Carbs and Sugar- My TOXIC Affair!
By Brittany Turner
At the very beginning of this year, I knew it was time to end my toxic affair with sugar and carbohydrates. After reading about the terrible effects they have on our body (especially sugary drinks such as Coke-a-Cola like that picture to the left), I decided January 1st would be the day when I would no longer be a victim of "Coke" and "Carb" addictions.
I told my self, "cottage cheese causing carbs" and "sweet devilish candy" would be a thing of the past and no longer a part of my future.
This ALL seemed like such a terrific idea in this blonde head of mine... that is, until January 2nd came around. Yes, I know, it had ONLY been ONE day and the only thing I could think about was getting my luscious lips around a juicy sweet piece of dove milk chocolate, or M&Ms or ANYTHING that started with the letter "S" and ended in "ugar". It was ALL I could think about. How could I have let carbs and sugar become such a HUGE part of my life??
Not to mention, if I stared at my baby Yorkie puppy (Locket) for long enough, she began to transform into a moving milky way! (Sorry Locket)
Needless to say, I knew that ending my sweet affair with sugar and carbs would not be nearly as easy as I'd hoped.
So, I did a little research to see if my addictive behavior was common, or if "mentally" turning my dog into a barking candy bar meant I should cancel my afternoon plans, and head straight to the loony bin.
5 news papers, 7 magazine articles, and over 25 Google searches later, I was relieved to discover that an "addiction" to sugar and carbohydrates was very common. Sorry Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, I won't be meeting you in a crazy home any time soon!
In an article on Foxnews.com, a scientist named Dr Simon Thornily actually claims that carbohydrates and Sugar are "Just as addicting as Cigarettes." I was SHOCKED to read this! I instantly threw down the 'carb-a-licious' chocolate croissant from Starbucks (mid-bite) that I was LITERALLY eating as I read his article.
Dr Thornily went on to say, “Heavily processed carbohydrates such as cornflakes, sweets and croissants quickly raise the amount of sugar in your blood. “This rush of sugar stimulates the same areas of the brain that are involved with addiction to nicotine and other drugs."
Terrifying right??!!
After reading his entire article on carbs/ cigarettes, It secretly made me feel a little better to know that my passion for carbs and sugar was common.
I instantly realized though, that if I was having a hard time cutting down on the carbs, there HAD to be HUNDREDS and THOUSANDS of other people who must be just as "addicted" to them as I am!
Think about this for a second, YOU may be addicted to carbs too and not even know it! Do you get sugary cravings throughout the day and night? Do YOU choose pie and ice cream over fruit and vegetables? Try completely quitting ALL sugar and carbs for just one week and you'll know your answer instantly! I bet it will be MUCH harder than you expect.
So, this post is now dedicated to all my readers out there that (like me) are having a shameful toxic affair with carbohydrates and don't know how to quit!
GIRLS, it's time to put down the chocolate, and pick up some protein powder because this is going to be a LONG ride. If we're going to cut down the carbs, transforming our diets from sugar to celery will take a LOT of dedication and strength.
The question is, will this addiction ever let us be free? Will we EVER be able to walk past a candy store with out melting down in front of it like the wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz?
Can we ever earn the self-control to choose the yellow brick road made of heathy CORN, or will our self- confidence be SQUISHED by a house filled with lolli-pops and candy canes flattening us like the wicked witch? Will we ever be able to control our bad habits after living with them for our entire lives?
YES! I KNOW WE CAN!
I don't know about you, but I DEFINITELY don't like the idea of being addicted to ANYTHING. I've never let anyone or anything have control over my life before, I was definitely not about to start now!
Sorry Sugar, take your sweet hands off of this blonde, because I'm officially putting this sweet affair to an end!
Grab your tissues Carbohydrates, because WE'RE OVER!
So THIS is where my carb cutting, sugar stopping journey began, and THIS is how I did it!
Now that my taste buds and I were officially packing up and leaving candy land for good, I needed to come up with a plan and some goals/rules for myself to avoid a "Carby" relapse like last time. I was determined to keep my baby Yorkie from becoming a barking Milky Way in my eyes ever again.
Sugar, you can KISS MY NEW SUGAR-FREE BUTT and go give someone else cavities!
Like any break up, I knew this new HUGE change in my life was not going to be easy, but would be worth it!
-BRITTANY'S NEW GOALS/RULES-
Starting off slowly was KEY to sticking to my plan. Obviously, quitting cold turkey didn't work the first time around, so I needed to SLOWLY start replacing my sugary habits with healthier foods.
The first thing I did was literally sat down and wrote a list of rules for myself.
Weeks 1-2
- Soda- ONLY on weekends! I used to LOVE soda as I said before, so this was going to be tough to quit. Every time I began to crave a coke or any other sugary drink, I would drink 2 glasses of water. This kept me hydrated and quenched the thirst that my body would have gotten by drinking the soda.
- Restaurants- My "Pass the bread" rule. My family liked to eat out a lot, and of course most restaurants put bread on the table to keep you happy while you're waiting for your food, but one of my eating out rules is to "Pass the bread" and wait for what I actually ordered to come.
- Dessert at Restaurants- Usually I would be tempted to get a sugar and carb RICH dessert like some delicious ice cream or a slice of cake. My new dessert rule was if I HAD to get dessert, I would order a bowl of fresh fruit to satisfy the after dinner sweet tooth I had gotten used to craving.
- Drinking at Restaurants- I LOVE sugary drinks especially like juices and sodas, so when I went out (if it was a week day Monday-Friday) I would ONLY order water.
- Surrounding Temptation- So I am blessed to have a lot of friends and family, but watching them eat the foods that I was trying SO hard to cut down on was like TORTURE! I couldn't stand watching someone chug a coke right in front of me while all I had was water.. especially in the beginning of my new health journey! So I had to be honest with my family and friends (that I was used to eating out with) and tell them about my new eating habits. To my surprise, they started to eat healthier around me too, which was FABULOUS for me because I got to see my family put down the sugary drinks and get healthy WITH me. Also I didn't have to suffer through watching them eat/drink it right in front of me!
- Late Night Snacking- Ok so I am and have ALWAYS been a night owl, so eating late was just one of the terrible habits I grew up with. I especially loved midnight snacks PACKED with sugar. My new late night snacking rule was NO sugary foods after 7pm and NO food at all after 9pm. Our bodies need time to burn the foods we've eaten all day, so 9pm was a good time to stop the snacking already!
- Going out- I am one of those people who isn't home very often so I was usually tempted to get fast food where ever I ended up that day. SO my new going out rule was now to PLAN my lunches ahead! This definitely became one of my most important rules I created! Every day, I would get up a little early and whip out the 'glad-ware' and 'snacking baggies' and FILL them with fruits and healthy snacks to keep in my Purse for all day snacking :) This was a great way to avoid temptation!
^^^Those 7 rules were the rules I was determined to stick to. ^^^
Now, I'm going to be completely honest with you… Weeks 1-2 WERE SO HARD!!! I'm not going to lie to you, and say that they went perfectly and it was all smooth sailing after I mentally decided to change over to a healthy life style. I had 4-5 days that I couldn't control my cravings and ate chocolate after 7pm (breaking rule 6), a few mid-night sugary snacks (Breaking 6 again), or occasionally sneaked a soda on a Tuesday afternoon (Breaking the first rule!)
I literally felt SO bad for myself after I did it EVERY TIME though. I felt like I was cheating on… well... myself!
Everytime I popped a Pringle, I would get SO mad at myself. I remember thinking, "Brittany, you are SO pathetic you can't go two weeks without sugar and carbs? You Suck!"
It took a while, but I finally realized that I'm HUMAN!!! Humans make mistakes, we have to go through hard times to make ourselves stronger. After coming to peace with myself, my new lifestyle and rules got A LOT easier!
By Week 3 of trying my best to stick to my rules, I could NOT believe how far I had come! Not only had I cut SO SO SO much sugar and carbohydrate filled foods from my daily meals and snacks, I actually surprised myself and began LOOKING FORWARD to eating fruit every day!
Can you believe it???
When Week 4 came around, I was no longer craving sodas AT ALL, and didn't have a panic attack when someone at the table next to me was sipping on a Coke. I was actually SO used to drinking water, it seemed weird to order any soda at a restaurant at all! I found myself not even needing to drink soda's on the weekend like I allowed myself in rule 1! Sure, I would still drink one on a special occasion, but it would be because I WANTED to drink it.. not because I NEEDED it like before!
To tell you the truth, most of the desserts that I was so used to previously consuming before, began to start tasting TOO sweet and I didn't even enjoy them as much as I remembered.
My new rules had even gone as far as changing my sleeping habits! Since I wasn't eating sugar after 7pm, I started to go to sleep earlier. In my WHOLE life I had never been able to go to sleep at a decent time, and now after cutting the sugar down, I was getting sleepy at 10pm! I don't think I have ever gone to sleep at 10pm since I was 5 years old!
After a week of going to sleep at 10pm, I began getting up earlier too! After getting up a few mins earlier with every passing day, I was able to accomplish SO many more things in my day! I added morning runs to my daily routines, and began making protein smoothies EVERY morning!
So now, here I am 4 months later feeling full, fit and fabulous! Looking back on that ENTIRE experience and my unhealthy ways seems so insane. I'm now going to sleep EVERY day early and waking up even earlier the day after!
Soda, Carbs and sugar no longer control my life, I tell THEM who's boss :)
I've taken a complete 360 spin into a new healthy lifestyle, I'm more energetic and happy ALL the time. (Don't get me wrong, even to this day I STILL have my bad days, but I learned to accept them, learn from them, and come out stronger than before!)
As you've read, it wasn't an easy journey, but because of all of my hard work and dedication, IT WAS WORTH IT.
Everyone reading this who thinks "I'm the exception" and "I could NEVER do that", I am living proof that ANYONE can. STOP making excuses about why you can't dow something, and do what I did and make PLANS towards how you CAN.
I've created this fitness/ health blog, and also my Fitness&Health Tumblr to help anyone and everyone realize that they can change the way they run their life's to be more fit, healthy and happy with me!
So join me in "kicking sugar to the curb" and end YOUR toxic affair with carbs. Take control of your life, click your ruby red healthy heels together, and believe "There's no place like home" ---->"There's no FEELING like FIT!"
What are you waiting for? You CAN do this.
I did!
<3
Xox Brittany,
A-Fitspirational-Blonde
3.) Sleep a LOT! Pretend your a bear, hibernate! When you leep your body gets a chance to focus on healing itself. The more you sleep, the quicker you heal and the faster you're ready to get back to your "flu free" life.
5.) Tea- Chamomile tea is a pretty great tea to try out, it's a superlative agent for fighting off colds especially if you're already sick.
