Sugar-free Mama

This Mama never thought she'd see the day she'd go sugar-free. (Yeah, yeah, I know that some blonde former playboy model who miraculously cured her child from autism and snagged the funniest man alive already blogged about this. But who cares about her, when you can read about me?)

Three weeks ago now, I took the sugar-free plunge. Why would any sane woman give up chocolate? Well, first of all, it's a bit of a stretch for me to be classed in the "sane" category, and secondly, desperate times call for desperate measures. I've been just sooooo tired. Like, toothpicks-required-to-keep-the-eyes-open tired. And really, that kind of tired doesn't mix so well with a chatterbox 6-year-old and a newly mobile 11-month-old.

I've been to the doctors' offices and tried a bunch of stuff, and still, soooo tired. I needed more options, and I turned my trusty source for help: the self-help aisle of Chapters of course! I'm now following the advice written in the book, perfectly titled I might add, Tired - so tired! It's authored by William Crook, the doctor who kicked up a storm of controversy with his book The Yeast Connection.

My doctor practically guffawed when I showed him the book on my last visit. But guess what? This sugar-free life is really good. I do still mourn the loss of chocolate (and, mmm, licorice goodies), but they seem like a small sacrifice for the better good of my emotional and physical health. I have far more energy, don't get light-headed in between meals like I used to, and my stomach feels nicely satisfied.

I always thought it would be too hard to go sugar-free. And the first week was hard, but not anymore. In the interest of sharing how easy it can actually be, I'm going to list a typical day's food.

Breakfast

1 small bowl of Hemp hearts (most natural health food stores sell them) and Brown rice milk

Coffee (nope, couldn't give it up!) with some 5% cream

Morning Snack

2 brown rice cakes with tomato and onion slices

Handful of almonds

Lunch

Usually left-overs from the night before

Sometimes a boiled egg with salad

Afternoon snack

Apple slices with macadamia nut butter

Dinner

Lean meat like chicken breast cooked on the BBQ

Grilled veggies

Before this new sugar-free-diet thing, I was always looking for a snack after dinner. But I feel very satisfied and don't seem to crave one now. (Plus, I brush my teeth after dinner to discourage it.)

If you want to give it a try, I'd wholly encourage it. It could never hurt to cut out refined sugars from your diet and you might just grow to like it as I have.