What's your poison?

Mine is apparently sugar. I had mentioned to a friend the other day that I really needed to cut back on my sugar intake (junk versions such as drinks and "treats"). She asked what I thought I consumed a day so I did a quickie count on just the couple drinks I had had that day. I LOVE teas (two in particular) so I figured it would be high. It was. Or so I thought. For some reason I didn't think to look at the serving size on the bottle label. One bottle/package is NOT one serving for most things. A label caught my eye as I was making dinner tonight that made me realize my counting error. Turns out what I thought I was consuming wasn't even the tip of the iceburg. Far from it. In fact the measly amount I originally counted up would be the equivalent of the part of the iceburg you find floating beneath the surface (no, I won't tell you the real amount). To say I'm disgusted with it all would be an understatement. What kills me is I've watched all the food documentaries and read the studies and books that SHOW how bad excessive sugar consumption is for you. My body is walking proof of it right now. While I'm by no means in bad shape outwardly I know this is not my normal nor healthy.

According to one study I found tonight, the average American consumes 7% of their daily calories in soft drinks alone. That's 140 calories on average a day (about 3 tablespoons). In liquid sugar. Makes my teeth hurt thinking about it and yet I'm not even batting an eye as I drink tea after tea and soda after soda. There for a bit I was doing so good! I used to drink Pepsi by the truck load and had managed to stop and was drinking only water (something I've never been good at). My skin was looking awesome (and I was attributing that to something else), I had normal sleep patterns, I had energy etc. Can I attribute all the issues I've been having to something else? I'm sure I could BUT (there's always a but) the times I've been low/no sugar everything has not been there. Coincidence? I think not.

I'm going back to no sugar. I'm not going to go militant and nix it from foods (especially since I bake our bread which requires sugar to feed/activate my yeast) but I am going to stop the "outside" amounts...no more soda or teas or quickie treats. I'd like to say I could do it cold turkey but I can't. You see, I've had headaches for over a decade (oh lord I'm old enough to say that) now that can be exacerbated and/or lessened by what I eat. Caffeine is a lessener. I'm going to wean myself so that when March rolls around I'm sugar free. I'll start my sugar free count beginning March first. That means I have 10 days to get my act together. I know it'll be hard if I think about it (don't think, just do) but in the end I'll be much happier. I suppose I should start being active again as well. ;)