So Long, Sugarless

At the beginning of October, I decided to make some changes. I had been going to an acupuncturist for insomnia since mid-September and she informed me that I had sluggish kidneys. Sluggish kidneys? Really, lady? It sounded silly, but after a few treatments, I was starting to see an improvement in my sleep and a few other issues I hadn’t known were bothering me as much as they were, so I took a little more heed than before. To an acupuncturist, sluggish kidneys had little to do with the organs themselves and more what they represented in the body as a whole. Intuitively, I knew that I needed to detoxify. 

As a nutritionist, I’m not one for detoxifying diets and I wasn’t going to go on one, now. But I knew there were changes I could make to support the weekly pin-cushion sessions. I was talking artificial sweeteners. Sucrulose, a sprinkling of aspartame, and intermittent sugar alcohols were all part of the regularly scheduled program. Now, no conclusive evidence supports that any of these are truly dangerous to the health and I justified that they were better than eating a lot of sugar, but they couldn’t be helping me. I also was addicted to gum. I chewed it when I was in the car and as soon as on piece started to lose flavor, in went another. It was a really crazy habit and, like most habits, a mindless one. But I had quit diet sodas earlier in the year, so surely I could quit this. And while I was at it, why not go off of all prescription medications, as well? For a month. For October. Surely, I could last that long.

I’m pleased to say, I did. November came and I reintroduced an occasional piece of sugarless gum when the social occasion called, experimented a bit with Stevia as a sweetener, took the occasional  Ambien when traveling, a sugar-free baked good (albeit with a better sugar replacement) a few times, but mostly stayed “clean.” December is here and I’m pretty happy to continue along this way.

Here’s the thing. I don’t feel that much different at all. Aside from the mental happiness and ability to sleep more often, my body isn’t really registering the change. I think it did at first, but now it’s back to status quo. Frustration arises and I’m reminded that not all change is visible or felt and that I must have patience. And awareness. For all I know, there may be something else my body is trying to tell me. I owe it to myself to listen.