How unhealthy is sugar? #1wksugarfree

I have finally admitted to myself that I have a hard time passing by the cakes, sweets and ice creams that seem to be multiplying in my house now that my 18 year old is working. She keeps going out and buying a bunch of junk food, and I keep finding myself, (with the help of her telling me, "Go ahead and help yourself,") helping myself to the munchies on frequent occasions. I am beginning to see where my small weight re-gain has come from.

While I was caught up in the joy of my weight loss success and still losing weight every week, it was easier to pass by these little nibbles, because I was seeing weekly, and sometimes daily, results for my efforts. But once I was in maintenance mode, there was less of a visible change to notice each week for my healthy-eating efforts, so sneaking a small cookie here and gummy bear there became easier to allow myself.

This week, as I caught myself eating junk food after junk food, I realized that I am addicted to sugar. I've noticed this about myself before, but never did anything about it. People are frequently suggesting that I give up having added sugar in anything, and I am often reading about others who are doing that. But I always felt like that was just too drastic a step for me to take. I mean, give up sugar? No more candy? No more chocolate? No more ice cream? No more cake or cookies? Am I even capable of such a huge step? Me, the person who was born with the strongest sweet tooth in California? I didn't think I was capable of even attempting such a thing.

But I have been considering this for a while now. And really, if I can lose over 145 lbs, then I am capable of anything I set my mind to, and giving up sugar is just one of those things. Right? So here is what I am doing:


FOR ONE WEEK:

1 - I am giving up cookies, cakes, sweets, ice cream and all other sugar-filled desserts.

2 - I am giving up sugary cereals and will not be adding sugar to any of my food.

And, I'm adding some additional changes to my challenge for the week, due to carbohydrates being so easily converted to sugar in the body.

3 - I am giving up all bread, rice, pasta and potatoes, and everything made from them.

4 - I am only allowing sweetener in my coffee and tea, and not adding artificial sweeteners to any of my other food.

5 - I will be blogging daily about how well or poorly I am doing without sugar and bread in my daily diet and the moods I am experiencing, which may or may not be a result of the dietary change.

6 - I will add, with each blog post, whether my weight has stayed the same, gone down or gone up and by how much.

Any commentary I make about the challenge on Facebook or Twitter will be using the hashtag #1wksugarfree

Are any of you brave enough to join in this challenge with me? You only need to do #1 and #2 of the things listed to be counted as joining in. (Some people don't like starting over the weekend, so even though I am starting on Friday, you can change your own start date to Monday and still be counted as joining in.)

You don't need to blog about it, but if you leave a comment here letting me know that you are going to join in the challenge with me, comment at least once during the week on either Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #1wksugarfree and leave a comment on the last post I make on this at the end of the week (on July 26th) letting me know how you have done, I will enter you in a drawing for the cookbook, "Sweet and Sugar Free: An All Natural Fruit-Sweetened Dessert Cookbook" by Karen E. Barker (or a similar cookbook if this one isn't available). If your profile does not include an e-mail I can reach you at, I will need you to leave a way for me to get in touch with you if you win. The winner will be announced on July 27th.

So, please come and join me in exiling sugar from my daily life for the next week! Commiserate or rejoice with me as we attempt this challenge together!

(Obviously, if you have any diet-related health conditions, such as diabetes or hypoglycemia, then you need to make sure with your doctor that you are allowed to take part in this.)

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