Monday, March 27, 2006

Halfway

I think it is about halfway through my partial fast. I think I'm okay now with not having caffeine. That is, I don't miss it and not having it doesn't have anymore negative effects, no headaches, I wake up easily enough, and so on. Now I am noticing the effect of the absence of refined sugar. I allow myself to have some on weekends between Saturday evening and Sunday evening. I am starting to see how much of an effect it has on mood and on appetite. The more sugar I eat the more sugar I want and the more food I want to eat in general the next day or so. And not drinking coffee and not eating refined sugar allows me to feel calmer. However, if anything goes wrong, I still feel like compensating with a cookie.

10 comments:

Matt said...

I'm reading about your caffeine-free existence and realizing that I've been drifting the exact opposite direction, and I'm starting to feel the negative effects. Quitting caffeine is always a short term hardship, but I end up feeling so clear-headed about 3 or 4 days into it.

Cassandra Tondro said...

I gave up on giving up sugar. I seem to need the comfort of it. I can't go even one day without a cookie or a bowl of soy ice cream or something. I asked my acupuncturist why the sweet taste is so addicitve, and he said it's because we are programmed to eat fruit whenever it's available for the vitamin C. You'd think we would stop when we've had our fill of vitamin C, but evidently not. And of course there's no vitamin C in refined sugar, so it doesn't even make any logical sense.

Katherine Kean said...

zataod,

Then do you think you will be giving up caffeine sometime?

Katherine Kean said...

Cassandra,

I do understand. I heard something like that too-and that anything that tastes sweet is addictive, not just refined sugar. Maybe we can never have our fill of vitamin C and that's why we don't stop?

Matt said...

Right now. For the next day or two I will consume just enough caffeine to keep away the withdrawal headaches, but that phase usually doesn't last too long.

Katherine Kean said...

zataod,

That's great. I hope it goes well and that there are no headaches for you.

Matt said...

The headache is beginning a little, but it's pretty mild so far.

Katherine Kean said...

Ouch.

I hope it goes away.

Topwomen said...

Good for you Katherine. Caffeine is such a crutch, and I depend on it heartily I'm afraid. As for sugar, I've tried to give it up completely but then I always end up on the rebound with sugar overload. So now, as with you and your cookies, I find a cookie now and then takes care of my cravings.

Katherine Kean said...

Thank you rgmb.

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