I do not need you. I may love you, but I do not NEED you. You are bad for my health, bad for my body, and horrible on my self esteem.

You may think that you have won, and that I will never slip the hold you have on me. But as I was sitting here just now, something occurred to me...

I had enough of how an abusive marriage made me feel, and got out.

I had enough of how a toxic friendship made me feel, and ended it.

Sugar. My darling sugar, friend and comfort for so long.... I am stronger than you, and I have accomplished greater things than giving you up.

I have had enough of how you make me feel.

lol. you tell that sugar.

Great post!!

I was just saying the other day that I've come so far in my life. I got out of a very unhappy marriage, went to college at 40, have an awesome job with a real chance for a career I'm perfect for. What is holding me back from real sucess is the sugar. I love sweet food as seen by my weight size. I also really love this feeling of denying the sugar, as I have for the last three days. It shows in my attitude and more importantly it is showing on the scales.

I love this post.

Sugar, ShelBl said, "C-YA!!!"

Devs! How in the world are ya? Glad to see you on the board today!

Sugar had to have been created by the devil, he even gave it a pretty name to make it more alluring!

Yea. that sugar IS the DEVIL!

You know, I see and hear it all the time...the people who get offended and simply quite upset when people compare "food" to addictions like alcoholism or smoking. Their claim is, "Well, you don't need booze or smokes to live, but you need food". When I read/hear that over and over I always hang my head low and feel badly for everyone who believes that sugar (or his cousin high fructose corn syrup) is "food". YOU DON'T NEED SUGAR TO LIVE...PERIOD!

Wow, it never even occurred to me to think about it that way. Thank you for your post.

Exactly!!! I used to be addicted to smoking and recreational drugs. I know VERY well what it is like to have an addicted personality and I know that food can, and is for me, just as addictive. Yes, I gotta eat to stay alive, but I sure don't have to eat the pastries at my job just because they are marked off and are there for the taking. Now do I?????

So, there's still ice cream in the house. Shiny new cartons of ice cream, from before I swore them off. Last night, after much self debate, I figured I might as well eat some and put it in the category of everything else that I wouldn't bring back into the house once it's gone.

Long story short.... I didn't like it. There I was, eating out of the carton, a method that would have resulted in an empty carton and a stomach ache and beating myself up just a couple of weeks ago. I had about five bites, and put it back. It didn't taste right. It was super sweet and not nearly as enjoyable as I was expecting.

So there, sugar. You're not as tempting as you think. Ha. :P

Hummm...well, you still bought it or at least allowed it in your house....AND you still took 5 bites of it, so it DID tempt you. Hopefully the rest of the carton gets thrown away before it starts to call for you.

Lori, this is wonderful. You are so right. I had never considered it before but you don't NEED sugar. You don't NEED fast food. You don't NEED fried things. And the list goes on.

And the longer you're off sugar/HFCS, the more your tastebuds shift. When I've gone off sugar for long periods of time, food is more flavorful - fruits satisfy my sweet tooth, and gradually even carrots tasted sweet to me. And then when I go back and eat something really sweet, it doesn't taste as good.

I'm not totally off, but have weaned myself down to small amounts of dark chocolate, or the occasional sweet treat like a slice of cake on a birthday, but it's not a regular thing for me. Nope. Don't need it to live. In fact, for the vast majority of human history, we didn't eat it, certainly not in the amounts in which it is available today. Even more true for HFCS and other made-in-the-chemistry-lab sweeteners.