Saturday, December 27, 2008

Transition




Weight update after sugarpolooza-the same at 288. I consulted with David Vanadia, my sugar free mentor, at http://www.vanadia.com/stopbeingsweet
and he suggested that to ease back into sugar free life, I should use borderline foods (Any sugar free food that does not make me binge) and start there. I had a really successful day. I did not feel deprived, but I did feel much more in control. I have almost given all of my sugary treats away did not want to eat my delish caramels. I am not worried yet about hidden sugars and over doing agave during this transition. I am happy to report that I went to bed at 9:15 and got up at 8:15 for some really good sleep. That in turn, makes me want to get on my elliptical and rock it! I also took my vitamins. I have such an appreciation for the way I felt off of sugar. Now, I need to get serious about how much I use agave and fruit. I also need to get serious about exercise for health and also to get more results for my efforts. Here is my plan (after the transition) for phase two.
*use the resource of mizfit and other exercise to implement a plan for regular exercise
*only use agave or larabars for once in a while treats
*remove non sugar trigger foods like those Gladfood popcorn nuggets
*use melatonin after I eat dinner to start the process of being tired and going to bed no later than 11:30 (striving for 10)
*vitamins
*make lunch at home to save money and eat better at least 4 days a week
*organic when possible
*cage free foods
*eat at home more for better quality of food
*clean the kitchen right after dinner instead of procrastinating so I stay up later
*slowly remove white bread products like pizza dough etc.
*journal
*read more at night
That is enough for now! What are you adding or taking away from your plan?

Friday, December 26, 2008

I Am Over It!

I will officially put the Sugarpolooza to bed as I hit the pillow tonight. I am SICK of sugar and let me tell you, I do not feel well. I have shortness of breath, every time I eat some sugar, my chest feels tight, and I ache. My sugar overload was excessive and I sure feel the effects. In the morning, I will put a plan together for phase two! I seriously can't wait. If this "experience" has taught be anything, it is that I want a different quality of life. I want a vibrant and energetic life. On sugar, I have anxiety. I worry when I am on sugar. I worry that I will die in the middle of the night and leave my child motherless. These days on sugar had me worrying about that all of the time. Ironically, my daughter and I were in an accident this past week, when a car ran his stop sign and hit us as we travelled down the road. We are okay. Clearly, this is not my time to die. I have way too much to do. I can either spend my time worrying or I can lose the weight and be a vivacious person who is living life.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Caramel Crack



Last night at 2:00 in the morning, I decided that I would make homemade caramels. I told myself that I was doing it that late because I did not want my five year old around the hot sugar mixure on the stove. That was one factor, but mostly, I wanted to stay up and make more sugar. Because I am on vacation, I switch into the late night mode that I crave. The caramels came out fabulously! I did not stop there. I bought caramel ice cream, and drank caramel mochas. I mixed in a bit of sugar cookie dough in between eating the caramel. Right now, I never want to eat sugar again, yet, in a few minutes, I will be going to the fridge and scoop out some chilled sugar cookie dough. So, here are some of the side effects from all of this junk:
*weight gain-that's an understatement
*anxiety
*I can't bound up the stairs like usual, without my heart pounding
*I look terrible
*I have dark circles and splotchy skin
*I am weak and tired
*My tongue is sour and overwhelmed
*I am stiff when I first wake up.
I will be happy to get off of this craptastic plan on Friday. Even though I have these reactions, I think it will remind me why I am not using sugar anymore. I think I will be much more motivated for my next phase.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Tour of Forbidden Foods

Here is a sugarpolooza update:

I can't believe how different I feel. I wake up walking like an 80 year old man. I am stiff and my tongue feels likes I have assaulted it with sugar sand paper. It is like a sour, sugar burn. My mouth is sour and sugar is too sweet. The more sugar I eat, the more desensitized my tongue becomes. I have gained five lbs in a short time. I don't pop up off the sofa easily. I have more anxiety on sugar. I worry about things that I have not worried about for 141 days.

I think that I have noticed enough difference, that when I detox, I will have a renewed purpose that was not there before. I want to move to a phase two:
regular exercise
only "use"agave or fruit bars once a week
lay off white bread type stuff except for once a week
exercise

I will have a heck of a detox coming up! I actually can't wait to get going again. That is CRAZY coming from me. I still don't care much about chocolate now and that never would have come out of my mouth. Right now, I am shoving chocolate in my mouth way past the point of even wanting it.

I am taking a "tour of forbidden foods" between now and the 26th. I love teriyaki chicken and want to have that. I had Thai (which is so sugared up). I wanted the Starbucks salted caramel hot chocolate and I have had three times. Why did I need to get the HUGE size all three times? What else should I eat between now and Christmas??!?


I am certainly learning a lot about this whole process. I feel out of control and worry about the detox. I think I needed to go through this so I can finally "get it" that this needs to be a way of life for me. When I have had this stuff, it has been "no big whoop," except for chocolate chip cookie dough. That stuff is like crack. The other foods so far have been no big deal. What foods do you build up to be better than they actually are when you finally eat it? What foods are your "crack?"

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Sugar, Sugar, and Then More Sugar!

After my alphabet cookies, I decided to "let it rip" as far as eating sugar. I started off my day with pancakes, continued with chocolate pudding, a ton of cookie dough and about ten cookies. My tongue had the weirdest, sour taste on it all day. I felt achy and anxious. Just a few minutes ago, I ate more dough. I really did not want it, but I ate it anyway. Here is some wisdom from my super sugar day:
1.I built up sugar to be amazing. The alphabet cookies were "no woop."
2.Chocolate chip cookie dough is incredible and I can't handle it.
3.I feel better emotionally when I am in more control. I don't know how I am going to handle sugar between now and Christmas.
4.It was not worth it.
5.My weight will be up tomorrow
Maybe this was a great learning experience. I think this will help me in my next phase. I feel like I am in limbo right now. Hmmmmmmm what next?

Monday, December 15, 2008

Cabin Fever Leads to Early Sugarpolooza!



Never in a million years would I think I would ruin my sugar abstinence with kid alphabet cookies! Let me start at the beginning of my spiral down to the dark side of my sugar addiction. I have been stuck inside the house because we have had snow for three days. This is not typical for my location here in the Northwest. I am looking at four more days inside. I LOVE snow days, but I get very antsy. I am constantly checking to see if the next day will be a snow day. I have run out of my sugar substitutes because I stress ate them all. It was almost like I was hoarding them. I ate three Larabars in one day. Since all of my "acceptable" treats were gone and I could not get out to buy more, I started pacing around getting more and more unsettled. I did not eat my meals at regular times, which lead to uncontrollable stupid snacking like tortillas with melted butter.

I was watching the Food Network and it was constant cookie making. I decided that I would start my "sugarpolooza" early and bake cookies with my daughter. My plan would be to add to our already Christmasy snow day! I have absolutely no ingredients for cookies in my house. I do not even have one granule of sugar. I could not drive to the store, but had two ideas...my Dad could drive over the ingredients over if he was going to Starbucks for a latte. There was no way he was getting off of his hill, latte or not. My best friend had studs on her tires and was going to pop over with some ingredients. The roads were even too icy for her tires. I had my heart set on that batter...I had waited 141 days after all! I was almost prepared to brave the ice and walk down the street to my neighbors for some brown sugar and baking soda. It was serious ice and I decided to get a clue. So, "Operation Cookie Dough" was a failure. You would think I would celebrate the close call. Nope. I found some of my daughter's Newman's Organic alphabet cookies (that we handled when we made words) and ate the rest of the package. They were not very good or satisfying. It did not cure my need for the batter. I wonder what tomorrow will hold for my cabin fever. What I know for sure is:
* I am so far from kicking this addiction to sugar
* I am using fruit and corn as my sugar and that has to stop
* It is going to be much more difficult to get back on track on Jan.26

The plus to my snow days is that I am having a ball with my daughter. She is beating me on our match game. We have played kitchen, dolls, and read Christmas stories. I guess the world won't end if I bake cookies tomorrow.

Joy

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Sugar the New Heroin

Study Suggests Sugar May Be Addictive
Finding might yield new insights into eating disorders, experts say
By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay Reporter


WEDNESDAY, Dec. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Science is verifying what many overeaters have suspected for a long time: sugar can be addictive.

In fact, the sweetener seems to prompt the same chemical changes in the brain seen in people who abuse drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

The findings were to be presented Wednesday at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology's annual meeting, in Nashville.

"Our evidence from an animal model suggests that bingeing on sugar can act in the brain in ways very similar to drugs of abuse," lead researcher Bart Hoebel, a professor of psychology at Princeton University, said during a Dec. 4 teleconference.

"Drinking large amounts of sugar water when hungry can cause behavioral changes and even neurochemical changes in the brain which resemble changes that are produced when animals or people take substances of abuse. These animals show signs of withdrawal and even long-lasting effects that might resemble craving," he said.

Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, added: "The big question has been whether it's just a behavioral thing or is it a metabolic chemical thing, and evidence like this supports the idea that something chemical is going on."

A "sugar addiction" may even act as a "gateway" to later abuse of drugs such as alcohol, Hoebel said.

The stages of addiction, as defined by the American Psychiatric Association, include bingeing, withdrawal and craving.

For the new research, rats were denied food for 12 hours a day, then were given access to food and sugar (25 percent glucose and 10 percent sucrose, similar to a soft drink) for 12 hours a day, for three to four weeks.

The bingeing released a surge of the neurotransmitter dopamine each time in the part of the brain involved in reward, the nucleus accumbens. "It's been known that drugs of abuse release or increase the levels of dopamine in that part of the brain," Hoebel said.

But it wasn't only the sugar that caused this effect, Hoebel explained -- it was the sugar combined with the alternating schedule of deprivation and largesse. After three weeks, the rats showed signs of withdrawal similar to those seen when people stop smoking or drinking alcohol or using morphine.

The scientists next blocked the animals' brain endorphins and found withdrawal symptoms, anxiety, behavioral depression and a drop in dopamine levels. In other words, they confirmed a neurochemical link with the rats' behavior.




But longer periods of abstinence didn't "cure" the rats. Instead, there were long-lasting effects with the animals: They ingested more sugar than before, as if they were craving the substance and, without sugar, they drank more alcohol.

The researchers speculated that some of these brain changes may also occur in people with eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia, although more research needs to be done to confirm the effects in humans.

"Some say it's easy to lose weight -- you just have to shut your mouth, stop eating so much," Aronne said. "I tell them a good way to overcome global warming is if people made less carbon dioxide by breathing less. Obviously, that's absurd. You can't do it because you feel uncomfortable.

"The same thing is true of eating," he added. "Fattening food has an impact on the regulating mechanism that breaks down your sense of fullness, makes you feel an urge to go back and get that blast of sugar and this creates the vicious cycle of weight gain that we're going through."

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Un Glad Corn


I never thought in a million years that I would be abusing corn. Sugar, you betcha! Corn, really? I have never been a chip person. I don't really like potato chips or fries for that matter. I have never purchased a bag of Frito's in my life. Not only am I eating Frito's and corn chips, I have been eating something called "Gladcorn." The Gladcorn is what is making me the most unglad (is that a word?). Gladcorn is like the almost popped corn that you get in your bowl. There is enough of the popped part to make it crunchy and satisfying. Like a good corn nut but better. They were sampling it at the local health food store. It was delish and I got a bag. I kept getting bags, along with chips and Frito's. Just 1/3 of a cup is 140 calories. There are 12 servings in a bag. I have EASILY eaten a half a back several times lately. That is 840 calories. I am having the same reaction to corn as I did sugar. The reason is that corn is basically sugar. Same, same, same!

What is also the same is that I have slacked on the exercise. I did it a few lame attempts, but I am seriously too tired. I am still getting about 5 hours a night. I just have so much on my mind, that I cannot turn my brain off. I realize that it is a vicious circle. I am still off of sugar and let me tell, it has been difficult in the sweetest month of the year. My "Sugarpalooza" rules have been broken in the exercise department. I just have to get a handle on my sleep. Do I need to take some kind of sleeping pill as soon as I get home from school so I will go to bed at a reasonable time?!

I have to get this together!

Joy

P.S.

Pubsgirl wanted to know who my experts were on the no sugar life. Two favs are:
http://www.vanadia.com/stopbeingsweet/about/
http://www.firstourselves.com/first_ourselves/product_ebook-how-to-give-up-sugar_shortform.html

Monday, December 1, 2008

Sugarpalooza Rules!


So, I have gotten out of my funk of same, same, same. I am now preparing for my yearly "Sugarpalooza." Just what is the Sugarpalooza? According to my wise sugar free mentors, they say that they are successful if once a year (some do it more often), they plan on eating sugar for foursih days. My time for sugar will be Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I may go a day earlier but I would like not to because I don't want the withdrawals to be hellish. Here is my training plan to work up to the Sugarpalooza...

December 1-23rd I have to exercise every day. I did it today and I felt great!
I had not exercised since I started this sugar free way of life. I think doing this to work up to having my sugar will get me into the pattern of doing it for the next phase of my health goals.

I have to make my own healthy lunch each day instead of skipping it and going to get some junk (sugar free of course...there IS junk that is sugar free-trust me!)

So far I have stuck to the sugarpalooza rules. It is day one, but I am confident. I did not even have one morsel of pumpkin pie, cake or anything on Thanksgiving that contained sugar. I really did not miss it.

This time of year normally puts me into a sugar coma. As someone who works in a school, we get goodies all month long. I come to work and find five or six plates of cookies on my desk. I am a bit scared of eating sugar because of my past experience. I am stronger now, I have proven to myself that I can do it and I feel better being in control of my sugar addiction.

My fun challenge is that my 48 hours is limited and so I will only indulge in the very best sugar treats. What are your suggestions????????????????