You know you're a sugar addict when...

Hello.  I'm Wendy and I'm a sugar-holic.

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem...so there ya go.  I admitted it.

About a week ago my dear daughter came home and told me her friends on the track team were on a "three weeks sugar free" diet and she wanted to do it too...and would I do it with her.  My initial reaction was laughing on the inside...because, to be honest, if I give up sugar what am I going to be eating?  I told her I would think about it and I think by the age of 15 she is fully aware that the statement "I will think about it" actually is just a nice way to say no (or not so nice way, considering they know I'm saying no anyway and are then further annoyed that I will never bring it up again).

The funny thing is, I've actually been thinking about it.  I've gone online and read a bunch of stuff, and this is what I have learned:  I am a sugar addict.  How do you know you're a sugar addict?  Here's a helpful list:

1. You go into the Dunford bakery to buy bread and leave facial imprints on the glass of the donut case as you drool over the hot, fresh from the oven donuts with the mentality of a crack whore.
2. You approach a dessert buffet asking yourself not which one are you going to have, but which one are you going to have first.
3. You sift through your kids' Easter baskets wondering which of the candy you could possibly sneak away with that they won't notice it's missing.
4. You freeze half the batch of cookies that you baked to keep yourself from snarfing them all down in a couple of days only to discover that you love frozen cookies so it didn't really stop you anyway.
5. You hope when you open a new bag of brown sugar that it will be sort of clumped together so you can help yourself to a clump or two (because it would be totally inappropriate to dive in with a spoon)
6. You add sugar to your sugar cereal because it just isn't quite sweet enough.
7. When you start thinking about giving up sugar you realize how many things you love have sugar in them (can anyone say peanut butter?)

Sadly, I can answer yes to all of those statements (Although the Easter candy thing has gotten a little tricky...my kids are older now and they're on to me...now I am forced to buy my own.  But years ago, I had the whole "sneaking the kids' candy" thing down to an art form).

Years ago when I was in college I broke the sugar habit once and I can still remember how great I felt when I did it (and how lousy I felt when I started eating it again...alas, it has not stopped me yet).  So today I decided I'm going to do it again.  I need to give myself time to plan a menu and do some shopping, so I'm planning to start next Monday.  I'm trying to convince the whole family to accompany me on this little journey, but I don't know how much cooperation I will get.  I'm hoping I will find some friends that would also like to attempt so we can all have some moral support, so if you're up for it, please let me know!

All my reading has led me to the different variations on "going sugar free" that are out there.  Some people go whole hog and go completely yeast free (no sugar, flour or anything with yeast in it) but that is WAY too overboard for me.  I'm choosing to take the more simple, beginner's route...no refined sugars, corn syrup or white flour (which apparently intensifies sugar cravings--I didn't know that until today).  The white flour thing is pretty easy because I've gone almost completely to whole wheat already, but the sugar thing is going to be a challenge.  I am choosing not to eliminate natural sugars (like that found in fruit) partially because I love fruit and partially because I have to be able to eat and I don't really "do" vegetables.

So...it's time to plan and get going!  I will be posting along the way, so stay tuned.  And if you find yourself feeling guilty as you read my list, maybe you should consider joining me.  It's gonna be a bumpy ride but well worth it when my two weeks are up!