The other day, I had a hankering for a Coke drink, a regular one, none of that chemical stuff. I wanted the pure, sugary rush. After that, my husband and I went to a festival that had fair food. Ooo, peach cobbler! Apple Cider! I saw little hearts in my eyes as I passed the pumpkin funnel cakes. I wanted some but didn’t dare. The peach cobbler tasted like there was a cup of sugar in it.

I asked my husband why I crave sugary things. He said it’s because sugar makes you want to have more sugar. Oh, wow.

Years ago, I happened upon an Ellen Show episode in which she said she was off sugar. I was like, what? Why? She went on to say that her wife, Portia, had been off sugar, and so she was getting off it, and she shared how difficult it was. I didn’t bother looking up the reasons why getting off sugar was good at that time. I kept on eating the goodies. Poor Ellen.

Fast forward to the present day.  I found this on Healthline.com about sugar:

A) Studies have found that sugar triggers the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens — the same area of the brain implicated in the response to addictive drugs.

B) Sugar can also cause the release of endogenous opioids in the brain, which leads to a rush that may cause future cravings.

C) Eating sugar regularly alters your brain to become tolerant, causing you to require more to get the same effect.

D) Therefore, if your diet is high in added sugar, reducing your added sugar intake may cause unpleasant symptoms.

Unpleasant symptoms??? Wait, what? I thought I’d take it slow and wean off it slowly so as not to give myself a nervous breakdown. I can give the excuse that Ellen Degeneres has a staff to support her during her withdrawal where I didn’t want to be alone, screaming into the air in the kitchen, “I CAN EAT JUST ONE PIECE OF CHOCOLATE. JUST ONE PIECE!”

If you think about it, getting sugar out of your life is tough. So, I did a little more digging and found that sugar is, yes, found in sweets, but also in processed meals, salad dressings, ketchup, cereal, and on and on! My head was spinning. I can’t get off cereal! I love cereal, especially Frosted Mini Wheats.

Alright, don’t panic. It’s going to be okay. We can eat sugar, just in moderation. We don’t have to exile it out of our lives and drive ourselves kooky. Just pay attention when you do have something with sugar in it, not to keep going for more. Be strong! You can do it.

According to the article “Seven Health Benefits of Cutting Down on Sugar,” cutting down can help us:

1. lose weight
2. avoid energy crashes
3. enjoy clearer, more youthful skin
4. reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes
5. maintain good dental health
6. reduce the risk of liver disease
7. protect our heart health

That’s all good stuff. Sign me up. So, I’ve started to be more mindful of what I’m craving. Wanting stuff with sugar in it is like sliding down a sweet, slippery soap. We get a taste, and then it’s scrounging around looking for that last piece of pie in the fridge. Been there. It’s going to be tough around the holidays, but instead of making multiple desserts, I’m only making one. That way, there won’t be leftovers whispering my name every time I open the refrigerator.

I thought I’d share this information today because it has affected me. I know I gained weight as a result of eating too many goodies. I thought exercising would combat any fat hanging around after eating sweets, but it didn’t. I don’t exercise with that much vigor to erase the extra calories from overindulging.

The answer was paying more attention to what I put in my mouth.  And — this is a big one for me — stop craving something sweet after I eat. Now, I leave the kitchen after cleaning up and get busy doing something else to prevent myself from giving in to those desires. After some time, the desire passes.

Once that habit is eradicated, I won’t want the sweets anymore. It just takes time for a habit to become a habit. There are too many opinions out there on how many days it takes to change a habit, so I go with doing the new behavior for at least a month. (I thought it was 21 days to change a habit, but then another expert said it’s 60 days. Ugh!)

It’s easy not to care, right? It’s easy not to pay attention because we are busy and have stressful lives. It’s easy not to have the time to read labels or be conscious eaters. However, I think it’s also easy for health issues to creep up, and then we get chained to medications that may cause unnecessary side effects.

Everything we need, Mother Nature provides for us. I’m going to use this thinking: if it doesn’t come from the earth in its whole form, I need to check the ingredients.

Food for thought. I hope you enjoyed this one. I wish you good health and happy days.

To balancing, not to sliding,

Francesca