I never thought I’d be happy to see 200 lbs., but of course now I am seeing it from the other side! That is, I went from 207 to 200 - 7 lbs. down! Only ?? more to go!

The first week of being off sugar, I was home for almost a week around Thanksgiving, and I lost 6 pounds. But going back to work, I gained 3 of them back. I just felt like eating all the time at work. But now it is better; I’m not hungry all the time any more.

I even went through quite the temptation - someone sent me a box of chocolates. Luckily there were only 10 in the box. I was ok for a few days, but then started eating them. They were truffles - mmmmm. But at least, I did not have any other sweets, and once the chocolates were gone, I did not have any more sweets either. Yes! I am trying to keep my goal in mind and not get too distracted by short term stuff.

So I eventually got rid of the 3 pounds that had crept back, plus one more, and now I’m at 200.

Speaking of sugar addiction, I just read a great post by Aaaron Wall about how sugar addiction affects your whole life.

He captures so well the struggle that those of us addicted to sugar go through, trying to find balance in our lives while we are under the pernicious influence of the sugar drug. The whole thing is a vicious circle - he explains it a lot better than I can.

The post also mentions a book called The Sugar Addict’s Total Recovery Program. I had not heard of this book before, but it is by Kathleen DesMaisons Ph.D., the author of the book Potatoes Not Prozac that I mentioned earlier.

I ordered the book and will let you know how it is. I have a feeling it will really help me. I am on my 10th day without sugar now, by the way. The irritability was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. But I feel constantly hungry and am really missing sweets. So far I have been strong, but I hope I don’t cave in and have any. It’s like being an alcoholic, one drink (one piece of candy) is enough to do me in.

Anyway, I am going to have to re-read Aaron’s post several more times - there is a lot there.

A friend recently told me about the book, Potatoes Not Prozac, by Kathleen DeMaisons. I was so glad she recommended it. It has been very helpful to me.

The author has done a lot of work with addicted people (drug addictions, alcoholism), and she has found a diet that is helpful not just to alcoholics and drug addicts, but also to people who are addicted to sugar or sensitive to sugar. I am definitely one of those people who are sensitive/addicted to sugar.

The book does a great job of explaining what goes on in your body when you eat sugar, why you crave it, etc. It explains the role of diet in your levels of serotonin and beta-endorphin, two chemicals which influence your mood and sense of well-being. It all made so much sense.

The diet itself is pretty much a diet of healthy eating, but she breaks it down into stages and also has some helpful suggestions. One of the suggestions that I have already been following is to have some protein with every meal and to have a carbohydrate snack before bed. This has really helped my moods already.

However, her actual first step of eating only 3 meals a day (and the snack before bed) has been way too hard for me. I am used to snacking and grazing all day long, and I think my sugar addiction has a lot to do with it.

Anyway, without going into too many details about the book, I decided to quit sugar “cold turkey”. I have been struggling along for weeks with the diet in the book, but have not been able to do the gradual process. I have quit sugar, cold turkey, before, so I know I can do it. It just takes about 3 weeks of misery until my body adjusts.

Those first 3 weeks are hell, though. So I want to get started now, before my son comes home for Christmas. I don’t want to be crabby and irritable when he is here.

So it’s now day 2 for me without sugar. I have found this time, that the trick is to expect to feel bad, and not do anything about it. I am so used to medicating myself with food whenever I feel bad. But there is nothing that is going to make me feel better except to eat sugar, which I am not going to do. Actually, if I do nothing, the bad feelings usually pass for a while.

I think I can do this.