taming the beast. day 4

I signed up for the 21 Day Challenge to kick what I thought was an addiction to sugar.

Basically, you eat no added sugar (and glucose, sucrose, HFCS, maple syrup, agave, stevia, honey, and the plethoria of fake sugars) or booze. I thought it would be really hard. I thought I'd be jonesing. I thought I was addicted. I'm not. 

I found out that sugar is a really bad habit for me. Now maybe this would have been different two years ago when I was chugging quarts of Coke everyday.

You can eat any naturally occurring sugar. For example dried fruit and fresh fruit are okay. Juice is also okay as long as you don't drink more than one glass a day. And plain yogurt with natural sugars, instead of added sugars. 

Today is day four. Avoiding all sugars I'm finding, is difficult. It's hidden everywhere. There's apparently a film called "Sugar, The Bitter Truth". I guess I should watch it. But it's an hour and a half. Do I really want to know that much? I tend to stay away from films like that. I haven't seen Supersize Me, or Knife and Fork, or any of the other tell-all food films.

Anyway, day one was Saturday. Not problematic at all but doing this requires a lot of reading. I bought apple cider, I thought it fit into the juice category. All it is is pressed apples. Nice break from water. Saturday I had it hot.

Day 2 was harder. We did the Volkksport walk. I tend to walk with my mouth open, and get dehydrated. Gum and hard candy solves that. I had my hand in the buckets at the check point several times. Only once did I take a mini-Milk Way. It was delicious.  Bonnie had brought Kind bars, but they are glued together with honey. These had chocolate also. She also brought natural fruit roll ups. Couldn't eat those either. By the time we reached Friday's I was hungry! Quickly I realized that I couldn't get my Jack Daniels burger. The sauce has sugar. I also didn't eat most of the roll. 

Yesterday was Day 3. Fresh fruit is becoming a big part of my life. I need to buy more. Banana for breakfast, apple for snack. Maybe oranges for hikes. I should also get grapes or berries or something. Part of what I'm starting to miss is the hand mouth function. Nibble while in online class.  For example, I've gotten into the habit of eating Skittles before class as a snack. Yesterday I had trail mix. Late last night I finished the quart of cider. But I might not be the only one drinking it. 

Today is day 4. It's early. I had a banana with breakfast and have an apple with me. I'm going for lunch at the Quadrant with a friend. They have great flavored waters. They take a 5 gallon jug and drop the fruit of the day in it. Perfect.

Happy Diwali to all my Hindu friends. The sweets at the celebration are divine. Please eat extra for me!