Pass the sugar, Sugar.

Oh SUGAR! You don't need to know me well to know that I LOVE SUGAR. When I was little I used to sneak into the cupboard, close the door behind me, and literally eat the brown sugar right out of the bucket. I still love sugar in most forms. Let me expand upon that. In no specific order, here are some of my favorites:

Vanilla ice cream with strawberries, brownies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, mars bars, lifesavers, candy canes, doggy doo doos, chocolate crinkle cookies, moose tracks ice cream, tiger tiger ice cream, Reese's puffs, black licorice toffee, mars bars, skor blizzards, oreo mc flurries, twix bars, sour keys, slurpees, any/ all kinds of cheese cake, 5 cent candies from 7-11, root beer, rice crispy squares, jolly ranchers, peppermints, fruit loops, popsicles, caramel apples, wine gums, hot chocolate, smores, jelly bellies, runts, skittles, hot tamales, mike and ikes ...

You probably get the point. I just wanted to illustrate the fact that I don't discriminate; while most people's tastes mature as they get older, mine haven't. Don't get me wrong- they've expanded. I enjoy a far darker chocolate than I used to, but the truth is that I will still eat that cheap waxy chocolate you get at Easter like there's no tomorrow. And nothing makes my mouth water like a clear little baggie of obscurely shaped gummies slathered in sour sugar.

My relationship with food is a complicated one (or maybe it's not) but we won't get into that right now. Now we will simply discuss the reasons I need to end this love affair that I have with sugar. Immediately... Or as soon as I make, then eat, a delicious something with the pack of skor bits sitting in my pantry, because can't start any sort of cleanse from the vile weed, with such a delightful specimen sitting within reach!

So the cons of sugar are obvious, even to a faithful follower such as myself. But allow me to outline them- perhaps more for my own benefit than for anyone else's.

1. My face is a tell tale sign of my sugar intake. Each bite of sugar I take appears within 12 hours on my face. Too much information? Perhaps. But let me expand further. The more (and the cheaper - NO JOKE!) the sugar I eat, the worse my face breaks out the next day. Each 2 bite brownie can be traded across the board for a zit on my chin. Perhaps due to the fact that it is eaten with less inhibition, or perhaps due to the actual ingredients, but a chocolate with a higher cocoa content does less damage on mon visage.

2. My butt. I am currently about 5 months pregnant. In the first 4 months I didn't gain a single pound. In the last month and a half I have gained close to 10. Oh boy. And the truth is, it's been an active month. Roly and I walk almost every day. We go to the pool at least once/ week. But alas- I eat. a few weeks ago I made a huge batch of cookie dough, and froze it, anticipating company, and different situations in which a fresh batch of cookies may come in handy. Well, it came in really handy on nights where Dave and I were sitting, watching t.v. and wanted some cookie dough. And lets just be honest with ourselves - EVERY situation is the perfect situation for fresh cookies. Several batches were made (and-cough-eaten-cough) that week.

3. My health. This hadn't crossed my mind until tonight, but this darn sugar habit may just be killing me in more ways than one. I have a rock solid immune system. I think that working with kids for years has given me the immune system of an ox, as I've been coughed/sneezed/peed/puked on by more kids than I can count. Dave and Roly catch EVERYTHING that rolls through. They just have to hear about someone being sick, and before you know it these two have it too!
2 or 3 weeks ago Dave and Roly got sick- coughs, runny noses, etc, and I stayed strong for a few days, but then I caught it as well. I put myself on a strict regiment of lemon-ginger tea and I felt better within a few days, while Dave suffered it out for at least another week. Well, it didn't take long until I was feeling it again, and even though it's been a few weeks I just can't KICK it. My cough won't hit the road, and my nose won't stop running.
I had a meeting tonight, and someone asked if I was sick. I guess they could hear it in my voice. I explained that I felt fine, I just had this cough and congestion that I can't get rid of. She offered up the suggestion of pregnancy congestion, which I had to dismiss. I've had/do have that- this is more than that. That's when someone asked if I ate a lot of sugar. I looked at her and bit my lip. She simply said- "That happened to me, where I couldn't get rid of a cold. Just think of the sugar as feeding your cold." The conversation moved on, but my thoughts stayed right there.
Could it be? Could my lovely little friend, Sugar, be causing all this frustration? Could it be the straw that I needed to break this camel's back? To get me over the denial of my addiction, and into a place where I can admit that I need to cut out all this crap I keep putting into my body and feeding to my baby? Maybe this realization is just what I needed.
And maybe, just maybe, it will be enough... and maybe I sat down and ate 3 cookies after that meeting ended, and before I started this blog. Let's be honest. It will take more than a little health scare to keep me away from this mistress.