So I'm on day 4. Day 1 was hard. Day 2 was scary. Today I'm getting my energy back and the headaches aren't as bad. I'm hoping by the weekend that I'll be back to full strength-or at least look like less of a recovering drug addict. Sylvia (our Store Manager) has been worried about me-she doesn't know what do to. Her exact words were: "I haven't heard you laugh at all today-this is the most sick you've ever been!!" I think if I start really exercising it will help me gain some more energy.
But about the pudding. I miss chocolate. Not just for the sugar, I just love chocolate. I've always liked my chocolate very, very dark like 80-90% cacao, but I don't dare risk any sugar. A good portion of the fake sugars and sugar alcohol products feed yeast just as much as sugar (ie Splenda, Asparatame, etc.) because they are derived from sugar, so I have to avoid those, and really I don't want any of the stuff anyway cause they have other health side effects. I read up on stevia so I decided to give it a try. The greek yogurt I've been eating for breakfast has the most wonderfully creamy texture like a rich mousse-my first thought when I tried it was that it would make delicious pudding. So today I dumped a bunch of cocoa powder in a bowl with the greek yogurt and added a couple of packets of truvia. In my mind, it is delicious-Jon thinks that the lack of sugar in my diet may be screwing up my perception of taste because he thinks it is disgusting. It's very cocoa tasting, which I actually really like.
The other thing that is hard is I can't have any vinegars. At first glance that is no big deal, but no vinegar wipes out salad dressing, mayonaise, bbq sauce, a lot of mustards, etc. So no salad dressing on my salad. I've found that if I put avocado on my salads and mush it in and eat it all with my hands it's really good. I was never a huge salad dressing person anyway, but not being able to have it at all has been weird.
Overall, I feel much better and since last Saturday, I have lost 5 pounds! That's not what this is about, but I'm sure not complaining about that side effect! Hopefully this will be just the shift I need in life to help me to be healthy and get me through my insatiable need for sweets. I know back in High School when I wasn't eating a whole lot of anything I didn't crave sweets hardly at all because I didn't eat them hardly at all-and that was driven by pride an vanity. Hopefully now that I have good reasons I can get back on the right track and not feel like I'm depriving myself so much when I'm around them. It will be for health reasons, which is ultimately so much more important!
Speaking of High School, and this is just embarassing, that last episode of Glee this week made me cry a little. I don't know if it's because of what she said about your relationship with food changing so much when your pregnant or just the song she sang, but I was bawling....I'm such a baby now which I continue to blame on the breastfeeding hormones, but if you didn't see the episode, it struck home. (sniff). Awww food, someday we will figure out our complicated relationship...
Showing posts with label sugar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sugar. Show all posts
4/28/10
4/27/10
{my infirmities}: candida
So I have candida. That's the prettier term for a yeast infection. And that's not all, I also have a Urinary Tract Infection. So, basically, my crotch hurts...a lot. I know this may be TMI, and I apologize, but at the same time I wanted to share some of my candida research because it freaks me out.
I am a sugar addict. I used to use that term jokingly until I found myself needing sugar to get by. Literally. Not just "ooo, a treat might be nice" but honestly needing it to get through the day. Because I spend my days on my feet trying to be a shiny happy person to everyone, sugar has become a staple in my diet. Cookies, cupcakes, cinnamon bears, soda and such has gone from a once in a while treat to a daily need to get by. And that isn't all. With further investigation of the frozen meals I was eating daily, the pre-packaged dinners I cooked once in awhile, my breakfast cereal-EVERYTHING was loaded with sugar. I've paid close attention to calories, fat, and even fiber, but never really my sugar intake. It was both shocking and alarming to see how bad everything really is.
Sugar feeds yeast. Literally feeds yeast. Like, the infection I have spreading all over my body is fed by sugar. So much that it causes your body to crave and need sugar. EW!!! All of the symptoms of candida make so much sense, and my insatiable need for sweets suddenly started to make sense! I am feeding an infection that is spreading through my body!!! GROSS!!!
So yesterday I spent the day at Costco, reading ingredient label after ingredient label trying to figure out what I can and cannot eat. All of the "candida cleansing" diets I read are largely meat and veggie based, no grains (carbs=sugar), no fruit, no beans, etc. Given the word of wisdom, a meat based diet is not for me, so I am incorporating grains, but only whole grains. I am giving up sugar for 21 days. This is my own decision-I figure it takes 21 days to change a habit and if I know that it's only for 21 days I think I can stick to it. After that I am hoping that my infection will be gone, and I can begin incorporating some sweets back into my diet.
Yesterday was really hard. Giving up sugar has been compared to giving up any drug. I am currently going through withdrawl-headaches, bodyaches and severe cravings. It's been weird so far and I'm only one day in. This morning I woke up shaking and with a pounding, pounding headache. Food helped, it's just bizarre to think how much I have come to rely on sugar as my get-up-and-go.
One thing I can say, giving up sweets to fight off an infection is far more important to me than any diet. Every time I tried to diet and give all this stuff up, I failed. I see more now why. My health and not having a vicious infection spread through my body is way more important than any diet has ever been. I have a feeling I'm going to need to blog about this a lot because it's been really hard so far, and that was just yesterday. It's embarassing to be so addicted to something and not even realize it until my body started to fall apart...
I am a sugar addict. I used to use that term jokingly until I found myself needing sugar to get by. Literally. Not just "ooo, a treat might be nice" but honestly needing it to get through the day. Because I spend my days on my feet trying to be a shiny happy person to everyone, sugar has become a staple in my diet. Cookies, cupcakes, cinnamon bears, soda and such has gone from a once in a while treat to a daily need to get by. And that isn't all. With further investigation of the frozen meals I was eating daily, the pre-packaged dinners I cooked once in awhile, my breakfast cereal-EVERYTHING was loaded with sugar. I've paid close attention to calories, fat, and even fiber, but never really my sugar intake. It was both shocking and alarming to see how bad everything really is.
Sugar feeds yeast. Literally feeds yeast. Like, the infection I have spreading all over my body is fed by sugar. So much that it causes your body to crave and need sugar. EW!!! All of the symptoms of candida make so much sense, and my insatiable need for sweets suddenly started to make sense! I am feeding an infection that is spreading through my body!!! GROSS!!!
So yesterday I spent the day at Costco, reading ingredient label after ingredient label trying to figure out what I can and cannot eat. All of the "candida cleansing" diets I read are largely meat and veggie based, no grains (carbs=sugar), no fruit, no beans, etc. Given the word of wisdom, a meat based diet is not for me, so I am incorporating grains, but only whole grains. I am giving up sugar for 21 days. This is my own decision-I figure it takes 21 days to change a habit and if I know that it's only for 21 days I think I can stick to it. After that I am hoping that my infection will be gone, and I can begin incorporating some sweets back into my diet.
Yesterday was really hard. Giving up sugar has been compared to giving up any drug. I am currently going through withdrawl-headaches, bodyaches and severe cravings. It's been weird so far and I'm only one day in. This morning I woke up shaking and with a pounding, pounding headache. Food helped, it's just bizarre to think how much I have come to rely on sugar as my get-up-and-go.
One thing I can say, giving up sweets to fight off an infection is far more important to me than any diet. Every time I tried to diet and give all this stuff up, I failed. I see more now why. My health and not having a vicious infection spread through my body is way more important than any diet has ever been. I have a feeling I'm going to need to blog about this a lot because it's been really hard so far, and that was just yesterday. It's embarassing to be so addicted to something and not even realize it until my body started to fall apart...
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