Life Lately {Sugar}

If you have been a reader here for a while you know that I am an alcoholic (closely related to why I love sugar so much) and I will pick up my 3 year sobriety chip in July of this year. Woohoo! Super proud of myself and all that fluff and stuff but that's not what I'm here to talk about today.

Today I'm talking about SUGAR.

And how it was easier to quit drinking than it is to quit SUGAR.

Is that not crazy? It is crazy.

After years and years of walking around with a bloated gut the hubs and I did some research and stumbled upon the book Wheat Belly which lead to more research which led to the Whole30 challenge which led to Paleo. At that time in my life I was overwhelmed at the idea of doing a Whole30 challenge but I really started to like the idea of Paleo. Once I got this cookbook I was ready! Pretty soon after switching to Paleo, I noticed my swollen belly appearance shrinking. It was and is still there somewhat throughout different times of the month but I can now directly relate it to my monthly cycle (TMI - sorry). I am STILL working on pinning that problem down. Just went for an ultrasound today. But that's a different story for a different time. Cutting out the wheat got me closer to solving my intermittent bloated feelings. NOW. Onto the reason for this post!

SUGAR

On the Paleo diet I do allow myself to have honey, as well as dates, and "clean" chocolate. I still have cheat days too! After the holidays though I really needed to detox. I looked hard at Whole30. Real hard. Basically stared a hole through it. A new one started on January 1st. Perfect timing! Just what I needed! It's only 30 days....but wait....no honey? No dried fruit? No chocolate?!? Eeeeeek. It's only 30 days.

I then decided that I was just not ready. I wanted to be ready, but I just wasn't. I decided to do a pseudo Whole30 of my own. I'm not eliminating them but I have been trying very hard not to eat a lot of dates or honey. I tried to not have a fruity breakfast so that I don't start the day of with sugars, even though they are natural sugars. That only lasted a few days. I missed my bananas. I haven't had a cheat day and I don't plan on having one for a while because I ate everything AND the kitchen sink at Christmas. There ain't no room for cheating. 

Needless to say, this detox has been hard! I was sad y'all. Straight up sad. And very, very cranky.

I gave in one day this week and ate a Larabar...ate fruit for breakfast...ate (paleo) chocolate chips! Sheesh! What the crap is wrong with me? Can I not leave the sugar alone?

I then thought - I need help. I need Netflix. Documentaries!

I watched Fed Up and got some seriously good motivation from that. Not quite enough motivation to take the 10 day sugar free challenge.

I am working up to it.

I'm thinking summertime might be easier? I don't know. I do need to give myself credit for not giving in and having a blueberry scone and a cafe mocha from Starbucks, the last of my son's waffle drowning in syrup or those deeeelish cupcakes from Trader Joe's that I love so much.

But dang it's hard! I keep telling myself....

You quit drinking. You can quit sugar.

Surely.

photo source