Lifestyle, YES! That's what I love about how my Mom trains people and The Gracious Pantry blog author. Both ladies are speaking of a way of living not a diet. There is NO WAY I could do a diet. For me, it's just not practical.

With all of the options I have for natural sweets, I guess I am really not worried about this new lifestyle. I know it will be for the best and in the long run, the health benefits will far outweigh my desire for those lovely, sweet, yummylicious Junior Mints!!! LOL

Enabling... it's not just for jewelry!

I'll put you on my go-to list, Kanga. I'm already committed to living with Paula Deen for a while, but once I wear out my welcome there, I'll come to you.

aacckk!!

I LOVE Paula! Eating at The Lady and Sons again is soooo on my bucket list!

Wow, I just saw this thread.... I had blood tests done on Friday and boy, were the results scary! My blood glucose and insulin levels were right at the top of the charts... I have a doctors appointment in 2 hours and I am going to get reamed, I'm sure.

I used to drink a lot of Coke Zero through the day and I'm a major chocoholic... I had to have chocolate in the house at all times... Since this weekend, I am limiting myself to three cokes a day and didn't buy cocolate at the grocery store.

I am a shaky mess, sweaty and have a headache... How long does this last? My son got me one of the new Reese's bars, and I am treasuring it to eat after lunch, but the general idea is to cut sugar out, or a lot and eat healthier!

Expect the headaches to last 3-5 days up to 2 weeks from reducing caffeine and sugar, depending on how much you were consuming. Unless your Dr. tells you to cut everything out NOW then you can reduce consumption over a few weeks to wean yourself off without suffering so much from withdrawal.

Some people are good at cold turkey and sudden lifestyle changes. Some people do better easing into the changes.

I was drinking a lot of coke and a chocolate serving was three bars/ m&ms packets...

I am tapering off to three cokes daily for a week, then two and a half, then two, and so on... I did cut chocolate cold turkey, because that is a major trigger for overeating for me...

My plan is to eat healthier, no soft drinks and chocolate/sweets unless I go out or to a party, and then I can eat it in moderation (I hope!). The numbers on my tests look scary indeed and I hope I can do something before it is too late.

Good luck!! It is SO HARD at first, but you can do it, Until it is 100% out of your system I think you will experience some of these horrible side effects. But cold turkey could be even worse, but for a much shorter time. WATER WATER WATER will help to ease these.

Once your body is "clean" of these, I doubt you will want them back...even in moderation. You will feel it immediately when you eat them, and it won't be the same joy you used to get from them It really doesn't taste as good once you rid your body of it. My fav sweet now?? Frozen strawberries And mineral water instead of pop.

I just came across this thread. Been up & down on the scale ever since I had my sons many years ago. Weight Watchers always worked for me, but I always cheated the scale by uping the exercise. 2 yrs ago, again I lost a lot of weight on WW, felt great. Then by accident it was discovered I have an anortic dissection in my abdominal aorta-small, but there. My cardiologist discovered I was born with a Bicuspis aortic valve-so in order to not have the aneruysm develope in my heart, I have to take beta blockers to keep my BP and heart rate low. They make me very fatigued-about the same time WW switched their plan up'd the points made fruits free-the combo of everything was a disaster for me. I re-gained approx 20lbs even with exercising intensely everyday. My cardiologist just last week told me to come off of WW completely, cut all sugars & bad carbs out, and eat lean meat,vegetables and look into the SouthBeach eating plan.It bascially is like eating & thinking as if you are diabetic. day 2, I can honestly say I am not hungry. has anyone followed SouthBeach-created by a cardiologist to help his patients control their labs and found the extra benefit of weight lose. Has anyone followed SouthBeach? If so,any thoughts
sorry for being long winded on this.

Southbeach is super similar to Atkins and Perricone... I have done all three at certsain points. I have never done Paleo, but I think that is really simialr as well. They are all low GI and more of a lifestyle, once you get into them. Once you retrain yourself to think differerntly about food, you willf ind they are really not too restrictive. There are substitutes for so many things now. And while at first shredded cauliflour may not seem at all close to rice, lol, feel good and being healthy will make it not all that bad. I think overtime, you will just get used to eating this way, and you will find lots of things you can eat, that you never thought of or tried before. This is generally how we eat as a family, including my 2 year old DD. I do give my DD some rice and gluten free bread on occasion, but mostly she eats what we do.

When I do not eat this way, I gain weight, and I am generally just more tired and lethargic, and I crave things... At certain times the cravings are so intense that I have trouble saying no to myself. When I do eat this way, I wake up with energy, my weight is easliy maintained with normal exercise, and I feel in control of my eating. No cravings

Okay girls I started again today and have alot to lose.
I am a total sugar addict,..and every-time I go off,..I can even get migraines from withdraws!!

Jcent you know how you say you probably will not want it anymore,..I always want it back...its just horrible.

Hang in there Borismom,.I am with you right now too!!

Btrflai!! how are you doing on this!?? You said you were also a big sugar addict!! Update!!