White January

I love sugar. It's a scientifically proven fact. I can drink way to much soda and eat mounds of chocolate, cakes, etc. I could probably be the "posterboy" for the Burn energydrink.

The main problem of course is that I don't savour the moment, but just fork/gulp in as much as possible as quickly as possible, usually feeling slightly sick in the end.

This is of course not healthy in the long run, and so I thought I'd try to go a full month without any chocholate bars and any soda, since these variants stands for the vast majority of the sugar I get. I want to prove to myself that I can do it and that I'm not an incurable sugar-addict. Since many people have "white" periods where they abstain from everything from alkohol to sex, I chose to think of january 2011 as my special brand of a "white month".

The following posts are the story about how it went:

01.01.11: It's the first of january and I woke 08.00 with a slight craving. I didn't break at once, which I felt good about. It felt as if I had a purpose. The solution was to take a glass of drinking-youghurt insted. This has a bit of sugar, but nowhere near soda-levels, so I thought it was an ok compromise to bring the christmas high under controll.

02.01.11: The day went remarkably well. Focusing on eating less junk makes me more hungry though, so I would say I've probably started eating a bit healthier also. The cravings are still there and my mind wanders to these forbidden items. My inlaws visited and I had a cappuchino while they were here, but I feel that's ok, since it's not my normal routine and although it has sugar it's not on the list of things I wanted to avoid. I have to be carefull so I don't use other suger-sources to compensate though, cause then the point is a bit lost.

03.01.11: The day went ok since I spent a big part of it at work. Since work is rather stressful I often end up with the mentioned sugar-bombs as fast snacks to get going, but today I took the time for a real lunch. Felt good, but my problem is that I feel like I've got a slight headache, just below the threshold for what I'd describe as painful. It's more like a dull ache and I feel it's one of my "withdrawal-symptoms". After work I got the cravings again real bad, but now I used juice mixed with bubbly water as an alternative and ate some chips as an alternative. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

04.01.11: My daughter woke really early and although I got her to sleep again, I didn't. This is often the case and a period where I also take a lot of sugar in the form of energy-drinks to get going and not completely ruin my day. I feel more tired than usual now, but I just took a normal breakfast instead. Got the evening shift today, so this could get interesting. Went training and did 30 minutes worth of stepping feeling ok all the way through. Had a slight headache at work, but nothing too bad.

05.01.11: Very tired when I woke up, although I had just shy of 8 hours worth. Awoke my daughter and got her ready for kindergarden. Took her there and went to work. So far so good, but didn't get time to eat breakfast myself. Got a bit dizzy at work, but sorted out when I got a fast "breakfast". Halfway through the day though I got the dull ache again, but this time it jumped to a real headache which I had for the rest of the day. Got home and got dinner, but still it didn't go away. One tablet of Paracetamol and 30 minutes of sleep on the couch though and the headache was gone. Feel good now, but still a bit sluggish/tired. Haven't broken down in an orgy of sugar yet and that feels good, but that doesn't mean it's been sugar-free. I drink juice and such which of course has sugar, but I thin them out with mineral water so the idea is at least that I get a lot less. In todays society it is very hard to go cold turkey when everything has sugar in it too, but I feel confident. Still 26 days to go though!

06.01.11: The day went surprisingly well! Woke my daughter 07.20 and got her to kindergarden without trouble, and the workload was light at work so everything seemed ok. No real headaches, special cravings or anything either which was good. Not much more to say really... I'm hoping the worst of it is over with...

07.01.11: Awoke early by a daughter that felt that 06.00 was the perfect time for breakfast! After kindergarden and everything, lethargia set in and I was unable to feel compelled to do any chores, work or other stuff. About 14.00 when I was about to get ready for work the dull headache set in again. Not much for it though, so let's just hope it gets better.

08.01.11: Work-weekend. Didn't feel any cravings or headaches. Nothing else to report really... :-)

09.01.11: Stood up at 07.30 when my duracell-bunny of a daughter wanted to start the final chapter of the weekend...
Spent some hours playing with her before we all had breakfast. Felt fine at first, but later in the day got really tired. Ended up staying up until 11 pm, which was rather stupid thinking about the day to come...

10.01.11: Up at 5 to fly to a work-related IT-course. These are the moments when I miss my energydrinks the most. Sluggish all the way to the airport, on the plane and through most of the start of the course. Besides that the day went well and without incident. Felt a bit proud of myself when I didn't have breakfast due to oversleeping 15 minutes and having to skip that part, and hten resort only to "healthy" alternatives instead of the sugar-rush stash you normally find on airports. The same during the course where there were a lot of enticing sugar-drinks, but I went for the bottled water instead. It's a question about being consistent and have enough willpower at every crossroad to not relapse, but it's not easy when the substances are so readily avaliable and you actually feel like you need the kick they so deviously offer. I feel confident now that I shall overcome the month, but not that I can keep this up for ever... Time will tell...

11.01.11: Uneventful day. Nothing to report really.

12.01.11: Uneventful day. Nothing to report.

13.01.11: A very long day at work (09.00 - 20.00) which it was very tempting to fall back on my previous consumption. Wasn't much room for eating at all, and I had my breakfast at 14.00 since I didn't get a chance to eat before getting my daughter to the kindergarden. I know it's not healthy and I know that you really should eat before you get dizzy from lack of nutrients, but that's probably also a bit of the problem with why I ended up where I did in the first place.

14.01.11: Day has been ok as far as sugar is involved. A lot of stress at work this day, but that's life I guess. No real symptoms though, so that's good.

15.01.11: Saturday. I awoke after 3 hours worth of sleep. I have a headache of the type that tells you that you really need more sleep, but I was too awake for that despite insomnia itching around in my eyeballs cone and rod cells. Tried to do some aimless surfing and watch som Eddie Izzard for sleep, and managed a good 15 minuttes before my daughter woke up. The entire day was later coloured by these events and I was without initiative, sluggish and had the same dull ache the entire day. I hope it goes away til the morning.

We did a lot of tidying and cleaning during the evening and I found a bag of M chocholates (That's peanuts covered in a thin coat of dark chocholate for those of you who don't know) that imideately got my pulse running. I wanted them, my mouth was salivating and I placed them in the back of a cupboard to avoid the temptation. Now I felt confident that I wouldn't break by this time, but the idea that they're there and you can't eat them made it all just annoying. So much easier if there's no chocholate there to be tempted by. Also rather beautifully highlights the importance of helping each other to achieve a life that isn't controlled by sugar. All members of a family must do the same, or some of you will eventually break down in a frothing binge. I imagine this is true for getting rid of all addictions...

16.01.11: It's sunday, it's snowing and I woke early without any incident (alarms, daughter or other artifical means of being awoken, etc.). Just a bit tired, but no headache since I had a good 7-8 hours worth. I took a slow morning and it was wonderful. No sugar-cravings and everything seems splendid! Almost looking forward to my bension in 35 years time if it's like this all the time, but I guess it's not the same when you have nothing to relax from...

17.01.11: Nothing to report!


18.01.11: I spent the day with training, SPA and the like. Everything was fab and sugar wasn't an issue. I did Pepsi Max with my meal which I seriously think tastes foul compared to normal sugar. We really need some artificial sweeteners that taste almost LIKE sugar if we're ever to switch to the alternative imo. If you regularly drink that stuff it's because you don't want too much sugar, NOT because you really like it over the real thing.


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