Oh what fun....

it is to give up sugar! Not really. But I have since this past Tuesday given up sugar and bread and I feel really good. I have made my health issues a matter of prayer and have realized that some of my symptoms, while not serious right now, will become very serious if left untreated. Headaches-every-single-day are not normal. Being sick every time I do any type of strenuous physical activity- even running errands these days- is not normal. I won't list all of my symptoms because I'd like to keep them to myself but just a general feeling of malaise isn't normal.

So I had to make changes. I'm not freaking myself out about this too much for fear of becoming overwhelmed and just saying "forget about it!". So I'm taking it one day at a time. I haven't had any tea sweetened with sugar since Sunday, I think. And can I just say that I would rather drink something fizzy/sweet than eat sometimes. I'm always drinking something. On Tuesday I had 3 cups of green tea with Stevia and 1 cup of a Key Lime flavored ceylon black tea. I felt like I was brewing tea all day long, so I think I only drank water the next day. But in order for me to stay with this I have to have something fun in my diet. I tried Milo's tea with Splenda and I just thought it tasted fake and wasn't refreshing at all. I've been very anti Splenda but thought that I needed something like sweet tea. But I read a women's magazine and found a company that makes a soda called diet steaz. It uses green tea, organic cane juice, and stevia along with some other things but it's fizzy and fruity and only has 30 calories. It tasted OK when I tried it last night but it wasn't cold and had a weird flavor. It tasted like this other liquid detox stuff I tried that reminded me of a not-so-yummy vegetable broth or my detox tea. But after I refrigerated it and drank it while I was eating something it was much better. But I felt better after I drank it. It was refreshing though and it didn't make me feel sick or sluggish or anything like that so I'll probably try some of their other flavors. You may be wondering why I would go through all the trouble? Well, I really, really like flavored drinks.

My dilemma is, of course, how to keep going and what I can eat. For now I'm eating eggs, cheese, nuts, lean meat, veggies, and fruit. And I made a decent smoothie from 1 cup frozen berries, enough whole milk to make it blend well, 3 packets of stevia, 2 tablespoons of flax seed meal, and a touch of orange extract (I miss the orange juice!). It's pretty good and the longer I go without sugar the better it tastes. It also gives me more energy than I would have if I went strictly low-carb. My other dilemma is what to do about the rest of the family's diet. Should I just let the girls go on eating/drinking the way we have been and let them figure out their resulting health problems on their own? Yeah, I didn't think so but I'm not sure what to change. So anyway, this is just another step in my trying to get better and the Lord is really helping me with it. I've never wanted to be a "fussy" person that can't go to someones house and eat what is offered so I don't know what to do about that either. I'm sure I'll figure it out but at this point the benefits are outweighing the negatives.