Sugar and Spice and everything.......

Want to know my deepest, darkest, secret?
When I was little, I use to hide cake mixes under my bed. True story! I'd mix them up and eat the batter. Nothing in my house was safe, if it had sugar. My mom couldn't keep a tub of whipped cream in the fridge without it slowly disappearing. In 2nd-5th grade, I remember a cool trend that fed right into my addiction...Kool-Aid + Sugar in a baggy! I'm pretty sure this was where Fun Dips originated from! Clearly I wasn't alone.



I've read (in the book,Potatoes not Prozac) that this is part of my dna. It is said that if alcoholism runs in your family, you will likely have issues with either alcohol or sugar. My dad was an alcoholic and it ran in his family's blood line. And my mom has adored sugar for as long as I can remember.

I, like most Americans grew up on processed foods. Wonder Bread, Kraft Mac n Cheese, Hamburger Helper, and all the other wonderful convenience foods gave promise to the new generation of working moms who wanted to provide healthy dinners in a pinch. Little did our parents know that these foods were packed full of chemicals and sugars that would give rise to an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and a whole gamut of health issues ours and their generation endures today.

I feel a bit hypocritical getting preachy about sugar, given my personal love for it. After all, you will occasionally find me eating ice cream or a candy bar, and you will definitely catch me enjoying a Mojito or a glass of red... or 3 on the weekend .

So what's changed? I have!! In a big way. As with everything I do, I move at the pace of a turtle. I truly believe slow and steady wins the race. Over the years, I have slowly replaced my sugary cereals for low sugar ones, and finally, oatmeal and eggs with no sugar at all. I have replaced flavored yogurts for plain, and jelly on my toast for almond butter.I have greatly reduced the amount of processed foods I consume. I eat brown, not white. I scrutinize the ingredients of everything I buy. Today I hit another BIG milestone! I replaced my beloved flavored coffee creamers with half and half and Stevia. That is huge for me because I was consuming a whopping 32 grams of sugar with my 2-3 cups of coffee a day. WOW!!

After reading and learning the havoc sugar plays on our metabolism and our systems as a whole, I am more motivated than ever to rid my everyday life of this poison and save it for the deliberate treats I choose to eat or drink.

Will I ever be 100% sugar free? Probably not. But I am aware, educated, and steadily improving my health. If sugar is saved for occasional treats and not a large part of my every meal, to say that will greatly improve my health is an understatement. So I continue my journey and try to rely less on sugar and more on spice to flavor my foods.

Read~Learn~Improve~Always

Please note: #1. Most artificial sweeteners are no better than sugars. As a matter a fact, some are worse. I am still learning about Stevia, but it is recommended in the Eat Clean book if you must have a sweetener, as the safest option to date, derived from a plant. And #2. The natural sugar in fruit is not only loaded with nutrients, but also fiber which prevents it from spiking your insulin and therefore does not reek the havoc that refined sugars do. While this holds true for an orange, it may not for orange juice (unless you squeezed it yourself).