were massively intense, but the stress level was very intense today. And because of that I wanted comfort - I wanted chocolate. What I wanted was to get in the car and drive to Sweet Frog. It did cross my mind, but I didn't. I didn't eat the cookies, or the snickers either. And that Little Debbie oatmeal pie is still in the cabinet. What I did do was take some deep breaths and reminded myself of the why. Why am I giving up sugar anyway? What's my own personal reason?

Today started with me getting up and having just enough time to meet a friend for a 7 mile hike. My chest congestion is mainly gone. My legs aren't too happy, but I thought they'd survive. I've been having a lot of join pain and swelling. I can barely open containers. Yes, that bothers me. And I honestly think it's possibly diet related. Time will tell. But my ankles haven't felt the greatest lately. So breakfast was my usual yogurt. Out on the trail I was hungry and had a Thunderbird Real Food bar . After the run, I struggled not to go get a hot chocolate from Sheetz. My mouth watered at the thought of the warm chocolaty goodness!

Well, I admit I still felt bloated and eh from all of the sugar and processed foods on Thanksgiving. Breakfast was easy. I skipped my coffee for green tea. The grocery store was a little more challenging with the donuts smell drifting through the store .. but I did ok and bought some quick already cut up easy to-go snacks where I had one in the car. And then around 10:30am without even thinking about it I started to lift the lid on the chocolate chip cookies.

I've tried for years.. no seriously YEARS to quit sugar ... I've tried moderation. I've tried cold turkey. I've tried supplements. I've tried so many different variations, but nothing worked... nothing. And by the 2nd to 3rd day I would fall off the wagon so to speak which usually resulted in a binge. Which then would result in multiple binges. It is true ( for me from personal experience ) that the more sugar you eat the more your body craves it. And although in the past ( wow back in 2014 ) I have admitted that I am addicted ( My Addiction To Sugar)  I still haven't been able to get that sugar monkey off my back. But I want to. I do. I don't like the idea of something controlling me, because at this point, it does. The rise and fall of the sugar in my body. The sudden feel good release that I get after eating or drinking something sugary to then crash later and feel the need to repeat the process. This is addiction . I won't necessarily totally...

Well, I'm disappointed to report that my Sugar Detox Journey  ended on Day 4. Sigh... so what now? Well I can't say that I'm going to exactly 'begin again'. I don't believe the no tolerance of  fruits will work for me.  So my plan is to just try to eat healthy real foods, try to ditch as many processed food as possible, factor in a couple of 'cheat' days ( if you want to call it that ) and see what happens. Currently the butt/ham/hip is still sore. I think I might try a walk/run tomorrow and see how it feels. I've been resting it for a week. But I'm still having tenderness so I still might not be ready to run. But I'm starting a new workout plan. I'll tell you about The Next Chapter soon. Have you ever heard of Jamie Eason's LiveFit ?

Well, I thought I would let you know how this week has gone. If you read my last post ( My Addiction To Sugar ) then you know that this week was my attempt at giving up sugar for the week. For some (like Hubby who doesn't have a problem with sugar), he really couldn't wrap his head around the struggle. He seems to enjoy his vices in moderation which I am very thankful for. Whether you believe that sugar is a drug, or whatever your thoughts, the following is my journey this week. D ay 1 Well, today you aren't supposed to really have any 'symptoms' other than maybe out of habit or emotionally wanting something sweet. You aren't really supposed to have any physical symptoms. By 10am, I was a bear. I was beyond irritable. I had a headache, felt a little nausea, and wanted all things sweet. I think the reality really hit me that by this time of the day most days I had consumed at least 1 thing sweet. So whether it was 'normal' or not to crave someth...

I've known for awhile that I've had a problem. I've seen the subtle signs, but lately I'm noticing some major red flags. To the point that I'm actually concerned for both my mental and physical health - I'm talking about sugar. See, for awhile now, I've been having joint pain in my hands. At times, to the point of tears. My joints have swollen 2 or 3 times the 'normal' size. When I could cut down on my sugar consumption, it would get better. And no, I haven't been to the doctor. And yes, I know that I probably should get checked out. But lately, my stress level has been through the roof. It's just been a combination of things - personal matters, life in general, too much stress on myself, feeling of inadequacy, lonely, and the list and stress contributors go on and on. But what I've found is that one candy bar (or serving of ice cream a day) isn't enough. I started consuming 2 ( or more ). My kid size ice cream turned into a s...

If you've been following my blog then you know that I have a sugar problem. If you are new to the blog,  "Hello and welcome, I'm Mrs. Glass and I have a sugar addiction." Lately it's becoming more apparent just how  much  of a problem with sugar that I do have. In the past, I sort of just laughed if off when people would mention the words sugar, drug and addiction in the same sentence. But I'm thinking, there really might be something to it. See, I've been eating a lot of sugar lately. And I mean like over 100 grams of sugar a day several days out of the week.  There I said. It's out there for the world to judge. According to  MyFitnessPal , I am supposed to have 30 grams a day.  So, after my binge on Friday, I decided that yesterday was the day. NO MORE. I'm done. I was doing ok until about 4:00pm. Then the cravings hit. Before the night was over, yes I rummaged through and found some some Easter Sweet tarts and ate those. When I couldn...