Friday 31 January 2014

Time to address sugar?

There is a school of thought that says addicts will always replace one addiction with another. I guess the key there is to find a non-harmful pass time to become addicted to. Sugar in general, chocolate specifically, does not meet this criteria, nor, in fact, does eating!

The simple reason for eating too much sugar is that wine (and all types of alcohol) are full of it. When that source of sugar is stopped, the body senses the shock and another source must be found. Many drinkers deny having a sweet tooth: I would never dream of having wine and chocolate together, it was always savoury snacks with wine and a cup of tea with chocolates.

When I stopped drinking wine I took the advice not to bother too much about what I was eating. I took this as a green light for pretty much anything goes and for the first few weeks, anything did go!

Since christmas I've acknowledged that the reason I did not lose weight when I stopped drinking was because I replaced it entirely with sweet treats, and still do. I have been wondering increasingly about addressing this now. The problem with them is, surprise surprise, once I start it's difficult to limit or stop .

There are a few 'give up sugar' diets in the press but what I'm more intrigued by is the bottom line they all have: reducing it is hard, better to go cold turkey and get it out of your system and white-knuckle it until your tastes change and you don't miss it anymore. Sound familiar?

This sounds drastic and again, as I once was with alcohol, I am not yet committed to giving up sugar completely.
I decided I would try it for one day. That I would cope by telling myself I could have biscuits etc (I eat a LOT) of biscuits the next day. I had planned to do it yesterday when I would be busy at work but as I left the house in the morning I suddenly thought  AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH, NO!!!!!!! CANNOT COPE, without at least, my little handpick of 4 belvitas that I grabbed before I left.

So I didn't manage yesterday. I am not trying today (as I am off). But I have progressed from recognising it's a problem, to deciding to address it, to thinking of a small manageable goal to start with…
Now I just need to DO IT. And I will do it one day soon, before Easter comes around!

Your thoughts or experience on this matter?

3 comments :

  1. I am 9 weeks AF and sugar cravings driving me mad... I have gained at least 5lbs if not more... seem hungry all the time.. been eating trail mix a lot, nuts and fruit, but although is good, is full of sugar..However I feel if I cannot have wine, then I say NO Sugar.. I am scared I will say knickers, just give me wine.. and then it would all be for nothing.... so guess I too am NOT ready to quit sugar JUST yet either !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi. You're right not to. I would never have persevered with giving up the wine were it not for sugar n stuff. Congrats on your 9 weeks, thats a fab achievement!

      Delete
  2. I've dropped 2 dress sizes but no weight since AF (2.5 months). I never ate chocolate beforehand - but I sure do now. In fact I discovered there is such a thing as a chocolate hangover!

    ReplyDelete

Go on, spill.

Follow @SoberRachel