Sugar makes me CRAZY!

So I've cut back on sugar in a TREMENDOUS way. I used to eat candy all the time and since I brushed my teeth enough and drank a ton of water, I didn't think anything of it. I loved eating laffy taffy, eating 5 peanut butter cookies in one sitting, hot tamales, chocolate, popsicles...pretty much anything with sugar; until I talked to my grandma.

I was telling my grandma that sometimes I get so frustrated or angry with something when I really have no reason to. Vince would do something like come into the bedroom early in the morning and tickle my back to wake me up so I could eat a breakfast he made and I would just yell at him that I'm sleeping and that he's an idiot for thinking I'd want my back rubbed! From then on, my entire day would be ruined and I would be annoyed. Immediately after I would get mad, though, I would regret what I said. I was always saying little rude things to him that I HATED saying but I truly could not seem to help it. I would constantly feel guilty and would always be apologizing, but I knew how much I hurt his feelings. I honestly felt CRAZY. I felt like I wasn't myself and that I absolutely had no control over my body. I would say things I didn't want to say and get mad and stay mad, even though I was asking myself why I was actually mad and couldn't come up with an answer.

My grandma asked me how much sugar I ate and said that she had felt the exact same way many many years ago, and her doctor recommended she not eat sugar. She went off sugar and she immediately felt a difference, just like I have. It was funny because 2 days after I had stopped eating sugar, I went to lunch with Vince and he said something that I normally would have gotten mad at and snapped at him, but I didn't. In my head, I was thinking, "Hello! Snap at him, why aren't you saying something?" I just started laughing and was like, "Vince, my mind is telling me to get mad at you, but I'm not!" He smiled and agreed that I normally would have been mad and was glad I wasn't. That moment, I knew that I couldn't eat sugar like I had in the past. Bummer.

At the same time though, I am SO much happier not eating sugar. I still do eat some sugar (less than 15 grams a day-aka 1/2 a Snickers bar or a 1/2 cup light ice cream with diet root beer) and have a healthy amount of natural sugars (like the sugar in fruit and veggies). I also can get up easier in the morning, which has been wonderful. In the past, I've wanted to sleep all the time, and hated to get up before 11 or 12 on my days off, but now I can happily get up by 9:15 or sooner. Instead of being drowsy and half awake all afternoon, I'm wide awake and ready to get stuff done, which allows me to fall asleep a lot easier at night (a problem I've had for years that was always attributed to anxiety).

One thing that was strange was that I craved food/candy I had never liked before, like Snickers. Growing up I never liked Snickers because I always thought they made me sick(but everything made me sick) so I haven't eaten one since third or fourth grade. A few days after I stopped eating sugar, I started craving them like crazy! It was weeird.

Anyhoo, I must give my dog a bath tomorrow. Her paws have smelled really bad the past week, which is strange because she's usually really clean and in the year that we've had her, she's never stank. Embarrassingly enough, actually, we've only given her one bath since we've gotten her and that's because she got in a fight with a skunk.

Her fur is always soft and she smells fine, so I've never seen it as a problem!