In the book Eat, Move Sleep by Tom Rath, it talks a lot about sugar. In the past few months I’ve learned so much about the negative impacts it has on us. Rath calls sugar “the next nicotine.” It kills more people than cocaine, heroine or any other controlled substance. That was shocking to me – until I really thought about it. Sugar feeds any sickness in your body. So many people, especially Americans, are addicted to sugar. But it’s not something that many people think about. Added sugar is in pretty much everything packaged and processed and it’s killing us slowly.

The thing about sugar, just like any addictive drug or substance, is that the more you have, the more you want. When you wake up and start your day with sugary cereal, you’re not setting yourself up for success. The less added sugar you consume, the less you crave it. It sounds difficult, I know. And I am someone who was certainly addicted to sugar even just a few weeks ago. But once I started being aware of it by checking nutritional facts or cutting back on sweets, sodas and other sugary things, I stopped craving it. Believe me, just a few months ago while I was still in China I would have done almost anything for a Reese’s cup. And for the past week I’ve been carrying one around in my bag and haven’t felt inclined to eat it. It’s so unlike me – but now I believe it when people talk about sugar addictions! I became aware of it and broke it.

I think since I’ve simply become aware of how things make me feel, I’m making better choices. I think for the majority of my life I had stomachaches or headaches and just thought it was normal. But in reality, I have felt so much better in the past few weeks since I’ve started being aware of what I’m consuming.

A few takeaways from the book – try to focus on the amount of sugar in the things you eat. Check the packages and see how many grams of sugar are in what you’re about to nom. Aim for as little as possible, the book says it should be definitely under 10g. Eliminating sugar will curb your sugar cravings. “The more you avoid any sweetener, the fewer subsequent cravings you will have for sugary foods.”

It’s a vicious cycle, people. Take a small step toward kicking the cravings and you’ll see how much better you start to feel!