A Sugar-Free Free Existence

So I thought about several titles that could be applied to this post—Confessions of a Sweet Tooth, The Food Addict’s Diary, Splenda Ain’t So Splendid, Sugar Substitutes: The Food Addict’s Prescription Drug, The Sugar Abyss, Life Without Chocolate in Any Form: Yes, it’s Boring—you get the point.  In many ways I wish I wasn’t a person comprised of chemical components suited more toward addictive behaviors than not, but at this point I’m just ready to accept it and forge ahead.  The Lord must have thought I could handle this for some reason, and if that’s true then I probably have an obligation to master those addictive proclivities.  Trying to figure out what foods specifically trigger a domino effect of “more is MORE” tendencies is the sometimes mystifying part.

One thing is pellucidly apparent however—those tendencies wreak havoc on my ability to find peace.  It’s been almost 3 years since I stopped eating real sugar, and with the exception of Crystal Light and Diet Coke, I hadn’t really introduced sugar substitutes into my diet until about a year and a half ago.  At first I started eating sugar-free chocolate on an occasional basis (maybe once or twice a week); this concession was made in an effort to be socially polite to those who considerately bought it for me.  The change has been somewhat gradual but mostly insidious, and now I find that I can’t even handle sugar-free breath mints or gum.  Just one or two?—why would I do that when there’s a whole bag in front of me?  Before I quit sugar I never would have wasted my time on a whole bag of anything mint-flavored, much less in breath mint form—why waste your time if it’s not chocolate (and let’s face it, breath mints were designed for function, not nutrition or pleasure).  Today I go through about 3-5 packs of sugar free cinnamon gum a week.  What on earth for, you ask?  Because gum is sweet, it keeps you from eating other things and why wouldn’t you—didn’t I already mention that it’s SWEET—as far as I know that’s the only necessary qualifying factor.

 While in Tri-Cities today, I purchased a couple of books at Barnes & Noble about sugar’s evil leanings—Beat Sugar Addiction Now! and Sugar Blues.  BSAN has a check list profiling 4 kinds of sugar addicts, I could relate to most of them.  I also found a book online called I Quit Sugar, written by an Australian woman who attributes a clearer mind, weight loss and better mood management to the detoxification of sugar from her body.  She went so far as to swear off fruit as well.  However, I don’t think I can be that committed (I just don’t want to—I’ll try no sugar subs and then reassess if I have to). 

So this is my formal public commitment to nixing sugar subs cold turkey from my life.  I’m convinced that public communication regarding weight loss goals is 60%-70% of the reason I reached my final weight loss target, so I’m trying it here with a new goal: kicking my dependence on placebo sweets.  This morning I polished off the last 4 sugar-free Popsicle sirens frigidly wooing me into the kitchen and bagged up all those ill-natured breath mints to give away: starting tomorrow I’m going sugar sub-free.  Maybe someday I’ll have a functional relationship with food that doesn’t involve a lot of obsession, and hopefully this will help.