Getting Off the Ferris Wheel

Since I stopped drinking over 4 months ago, a lot of great things have happened to my body: I am sleeping better, my anxiety has been greatly reduced, my depression is non-existent, I am getting off of my heartburn meds, and I feel genuinely well most of the time.

But - one negative thing has happened since I stopped drinking, and I am not happy about it - my sugar intake has greatly increased.

This is not an uncommon issue among those who quit drinking. If you google "sugar cravings after quitting drinking" you'll see what I mean - I am not in the minority with this problem. I have read different things about it, some doctors say it's because there is a lot of sugar in alcohol (particularly wine and beer) and alcoholic mixes and so your body starts craving that missing sugar when you stop drinking. Others say it's more of a psychological thing, that you are transferring one addiction for another.

I kinda think it's a combination of the two. Probably in my first 30 days alcohol-free my body was craving the missing sugar from what I was once drinking, but beyond that first month it became a transfer of "addiction" for me. Instead of having an after-dinner drink, I'd have a piece of cake or some ice cream. I had replaced booze with sugary treats. And then once that becomes your regular habit, hello weight-gain!

Now I am finding myself in a bad loop with sugar, a ferris wheel of cravings if you will. Because sugar works a lot like other drugs (yes, I just called sugar a drug) - you have a little, your body responds with a dopamine rush, you're happy/satisfied for a bit, then your sugar levels drop, you crave more, you have a little more, and the cycle continues. And the unfortunate thing is that sugar is in so much of what we consume every single day! So even if you aren't eating cake and ice cream on the regular, if you are consuming anything processed, you are consuming sugar. Or if it says it's sugar-free, that can sometimes be worse - because that means it's likely full of other chemicals, including artificial sweetener, which has been shown to be just as dangerous (if not more) than sugar because it causes the same chemical triggers in your body that sugar does.

It's time for me to get off the ferris wheel. Much like with where I was with drinking 4+ months ago, I am a point now with sugar where I realize I am doing something unhealthy, it's negatively impacting my health, and I need to take action. So where do I begin?

A friend in one of my online alcohol-free groups suggested the Bright Lines Eating 14-day challenge. This challenge not only provides you with a fairly strict eating plan, but it also offers you daily videos and blog posts to help explain the psychology behind eating healthy and sticking with a healthy diet. It is exactly what I need at this juncture of my life - I need help designing a menu of healthy, non-processed foods, but I also need a psychological reboot to help me change my mindset about consuming sugar (just as This Naked Mind by Annie Grace helped me change my mindset about consuming alcohol). Because like with anything in life, if your head isn't in it, it ain't gonna work.

I mentioned a "strict" diet earlier with this 14-day challenge. I say "strict" because it has some rules, but "strict" doesn't mean starving or disgusting. It just means there are specific things you need to do (or not do) to ensure you are eating healthy, and at first it will be hard (because I am accustomed to eating anything in front of me), but in the end I know this is what will help get me on the right path to eating well and treating my body with the respect it deserves. It's fine and all that I stopped drinking alcohol, but if I keep loading my body with junk food, I will continue to be living a very unhealthy life, booze or no booze.

The rules, or the "bright lines", of this 14-day challenge are as follows: 1) measure all food, 2) if it has sugar or artificial sweetener in the first three ingredients, don't eat it, 3) if it has flour in the first three ingredients, don't eat it, and 4) consume only three meals a day, no in between snacking.

My challenge officially starts tomorrow with access to the daily videos and blogs and other supportive material, but I am starting the meal plan today. No time like the present, right?

I am an hour and fifteen minutes into my new meal plan and so far the hardest thing was drinking my coffee black. I am a person who likes her coffee to taste like candy and I just, for the first time ever in my life, drank 10 ounces of black coffee. 😐This is how committed I am to this challenge! It was tough but I got through it. I think I can do this for 2 weeks. I think I can I think I can...

So what do I hope to achieve from this 14-day challenge? Mainly I'd like to get a handle on what I am eating. As I said before I am in a bad loop with sugar and I just need to make it stop. I am also working on the stuff going on in my head, too - why I replaced alcohol with sugar, what I can do to break that cycle of addiction, and how I can put my energy into something healthy (instead of turning to booze or cake to make me feel happy). I'd also like to get back to a healthy weight - because as it turns out, when you eat sweets all the time, your pants stop fitting and the numbers on the scale jump up. 😌

I'll continue to share how I am doing as this challenge progresses over the next 2 weeks. Stay tuned for more thoughts from the sugar-free me...I have a feeling shit is about to get real.