About a month and a half ago, I made mention that I discovered that I was addicted to sugar. It was my intention then to remove from my diet all processed sugars, and cut back on starches from potatoes, etc.

Well, it’s been about 6 weeks and in that time, I’ve not done real well on the starches from foods, but I have almost completely cut out the processed sugars. The result is that the fatigue during the day has gone away, and though I had annoying headaches through the process, they are gone as well. I notice that if I do have even a sip of sweet tea with white sugar, I get a headache. Also, Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Peach Snapple (the nectar of the gods mind you) are really good.

The downside is that since I don’t have the drug in my system and I’m not using food as a friend to comfort me in my troubles, my body is more acutely aware of it’s own issues. I was running all over the country in the month of June. It was stressful and wearing. Instead of gorging myself with all kinds of foods and sugars, I was able to resist that for the most part, and now my body is telling me it is fatigued and needs rest. Since I don’t like this feeling, I am going to have slow down some and let some things go, according to my pastoral counselor.

However, the best thing that has happened is the weight loss. I wish I could tell you how much I’ve lost but I despise the scales and hate using them. I use clothes as a measure, and I can tell you that I’ve brought my belt in 2 notches - I have no other notches to use unless I make them myself. In addition, I put on pants this morning that were so big in the waist, rear, and thighs that I felt like I was wearing one of those really large garbage bags on each leg. My shirts are much more loose, to the point that my short sleeves are becoming long sleeves.

I generally feel better as well. One of the things that I have found is that this truly is a spiritual battle. I am so aware of the temptations the enemy uses to keep me enslaved to food, my drug of choice. As I told my nutrionist/counselor, “Now that I know where the attacks are coming from, I can be proactive in the battle instead of reactive.”