I used to think Cadbury mini eggs must have crack-cocaine in their shells because they were so addicting, but now I know the drug in them that had me hooked was sugar.
Sugar really is a drug. What it does to the body is just as extreme as any other drug (rots teeth, diabetes, obesity and all of it’s complications... ) but sugar is in nearly everything we eat! From the cereals that starts our day to our pasta sauce at dinner, there is sugar in nearly everything.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 1999 data the average American ate 158 pounds of sugar each year.
Sometimes it’s hiding under a pseudonym: beet sugar, brown sugar, cane-juice, cane sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, refiner’s syrup, sucrose.... Just waiting to wreak havoc on your insulin levels.
I have fought a sugar addiction for years. Dessert wasn’t a once and a while treat for me - it was a daily requirement. I still struggle with my weakness for sugar to this day.
So far this week I have successfully avoid a big basket of Easter candy, the entire 50% off Easter Candy aisle, and homemade chocolate chip cookies someone brought into work. It was really tough. I don’t think people who have never struggled with sweets can understand what an achievement that is.
I used to feel like “The whole world’s out to get me!” but no one ever forced food into my mouth and made me chew at gunpoint. I was the one who ultimately put it in my mouth and ate it. I take responsibility for that now.
I used to use the “Out-to-Get-Me’s” to hide my own failure by placing the blame on someone else. We all know that nobody is perfect, it is just so hard to admit when you are the one that isn’t perfect!!!
When trying to lose weight you will have days when you will just plain fail. It is not cool, but is a hard truth some dieters can never recover from.
They see that one mistake as a complete failure, and since they have “failed” at weight loss, might as well keep eating.
This is not the mind-set that will lead to success!!
What if we applied this logic to learning how to walk? Would you just give up on a little baby who tries to take her first steps and falls down? (Bah! She’ll never walk!)
Of course not!!!
Learning to be healthy is like learning to walk, and there will be stumbles along the way, but eventually you will learn how to live a healthy life and stick with it!
My motto is: If at first you don’t succeed - do something easier.
And as long as you continue to live healthy, eventually you will be healthy!
Cheers,
Jess
