Sugar fast

I've talked about it several times; now I'm finally doing it. And it's surprisingly not been terrible so far either!

I'm finally and officially taking a month-long sugar fast--which means no candy, sugar in my coffee, no baked goods, no sugary drinks, no jam on toast, no desserts, etc. for 31 days. I originally planned for 30 days but 2 days into my fast I forgot and drank 1/2 a glass of orange soda (I can be so scatter-brained).

I'm doing this fast for two reasons: 1) first of all, I know I need it. I, like probably most other Americans and Dominicans, eat WAY too much processed sugar and my body is most likely addicted; 2) It's an exercise in self-discipline. I need to learn to be able to walk through the kitchen when there are cookies or brownies sitting on the counter without taking one "just because they are there," which has been my general excuse.

I'm on day 7 so far and I'm truly surprised at how easy it's been. We even had a covered plateful of rich chocolate brownies sitting on the counter all weekend and I wasn't even tempted to take one. Somehow knowing that it's not even an option makes it a lot easier to say no. Saturday I put two of them in the freezer to save for my end-of-sugar-fast celebratory baked snack and I didn't even lick my fingers!

Until my fast is over if I get in the mood for something sweet I go for fruit. Yesterday I made a sugarless strawberry-banana smoothie! The cool thing is I can still satisfy any chocolate craving I might have, too. Nate makes these amazing chocolate-peanutbutter smoothies sweetened only with frozen bananas and they are SO AMAZING. I can't believe there's no sugar in there!

I'll let you know how the rest of my fast goes.