Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Sugar - Winning the Battle and the War

My attempt to give up sugar is just that, an attempt. A lousy one at that. I have been curled up on the couch with chocolate and ice cream. I let my body think it's stress relief is tied eating sweets. It all started about 9 years ago when I had a pretty bad 6 month stretch of events.

The highlights (or rather low lights) were my father having open heart surgery, a tracheotomy and ultimately passing away. I also dealt with a knee injury which was followed by knee surgery, a very difficult recovery and realizing I would probably never get to do the one thing I grew to love, running. Also thrown in there was dealing with panic attacks, switching jobs and being over committed with volunteer work. There was a bright spot during this time. I met the man who became my husband. He stood by me through all of this and is still with me and supportive today.

All of these things are behind me, but the sugar trigger remains.

I have 9 years of bad habits to undo. I need to figure out how to retrain my mind. I'm not going to give up on my quest to eliminate/greatly reduce my sugar intake, I just know it's going to take some time.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Giving Up Sugar

It's time to break my sugar addiction.

Plagued with jet lag this week after a 6 day trip to India, I was up late last night reading a book on how to stop sugar addiction. The book is "Beat Sugar Addiction Now!" by Jacob Teitelbaum MD and Chrystle Fielder.

I've known for a while my sugar addiction is a problem. I let the everyday stresses of life get to me; 2 small kids, full time job, high maintenance dog, keeping everyone fed, healthy and at the right place at the right time. I've gradually packed on the pounds over the past few years. It's time for change. I know my weight is a direct correlation to the amount of sweets I eat. I let myself believe treats are okay on days that have been particularly stressful. There are more of those than not these days.

Today is day 1 of the sugar purge. So far so good. I'm to expect some moodiness and irritability. My husband may ask how that is different than other days (poor guy), but I hope it's not too bad. Drinking water is key, to cleanse myself of the elevated sugar levels in my body...

I'm going to stock up on vegetables, fresh fruit, lean meats and proteins, low sugar yogurt, cheese, etc.. I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners so I'll have to be creative with some of my food choices. If I'm true to my goals, I'll track my progress here. If sugar wins, I won't write anything about my progress because I'll be snuggled up with a chocolate bar and a bowl of ice cream somewhere.

Monday, July 12, 2010

10,000+ miles from home

And exhausted.....

I'm in Bangalore India on a business trip. The time difference is 12.5 hours ahead from the SF bay area. I'm wiped, my body doesn't know what to do and when sleep wise.

This is my 4th trip in 5 years. I do love coming here. We work with a team of employees here that supports the work my US team does. It's very valuable coming here and building in-person working relationships. We spend a lot of time with our teams here over the phone and on IM on a day to day basis. Making the effort (it's a 22 hour journey) to come here and spend time with them is extremely valuable.

The days are long, 11 hours of meetings yesterday after only 4.5 hours of sleep in the prior 48 hour period. I was hopeful I would sleep on the plane. Not having anyone demanding anything of me was eerily unsettling and I just couldn't quite my mind. I also drank more wine and champagne that I should have, the red wine from Portugal was just too tasty.

I will try to take some pictures of my experience here and post in a couple of days. It's inspiring and disheartening at the same time. There is a considerable amount of poverty here, right in your face. The India people are fantastic hosts, very giving of their time away from their families when we descend on them for a week.

The hotel is one of the best I've stayed in here and the staff is very accommodating. Me and my sometimes over opinionated self was mentioning the sub par hair dryer while at breakfast in the hotel yesterday. Someone from the hotel must have overheard me. When I got back to my room last night, there was a fabulous full power hair dryer with a hand written note for me. I felt bad, but at least it won't take me 45 minutes to dry my hair today.

An added benefit of being here is seeing old friends. I am lucky to spend time with the US based and India based teams I used to work with. Very smart and very kind people. Lots of laughs will be had...

I can't wait to get home and see my girls though! I miss them terribly and very happy for current cell phone technology. I'm able to get real time updates and pictures of them, I love it!!! Emily had carrots for the first time yesterday and I received pictures of her eating them, yeah!