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

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Food Journal, Progress Reports, Sugar Addiction

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Food Journal, sugar addicition