health and nutrition. addicted to sugar.

i think should sugar should be illegal. or at least have an age limit on it like alcohol and tobacco. because frankly it's just as addictive and just as harmful. yet it's literally in everything we eat. especially anything that comes in a box or container at the store. i even picked up a box of "natural" pre-cooked chicken the other day in the health food section, read the label, and amazingly found "natural" sugar listed among the ingredients! why? why do we need to put sugar on chicken???

ok... this really isn't supposed to be a rant about sugar in general. i wanted to share that i decided to go on a sugar fast this week. i've planned to do this a million times, as we all have, but always fail miserably. however, it seems that no matter how healthy i eat, my skin looks horrible and simply will not clear up. sugar must be the final frontier because there's nothing else i can get rid of in my diet that isn't healthy for me!

today is day four and i have FINALLY been successful! people have asked me what "sugar" means to me. for me and for now it means sweets or sugar in my coffee. real sugar, not necessarily carbs or processed foods which i rarely eat anyway.

here's the thing, i've felt a little off the last few days. i've fought a couple of minor headaches as i detox my body. but i can already tell that my energy levels have gone up. and guess what else? my face is already clearing up. you won't believe this, but i could tell a difference after the very first day of no sugar! the acne i already had started drying up, my face looked smoother and felt softer, and i haven't had any new acne!

sugar is deadly! if it affects my face that quickly and in such an extreme manner, imagine what it's doing to my insides!

so how did i do it? sheer willpower! ok... that's not completely true! it did take a great deal of willpower and self-control. the very first morning i made a cup of tea and automatically reached for the honey. but i caught myself and put it back. it was a lot of little decisions like that. you can't bite off more than you can chew. i had determined that i would do it for three days instead of for the the rest of my life. i knew that i wanted to go longer than that, but i wanted to give myself a reasonable limit. three days is totally doable. and now that i've gone three days, i can go longer without much trouble.

it takes three days to adopt or detox from any new habit. just three days. if you want to get off caffeine, you have to go through three days of headaches and feeling weird, but then you'll be free of it! three days, that it. it's totally doable! and of course the benefits far outweigh that one scrumptious bite of something.

this is my own personal journey. i'm not asking you to do the same, but if you've thought about it and struggled, hopefully this will offer you a little encouragement!

Comments

[Tina]

Awesome job! CNN did an episode titled "Is Sugar Toxic" and they compared the addictive factors, needing more and more to meet your need, to cocaine.

I still haven't kicked sugar all together, but I've decreased my consumption the past few weeks. Have you tried warm lemon water? I started drinking it a little over a week ago and it is amazing for energy. I read that it is supposed to help with detox too if you drink it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Again - awesome job!

[Sarah Jane]

Thanks, Tina! I think it will always be a struggle, but definitely worth struggling for! Your health that is. I do drink lemon water in the morning. Have you read The Beauty Detox Solution? Changed my life!