Food Journal - Ally in Breaking Sugar Addiction
Published on Jun 9th, 2008 in Progress Reports, Sugar Addiction with
I’m on a personal quest of sorts. Three months ago I made the realization that I am a sugar addict and decided to commit to breaking my addiction.
Following Dr. Kathleen DesMaison’s plan for sugar addiction, I started off including protein and a complex carb at breakfast. After creating my new breakfast habit, I moved on to step two, the food journal. I’ve been working on journaling what I eat and how I feel for about a month.
I used to think I didn’t need a food journal, that I had it all figured out in my head. I thought I knew what I ate and how I felt and what I needed to do. Not true! The food journal can be very eye-opening. I’ve learned things about myself that I otherwise would have ignored.
Some things I noticed from reviewing my food journal:
- I eat at the same times just about everyday.
- I snack or chew the same berry flavored gum in the afternoons if I’m at work.
- The most common feeling I record for the mornings: tired
- The most common feelings overall: happy, antsy, tired, not hungry
- Yeah, I see that I often eat when I’m not really hungry
- But I write “shaky” if I don’t eat for more than 6 hours
- Eating sugar is associated with feelings of nervousness, elation, and then of feeling really really tired and irritable
- I eat way more chocolate than I thought!
- The more sweets I eat, the more I crave them.
- Recently, my diet has gradually shifted to include more protein at lunch and dinner, as well as veggies.
- With this change, I notice snacking in the afternoons has decreased.
This shift towards healthier foods makes me want to move on to the next step in beating my sugar addiction. Step 3 is eating regularly throughout the day, including adequate protein at each meal. I’m naturally drifting in this direction already, so I feel it’s time to make it official! I’ll explain more about step 3 in my next post…
Photo credit: ppreacher
I have/had a sugar problem too. I’m down to eating just 3 or so Jolly Ranchers a day (if that). It was HARD!
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I do as well…and did the journaling thing to see precisely where I was falling down.
I still fall—-just not as hard
Good for you for the positive changes! It’s amazing what you can learn about yourself when you start recording it all.
Darla,
Good for you! That’s no small feat!
MizFit,
The great thing about journaling is learning about yourself and making sure that the next time you fall it’s not as hard.
Sagan,
I AM surprised at how much I’ve learned about myself. I guess you could say that journaling forces me to pay attention to my body and what I feed it.