A little before Thanksgiving Henry and I made a pact to cut out processed sugar through the holidays. We had two cheat days… Thanksgiving and Christmas. I thought putting it on the blog would keep us accountable. It didn’t. I did pretty well through the beginning of December and then it was over. I ate less baked goodies than I normally would, but I couldn’t go sugar-free.
Eating it sporadically instead of every day I noticed a few things. One: when I eat it, it makes me tired. Really tired. Some days if I ate something sugary for lunch, I could hardly keep my eyes open about an hour later. I’ve heard of a sugar high followed by a crash, but I never realized how much it affected me.
Second, I noticed the less I ate sweets, the less I craved them. Sugar is definitely addictive… the more you eat, the more you want. In fact, if I’m eating a low-sugar diet and eat watermelon I suddenly crave sweets so natural sugar can be a trigger too. The first few days are truly the hardest, but once you get through them, it’s easier to say no.
Last, I noticed my tastes changed the less desserts I ate. It became harder to please my palate with just anything. There were times I’d bite into something I enjoyed in the past and it tasted bland. I decided I wouldn’t waste calories on something that didn’t thrill me.
All this talk of sugar has me thinking of our eating habits for 2012. I’m researching organic markets and CSAs in our area. We were members of a CSA in Virginia and loved every minute of it. I’m thinking our diet will include less sugar. Maybe.
Comments (1)
Sugar is a hard one. I actually tried to cut out any artificial sweeteners from our diet and my coffee creamer was the last to go. I did well for about 3 months and then we spent Thanksgiving with family and my sister talked me into some incredible coffee creamer that barely left your coffee tasting like coffee. Now I’m having a hard time with it again. I hope you find a good CSA…we are actually starting a small one on our farm for the first time this year. It makes me nervous!