Sugar Struggle

Oh Hey, Friends!

In my previous post I mentioned I am a bikini competitor. I enjoy what the process has taught me, which is a fair bit on when to eat when, micro & macro nutrients, IIFYM versus meal plans, and really.. I just learned a fair bit about myself. One thing is for certain:

Give me some sugar.

To say that sugar isn't addictive would be complete and utter bullsh!t. Why else would it be in absolutely EVERY processed food we eat? Our minds eat that sh!t up like a sponge soaks up water - we feel like a million bucks for 0.0004 seconds, and then immediately our brain wants more. Sound familiar? Like, drugs? Yeah. It does.

Fake sugar. That might be even worse. Your tastebuds are tricked into thinking you are having what your body has been craving... to just be disappointed, and left craving sugar even more. True story: I've eaten a substitute sugar product to turn around and eat the real deal just moments later.

I've just entered what is dubbed the "offseason" - essentially, I am not preparing for a competition for the next little while, and I attempted what is called "reverse dieting" - slowly adding in calories and carbohydrates back into my diet as to not pile on a bunch of weight.

This offseason I've managed to keep a regular gym schedule, however, I've had a very difficult time with sugar.

Today I was going to attempt to go all day without having any refined sugar or fake sugar. This lasted until noon, when I had a chocolate peanut butter protein bar. I know damn well that to kick the cravings, I need to stay away from sugar and it's fake counterpart for at least 3 days.

So, my goal is to write about this every three days until I've kicked sugar in the junk. I believe in living a happy, healthy, balanced lifestyle. I love the competition process. I think treats every once in a while are just fine, however, because sugar is in so much of what is readily available to us for consumption, it becomes overload. Our healthy meals end up drowning in sauces and condiments full of sugar. In our low fat options, fat is replaced with sugar. We even cram more fruits than we could ever eat in one sitting into a blender, add juice from even more fruit, and drink that with expectations that this is healthy. In moderation, of course fruits are healthy. Once you've juiced it, you're losing the "meat" of the fruit that makes you full, and you end up taking in far more calories and sugar than necessary.

Anyone else on the sugar train? If so, how do you deal with the cravings? If you've kicked sugar, what helped you in the process?

Looking forward to this sweet, sweet dessert... err, discussion.

Robyn