The Sugar Addiction is Real

Yesterday was Day One of my liver detox. To say that it sucked would be putting it mildly. Giving up caffeine and sugar both in the same day was the dumbest thing that I've ever done.

I felt like total crap. The morning started out fine. I was so good. Drank a smoothie, passed on the coffee, took my Maca, and had a healthy lunch filled with veggies and protein. And then I started to get a headache. It was a bad one. One that stops you in your tracks and makes you feel like your brain is going to start oozing out of your ears at any moment. I had ZERO energy. I couldn't get off of the couch. I was so fatigued, so tired, I felt like I hadn't slept for DAYS. It was terrible.

Laying on the couch, eyes closed, unable to sleep because my head hurt so bad, the same phrase kept playing over and over again in my head. "This sucks. This suck. This sucks. I can't do this if this is how I'm going to feel every day. I can't do this. I can't do this." But I'm going to have to do this. I prayed that tomorrow would be a better day.

Here is my problem. I didn't realize until yesterday afternoon how much I use sugar and caffeine to get me through my day. Sugar is my friend and my worst enemy. I didn't realize how much I needed it to feel good. I. Am. Addicted. To. Sugar.

Hi, I'm Stephenie and I'm a sugar-a-holic.

Not in a eating cookies and cakes and candy all day long kind of way, but in a fruit, fruit juice, diet soda, processed food, fast food, piece of chocolate after lunch, ice cream at night kind of way. And each time I had that sugar, my blood sugar spiked causing all sorts of other issues. Hello Hypoglycemia! I have truly become dependent on sugar to function and now I'm having to take my body off of it and my body isn't liking it. Not one bit.

This morning started out the same way. Had my smoothie and some eggs and bacon. Felt okay enough to run to the grocery store to buy the plethora of veggies that I need for my paleo diet. But I had no energy. On a scale from 1 to 10, my energy was at a 1 at best. It was 9AM and I felt like I had just finished walking 39.3 miles (I've done that. Believe me, I know what it feels like.) Just putting the grocery bags into the trunk felt like a major ordeal.

So I headed to Starbucks.

Yes, I allowed myself to have a skinny sugar-free vanilla latte and it was the best thing I've ever had. Like manna from Heaven it was!

Since my coffee fix, today has been better. I'm making sure to eat something every 2-3 hours, like the doctor told me to do. I've decided that trying to change all of my eating habits, while giving up sugar and caffeine simultaneously, was a BAD idea. So I'm allowing myself that one cup of coffee only and I'm saying goodbye to my beloved Diet Coke at lunch. I'm focusing on eating lots of protein and veggies only and having NO sugar of any kind.

Because I have do this if I want to feel better. This won't suck. I can do this. This won't suck. I can do this.