No Snickers, brownies, ice cream, cake, peanut butter cookies, chocolate, popsicles, cinnamon bears, butterfingers, apple pie, strawberry shortcake, Bavarian chocolate cake, Root Beer Floats, cinnamon sugar toast, chocolate chip cookies, cold cereal (the kid kinds), gummy bears, pudding with whipped cream, pumpkin pie, and licorice, I can’t eat any of these wonderful things. AAAHHHHHHhhhhhhh!! Can you imagine?
This “no sugar” thing is so hard. I took sugar almost entirely out of my diet in January 2010. Before that, I had always felt lucky that I didn’t have the issues that my two sisters have. They were so limited on what they could eat and I could continue eating whatever I wanted. Sugar was a crutch I leaned on. If I didn’t have enough energy I would eat a cookie so I could keep getting done what needed to be done. I would buy a bag of cinnamon bears (one of my favorites) and after eating the whole bag within a couple of days. My only thoughts would have been that I should have purchased two bags. I love sugar.
So why you might ask am I off sugar? A couple of years ago (in 2008) my husband and I experienced a really stressful year. We moved 2 times, had our fourth baby and financially things were beyond tight. I did my best to handle the stress of it all but that year even more stresses came. We searched for houses in our area but couldn’t find one. We then had a strong prompting in our prayers that we were supposed to leave Las Vegas and move closer to my family (which was out of state). It was also right before school was to enroll so we needed to get our kids lined up wherever we were going to be. Life was crazy to say the least. So many changes so much stress. In the transition, we ended up staying at my in-laws house for a short time. While we were there my mother in law noticed that I was blinking like crazy. We thought that maybe I needed glasses. She took me to the doctors and they said that my eyes were not producing enough oils and that I should put drops and a hot rag on my eyes a couple of times a day for a few months. I did as the doctor prescribed however the blinking didn’t stop, there wasn’t even an improvement.
The cool thing is that eight months later we were astounded at how everything had turned around. Many of the dreams that we had shared with one another came true, many of the things we wanted had actually come together, the job, the area we now live in even our yard has a little stream running through it which was one of our dreams. My husband landed the best job. We were invited to dinner with my husband’s boss on several occasions and we love the people he works with. Every-time we got together with them I blinked terribly. I came away from those evenings very frustrated, my eyes hurt and I was embarrassed. I tried everything I could think of and everything that was mentioned to me. I tried not wearing makeup. I tried hypnosis. Nothing seemed to help.
Finally a friend of mine told me about this iridologist (can tell what is going on with your body by looking in your eyes) that she went to after her battle with cancer. I was skeptical at first however after a two hour appointment I came away feeling like there was hope. I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue and possible candida. My mom found a book call Adrenal Fatigue by James L. Wilson that helped me understand my condition. Causes are stress (from moves, change, not enough sleep, not eating well, not drinking enough water, etc.). I also learned that my body does not process sugar (frown) or lettuce (that one I can do without) very well. However at that point I was willing to do anything. I started the no sugar/lettuce experiment and within two days my eyes improved. I could have a conversation with a friend without blinking uncontrollably. I could drive out of our neighborhood and not feel anxiety. It was a bitter sweet thing for me. Sweet because we found my problem and bitter because that meant NO MORE SUGAR!!
Seven months later I am doing better than ever. I see so many improvements … my skin, my temperament, my ability to handle stressful situations, my weight, my teeth, etc.
Luckily for me I have two awesome sister that are going through many of the same problems. We call each other when we need moral support. I even call my sisters after giving into my temptations. After I give in to temptations, I receive this momentary satisfaction, mmmmm chocolate!, but not to long after I feel terrible. It is not a feeling of guilt but of no energy, anxiety, and what I call mind fog. It is terrible and definitely not worth the few minutes of indulgence. My sisters always tell me; Don’t worry about it, start over right now, you can do it. I always feel better after our talks.
Now to why I have this website. It is very hard to be at a birthday party, a family get together or any gathering think Christmas without grandmas famous homemade caramels. Lyndsie, Jessie and I all started trying new recipes that gave us options for sugar free snacks. We all love to cook so we are always trying new things that will help us stay healthy but curb some of those intense cravings. We started thinking; “what if there are others out there with these same problems? Maybe they could benefit from having some recipes and ideas to help them as well. That is why ‘Natural Sweeties’ came to be. I hope you enjoy some of our ideas. Please give us feedback and share some of your own ideas and recipes. We can do this, and with some of these tasty deserts, it actually isn’t going to be that hard!! YAY!
I had a a lot of head injuries when I was young that left me unable to eat sugars of any kind. At the time I didn't know this and because of that I grew up with the horrible side effects of and consequences of eating sweets. In my case, if I ingest an agent that has is a short chain sugar such as honey, molasses, fruits (including tomato's), processed flours or grains (such as white, all purpose, or unbleached flours, or white rices etc.) or even replacement sugars (such as Nutrasweet, Splenda, Stevia, Dextros, Maltodextrin, Maltose, Lactose, etc.) then my brain reacts as if it has had another head injury, it swells up, I pass out, and I wake up with suicidal depression for many days after.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, when I was not aware of this condition these agents where still present in my diet and it was very difficult for me to cope with living even on a day to day basis. I have since learned over the years to stay away from every form of sugar that causes these symptoms, and I can now honestly say that I am now living a happy and productive life without the use of medications.
Having this condition makes one very aware of how much various types of sugar are present in almost every item on every shelf of the supermarket, and in almost every dish at every restaurant. In direct contrast to that is your website, which for me personally is absolutely nothing short of a miracle.
I can not tell you how thankful I am for you, your personal story of why you can not eat sweets, and for this website. THANK YOU! Thank you for being a voice on this problem. Thank you for being a place I can look to find help. Thank you.