On my journey to being happier at home, I’ve realized that one of the greatest ways that I can find lasting satisfaction is by being happy with myself. Being happy with myself requires the knowledge that I am taking care of myself and that I am progressing on my journey…no matter how slow.

So, one area where I have needed progress is with my addiction to sugar. I love sugar in any form, really, which makes it even trickier to quit. Sugar seems to come in an infinite amount of equally satisfying forms. brown sugar. granulated. powder. high fructose corn syrup. cotton candy. You get the drift. Until this past week I had no idea how much of the food we buy at the store has unnecessary added sugar. Even Cheerios have sugar.

As I was running the other day a thought came to my mind, “go without sugar.” The thought was persistent, “Just give it up. Completely.” My initial reaction as I talked back to myself, “Yeah right, I can’t do that.” I have struggled with my weight my whole life. I thought there was no way I could have the willpower. I thought sugar was a need. It has always been there for me when I need to numb myself from the pain of life.  That’s more than I can say for a lot of people in my life. The thought replied to me, “Alice, you can do this. Just do it for your birthday.” I’ve been wanting to give myself a gift of significance for my upcoming 40th birthday in November.  I figured I could do anything for just 3 months. As soon as I got home I put out my goal of no sugar on a facebook status. I seem to do well when I have accountability to my friends. I didn’t want to give myself the chance to talk myself out of it.

Anyhow, I am proud to announce that I have been off of processed sugar for 6 days and you aren’t going to believe this but I have already lost 10 pounds. It leaves me to believe that the little voice was really a BIG VOICE coming from a BIG PERSON (I call the big person God). I would have never had this thought on my own. Why would I even consider giving up sugar when I love it so much?

I love that I am living up to a favorite quote of mine, “Let go of anything that no longer serves you.”
Sugar has been a crutch. It hasn’t been serving me at all. For years I have tried to pretend that it has served me, but it hasn’t.

This morning was the biggest test of my willpower as I had to bake chocolate chip cookies for my hubby’s church kids tonight. I passed the test! I didn’t eat any sugary goodness.  I can’t even put words to how empowered I feel each time I shun sugar. It is shocking that it feels more and more amazing every time I “just say no”. I wonder if the pride I feel in myself will ever wear off.

As a reward I just treated myself to this. You should try it. It was soooo good.

Sugar-free Banana, Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip Milkshake

Blend together the following:
2 frozen bananas
1 Tablespoon ground peanuts
.25 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1.5 cups of milk
optional: 1 Tablespoon honey, 1/2 or 1 cup of cooked oats

ENJOY!

We can do hard things. Yes we can. Don’t sell yourself short.