Sugar-Free Living

I have one of the most extreme sweet tooths of anyone I've met. Not once have I gotten sick from eating too much Halloween candy, and I can pack a lot of it at once if I feel like it. I've tried cutting out sweets from my diet before, but was never able to make it longer than a week or two. Otherwise, I do my best to eat relatively healthy. I rarely eat fast food (I rarely eat out at all, for that matter) or drink sodas. I avoid high-fructose cornsyrup like the plague. I drink green smoothies almost every morning and try to work other vegetables into my meals. But what concerns me is that I feel deprived if I don't have some kind of treat at the end of every day. There are many serious addictions that get more societal attention, but I believe a large piece of America is addicted to sugar and that type 2 diabetes is on its way to becoming an epidemic.

So when a couple of my health conscious friends decided to sign an actual contract to not eat sugary foods--and not for a month, but for the rest of the semester--I was so there. There are a few things about this arrangement that makes it easier to take seriously than my former attempts:

1) Motivation to keep a resolution is stronger when you have other people to answer to
2) Signing a contract makes it feel more official
3) 2 and a half months is an easier resolution to keep than 1 month, because you realize that it's an actual lifestyle change, not just a "I can hold out 3 more weeks" goal, and because the game isn't up if you slip up a bit.

Goodbye, sugar!

image source: http://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/the-sugar-conspiracy/

The contract also includes fried foods, but that's no sacrifice for me. I've never been much of a fan, and I got enough fried foods at the fair last month to last me the next year. One more side of the contract is that we get one day of choice off from sugar abstinence. The obvious choice for me is Thanksgiving. There's no way I'm missing out on my pie! And I don't know about Katie and Olivia, but I'll be considering that a 24 hour period so I can have me another slice at breakfast the next day.

My ultimate goal with this exercise in diet control is not to lose weight, or just say that I did it, but to break my sugar addiction. I want to be able to look at a table of sweets and not say, "Sweets! Need some now!" but "Is this something whose taste and texture will feel extra delectable on my tongue?" Because all sweets are not made equal. I could easily pass on the fake scones and sweet breads we are served at work every time a candidate comes in to present for their job interview, or the hard, oily cookies everyone grabs at the store just because they feel they have to bring refreshments to a social event. And especially those nasty sugar cookies with the pink or white frosting on top. Not to mention the opened bag of chocolate chips in my cupboard, waiting to have a handful or two poured out into my hand every evening.

In some ways, the moderation following abstinence will be the real test. One thing is for sure, though. I'm still collecting hoards of recipes on Pinterest, and I'll be sparing no expense to make them come Christmastime. The nice thing is that many of these are healthier alternatives to traditional sweets. They may have sugar, but smaller amounts of it, and fewer nutrition-less ingredients. I've recently discovered Chocolate Covered Katie and Gina's Skinny Recipes, and can't wait to try some of their concoctions.

In the meantime, my friends and I are in a learning process. We often have to discuss what is acceptable and what is not, as evidenced by a homemade smoothie adventure which included flavor packets of "all natural ingredients" (the food industry's biggest lie). It is definitely making us aware of how much sugar is in things we otherwise wouldn't even think about. I tend to draw the line at "if it's sweet and it's not fresh fruit, don't eat". But we're not so strict when it comes to small amounts of honey, or when our friend comes back from Belgium bearing a gifts of Biscoff Spread, "Europe's alternative to peanut butter".