Quick shout out to the Sandman — the last few nights have amazed me.  While I have felt super tired each night, and actually just drained (from nothing other than detox), I have crawled into bed without resistance, laid my head to the pillow (mouth guard in), and fallen asleep quickly.  The dreams have come vividly and the sleep sound.  So, while I feel just not quite right because of this abstinence,  I much appreciate the shut-eye.  The most common cause of sleeping issue are stress-related.  We automatically think just stress in our lives, in our mind, but what we don’t consider is the stress of the body.  A crappy diet with too much sugar (and, well, crap) also causes stress.  And your head connects to your body, no?

Shifting gears.  Heading into Day 7 — woot woot! — first week almost over!  That’s great!  But, hold off on that jubilation as there are 3 more weeks to go.  And, I’m telling you now, MAKE IT THE ENTIRE MONTH!!  Often people will find excuses not to. “I went one week, that is enough.”  “Or, I didn’t eat that much sugar or drink that much alcohol to begin with.”  Please do not mistake me, I do applaud any abstinence but I urge you to follow through until the end of the month just because.  Just because it’s not easy.  Just because I want you to experience the ups and downs and twists and turns of behavior changes that last longer than 1 or 2 weeks.  Just because I said so.

More so, it’s because there is much to learn.  It is quite easy to abstain and go right back to where you were before you abstained.  I’m crossing fingers that you will have learned more about your habits and are able to modify (perhaps you just decide you don’t take sugar in your coffee…or you will take sugar in your coffee and will avoid the fake or alternative sweeteners and just put less in than you would have before).  Whatever the modifications, it is important to continuously increase your awareness.

Not adding sugar to your coffee or not eating the donut in the break room at work is the easy part (well, for some it is not so easy…remember my first post on work sabotage?).  Truly understanding that sugar is hidden in many of your day-to-day items is key.   I’m sure you’ve been among friends and had discussions about food and more than once someone has exclaimed, “Sugar is in everything!”  Yep, they’re almost right.  What’s funny about it, though, is that we just seem to accept that.  No!  Sugar should not be in everything and it’s there for a reason.  To keep you addicted!

Part of my Master’s degree concentrated on food science (fascinating subject, truly) and sugar does have inherent properties to keep food safe.  But, food rots.  Thus when we are producing “food-like substances” (thank you again Michael Pollan) that are boxed and shelved for a millennium we must make sure it tastes good.  That’s where sugar comes in.  In addition, the more food manufacturers add the better it will taste and the more you will become addicted.  There are many names for sugar. Click here just to become familiar: 56 Names for Sugar

While the sugar grams on the food label is a helpful math equation so you know how much sugar is in a serving of food, currently the natural sugars and added sugars are not differentiated.  That change is coming soon.  So, for now follow these simple rules:

1. Always look to the ingredient list first whenever you pick up food that actually has a label.
2. Quick rule of thumb: If you couldn’t get all the ingredients yourself in the spice/baking aisle of your grocery store — avoid it.  I don’t know where to get carrageenan (more on that additive later) or ‘natural flavors’ (which are actually beaver anal glands).
3. If you do not find any added sugar in the ingredient list (so many kinds…read link above) then you’re good.  Whatever sugar grams listed are natural and those are attached to nutrients.
4. If you do find sugar in the ingredient list, THEN look up to the sugar grams.  Make sure you understand how many servings you’re eating.  Take the number of sugar grams and divide by 4.  Why?  Because 4g = 1tsp.  So, if you find sugar in your bread (which you will because it’s needed to activate yeast) and per slice there is 5g of sugar, then 1 slice of bread has a little over 1 tsp of sugar per slice.  Is that too much?  Well, your intake is limited to no more than 5 to 10 tsp/day so how you choose to spend your bank account is up to you.

One can of cola (that is can, not Big Gulp) has 10 tsp.  Imagine you drink 4 colas per day?  And, that’s without consuming all the other 600,000 food products in the grocery store that have added sugar.   Just with 48 oz of cola per day you are consuming 40 tsp. of sugar per day.  Multiply that by 7 days and then again by 4 weeks and then again by 12 months.  Just in cola you are consuming almost 13,500 tsp. of sugar per year.

That is almost 8 pounds of sugar.