Originally published August 1, 2015
Sugar is back in my diet. Not like before, though. Eight weeks ago (well, nine for me, as I started a week before my comrades), I joined a small crew of close friends in Sarah Wilson‘s “I Quit Sugar Challenge” 8-week program. I did it for competitive reasons, mostly bragging rights. I wanted to live up to my boast that I could cut out sugar, “standing on my head.” Verily, I succeeded, and now I’m mad that my awareness has been raised in the process. (Not really mad; actually very much enlightened and healthier.) So yes, I’m reintroducing sugar, and thus sweets, back into my lifestyle, though I have a very different attitude about how much of it I even care to consume.
Tomorrow marks the last day of this round of the official program that started the first week of June. And as long a list of sweets as I compiled to celebrate getting off this crazy roller-coaster, I’ve just finished grocery shopping, and the only item from that list that actually made it into my shopping basket is a dutch apple pie. Having bought it, it’s sat in my cabinet all night, and I’ve not felt an overwhelming urge to cut into it yet. In fact, of the cookies I brought home from work – it’s a mercy thing; there were hundreds of them, and it seemed no one at work was touching them… what a waste – one plate went to my uncle and cousin, and the rest have sat untouched for two days in my bread bin.
It helps, as I’ve pointed out before, that while I enjoy occasional sweets and have a few favorites on which I’ve binged more than once, I haven’t been big on sweet treats for nearly a decade now. Maybe part of the reason these treats don’t tempt me now is that they weren’t a big threat to my diet before the challenge. This program, however, has opened my eyes and cleansed my palate in a way that has impacted the way I view and crave – or don’t crave – these things. So here’s to Sarah Wilson and “I Quit Sugar.” And here’s to resuming sugar in a way that I now control rather than have it control me.