I hate the thought of being addicted to something. It’s part of the reason why I’m constantly challenging myself to give up on the things I rely on so much – the internet, twitter, my iphone etc. I prefer to think I’m in complete control of my body, my cravings, and that I have complete freedom in choosing what I want to do. I don’t like to think I”m “trapped” into doing things.

So I gave up sugar.

It became apparent to me last week just how addicted I was when I would come to work, make a coffee (with one sugar) then instantly begin craving biscuits, chocolates etc. I could have eaten an entire packet of biscuits if I wanted, and I’m pretty sure on some days I came close. That’s disgusting.

This was pretty much my method of dealing with sugar

By “giving it up” I’m not going to extremes. Some of my friends have managed to cut out it out in a huge way, giving up sucrose (or fructose, I can’t remember which). It seemed like a lot of hard work, but they said they’ve never felt better, and I’m envious. But I’m also not dedicated enough in that I will analyse the ingredients list of the foods I eat. Instead, I’ve just quit adding sugar to my coffee/tea, I’m avoiding soft drink and I’m staying away from any sweet snacks. That means no chocolate, no biscuits…anything. I’ve also cut down generally on a lot of processed foods altogether, and C and I have been working on cutting out pasta/breads/white rice out of our diets. It’s all been under the microscope lately.

I only started cutting out sugar yesterday, and last night the headache began. I still have it this morning – a nice dull ache at the front of my head. According to the article I was reading yesterday, this is typical of sugar withdrawal. They recommend not going cold turkey and just tapering off, but I’ve (possibly stupidly) chosen to ignore that advice. I intend on letting myself have the odd treat, but I don’t want to be eating something sweet every day like I was. Maybe just a little bit once a week, something along those lines. Whatever symptoms come my way I know I can fight them off. Right now there’s fire in my belly and I intend on coming out with yet another victory.

I’m also cutting down on how much I was drinking too. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t an alcoholic by any means, and certainly not a binge drinker. But I had greatly increased the frequency of going “out on the town”, and my fitness suffered as a result. If I’m training for a triathlon, trying to get into the police service and trying to cut out sugar from my diet, then alcohol needs to be included in this as well. Thus it’s going to be a dry few weeks for me, and hopefully my waist line will see some improvements too.

I just hope my symptoms of withdrawal don’t last for up to 4 weeks like the article suggests. That would be bloody painful.