January- SUCCESS.

February- FAILURE!

March – SUCCESS.

April…? I’m choosing success.

March was a doozie with some unexpected work changes that lead to a ton of travel, but for the most part, I crushed my goals. The ones I didn’t complete were the ones that really meant the most and woud have taken the most time. So those will move to April. To check up on what I did and didn’t do, check here- March Goals.

I’m going to go with the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) methodology for this month. I am going to go the entire month gluten, dessert, and sugar free. For the most part, I have been gluten free for the last 5 years, but have slowly moved away from that because of the amount that I have been working out, but that’s no excuse. As for the dessert piece of this month, that will be easy. I’m usually not a huge dessert guy thankfully.

Now sugar….? That’s an entirely different story. I have been addicted to sugar for as long as I can remember. Growing up in South Ga, we, like most all small little communities, had “the store” where everyone got little odds and ends and the men gathered to eat breakfast and lunch (read: talk about how they got too much rain when it’s raining and how badly they need rain when it wasn’t). Then in the afternoon, stop by and grab a soda and some crackers as an afternoon snack. When working from 6:30am-9pm during the summer, snacks ARE A MUST!

As far back as I can remember, I have consumed copious amounts of sugar almost every day. As I have gotten older, I have cut it back a large amount (I don’t drink sodas often, I rarely eat desert), but I am legit uncontrollable once you put a bag of skittles (of any flavor), starbursts, gummy worms (weird beards too), gummy bears, sour gummy bears, sour patch kids (SPK’s, duh) EXTREME, nerd ropes, Trolli octopus, peach o’s, air heads, air heads extreme bits, sour skittles, Trolli sour bite crawlers, RIPS sour licorice (specifically Rainbow), Now n’ Laters, etc. etc. etc. I could legit go on for days. And will not stop eating a bag once I’ve opened it.

Hell, just last night, knowing this month was coming (Oh, shut up…) I ate a bag of tropical skittles, finished off a bag of Trolli Weird Beards and then decided to get two pieces of cheesecake from the Cheescake Factory— WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME????? It’s pretty crazy at how fast I can realize the symptoms too becuase anytime I eat a ton of sugar, I wake up with a headache, sore knees and feet and a brain fog that takes me almost the entire day to lift.

I have always had an insanely fast metabolism which causes me to be hungry nonstop. These sugary candies are a quick was to “satisfy” my hunger, but really just makes it worse in the long run. I know, I know, we are all “addicted to sugar” and that’s all fun and games until you really start reading a little… So what does sugar do to the body? Check out this graphic…

What does this mean? The more sugar you eat, the more sugar your body thinks you need. And so the process goes until it’s out of control. One of my biggest worries about sugar is the fact that it causes systemic inflammation. Eating too much sugar can then lead to chronic low-grade inflammation, which is known to cause SERIOUS health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and allergies.

Sugar can also cause many of the following issue such as increased fluctuations in blood glucose levels. This causes increased fat storage and can cause mood swings, fatigure and headaches. Increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Decreased iummune system functionality since Bacteria feeds on sugar, you are essentially feeding the negative bacteria and putting more stress on your immune system. And one thing I’m most focused on is increased stress. To read more negative effects and see the studies behind them, read this article on HealthLine.

Now that everyone hates sugar (NOT), let’s see how this month goes. Joing me if you want! Misery loves company!

• SUGAR- JUST SAY NO! NO SUGAR, SWEETS, or GLUTEN
• No Complaining – I love this one. It helps me reframe my mind each day. I’m going to try and carry this one through the month.
• Finish my RAKs from last month