Published October 11, 2010

And Sugar Makes Me Happy

by Helen M. Ryan

If you saw my last post on backing off on sugar for a bit, you will see I am a "sugarholic."
So I went seven days with no added sugars (OK, there was some sugar in my peanut butter. In fact, it's hard to find peanut butter without sugars. Even my Skippy Naturals has sugar in it. What the...? Only Laura Scudder's so far does not. But I digress.)

On the seventh day I had a Java Chip Light from Starbucks. Light is good, right? Except for one thing: It triggered my sugar craving big time because it does contain sugar. I was surprised. Seven days with no sugar, a little bit of sugar and then - bam!

I held my ground and didn't give in to the urge to eat everything sugar and every carb in sight but it was very difficult. Which goes to show me that, although I believe in everything in moderation, sugar is a trigger for me to keep eating sugary foods. That is sad because I love sugar. And chocolate.

I stayed on track until Saturday when I went to Disneyland. What, really, is Disneyland without fudge? Exactly. So I had fudge at Disneyland. Then, being very tired, bought some black licorice jelly beans and more fudge for the way home. And then some Starbust at the gas station.

Needless to say, once again that small amount of sugar triggered me to crave more sugar. In the past I have been able to eat sugar in moderation with no triggers to eat more (I lost 80 pounds eating like that). However, now apparently is not the time.

Now that I know that I can make better, and healthier, choices. One day at a time.

Onward and forward.

What about you? Does sugar increase your craving for more sugar? Or do you have another "trigger food?"