Hey there! I hope that your NYE celebrations are amazing tonight!  I am raising my water bottle to the new year!  2016 is going to be THE YEAR of greater accomplishments – I am already envisioning your successes, are you?

I have come to the realization if I want my sugar sobriety to last, I get to take BABY STEPS.  What the heck do you mean, you ask?  Specifically, ease into this FULL ON NO SUGAR gig.  For lack of better terms, ween myself off of it.  This is different than alcohol or drugs, but to be honest weening yourself off D&A is a “pipe dream”. It won’t work, I think it will with sugar though.  So, I am starting with blatant sweets.  That is, the usual suspects, you know the ones:

NEW YORK, NY – MAY 31: Two-liter bottles of regular and diet soda are seen for sale at a Manhattan store on May 31, 2012 in New York City. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing a ban on sodas and sugary drinks that are more than 16 ounces in an effort to combat obesity. Diet sodas would not be covered by the ban and many grocery stores would be exempt. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 145569281

After 6 weeks of abstinence I will then move into store bought items that we cook with that has added sugar in the first four listings of the ingredient list.  Example, on the ingredient list it will say water, sugar, etc. If sugar is listed as the 5th ingredient it’s okay to consume. That was a suggestion from Amanda Kunard, Founder of GoSlimU, when I attended her nutrition class a while back.  It works….I lost 10 lbs without even meaning to do so.  Amanda will be one of our Featured Guests soon!

Today is SO different than the previous three days.  AS soon as the baby steps concept came to me, my attitude about it changed.  I think training the brain is important, and I have trained it to LOVE sweets and depend on them when I am bored or “just want a snack to tide me over until dinner”, really?  It’s all excuses!  NO MORE EXCUSES!

A few things that I have become aware of:

• I notice that my stomach is not as big as it was this past weekend.  The last sweet thing I consumed was cheesecake on Sunday (12/27/15) evening after stuffing myself with dinner.  I was beginning to think I might as well just go buy new size clothes, because it wasn’t going away!  How sad is that?  The reality is, it’s happening to a lot of us out there!  I didn’t believe it was possible to stop the sweet consumption!
• I notice that my cravings aren’t as intense and long today.  They are still there, but almost as if I have hit them over the head with a hammer so they don’t “come at me” like they had before.
• I have control – no matter what.  I get to choose.

Until tomorrow…….