I'm sweet enough already

People in the comments to the last post asked a few questions about my sugarfreeness, and I thought I'd answer them in a post instead of writing the world's longest comment.

Profgrrrl asked:

How does it feel to be sugar free after a month? Aside from the shock of eating it again, I mean.

(And Ianqui and Jana had similar questions.)

The main benefit I have noticed is that healthy food like fruit and vegetables, grains, etc, all taste so much better than I have ever remembered them tasting. I think sugary food was dulling my tastebuds. Right now I seriously cannot think of any yummier foods than brown rice, broccoli, grated carrots (not all together) and as a sweet snack, a mango or some papaya.

Over the last few weeks I've hardly ever felt the desire to snack on junkfood, or even to snack much at all. Back in my sugar-frenzied days :) I used to bounce from one snack to the next, always thinking about what I would eat next. Lately, I eat a small breakfast, have an apple around 11 o'clock, a sandwich for lunch, a substantial snack (another sandwich, a kebab, noodles, tuna on crackers, or similar) around 3:30 or so, and then dinner in the early evening. I often don't feel like eating after dinner, and I hardly ever think about food in between each of these. (I'm not denying myself food apart from sugar, though, so if I do feel like eating an entire bowl of nachos with three types of cheese, I go for it. It just doesn't happen very often).

I think I have finally de-coupled the psychological associations of food with certain events, too. It used to be that I always bought a chocolate bar when I went shopping, I always bought sweets at the movies, I pigged out on chocolate biscuits every week at our Monday department afternoon teas, and I always ate some chocolate or biscuits when watching TV in the evening. The hardest times during the early parts of last month were these, but now, I can do all of these things without thinking about snacking, so I'll only eat something if I'm actually hungry.

I think maybe sometimes I forget to eat when I am hungry too, which could be a problem. When I first stopped eating sugar in December, I lost three kilos in the first two weeks, then with my relapse in New Zealand, I put it all back on again (which was fine, because I'm not overweight, and this wasn't a weight-loss thing). Now I'm once more three kilos below my former weight, and I don't want to lose much more. I might have to start eating bigger meals.

Finally, I think my energy levels are a lot stabler when I'm not eating sugar. I used to always get very sleepy in the early afternoon, perk up mid-afternoon (which was when I usually ate some cake or chocolate) and get sleepy again around 4:30. I haven't noticed this happening at all in the last few weeks.

Rageyone asked:

Why did you decide to celebrate now? Are you reintroducing sugar back into your diet?

I was only ever planning to trial this for a month and see what effects it had. But seeing as they were all positive, and seeing that I really didn't enjoy that dessert last night (and still feel crappy for it), I might just stay sugar-free-ish. I'm not going to refuse dessert at other people's houses or pass up free chocolate, but I think I might continue not to eat sugar as a regular part of my day, and keep avoiding the high-sugar versions of things like yoghurts, muesli bars and cereals.

Ianqui asked:

Are you planning on splurging once a month or whatever, but generally staying away from sugar?

That's not a bad idea. Right now, the thought of anything sugary makes me feel like throwing up, and I can't imagine wanting to splurge again even in a month, but in the unlikely situation that I start to think an ice cream sundae or piece of cheesecake is a good idea, I could make it a once a fortnight/once a month-type deal.

But really? I wasn't joking when I said I thought I had poisoned myself last night. I had hot flushes, jitteriness, couldn't concentrate on anything, and my stomach did back-flips all night long. Worst of all, the whole sundae/brownies deal tasted terrible (and I know it wasn't that I screwed up the brownie recipe, because Geekman loved them.)

I think I'll have no trouble staying off sugar for at least another month after this.