Why I Avoid Sugar

In March of 2015, I underwent weight-loss surgery in order to make my life healthier and more fulfilling. It was a decision I took very seriously, and to be honest, I was terrified. During the process, I had to take nutrition classes and learn about food in a very different way. However, no matter how much they talked about healthy eating, they never really said stay away from bad foods. Instead, it was always said to eat treats in moderation.

Over the last two years, I have learned that if I were capable of eating food in moderation, then I wouldn’t have ended up on that operating table to begin with, and the root of the evil that is lack of self-control – SUGAR!

Two years after my surgery I had lost over 100 pounds and was feeling amazing! Life could not have been better. Then the holidays hit and I decided a little chocolate and cookies wouldn’t hurt me. I may put back on five pounds or so, but after New Years I could get back on track. Everything would be fine.

Come July, I had put on 25 pounds and was starting to feel like a total failure. Something had to be done, and I needed more answers as to why I was having so much trouble giving up the sweet treats. My research led me to all kinds of articles, many of them blog post discussing sugar addiction. I had never really thought of myself as being addicted to food or sugar, but as I continued to read, I realized that these people were describing me with every evil word they said. As much as I didn’t want to believe it, I had made myself backslide by believing I could eat sugar in moderation.

When I have something off the diet, such as a candy bar, my body starts to want more. My mind begins to whisper wicked little things to me like, “One cookie won’t hurt you,” or, “It is an after dinner treat. You earned it.” Like an addict of any other drug, I will hunt down sweet treats in a desperate need to sate the voices in my head. Before long, I’m hiding candy wrappers in my purse, and sneaking into the kitchen in the middle of the night so no one sees me eating that piece of cake I know I shouldn’t have. If eating these things weren’t wrong, then why would I try to hide them?

Before long, my sugar dependency had led me to believe I was a horrible person who would never be able to live a healthy life. I had gone through all this trouble to have a major surgery, and I was on the path to ending up where I left off. It was not a good feeling, and with that came the desire for more sugar. Because hey, sugar makes me happy, right?

As you can see, things quickly got out of hand, and something needed to change. My first step was a detox. I spent a week eating nothing but lean meat and veggies, even avoiding healthy sweets like fruit. I got my family on board with cracking the whip. Anytime I said one bite wouldn’t hurt, they would push harder for me to stay the course. I won’t say this time of my life was easy, because it wasn’t. The first three days were the worst. I wanted to give up and not stick to it. I wanted a taste of something sweet. However, by the end of the week, the cravings came less and less, and the pounds had already started to melt away.

In August of 2017, I started to get my life back on track. I made a simple goal of losing five pounds by the end of the month, and to stay away from as much processed food and sugar as possible. (Because processed food is jam packed full of sugar as well.) By mid-month I had already lost six pounds and three inches off my waist. My energy levels were growing, and I no longer felt hungry all the time. Now that the month is starting to come to an end, not only am I still seeing my health improving, but I am able to feel my surgery stomach working like it should again. For the first time since last Thanksgiving, I am starting to feel like myself again.

So why do I avoid sugar? Well, I avoid it because I am addicted to it, and like many addictions, you can’t just give up a little. If I am going to be successful and keep on the track to a healthy life, then I have to treat sugar like the drug it is for me.