Daley Ponderings

I have proved it to myself. Eating too much sugar drains my energy, making me tired and lethargic. On the positive side, cutting down on my sugar consumption gives me energy to last through the day!
I have heard and read many things about refined sugars, eating raw foods, eating whole foods, whole grains, etc, etc. I have my own "li'l writer guy" in my head spinning various essays about this topic, which I will probably write down someday. But for now this will be a short post on sugar.

Disclaimer: I am making my own observations about my own body. I am not making universal statements that these things should apply to all people on earth.

I did an experiment several months ago - for seven days, I would not eat sugar-treat type foods - ice cream, candy, cookies, brownies. I did not worry about breads or similar types of food with minimal amounts of sugar. At the end of the week, I truly felt better. After that week, I was not so strict on myself, but I did reduce my sugar consumption in my general lifestyle.

Then comes Christmas time. I have some favorite candies and cookies that my Mom makes every year. Due to the special times and the feast nature of the season (though it is technically Advent - that becomes another essay,) I had no problem with myself consuming these delicious items. Until yesterday.

Yesterday we made both almond buttercrunch candy (my very favorite in the whole world) and dream cookies. I did lots of licking of pans, beaters, bowls, and extra dough. I had several cookies and pieces of candy afterwards. This is in addition to consuption during the week of fudge, decorated Christmas cutout cookies, and peppermint stick ice cream.

By the time yesterday afternoon and evening came around, I was feeling vaguely sick and definitely lethargic and weary. So now for my own sake, I will be even more choosy about which sugar-laden items I eat.

Something that has really helped me is thinking about what things I like best. For example, if a store bought cookie is available, I remind myself that I really like homemade cookies better and I will wait for an opportunity to eat one of those instead of eating the store bought cookie. So you see, I am not a completely no sugar person. But I have definitely seen the great benefits to myself of significantly reducing my sugar intake and making it truly a special treat.