Sugar IS A Drug: A Mémoire

I've had a headache for two days straight and after four cups of coffee, three advil, a break from all things emitting light and Alex rubbing my head for thirty minutes straight, it finally ceased.
I haven’t had a headache this bad in months and I know the reason why.

The timing of the month is part of the reason, but it is that combined with the fact that I went overboard with sugar during the month of December. After doing Whole 30 earlier last year I noticed a difference when sugar wasn’t a part of my diet. Less headaches, more energy and no more stomach problems. Even after that entire month of Whole30 I consumed a very, small amount of sugar here and there, but nowhere near the amounts that I consumed last month. Here’s what I learned:

Sugar is a drug and a shitty one at that. During December I started off small in the sugar consumption. It started with a cookie, a couple homemade marshmallows, a sugar filled latte from Starbucks, but then it turned into a full on spree of MUST CONSUME ALL THINGS SUGAR. I found myself reaching for a mini piece of chocolate and while I was in mid chew I was already opening the second, the third and the fourth. Cookies, pie, eggnog, a tablespoon of sugar in my coffee, you name it. If it had sugar in it, it was in my mouth. By the end of the month I realized what was happening...

Towards the end of the month I was eating sugar when I wasn’t even craving it! And I was mindlessly eating way too much of it. Now this may not seem like a big deal to some people, but it is to me. Sugar has always had the propensity to make me sick to my stomach and yet here I was, shoveling sugar into my gullet by the tablespoons. So earlier this week, when the headache started, I knew I had to get some control back because my body was suffering the consequences.

So starting today, I’m pledging to not consume any sugar for at least two weeks. I need to start small here since the addiction (strong word, I know – but that’s how it feels!) was heavy in December. After I can make it two weeks, I’ll add two more.

If you’re wondering why I’m posting about this here, it’s because my accountability for not consuming sugar on the first of the year was deplorable and I need a larger accountability. Hello, blog! I love you for that!