A SUGAR FREE ME!

I love sugar! Matter of fact, I consider myself a chocoholic. Salted caramel, Cadbury chocolate at Easter time. It is sooo tasty. I never went a day without having at least one bite of a sweet treat and even wondered how my mom could eat the same candy bar for a week when mine was gone in five minutes.  The problem is that now sugar does not like me.

The problem: Sugar does not like me.

I have always been a healthy eater, but my diet always included sugar and chocolate. After all, sugar can be found in pretty much all processed foods.

About a year ago, sugar started negatively affecting me but I didn’t know it yet. I started having joint pain in my back, wrists and thumbs. The back of my throat would get itchy at certain times of the day and I could not figure out why.

About 9 months ago, I discovered Vanilla Chai Tea from a local donut shop and it tasted amazing! It became my treat one to two times a week. Then, I discovered that you could buy the powder, and make it at home myself for a lot less money.  I went from drinking them once or twice a week, to once or twice a day not paying attention to how much sugar was in just one drink nevermind two. There is 25g of sugar in one drink! I was drinking up to 50g of sugar and that didn’t even include the sugars that were found in my food each day. :0

Remember the joint and back pain and itchy throat? Well, it got much worse. I started developing other symptoms like bumps on my elbows. Two times in one month, my core body temperature went so low that I got hypothermic! At this point, I knew I had to do something but I still didn’t know what was causing all of this. I researched all of my symptoms and it led me to sugar. I consulted my chiropractor and naturopath and we decided I needed to COMPLETELY cut out sugar. Now, this is huge for me! HUGE! As I stated before, I LOVE chocolate! But I knew I had to try it.

Within a week of cutting out sugar, the bumps on my elbows started to disappear, and shortly after that my joint and back pain started to go away. My itchy throat was better and my core temperature was stable.

After about a month, I started feeling good but I really craved sugar. I decided that I would get a Vanilla Chai Tea from the local donut shop, after all, I was feeling better and maybe my body just needed to detoxify itself. Within an hour, I had an itchy throat, and the next day, my back and joint pain had returned. 

I know what your thinking: Having the Chai Tea and the symptoms returning, must have stopped me from eating sugar from that moment on. Well, it didn’t. I was still convinced that sugar could be included in my diet. I waited another couple weeks and tried again and again and again. Each time, I ended up with the same results.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that I could not have sugar in my diet at all. I’m not just talking Vanilla Chai Tea or chocolate. I’m talking anything containing sugar or its substitutes. One day I was eating craisins and my throat started getting itchy. I hadn’t even thought to check the ingredients as I thought it was just cranberries. Sure enough, the ingredients read cranberries and sugar.

It has been 6 months since I have had sugar and I feel amazing! The cravings that I used to get, went away after about two months of cutting out sugar, and I don’t even get tempted to eat sweets at parties anymore.

I have been able to add pure maple syrup, real 100% honey, and fruits as sweeteners that I can eat without reacting to them.

I don’t plan on adding sugar back into my diet EVER!

As a result, my family has become much more conscious about the amount of sugar they consume each day. Although they don’t have any allergies or sensitivity to sugar, it’s hard to say what adverse effects sugar is having on their bodies and we don’t even know it.

Sugar tastes amazing, but I would rather feel amazing!

For ways you can cut out sugar and feel great read my post Kick Sugar To The Curb

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