My recent epiphany and how it's completely changed what I consume

In a recent post, I mentioned an epiphany I had, which has dramatically affected what I consume. Once it had occurred to me, it seemed so obvious, I couldn't believe it took me so long to get to this point...

At the most basic level, weight gain occurs when you consume more calories than you spend. But I've learned that different people have different habits, and turn to different foods, which make up all of those extra calories. For me it was junk food - candy, cookies, packaged snacks - total crap food.

I spent decades being a junk food, and convenience food, addict. I didn't cook. I relied on packaged, processed, junk and snack foods. I realize it didn't help that I ate too much in general, and I was completely sedentary. But I'd say my worst habit, and the cause of my extra weight was/is a direct result of having a diet that consisted heavily, sometimes exclusively, on junk food.

Since I have struggled for most of my life with my addiction to sugar and junk food, I vowed to break that abusive relationship earlier this year. And since that time, I have done a a remarkable job. For one thing, I made it through Easter without consuming a single piece of Easter candy! That was one of my April goals - and I achieved it. In fact, I have not had any sugary candy since then (*Note: When I refer to "sugary candy", I'm talking about the chemical stuff, which was my favorite - not chocolate - for instance Lemonheads, Mike & Ikes, Sweet tarts, Dots, Jujy Fruits, Nerds, Bottlecaps, Good n Plenty, Sprees, Sour Patch Kids, Gummy candies, Candy Corn, Jelly Beans, etc... you get the idea).

In order to help me rule out the sugary candy, I had been trying to 'Reframe' (one of my favorite WW tools) how I think about candy. This required me first identifying my problem (sugary candy) and knowing I had to think about it rationally when I was *not* craving it, and continue to think about it logically all the time. The way I reframed it, and my thought process, went kind of like this...

• They taste good (to me, at least)
• But they lack any nutritional value
• When I eat them I am putting empty, wasted calories into my system
• These foods never give me a high, only a crash- they make me tired and mad at myself for having consumed them
• And lastly, they are not even real food! - they're chemicals - why on earth am I putting them in my body?!

That last one was really what hit me - I realized that instead of thinking about what they *taste like*, I am going to instead focus on what they are *ARE*.

Now - I rarely mention my vegetarianism because I don't like being preached to regarding anyone's beliefs, so I refrain from preaching my own beliefs. That being said, I am going to mention them briefly here-

It's the same argument I use when a meat eater says to me "How can you not eat (fill in animal product here)? It tastes good." Well, that's quite simple really. It's easy for me to not eat steak, sausage, burgers, chicken, etc - because I *KNOW* what it is. I don't care if it's the best tasting thing ever. It doesn't change the fact that it was once a living creature that was raised in terrible conditions only to be horrifically slaughtered. I know that's what it is, and I'm not going to eat it. It's not even a challenge for me to NOT eat it - I simply don't want it based on what it is.

And it was when I realized I could refrain from eating candy by thinking of it the exact same way - thinking about what it IS, not what it tastes like. After all, my particular vice is not even food, it's chemicals - And since having that thought process, candy has become much easier for me to resist. Not only that, but I haven't even *wanted* it since then! I never thought I could teach myself to not want candy!

The more I thought about it, I realized it was not sugar that I needed to ban from my diet. Real sugar was not a problem for me. In fact, I couldn't remember the last time I used real sugar. It turns out that artificial sugar has been my problem all along! It's the artificial sugars that cause cravings - I've read about this in numerous sources - because of the sweetness in the way artificial sweeteners are made to taste, that sweet taste tricks our brains into thinking we are about to be getting a lot of calories. Since these are low calorie items, those calories do not come. But our brains were expecting them, so they tell us we need more food.

It was like a eureka moment for me! I've seen this happen to me time and again when I would eat something like a 'low point' cereal bar like Fiber One. I almost never stopped at one bar. If I did, it was very difficult. Something about the taste of them made me want more and more and more! I had stopped buying them long ago because of that. But I never realized it was the fake sugars and chemicals that were causing that effect!

This was a mental milestone for me and a significant mental change in how I viewed what I was willing to put into my body and why I was ingesting it. Since reasoning all of this out, I have decided that not only am I cutting out the obvious chemical/sugar junk foods, but I am going to eliminate artificial sweeteners and chemicals completely. I don't need them and I don't want them!

This has not been an easy task because I'm still learning all the different names for them and they appear to be in just about everything, but the time I'm investing now will make it easier in the long run. What I am doing right now is checking every ingredient of every label of everything I buy. Things like aspartame, sucralose and high fructose corn syrup show up in some surprising places. And there's no need for it. I don't understand why these companies think we need everything sweetened - artificially, no less.

So far, these are just a few items I've removed from my pantry and my shopping list:

- Pancake Syrup All of them have artificial sweeteners. I now use maple syrup exclusively.
- Reduced Calorie/Light Bread I looked at every major brand of light bread in my local Key Food. All of them have artifical sweeteners! I found an organic bread called Matthew's that is all natural and so much denser and more delicious.
- Fiber One This former daily staple of mine, shockingly, has aspartame! Why? After reading dozens of labels in the cereal aisle, I now only buy Kashi products.
- Arnold's Whole Wheat Hot Dog Buns This bread product also has high fructose corn syrup. Why?! I used to eat these almost daily with my tofu pup. Fortunately, Matthew's Bread also makes a split top whole wheat bun that is all natural.
- Arnold's Sandwich Thins I love these things! I used them all the time. Why do they have sucralose in them, WHY?!
- Blue Diamond Cocoa Almonds Even my most favorite handy snack food is not immune! There is sucralose in these almonds. I will miss their flavor, but I will stick to plain almonds instead.

I started this process about three weeks ago and it will likely take a month or so before I have completely eliminated them from my apartment and my life. Mostly just because I still have to check the labels of some foods I acquired before this change and phase them out or get rid of them; but all newly bought items are checked thoroughly before purchase. The hardest part for me will be giving up gum. I chew at least 5 pieces of Orbit Sweet Mint a day. I always have gum in my mouth - except when I'm eating. I am going to have a very hard time breaking my gum habit.

But here's the best part - since cutting out the chemicals/artificial sweeteners already, I have lost 8 pounds (I was under 150 for the first time in over a year!), my body has gotten noticeably smaller, my clothes fit/or have become loose again and most incredibly, I have not had a single craving for anything. I eat natural, real foods, I eat when I'm hungry, and I eat in the portions that I am supposed to be eating. I am no longer tortured by thoughts of 'bad' foods or wishing I could eat when I'm not hungry. It's an absolute dream come true.

With these results, and feeling this great, I can tell you that there is nothing I miss about artificial sweeteners or the foods that contained them. And I can't ever imagine going back to them. There's no need - they're completely unnecessary and have no place in my life anymore. I am far more aware of what I am consuming. And I'm willing to spend more 'points', or eat a smaller portion of something to have the natural version. It's no longer quantity I'm after, it's now QUALITY.

Farewell, junk food and artificial ingredients - I am no longer your slave!