No Sugar No Caffeine

   I'm waiting for final talks with my heart doctor but he's leaning towards thinking I have some issues with my nervous system, something called Dysautonomia.  We're not 100% there yet but I do seem to fall under that umbrella and most of the things to help it are lifestyle changes that are good for us but not always fun or easy.  One thing is lots of water and fluids (good for all), extra salt (not good for all but quite yummy for me), daily aerobic exercise (not so fun but doable) no caffeine (including decaf products-WHAT!) and no sugar (are you CRAZY?).

  So I completely freaked out and refused to give up my treats calmly decided to tackle these things and see if I noticed a difference.  The water and salt I was already told to do and all the rest can't hurt anything.  Before you decide this shouldn't be too big of a deal I have to tell you even my 5yo knows my "happy place" is at Biggby Coffee.  My favorite Christmas gift was my gift card there.  AND one of my favorite hobbies is baking... and eating the sweets I baked!

   I got some advice from a friend who has done no sugar and I again freaked out and told her no way  decided I could do this one day at a time.  I can promise nothing but today.  As I write this I'm on day four and I even enjoyed survived a trip to a coffee house without coffee or sweets.  I do feel pretty good but I am realizing I was really addicted to sugar!  I never knew that but wow!  I ate sugar often, more than I ever realized. And after every evening meal my mouth was not happy without something sweet.  Stopping wasn't as hard as I thought.  Actually eating a small amount of sugar for me is harder than none.  I will at times splurge I'm sure but because of how gross I felt the first few days I will think long and hard before I dig in.

   The coffee I thought would be really hard but I knew even the decaf affected me so I should try.  Then a lovely mom from basketball told me about this coffee substitute called Roma.  You can get it at some grocery stores and most health food stores.  It's actually a roasted grain and you use it like instant coffee.  I was desperate and tried and it is REALLY good!  It tastes like a weak coffee and if I add it right to warm milk it tastes just like a latte!  If you put them side by side you could probably tell but honest you'd have to really thing about it.  I'M SO HAPPY!  It has almost no calories and instead of subtracting my fluid because of the caffeine it's adding to my intake!  So I may not be able to have my cake and eat it too but I can have my "coffee" and drink it too!

  Now I must say I am not overweight but who wouldn't love to drop a few pounds?  If I don't and I gave up all my yummy stuff I will be so flipping mad will still be glad I made some new healthy lifestyle changes.