Choosing to be Healthy and Happy

Doug and I are so committed to living healthy for ourselves, for our family and for each other. Having had such a close call with death, one appreciates living and being together to share our lives. Nothing tastes that good to jeopardize our time together. Now you might say, You can't control the outcome of life by a lifestyle. You are right..But we can make the choices for the best outcome in the areas that we can control. Best of all for me is the peace of mind and spirit that I have not being chained to an addiction to food. This is living life on our terms, being in control and not being controlled by momentary pleasures that pass so quickly that you need to eat more and more and more to get that fix. Do you notice yourself here...I do.

Recovering Sugarholic

I think of myself as a recovering sugarholic. Probably not in the dictionary but none the less this is my truth. I was driven to eat sugar based products in spite of the devastating effect on my body and the tormented emotional state that it caused. This is addiction. Like the alcoholic, drug addict, smoker etc... we are driven by our addiction. When we deny that we are addicted to a substance, we continue in our addiction. It is by opening up our eyes to the devastation that our additions have caused that we can begin to start the process of recovery. I can't count the days that I lost to my addiction because of the physical and mental torment it caused me. This is so sad...time is precious...life is precious

I remember a few years ago Oprah said "I finally got it" referring to that her lifestyle was fixed in a way that she was connected with. As a recovering sugar addict, I have come to know that you never get it!! That's because I am always in a state of recovery and daily renewal. I must keep in my mind that today I am keeping my addiction at bay.That's it TODAY only.

I have a good friend Armand a recovering alcoholic who shared this wise statement with me "One drink is too much and a thousand is never enough". I adapted this to my sugar addition "One bite is too much and a thousand is never enough".

Definition of an addict: addiction - an abnormally strong craving
addiction - (Roman law) a formal award by a magistrate of a thing or person to another person (as the award of a debtor to his creditor); a surrender to a master; "under Roman law addiction was the justification for slavery"

I was a slave to my addiction! Now I am Sugar Free and Loving It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giving up Diet pop

I hydrate myself primarily with water which is really liquid gold for our bodies. On March 1st 2005 I gave up my addiction to diet Pepsi. At that time I was probably drinking up to 5 -6 cans a day. In fact I would drink a can of pop early in the morning. The reason was not caloric as there are no calories to speak of in diet Pepsi. My choice was a result of nagging stomach problems. I reviewed my diet and thought that the pop with all its additives including sugar substitute might be the cause. As well, the caffeine in the pop was probably dehydrating me. This was a toughie to for me give up as a I have drank pop for over 25 years but when you leverage that benefits of not drinking pop against effects on the body of the toxins and chemicals...it became a no brainer. Last year when there was nothing else to drink,I took a sip and was worried that I might like it enough to go back to drinking it, not so I hated it and didn't know how I was so addicted to it before.
There are articles to suggest that even when we reach for a sugary substitute product we still set ourselves up for real sugar cravings. I had read that I would lose weight by giving up the diet pop...this didn't happen for me. I am satisfied in knowing that by eliminating as many chemicals from my diet as possible that I am honouring the health of my body...this is reason enough for me. Live the word!

I want to continue to share my journey with those who are struggling with a sugar addiction. The first step to your sobriety is to recognize the destructive and addictive side effects of bingeing on sugar. First off for me was the daily torment of berating myself for being out of control and the shallow promise of today is the day I will diet and get this under control. I say shallow for dieting is usually good till 3 pm of that same day (usually Monday) when I would find myself in the flurry of addiction desperately needing a sugar fix. Then in despair to be numbed we succumb to the lure of sugar and acquiesce to its call. The fix is only temporary and after the numbing comes the intense pain of giving in at which point we call it a day and say what the heck-bring in on ...tomorrow,tomorrow will be the day. So goes the week till Friday when recognizing we have been out of control we fool our selves and say "What the heck it's the weekend and I am going to have one last free for all of sugar because this Monday...this Monday it is really going to work. Does this sound familiar to you...let me know.