It’s come to my attention – a while ago, actually – that I have a sugar addiction. I don’t mean this in a funny “haha I like to snack” sort of way, but in a rather serious way: It seems that whenever I buy my groceries, there is sugary food in it. I stopped buying candy, and what was the effect? I bought soft drinks instead.

It’s an interesting realization in that I had never been addicted to anything before – I do not smoke, and I only drink alcohol once in a while, and then very tame stuff (wine, mostly). I had always wondered why, for example, smoker don’t just put their foot down and say “enough” and just… stop.

I mean, I always understood it on an intellectual level, but I had no experience in how nasty your brain can be if it’s not on your side. In my case, I would just zone out and think of something else entirely and automatically grab a bag of candy off the shelf in the supermarket. Or, especially in the case of soft drinks, resort to excuses. “Eh, it’s just one bottle of Cola, no big deal.”

Except it is. There is a ton of sugar in your average softdrink. Sugar is not healthy. Certainly not at these amounts. And you gotta realize that I easily drank a liter of coke a day, maybe two on a bad day. I am frankly surprised I am not more bloated – or dead.

Sugar in Coca Cola, by Sugarstacks.com. CC-BY-ND-NC.

Sugar in Coca Cola, by Sugarstacks.com. CC-BY-ND-NC.

There’s good news, though. For a week, now, I have been off that stuff. And I have not compensated in other ways: No chocolate, no fruit gummy, no cookies, no ice cream. I have been drinking gallons of tea. The regular kind you make with bags and hot water. Without milk or sugar added, I should point out.

Wish me luck and stubbornness. I’ll report back in a month or so.