Sugar

I have a long list of reasons why I don't want to eat sugar. Problem is, sometimes when I'm craving it, I don't remember why I don't want to eat it, or I only remember one or two reasons and I'm able to dismiss it and decide it's not that important. By writing them down, hopefully it will help me to choose better.

• Sugar makes me irritable. I've seen this more times than I can count. Problem is, it's not immediate. It's usually the next day when I can't stop myself from yelling at my kids that it becomes important to me.
• Sugar makes me tired. Again, not immediate. I can have a little sugar, but my usual consumption makes me super tired, which contributes to the grumpies.
• Sugar gives me a wet-towel-on-head feeling. I can think so much more clearly when I haven't been eating sugar. Not an immediate consequence.
• Sugar makes my stomach feel kind of blah. This one is immediate. It's fairly subtle, and I only recognize it because of my stomach woes I've had in the past few years, but it's there. This is one I always dismiss.
• Sugar is bad for my waistline. It's full of a lot of empty calories.
• When I eat sweets, I'm swapping healthy foods with high calorie treats. I'll eat several cookies instead of a good-for-my-body snack.
• There's a lot of buzz about cancer cells feeding on sugar. I don't know if it's true, but there's way too  much cancer in my family to dismiss it.

What are your reasons to eat healthier? Do you identify with any on my list?

Addiction

I recently heard the definition of an addiction that the LDS addiction recovery program uses: "anything that you turn to instead of Jesus Christ."

I have learned in the past few years that I am addicted to sweets and I turn to them when I'm tired, upset, stressed, sad, happy, etc.

Hearing this definition of an addiction was like a light for me. I turn to sugar instead of Jesus Christ. I can choose to turn to Christ instead.

Several times since then when I've caught myself craving something sweet and headed that way, I've been able to stop myself and define what I'm feeling: tired, grumpy, etc. and then say a little prayer: "Right now I feel _____. Please help me to feel [happy, calm, etc.]. Help me to not turn to sweets right now."

It's been an amazing blessing to all of a sudden feel okay, to not have those cravings.