Struggling with Sugar Addiction

I think I've mentioned somewhere on this blog before that I have a serious sweet tooth. I blame it on my husband. When I was a kid, I wasn't allowed to eat many sweets. Eating dessert wasn't a regular thing in our house so as a young adult I didn't eat much sugar. 

It all changed when I met my new boyfriend. He was (and still is) a foodie but I could pop open a can of cold green beans and call it dinner. When we started dating he was determined to "teach me how to eat right." His teaching included eating sweets with every meal - even breakfast!

Eventually we married and one unintended consequence of that union resulted in an insatiable appetite for sugar. Although I'm not a diabetic, I have terrible nerve pain in my feet and my gut tells me sugar is the culprit. I know I desperately need to go sugar free but I'm nervous about it; now I can't picture life without it. 

As most of us know by now, sugar is in almost everything. In fact, there's a great movie produced by Katie Couric and Laurie David, called Fed Up, which really opened my eyes to America's sugar problem. It explains how our obsession and addiction to sugar started. I watched it on Netflix and  highly recommend it if you're interested in the subject. 

As I age, another unintended consequence is weight gain. It wasn't a problem for me until recently, when my doctors made a medication change. Some of the side effects include weight gain and boy oh boy . . . my weight gain is that of a small child.

For the past four months I've been wearing workout gear and it ain't because I'm working out. It's because the only thing I can squeeze into was spandex. What a depressing summer! Although I live at the beach and have a pool in my backyard I've been so uncomfortable in my own skin I haven't wanted to reveal that much of myself to the world.

So I'm going to do it. I'm committing now to reducing my sugar intake slowly over the rest of this year. Slowly because sugar is so addictive I would probably ruin my family relationships otherwise. Again, I blame it on my husband (a lovable Arab) who only wanted to teach his girl about his culture and the sweet life. 

Click here to read about the Arab influence on the history of sugar - it's fascinating!

Now You: Do you struggle with sugar addiction? Can you give me any suggestions to make this easier?