Alright TBH it’s more of a 4.5 pack but that title is sexy click bait, ammirite??
Okay now that’s I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s talk sweet tooth.
I have a sweet tooth. Actually, I think most of my teeth are of the sweet variety. I’ve fought it and I’ve fed it. I’ve faked it and I’ve forced it. I’ve denied it and lost a ton of weight. I’ve denied it and blown up like a balloon. I’ve indulged it and crashed into a deep dark energy-less despair. I’ve simply “gone with it” and watched my health deteriorate. I’ve cut it off completely and lost my period.
FINALLY, I looked that evil sugar in the eye, and I said to it, “Sugar, there’s only room for one of us in this town.” We both drew our guns and took three steps back…
I kid I kid I kid. That didn’t happen. (I had you going though, didn’t I?) I didn’t do that. I finally gave into my body. I embraced that inflammatory, addictive and publicly shamed ingredient that my body asked for so often. And I didn’t die. I didn’t get diabetes. Actually, my blood sugar levels stabilized. My cycle became more regular. And I shit you not, my body went from kinda-fit to #strong.
So below is the story of how I went from using and abusing
sugar to embracing that sweet tooth to feed my muscles, my hormones, and my
brain.
Sugar and I have had a turbulent relationship to say the least. It is the Liam to my Miley. The Rachel to my Ross.
I’m a child of the 90s. Growing up, I idolized Britney Spears, I wept over the death of my Tamagotchi, and I way overconsumed sugary beverages and foods. It didn’t outwardly impact my health, plus it was how everyone else was eating. But of course, I was developing an addiction.
Fast forward to the 2000’s. Britney Spears no longer has hair on her head and instead of shaking Tamagotchi pets, we’re chatting up cute boys on AIM. The thin ideal during this time was REAL, as was low-fat “diet” foods, artificial sweeteners, and “slimming” supplements. Desperately trying to look like Nicole Richie, I dug into these diet foods with reckless abandonment. Instead of eating a tablespoon of real sugar, I ate endless amounts of sugar shaped plastic (aka Splenda). There were maybe a few vegetables mixed in there, but it was mostly plastic.
It was in college when I really began to use and abuse sugar. Enter vodka. Everyone knows that alcohol breaks down into sugar, right? And what did I mix with that sugar? More sugar. And what did I eat in the morning to deal with the hangover? Sugar. And then in the afternoon when my blood sugar was crashing into a deep dark despair? Yep, more sugar. Some other carbs too. Sugar transportation carbs.
After a few weeks of feeling terrible, I’d give it up and eat nothing but carrots and protein shakes. But sugar was my lover, and you know what happens when you spend time away from your lover… I’d fall right back into the arms of my boo, with even more vigor and passion than before.
Needless to say, this left me feeling like crap. My weight fluctuated +/-30lbs at a time, which is a lot when you’re 5’ 4”. When I entered the workforce, I was swinging from one diet to the next, feeling bloated, lethargic, and terrible about myself.
When C and I started eating healthier after his hospital scare with Crohn’s (see that story here) we decided to attempt to give up sugar for good. We bought a sugar-detox program and I followed that thing to a T. It promised me that at the end of the 8-week program, I would be free of all my sugar cravings. For 8-weeks I ate ZERO sugar (with the exception of a select varieties of berries). I ate a lot of fat and a lot of protein. I lost a lot of weight. At first, I felt ill. Ill as in the flu, not the #hahstag. Then I felt great. Like a rockstar. Tons of energy, sleeping great. I felt supercharged.
But that’s where things really took a turn for the worse. After the first few weeks, my period screeched to a halt. My moods were up and down. My acne was out of control. And worst of all, after the 8-weeks ended, I still craved sugar! But now I had associated serious feelings of guilt with it and tied moral value to its consumption. I had 100% transferred my obsessive control over by body size to obsessive control over my sugar consumption. Still disordered eating. Just a different form of disordered eating.
This time around, it didn’t take me 10 years to acknowledge my problem. With the help of some reflection and some thoughtful discussions with C, I decided to introduce sugar back into my diet.
I shut out all voices that were trying to convince me of the evils of sugar and tuned into my body instead. Rather than fighting my sweet tooth with all my might and then binging on an entire package of Oreos, I made my own sweets where I could control the amount and the type of sugar used. I got creative with some of my favorite recipes, adding fats and reducing carbs to create treats that weren’t harmful to my energy levels but fulfilled my sweet cravings.
Basically, I just ate a like sane normal person who ate the things they wanted to eat (what a revolutionary concept, right?!)
And then slowly my body changed. I noticed I had way more motivation to get to the gym. And at the gym, I had way more energy. My muscles grew in a way that they’ve never grown before (I’m not sure if it was from the added carbs or the increased energy). For the first time in my entire life, I started to see definition in my abs and in my thighs. Amazingly, my period came back and for the first time EVER it became somewhat regular. My acne faded (though let’s be real, it still has a mind of its own) and I began sleeping better.
All because I started listening to my body instead of listening to the internet.
Friends, if you get one takeaway from this blog, let it be this: You need to listen to your body. It is not trying to fool you. But I see why we don’t trust our bodies because almost everything else is! Sneaky marketing, hidden salts and sugars, empty promises, mindless influencers… you gotta protect yourself from the from the junk.
But your body? It knows what it needs and what makes it perform it’s best. It’s pretty simple man, if you want to feel the best you’ve ever felt, follow these diet rules:
- Think about what you want
- Make it for yourself
- Eat it.
- Smile n feel satisfied 😊
And if you have any questions beyond that, feel free to shoot me a message or comment below!