The psychology behind change is quite complicated. Fortunately, we don't have to understand all of what makes it work to make it work!

Dr Clay needs to watch his sugar intake. I identify with this... I'm hypoglycemic and sugar zaps my energy, among other things.

Taking in sugar makes me crave more sugar. The process feeds itself. I have an additional issue here. I lost my sense of smell and taste with the injury. However, I can get a sense of sweet if something is VERY sweet, (and also I can have a different sensation if something is red pepper hot.) If I eliminate Sweet, then I'm taking away one of the few things I have when it comes to enjoying foods and drinks.

I've tried the artificial sweeteners. I've tried the natural sweeteners. Oh well.

NOW I have read about research that shows that it could be the spiking of the insulin (from sugar binges etc) that nicks the arteries and leads to heart disease.

Yes, I need to change regarding sugar in my life.

Ok... I learned early in my life that to eliminate something negative in my life, I needed to replace it with something positive. I do have one more alternative in the sweetener area: agave. I need to try that.

But there needs to be something else I can do to replace the loss of sweet, say, in my green tea... otherwise I'm stuck with water only.

If I can't find an alternative to sugar or the bad chemicals of artificial sweeteners, then I need to go into another realm to find gratification. You know what I mean? Do I need to be able to say, because I DO drink only water, and don't eat desserts laden with sugar, I DO allow myself________________.

Ugh. This is not easy. My escape to the movies always involved indulging in (plain) popcorn and a coke! So removing the sugar also altered my escape...in fact, I quit going to the movies altogether. NOT a good solution imo.

I'm working on this... thought I'd begin a thread so others can too.

What do you think?