Sunday, January 17, 2016

Day 13 - Normal Plus

The two week mark of the Whole 30 is quickly approaching and I, to be honest, that was not easy!  My digestive track is finally back to normal after a two-week roller coaster, I'm sleeping better, and I feel like I have more energy.

I would image that how difficult the first two weeks are would vary dramatically based on an individual's habits and lifestyle leading up to the program.  For me, I definitely underestimated my body's addiction to sugar.  Before starting the Whole 30 I mistakenly believed that I didn't really eat a lot of sugar on a daily basis.  I was so wrong, so very, very wrong.  I was actually feeding my body sugar on a very consistent and regular basis mostly without thinking about or unknowingly.  Sugar finds it's way into what seems like everything!

My old daily routine included coffee for breakfast, a sandwich from a variety of sandwich shops around the office for lunch, and dinner at home, and then a snack around 8-9pm.  Where's the sugar?  I wasn't typically eating baked goods, I opted away from the giant cookie at lunch, and my wife and I made fairly healthy dinners at home, what gives?  Here's a list of foods that I would consume regularly: coffee creamer, deli meat, diet soda, chewing gum, bottled pasta sauce, etc. and guess what, sugar, or sugar substitute (which may actually be worse), is added to all of them.  I'd wake up in the morning and have my first hit within 20 minutes of waking up.  I'd follow it up with a double for lunch with the deli meat and Diet Coke.  Our dinners however were fairly varied and didn't always contain any added sugar, but my snack at night often did!

I still have cravings around 9 o'clock on more nights than not.  What I have realized is that I'm not actually hungry at this time of night.  One night last week I gave in to these "hunger pangs" and had a bit of leftover vegetables in a tomato sauce we had made.  I ate some, but still felt "hungry" so I had some more, and a bit more, until I was nearing the "uncomfortably full" stage and yet still felt "hungry".  I have realized now that it wasn't my body that was hungry, it was my mind, and my mind wasn't hungry for food really.  What it was really telling me was it had been about 8 hours since my last hit of sugar.  Believe it or not, that is what it was.  When I think back and take an inventory of all the crap that I would eat at night nothing really satisfied that false hunger feeling like chocolate, a piece of cake, a slice of pie, etc.  My body wasn't hungry, my brain wanted it's sugar fix.

I'm off sugar now and I feel liberated!  Hello, my name is David, and I am a sugar addict, I have been sober for 13 days.  I quit smoking about a year ago.  I had smoked for about 15 years or so, which was quickly approaching half of my life here on earth, and decided to quit, again.  Smoking is a brain addiction.  Your brain gets rewired to think that it needs the nicotine to survive and when it doesn't get it, the reactions are incredibly emotional and sometime violent and painful.  At least they were for me.  Quitting was the hardest thing I've ever done.  The only time I have ever felt craving attacks was after I quit smoking, and last week.

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