So I started my Shakeology journey in July 2013. I was about two months into drinking it everyday (less my vacation in August) when the people in my challenge group started discussing other sweeteners or talked about how their cravings decreased. It was September and I noticed that I just stopped joining the kids in their afternoon snack around 3-4pm, usually something like animal crackers or pretzels or some other carb/sugar thing. And I thought to myself...hmm, maybe there is something to this claim that it decreases people's sugar cravings.
Now at this point in time, I was a neophyte in terms of changing my diet. I was just mostly sticking to dairy free as per my son's intolerance, but not changing much else, just keeping to the diet that I grew up with and cooked for my family. But what I loved about my challenge group was the exchange of ideas and what people ate and what helped keep them satisfied. I knew I was a huge snacker and I most definitely had a sweet tooth. Between you and me, I could eat a whole package of Reeses in one sitting and not blink.
And I really thought about that... I was addicted to sugar. I loved it. I would buy the Domino 5 lbs jug and I realized I was really the only one in my family who used it, mostly in my coffee in the morning. Sure I could blame baking and other needs, but those were rare and just a few times a year. But on a daily basis, I used at least 3 TABLESPOONS of sugar in my coffee every morning. Per coffee cup. I had already done the calculation in My Fitness Pal app and realizing that each coffee cup I drank ranged between 200-300 cal and that is me underestimating it because I didn't really want to know how bad it was.
So I decided I would start there. But I liked the way my coffee tasted, sweet and mellow with vanilla almond milk (the sweetened kind.) So I did some reading and I downloaded some books, "The Complete Sugar Detox Program," "Five Simple Steps to Cut Down on Sugar" and a few other articles. Sugar withdrawel is AWFUL. Painful. As bad if not worse than a caffeine headache. So my first step was to switch to the unsweetened almond milk, which changed from 90 cal/serving to 30 cal/serving (not that I used an entire serving in one coffee cup but over 2-3 cups a day.) Then after a week or so, I tried 2 tablespoons instead of 3 tablespoons. Not bad. Didn't really notice a difference. Then by the end of the month I went to 1 tablespoon of sugar. A difference yes, but worth it and I still felt like I get my sweet in my coffee.
My next step was researching "other sweeteners." I had tried honey, not great in my opinion for coffee, though nice with some teas. Maple syrup was just weird and really flavored the coffee in a certain way and didn't give it the right sweetness. In my research though, the sweetener that came up over and over as natural and safe because I was breastfeeding was stevia. So I started with 1 tablespoon of sugar with 1 packet of stevia. Brilliant. Kept at this til I acclimated to the taste of it and eventually one day I jumped off the ledge and completely stopped using sugar altogether. Just the stevia. And I had crossed the finish line of knowing I did not crave the sugar anymore, it was just a bad habit. So I packed up the sugar and stored it in my freezer (bc I do use it for baking on rare occasions.) And it has stayed there ever since.
So then how do I know that Shakeology helped make this happen? If I was having my coffee at 7-8am, I knew for certain that I would get my sweet kick in again with Shakeology sometime between 11am-2pm, which worked perfectly for me. And the fact that the afternoon snack just disappeared on its own was just easy that I didn't even notice. But what it takes is having Shakeology in my system everyday at a certain time that works for me. That time is anywhere between 10am-2pm so that my day flows. It works for me and I am so grateful to have kicked this habit. See, it is critical for me. Diabetes II runs in my family and I have seen first hand what it can do. So my priority this past year was to make sure I change my diet, get rid of this addiction so I prevent to the best of my ability this horrible affliction. A healthy diet creates a healthy weight which in turn lowers my risk for diabetes II.
So take a moment to think about your sugar addiction and the long term affects it could have on you... what would you be willing to change right now today to prevent the horrible health issues associated with it so you can enjoy every decade of your life? If I told you this shake would help you, would you drink it? I would and that is what I am doing on this journey with Shakeology.
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