Finally Stopping the Sugar Cycle

Today I am 43 days refined sugar free. I've not had processed sweets and very little fruit through these last six weeks. A couple of days ago, it dawned on me how good I've been feeling physically the last ten days or so. More energy. Less fatigue in the afternoons. Sleeping through the night and waking up feeling ready to actually get up. I feel no pull to eat candy, cookies, or other sweets. It's very much like when I stopped eating meat -- a few months into being vegan, I felt no desire to eat another steak or hamburger, sausage or hot dog. With the sweets, a very strong need filled me every day to have something. Being free from that feeling is amazing.

When I sit and think about the last seven years, I have to shake my head at what I've stopped consuming. The first to go was soda. For years I was drinking a 16 oz bottle of soda each day. Along with the soda was a candy bar. It's a wonder my teeth didn't rot out of my mouth. It's also a wonder I didn't weigh far more than what I had at the time. After nixing the soda, I became vegan. Good-bye meat, dairy, and eggs. I did miss cheese for a long time. There's just something about cheese. It's definitely a comfort food. Not too long after foregoing meat, dairy, and eggs, I chose to end my relationship with liquor and beer. I was never a huge drinker, but I did enjoy a glass of wine or a beer a few times a week. All of this is a lot to give up, most definitely, but I'm glad I did. 

At the beginning of this year, I knew I had to break the cycle with sugar. Sugar has been the toughest to let go. I love a good vegan chocolate chip cookie, which I've become really good at making. I also love a good vegan brownie, another item I've become really good at making. Those, along with a few types of candy I found myself buying every time I went grocery shopping, were adding a lot of refined sugar to my daily consumption. 

I knew it had to be done, though. I had to stop. So I did. 

If there's one thing I am good at, it's going all in when I decide to do something. 

Recently, Angel Baby brought me a package of dark chocolate covered caramels (yes, I know these aren't vegan, but I used to buy them because I really, really like them). He didn't know I had decided to reduce my sugar intake and was not eating candy any longer. He set them on the counter for me. When I saw the package, I had to smile. What a kind gesture. I put the package in the freezer and it's still there. At the time, I still didn't say anything to him, and a couple of days later he brought home a package of Sour Patch candies. He put that on the counter, too. When I hadn't touched it in a day or so, he asked me why I wasn't eating any since he knew I liked those, as well. I finally clued him in. He has stopped bringing me candy.

So now, six weeks into going as refined sugar free as possible, I'm happy with my decision. I really don't know if there's a connection, but my eyelids used to be really scaley and itchy. Every day I would have to take a warm washcloth to each eyelid to remove the scaley pieces, and the itching about drove me crazy. For about a week now, I've not had to use the warm washcloth treatment. My eyelids no longer itch. Hopefully they will continue to heal along with the rest of my body that I abused with overconsumption of sugar.