I eat pretty good most of the time. I adore fresh whole food and I love to cook that food. I exercise 4-5 times a week and most days, I lift and run. I take my vitamins when I remember. I drink water. I drink green tea. I eat green stuff in a blender that is the most awesome blender ever. I buy spinach and use it 45 different ways. I buy organic yogurt and natural granola. I bypass the donuts, cookies, and cake at showers and church dinners. I think I’m doing pretty good.
But..
I have headaches. daily.
I have not-so-good blood sugar levels…daily.
I have crashing moods….daily.
I have moments when I would eat my desk leg if I could whack it off. . . daily.
I drink fully loaded sugar Coke….daily.
I have actually spent ten minutes of my precious planning time to go to my car and dig for change just so I could have a few sips of sugar, fizzy goodness. And the crappy thing is…I don’t drink the whole thing. Once it gets warm, I’m done with NEEDING it. I’ll drink it if I don’t have water on my desk. But right before the kids get there OR at 3:00 when they leave, I can literally feel my body screaming for the sugar/carbonation.
So yes, I’m a diabetic with a coke addiction..and while we’re at it, a sweet tea addiction. I drink both. I always tell myself “as long as I have some protein, it’s fine”.
But no, it’s not. I’m a big mess, if I really look in the mirror. My skin is itchy. My hair has been falling out lately. My nails won’t grow. I have horrible allergies that won’t “clear up”. The headaches are the worst. I used to think they were stress-related. A few months ago, I was taking Nexium for a stomach ulcer that my dr. and myself attributed to stress. Well, I pretty sure batter acid Coke didn’t help the gaping hole in my stomach. I’m not a doctor, but I’m going out on a limb with that one.
So, something has to change. I have to cut the daily sugar. I’m not going to sit here and say I’ll never have dessert again. But this daily up and down crashing from sugar has got to stop and stop now. I’m basically just lying to myself when I pretend that sugar levels “just a little high” are ok. They are not.
Has anybody ever cut the soda/sugar habit successfully? Any ideas?
Lee
Thursday 14th of October 2010
I feel ya. I have a diet coke addiction. It gives me stomachaches, but I still drink it. It's so hard to give up soda.
Sarah (Running to Slow Things Down)
Thursday 14th of October 2010
Cutting out sugar or juice is *tough*! I used to be a juice addict, and it was hard to transition to water since I was...well...already drinking water in the first place.
Slowly decreasing it helped for me, rather than going cold turkey (although I know different ways work for different people.) I would usually put half juic/half water, and then 1/4 juice/3/4 water. Soda could work the same way if you're willing to cut it with something. Or even going for a plain, unsweetened seltzer water? It won't really give you the "sweet" phase, but it's worth a shot.
Let us know how it goes!
Katrina
Thursday 14th of October 2010
So far so good, Sarah. I've got major headache from withdrawal, but unswseet tea at lunch helped. I'm eating a lot of fruit so that's helping with the sugar craving I think. :-)