Leaving Sugar Behind...

I will be 35 years old on January 17, 2012. On that day, I will leave sugar behind.

When I was pregnant during 2009, I dabbled in blood sugar issues. I never got the gestational diabetes diagnosis, but toward the end I had to test my blood sugar 4 times a day, not eat sugar, etc. I often dreamt of birthing my baby and simultaneously eating a glazed doughnut.

Now, the good part is that during that last month or two of my pregnancy, all I ate was vegetables and protein. Since I was pursuing natural childbirth, the protein was right on par with the program. Consequently, I lost 20 lbs while I was pregnant. Don't worry--I started out overweight, so I was in a position that it was actually healthy for me to lose weight during pregnancy as opposed to smaller mamas who need to pack some weight on to take care of their little womb-dwellers.

So I came out ahead. I was a size 24 going into pregnancy and came out a size 18. It was awesome. And when my midwife said I'd burn 1000 calories a day breast-feeding, I considered it carte blanche to eat however and whenever I wanted. Sigh. My son will be 2 in a couple weeks and I back to a size 22. Blerg.

And unfortunately, word on the street (or you know, not so much the street, but in Ye Olde Doctor's Office) is that once you have the gestational diabetes, you're pretty at risk for Type 2 Diabetes. Double blerg.

I don't want diabetes. As I hear it, it sucks. And since this whole 'it can be controlled through good diet' thing seems to be the case, I know that I just need to live a diabetic diet for the rest of my life. I need to let go of the foods that have comforted me, embraced me, sickened me, shamed me. I need to let go of the things that cannot possibly do me any good and live. Not only for me, but for my child to learn about it too. This is NOT a diet. This is me. Sugar Free Me. I'm leaving sugar behind in 96 days.

Since I want to document this journey for some perverse reason, and because I want to feel accountable to more than just myself, I have taken to the blog world. I roll my eyes at myself for 'joining up', but hey--perfectly dignified people do this, right?

96 days.