Sugar is not your friend January Challenge

cmriverside

Sugar is not my friend, but I've been playing with it too much lately.

Needing to reel my moderation back in... it's been slipping away. I've been indulging way too much. Quite frankly, I've been in a mood for several days. TOM is nearing and I've had a brutal month with PMS (which I NEVER do) and I haven't given two diddly craps what I ate.

Just one of those things I suppose. Tomorrow is a new day, I am going to work on a new attitude. I need to remember sugar is not my friend. My extra pudgy belly is reaffirming that.

Lori, could it be that along with these issues comes the news of deployment for DH? I know for me I get physically ill when I have stress...........my body knows before my mind does.

{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}} Jeannie

Oh, no, Lori. I hadn't heard your husband was being deployed. I pray for his safety and the physical and mental health of your entire family.

You will get a grip on the food when you can. :flowerforyou:

I just read this really good article on MSN called "Eating for a Better Mood", and it is interesting that (like we knew already) sugar makes you feel less happy. It is an excellent article, not just about sugar but about eating for mood improvement.

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/depression/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100217528&page=1

lotusfromthemud

Sugar is not my friend, but I've been playing with it too much lately.

Needing to reel my moderation back in... it's been slipping away. I've been indulging way too much. Quite frankly, I've been in a mood for several days. TOM is nearing and I've had a brutal month with PMS (which I NEVER do) and I haven't given two diddly craps what I ate.

Just one of those things I suppose. Tomorrow is a new day, I am going to work on a new attitude. I need to remember sugar is not my friend. My extra pudgy belly is reaffirming that.

Lori, could it be that along with these issues comes the news of deployment for DH? I know for me I get physically ill when I have stress...........my body knows before my mind does.

{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}} Jeannie

Oh, no, Lori. I hadn't heard your husband was being deployed. I pray for his safety and the physical and mental health of your entire family.

You will get a grip on the food when you can. :flowerforyou:

Oh, Lori. . .Cheryl said it better than I could.

Thoughts and prayers for you and all of the families and servicemen/women.:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

72lori

Sugar is not my friend, but I've been playing with it too much lately.

Needing to reel my moderation back in... it's been slipping away. I've been indulging way too much. Quite frankly, I've been in a mood for several days. TOM is nearing and I've had a brutal month with PMS (which I NEVER do) and I haven't given two diddly craps what I ate.

Just one of those things I suppose. Tomorrow is a new day, I am going to work on a new attitude. I need to remember sugar is not my friend. My extra pudgy belly is reaffirming that.

Lori, could it be that along with these issues comes the news of deployment for DH? I know for me I get physically ill when I have stress...........my body knows before my mind does.

{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}} Jeannie

Oh, no, Lori. I hadn't heard your husband was being deployed. I pray for his safety and the physical and mental health of your entire family.

You will get a grip on the food when you can. :flowerforyou:

Oh, Lori. . .Cheryl said it better than I could.

Thoughts and prayers for you and all of the families and servicemen/women.:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Thanks guys. We have a little time til he leaves, not til the end of summer. It's just 'the news' that stinks, granted I don't want to find out 2 weeks before he has to leave, but when you know so far in advance, it sort of weighs in your mind. We aren't new to deployments. This will be the 4th one- 6 months at a time, usually with 2-3 months of training in some other state before he actually ships out. DH and I have only been married for 5.5 years. He's been gone well over half of that time.

I knew what he did when I married him, I can't say I expected it to be quite like this... but how do you ever know and it wouldn't have changed anything anyway. Of course I joke about it, I was a single mom with 2 kids. I got remarried. His 2 kids came to live with us full time. Now I'm a single mom with 4 kids most of the time. I joke and say that would only happen to me!

We have done it before, we shall do it again. It's a lot on me when he's gone, but I don't work, so I can't complain too much. 4 kids keep my busy. It is easier now, the first time he left the kids were 5, 7, 8 and 9- I had to take them everywhere with me, none of them were old enough to stay alone and they weren't really much help with things. Each time has gotten easier as the kids have gotten older. They can stay home alone, they can help with things. They can have converstations now. It's not as bad. Granted, the older they have gotten, the demands on me as taxi mom have increased 10 fold, but I'm glad they are involved in things.

It makes me sad that DH misses things. You can't help but think ahead- he'll miss volleyball for DD, he'll miss soccer season, he'll miss Thanksgiving and Christams. It means I'll have to make the drive from FL to PA over Christmas alone again. You just think of all the stuff you have to do solo. Sometimes I feel like he's missing the kids growing up, I can only imagine how it feels to him.

tamarads

Lori... you can do this, as you've said, you've done it before. It never gets easy, period, but you can do it! Are you involved with other military spouses in your area? Even that once a month spouses function at the club or coffee some morning with the spouses will help get you through, if I've learned one thing as a military spouse it is that you have to learn to ask for help, everyone is or has been in your place and knows what you are going through. It can be very hard to ask for help, but each time it gets easier! Hang in there and know that you have your friends here, new and old to help you along the way!!

cmriverside

Is it February yet?

Seems there is nothing to eat anymore :laugh: now that I also gave up Trail Mix. Grrr. Now I have to COOK. :grumble:

lotusfromthemud

Hard day today. Stressed. Grey weather. Cranky, and PMSing.

But, still strong. . .despite the fact that my new Clean Eating mag. arrived, complete with a recipe for grain free almond butter chocolate chip cookies. Wanted. Didn't. Why, Clean Eating magazine? Why?:sad:


I'm in a food rut, too Cheryl. If I see another boneless, skinless chicken breast, I may scream.

But, yeah. . .it is almost February. Almost.

Stay strong, sisters. :flowerforyou:

SatelliteCrush80

The evil b!tches (:laugh: )at work put out the homemade vanilla ice cream cake with strawberry topping left over from yesterday. Really, really, REALLY wanted. But didn't. Not yesterday, and not today either. More because I knew it was too close to gym/running time and it wouldn't sit well, than willpower...but whatever works.

And no dark chocolate sugar free pudding today either. Go me.

cmriverside

Oh, BTW V - the no sugar thing is a way of life with me now - has been for a really long time (except holidays and vacation.) Maybe I will go to Vegas in February so I can have some dessert.


But the trail mix / nuts are a real problem I need to get a handle on in my life. I don't know why I can't stop when I start. Must figure that out.

So next month. Still no sugar for me. But you guys don't have to completely quit! That's just my obsessive A.D.D. tendencies that I have to control. Exercise helps tremendously. I've had much better control of my food this month since I started the workouts again.

Brain chemicals.

lotusfromthemud

Oh, BTW V - the no sugar thing is a way of life with me now - has been for a really long time (except holidays and vacation.) Maybe I will go to Vegas in February so I can have some dessert.


But the trail mix / nuts are a real problem I need to get a handle on in my life. I don't know why I can't stop when I start. Must figure that out.

So next month. Still no sugar for me. But you guys don't have to completely quit! That's just my obsessive A.D.D. tendencies that I have to control. Exercise helps tremendously. I've had much better control of my food this month since I started the workouts again.

Brain chemicals.

I just read an article about "abstainers" vs. "moderators". Apparently, some people do better when they just quit something entirely. Other people, have to allow themselves a bit in moderation.

I'm pretty sure I'm an abstainer. I have a few trigger foods that I've learned I just can't bring into the house in anything other than a single serve package. Or, I should say that whatever package, however large, becomes a single-serve package. Any sugar is a trigger food for me, as are potato chips, and wasabi rice crackers (that's a recent discovery I made) and grains in general. I have others, but realizing that sugar is just going to make me want more sugar is helping me avoid it. Today I looked at the recipe for the cookies, and said "yep, they look really good. and you'd eat them all." Essentially, I take the serving size and multiply it by how many servings it makes. 100 calories a cookie doesn't look like much, but the recipe makes 24 cookies, and I'd eat them all (if not today, then probably by this time tomorrow) and that's 2400 calories. Which, no one can afford.

So, pretty much off sugar forever, but trying every two weeks for now. Workouts definitely help me, they balance out the bad chemicals. Progress!

72lori

Oh, BTW V - the no sugar thing is a way of life with me now - has been for a really long time (except holidays and vacation.) Maybe I will go to Vegas in February so I can have some dessert.


But the trail mix / nuts are a real problem I need to get a handle on in my life. I don't know why I can't stop when I start. Must figure that out.

So next month. Still no sugar for me. But you guys don't have to completely quit! That's just my obsessive A.D.D. tendencies that I have to control. Exercise helps tremendously. I've had much better control of my food this month since I started the workouts again.

Brain chemicals.

I just read an article about "abstainers" vs. "moderators". Apparently, some people do better when they just quit something entirely. Other people, have to allow themselves a bit in moderation.

I'm pretty sure I'm an abstainer. I have a few trigger foods that I've learned I just can't bring into the house in anything other than a single serve package. Or, I should say that whatever package, however large, becomes a single-serve package. Any sugar is a trigger food for me, as are potato chips, and wasabi rice crackers (that's a recent discovery I made) and grains in general. I have others, but realizing that sugar is just going to make me want more sugar is helping me avoid it. Today I looked at the recipe for the cookies, and said "yep, they look really good. and you'd eat them all." Essentially, I take the serving size and multiply it by how many servings it makes. 100 calories a cookie doesn't look like much, but the recipe makes 24 cookies, and I'd eat them all (if not today, then probably by this time tomorrow) and that's 2400 calories. Which, no one can afford.

So, pretty much off sugar forever, but trying every two weeks for now. Workouts definitely help me, they balance out the bad chemicals. Progress!

I can't decide if I'm an abstainer or a moderation kinda girl. When I abstain, I'm fine. It's when I allow a little after having none that I fall apart. Moderation can get sketchy for me too, it's easy for it to get out of hand. Maybe I need a definition for myself of what moderation means in my world.

cmriverside

Oh, BTW V - the no sugar thing is a way of life with me now - has been for a really long time (except holidays and vacation.) Maybe I will go to Vegas in February so I can have some dessert.


But the trail mix / nuts are a real problem I need to get a handle on in my life. I don't know why I can't stop when I start. Must figure that out.

So next month. Still no sugar for me. But you guys don't have to completely quit! That's just my obsessive A.D.D. tendencies that I have to control. Exercise helps tremendously. I've had much better control of my food this month since I started the workouts again.

Brain chemicals.

I just read an article about "abstainers" vs. "moderators". Apparently, some people do better when they just quit something entirely. Other people, have to allow themselves a bit in moderation.

I'm pretty sure I'm an abstainer. I have a few trigger foods that I've learned I just can't bring into the house in anything other than a single serve package. Or, I should say that whatever package, however large, becomes a single-serve package. Any sugar is a trigger food for me, as are potato chips, and wasabi rice crackers (that's a recent discovery I made) and grains in general. I have others, but realizing that sugar is just going to make me want more sugar is helping me avoid it. Today I looked at the recipe for the cookies, and said "yep, they look really good. and you'd eat them all." Essentially, I take the serving size and multiply it by how many servings it makes. 100 calories a cookie doesn't look like much, but the recipe makes 24 cookies, and I'd eat them all (if not today, then probably by this time tomorrow) and that's 2400 calories. Which, no one can afford.

So, pretty much off sugar forever, but trying every two weeks for now. Workouts definitely help me, they balance out the bad chemicals. Progress!

I can't decide if I'm an abstainer or a moderation kinda girl. When I abstain, I'm fine. It's when I allow a little after having none that I fall apart. Moderation can get sketchy for me too, it's easy for it to get out of hand. Maybe I need a definition for myself of what moderation means in my world.

I equate abstinance with grief. For instance:

My real-life friend recently started MFP. She and I have a lot of foodie discussions, and she has been great for me as well as I have been for her.
Yesterday she told me about some rice flour crackers she bought because she was 'missing' crackers. I remember that.

I told her she was doing what I used to do - "Bargaining" (they're bad, but look! 35 to a serving! ) Which means I eat the entire box of 200. So a serving is 200.
Then I would eat the entire package and just not log them - "Denial"
And be incredibly pissed at myself for doing it: and angrier that I HAD to stop eating crackers - "Anger"
Then I would stay away from the grocery stores and refuse to go out to a restaurant - where there might be white bread or potatoes or _ _ _ _ _ _ _(fill in your vice). I'd be lonely and miserable. - "Depression"
Finally I decided that the only way - FOR ME - was to take added sugar (and most grains) out of the equation. Nothing else works. Sadly. I still have the desire. But I've reached the "Acceptance" stage.

It is written in grief counseling that we go through these stages in no particular order, and we drift in and out of the different stages when trying to work through our grief.

I have lost a lifelong friend. Sugar. I loved it, lived with it, it gave me great pleasure, I associate it with some of the best times in my life. It is to be expected that I argued and fought and denied and was angry and tried to "moderate" my consumption.

But in the end, I had to pretty much just say, "I'm divorcing Ben and Jerry." And then I had to deal with it.



________________________________________________________

kaytbognar

Cheryl, you break my heart.

I feel the same way about a LOT of things, added sugar isn't my biggest loss--added SALT, I think, was my dearest partner in crime to date--but moving through the stages is something I find myself doing (and, sadly, moving backwards through them as I regress from time to time) as I really take the time to think about changing my lifestyle, how I want to make it stick and really WORK this time around.


Lori, I know what you mean about moderation getting sketchy. I always think that I can do it, to only have a little, to just try it, just taste it, and then walk away. It works for a little while, and then it snowballs and I have a little more, try just another spoonful, taste one more bite of whatever just to make sure i'll remember...and so on. The hardest thing is accepting that I might just have to be an abstainer and not a moderator, because I don't WANT to have to live forever without sugar or movie popcorn or potato chips or alcohol or WHIPPED CREAM. I guess it's all part of the learning curve

Still sugar free, totally free of the call of the whipped cream. Pretty proud of that. Been moderating the craving for a fat slice of chocolate cake we've got in the fridge with a spoonful of cocoa in my coffee. It works, though it is admittedly NOT a sweet, fluffy, decadent, icing covered delight (as my besty would say, NOT the same piece of cake!) but, it is chocolately and a passable substitute.

lotusfromthemud

So, I just had almond flour protein pancakes with blueberries and a teaspoon of pure maple syrup. Can't decide how I feel about this.

I've succeeded in staying away from refined sugar, which I'm trying to make my focus now.

I've been thinking so much about the moderator vs. abstainer issue that I blogged about it.

Yeah, the stages thing makes perfect sense, Cheryl. I think I spent the last year in denial, big time. And avoidance. Avoiding the scale, avoiding logging, avoiding the truth of my pants getting tighter, etc.

thawley

Great Post! I just joined and I love it so far! My goal is to lose 45 lbs and I have lost 3.8 so far...lots more to go! Sweets are an issue for me time to time so I enjoyed reeding your posts...I have been doing a lot of reading from a website I really like its called www.naturalnews.com lots of good articles on lots of interesting health issues....Love to hear more about peoples struggles and accomplishments with their weight loss goals....It gives me hope!

Thanks!
Trish

72lori

*hanging my head in shame* Yesterday the enemy called my name and I didn't think twice and ran and played- over and over and over- right up until bedtime. I'm not even sure if it was fun, makes you wonder why you keep playing if you aren't really enjoying it. Not a proud day, but one I'm fessing up to all the same.

On a higher note. I feel the PMS that was raging starting to subside, I feel my mood has lifted, I feel stronger mentally, I feel ready to battle again. Hey you sugar. Bring it!

cmriverside

*hanging my head in shame* Yesterday the enemy called my name and I didn't think twice and ran and played- over and over and over- right up until bedtime. I'm not even sure if it was fun, makes you wonder why you keep playing if you aren't really enjoying it. Not a proud day, but one I'm fessing up to all the same.

On a higher note. I feel the PMS that was raging starting to subside, I feel my mood has lifted, I feel stronger mentally, I feel ready to battle again. Hey you sugar. Bring it!

Lori,

It's really alright. Honest. Rome wasn't built in a day. I had two beers last night. Not proud of that, as I am trying to stay away from alcohol too - but I didn't start a thread on alcohol, so I figured if I had to choose between a Snickers and a two beers, at least the two beers would take a couple hours to consume, and leave me feeling relaxed. The Snickers? Gone in two minutes and only a distant bad memory immediately after.

Although, I hafta say, I've never had a headache the next day after I ate a Snickers. . .

cmriverside

Great Post! I just joined and I love it so far! My goal is to lose 45 lbs and I have lost 3.8 so far...lots more to go! Sweets are an issue for me time to time so I enjoyed reeding your posts...I have been doing a lot of reading from a website I really like its called www.naturalnews.com lots of good articles on lots of interesting health issues....Love to hear more about peoples struggles and accomplishments with their weight loss goals....It gives me hope!

Thanks!
Trish

Welcome, Trish! Thanks for the website suggestion.

Hope to see you here fighting the good fight! You can do this. We are all here for you.

~Cheryl

lotusfromthemud

*hanging my head in shame* Yesterday the enemy called my name and I didn't think twice and ran and played- over and over and over- right up until bedtime. I'm not even sure if it was fun, makes you wonder why you keep playing if you aren't really enjoying it. Not a proud day, but one I'm fessing up to all the same.

On a higher note. I feel the PMS that was raging starting to subside, I feel my mood has lifted, I feel stronger mentally, I feel ready to battle again. Hey you sugar. Bring it!

Lori,

It's really alright. Honest. Rome wasn't built in a day. I had two beers last night. Not proud of that, as I am trying to stay away from alcohol too - but I didn't start a thread on alcohol, so I figured if I had to choose between a Snickers and a two beers, at least the two beers would take a couple hours to consume, and leave me feeling relaxed. The Snickers? Gone in two minutes and only a distant bad memory immediately after.

Although, I hafta say, I've never had a headache the next day after I ate a Snickers. . .

Interestingly, I have.

I get a sugar/refined carb hangover that feels very similar to an alcohol one: low energy, nauseau, headache, general hit-by-a-truck sluggishness. The worst culprit: a pint of ice cream for dinner (although white bread and pasta come in a close second). Which, I am proud to say (ice cream for dinner) is a behavior I haven't indulged in over five months. Hooray me!

cmriverside

*hanging my head in shame* Yesterday the enemy called my name and I didn't think twice and ran and played- over and over and over- right up until bedtime. I'm not even sure if it was fun, makes you wonder why you keep playing if you aren't really enjoying it. Not a proud day, but one I'm fessing up to all the same.

On a higher note. I feel the PMS that was raging starting to subside, I feel my mood has lifted, I feel stronger mentally, I feel ready to battle again. Hey you sugar. Bring it!

Lori,

It's really alright. Honest. Rome wasn't built in a day. I had two beers last night. Not proud of that, as I am trying to stay away from alcohol too - but I didn't start a thread on alcohol, so I figured if I had to choose between a Snickers and a two beers, at least the two beers would take a couple hours to consume, and leave me feeling relaxed. The Snickers? Gone in two minutes and only a distant bad memory immediately after.

Although, I hafta say, I've never had a headache the next day after I ate a Snickers. . .

Interestingly, I have.

I get a sugar/refined carb hangover that feels very similar to an alcohol one: low energy, nauseau, headache, general hit-by-a-truck sluggishness. The worst culprit: a pint of ice cream for dinner (although white bread and pasta come in a close second). Which, I am proud to say (ice cream for dinner) is a behavior I haven't indulged in over five months. Hooray me!

If I eat too much refined sugar or grains, I get that feeling. Same "hangover" - - but do you have that happen with just small amounts? Like one Snickers (or equivalent)?

pettmybunny

*hanging my head in shame* Yesterday the enemy called my name and I didn't think twice and ran and played- over and over and over- right up until bedtime. I'm not even sure if it was fun, makes you wonder why you keep playing if you aren't really enjoying it. Not a proud day, but one I'm fessing up to all the same.

On a higher note. I feel the PMS that was raging starting to subside, I feel my mood has lifted, I feel stronger mentally, I feel ready to battle again. Hey you sugar. Bring it!

Lori,

It's really alright. Honest. Rome wasn't built in a day. I had two beers last night. Not proud of that, as I am trying to stay away from alcohol too - but I didn't start a thread on alcohol, so I figured if I had to choose between a Snickers and a two beers, at least the two beers would take a couple hours to consume, and leave me feeling relaxed. The Snickers? Gone in two minutes and only a distant bad memory immediately after.

Although, I hafta say, I've never had a headache the next day after I ate a Snickers. . .

Interestingly, I have.

I get a sugar/refined carb hangover that feels very similar to an alcohol one: low energy, nauseau, headache, general hit-by-a-truck sluggishness. The worst culprit: a pint of ice cream for dinner (although white bread and pasta come in a close second). Which, I am proud to say (ice cream for dinner) is a behavior I haven't indulged in over five months. Hooray me!

Me too, although mine isn't because of the sugar. Those pesky milk allergies. Anything with nougat, also milk chocolate will get me. I have to say though, that this challenge has been easier than I thought it would be, and I probably have the allergies to thank. I would have succumbed many many times if I had still been able to eat chocolate without consequence. Or maybe I should say immediate consequence. Because my big bootay is definately a consequence, but it isn't enough to make me put away the treats usually. Headaches, however are enough for me to avoid the stuff!