Sugar is the most difficult thing I have ever tried to quit. I was even a smoker for 2 years of my life and found it easier to stop smoking. I have come to the conclusion that some of the most very common things in our kitchen are drugs. Sugar is number one on my list. Most of us have made the choice to start living a healthy lifestyle. We drink more water, we are more active, we have even changed our diets and stopped eating many things that are bad for us. Or have we?

One of the most popular diets I have read about that has worked for many people is the Atkins diet. I agree with it to a certain extent but I think the diet is just too extreme. Yes carbs are something that we eat too much of these days but cutting out all carbs is not what we need. The body needs balance like everything else in life. If you do too much of something its bad for you, if you do too little of something its bad for you. Refined sugars are the problem not all carbs.

Its all about choices. Now a days I choose not to drink pop or juice. Why not juice you say?? Yes it comes from fruit and fruit is good for you. But How much sugar in in your juice? Do you read the label? I was shocked when I started to read the label for everything I drink. I found that most juice has almost as much sugar as pop. So I really wasn't doing much by cutting pop out of my diet and not juice. So now I mostly drink water. Sometimes carbonated water with lime when I miss pop. But even thats on rare occasions.

Being a woman I really have a difficult time with cravings. Usually for sugar. I recently did a cleanse for Candida. Candida is an overgrowth of yeast within the human body. It affects both men and women. Yeast lives naturally in the intestinal tract (in very small amounts) alongside other microflora (good bacteria). Often, yeast can overgrow in the intestinal tract and become systemic, causing numerous health problems. Candida thrives on sugar.

I didn't realize how addicted I was to sugar until I did this cleanse and had to cut 95% of the sugar out of my diet for 30 days. This was near impossible for me. I think I lasted for a week. This experience is what made me realize how addicted I was.

"Most people would agree that heroin is a drug. It is a white powder that produces striking changes in the body and mind in tiny doses. [...] Sugar is also a white powder that strongly affects the body, and some experts say it affects mental function and mood as well” this is a statement made by Marie-Hélène Lyle University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge Alberta Canada from an article called The Reclassification of Sugar as a Drug. I suggest you google it and have a look.

Now I'm not saying to use sugar free products because they are in fact worse for you than the actual sugar. If you don't believe me google aspartame, surcalose, asuflame. Which happen to be the 3 most popular substitutes for sugar.

There is one substitute that is considered safe and thats stevia. You can find stevia in your local health food store. Stevia comes in powder or liquid form but is very concentrated so be careful with how much you use.

I am still fighting this addiction and I see it effecting so many people around me. I have relatives who are now diabetic and friends that probably will be in the next few years if they don't realize what they are doing to them selves.

Please look into this topic and learn what you need to know about sugar. I bet society has you fooled into thinking sugar is not a drug.