Sugar : the diet parasite

I told myself it will not be an addiction…well

Growing up I never had a sweet tooth. I rarely ate ice cream, cookies, and candy.

I remember craving for more savory dishes and maybe have a dessert after. Most of the time I would not get anything.

Of course, I did taste different flavors of sweets from high school to college. Who has not? I like to experiment.

I drank carbonated sweet drinks.

After College, I managed to avoid sugar.

Until..

Sugar became a coping mechanism for stress and anxiety

Recently, with stress and life changes, I found myself craving for the most random sweets. I even started aiming for cakes which I did not care for. I ate them more often since I discovered some really good ones. To top all of those, I kept going for more ice cream and chocolate (no..not dark chocolate which has less sugar).

Some control

On the bright side, I no longer drank carbonated sweet drinks. The last time I had one my stomach turned into chaos. These drinks no longer tasted as good as before and they were too sweet.

I can understand why some still drink carbonated sweet drinks since they go well with fast food and can be a good source of caffeine (substitute when there is no coffee). Sometimes it helps the stomach release gas (based on my experience). However, I am no longer going to have those.

Not so fast. I have a new favorite drink. Iced chai tea latte. It contains about 33g of sugar. Now, I will give myself some credit. I do not drink it often.

Weight gain

I have always managed my weight. I no longer eat fast food. Great improvement.

Regardless, the recent yoyo diet I have been doing has not been effective. I ate anything that I had an appetite for and gave myself the excuse of “I will go to work out” or “the food will be better tomorrow”.

As a result, I ended up gaining weight.

Financial woes

Although I do have access to some substitutes to decrease my sugar addiction, the dedication to focus on a 100% satisfactory healthy diet becomes challenging due to how expensive it is to afford some groceries.

So, I just limit the portion size or try to focus on something else to get over the hunger.

The mind is too occupied with other things, so not focused on creating healthy dishes

I am an over thinker and I have difficulty figuring out which meals to eat. I am making an effort to improve that. I bought fruits.

Diabetes

I come from a family that is affected by diabetes. That occupies my mind sometimes. It makes me conscious of what not to eat. Thankfully, on my recent medical visit they did not find anything. That does not mean I am out.

I admire those who managed to cut sugar completely. I hope to be one of those some day.

I love food and want to feel some sort of balance.

Note: I am aware that some savory foods have sugar. However, this is about processed sugar and food that taste sweet.

I am measuring what I consume.