Well, whodathunkit? Sugar withdrawal is a real thing.
I’ve been indulging in chocolate candy daily for a while now, and expanding, alas, accordingly. I took a good hard sideways look at myself in the mirror a few days ago and said that’s it. No more excuses, no more just this once, no more just a little. Out, damned chocolate!
Other than a tiny splash of agave in my coffee once, maybe twice a day, or a sweetened yogurt once in a while, the chocolate has been my main source of sugar for quite a while. So other than beating off temptation, this should be a breeze, right?
Wrong. I feel mildly lousy, like a low-grade cold or flu. I get shaky, especially first thing in the morning before my breakfast banana (oh, yeh, that’s a sugar, too, but I’m not giving that up). I’m even getting hot flashes and bouts of dizziness. The dizziness could be from an inner-ear thing I get now and then, but who knows whether the sugar withdrawal is contributing?
Sigh. I know it will dwindle away, and that it will all be worth it eventually, but this is not fun. I’m going to give myself frequent small noshes of healthy food and hope that helps.
Sigh....
After sharing my woes with some friends, I learn that agave is a bad, bad sugar, too; if I'm going to sweeten my coffee I should use stevia. Maybe I'll forget about any sweetener and just go with the half and half. Or convert to tea sans anything; there are a lot of good herbal teas out there, since I avoid caffeine. There's rooibos, for example, and tons of others. Also heard that other friends have gone through withdrawal symptoms, too, when they whacked back their sugar consumption.
Of course, I know there's lots of sugar hidden in all kinds of prepared foods, and it's not possible to avoid it entirely, but just cutting out the visible stuff is bound to help. I'm on day three now of the exodus, and feeling a whole lot better than the first two days.