carbon, hydrogen and oxygen

I'm a bit surprised that I've largely stopped eating sugar because up until very recently, I had a wicked sweet tooth. I'm not ashamed to admit that my love of sweeties runs very base. Not one to turn away the beautiful and artisanal, given my choice I'll almost always choose good ol' white sugared, corn syrup laced confections. Jelly beans and jelly bellys. Mike n' Ike or Starburst. Peanut M n' M's. There were definitely times when I felt like Audrey Jr. with my insatiable consumption.

I definitely still use sugar in tea and/or coffee. And maple syrup in my morning oatmeal, but the added 'treats' after lunch and dinner? They've stopped.

I didn't set out to stop eating sugar, but I believe the combination of moving my body more, and eating to fuel myself during my workouts helped change what I reach for. 

Because my sister has been heavily on my mind, I've thought a lot about her cancer. She too had a big sweet tooth. During the early years, when our mom was still around, we weren't allowed sweets. Or anything junky for that matter. She was a food nazi and we were the kids with the lunch no one would ever trade: Brown bread sandwiches. Fruit and carrot sticks. Cottage cheese. 

Being denied sugar meant it was all we craved. We spent every dime of our allowance on sweets and lived for the moment when we could gorge on candy in front of cartoons. Saturday was a really good day.

Who knows if there's a correlation between her cancer and sugar, but I know that as I (rapidly) approach 50, I'm looking at everything in my life with a renewed interest. 

Maybe it's the seven year cycle and my tastes are changing, (I know everything else is). Or maybe it's a combination of everything. I don't care, I'll take it. I'm pretty sure sugar really is evil, especially the way it's processed, (like everything), these days.

I'm not foolish enough, (at least in this instance), to believe that my sweet tooth won't win me over once again. What I'm hoping/working towards is that sugar doesn't dominate as it has.

And if I find myself overcome once again, the white sugar, corn syrup laced choices will fall away for better tasting sweeties.