What is a dairy allergy anyway? (Let's talk about leukotrienes!)

It's not just the dairy that can make you sick

As I've mentioned before I am allergic to dairy.  Being allergic to dairy is not the same as being lactose intolerant but unlike other food allergies, it can be very similar to "seasonal" allergies.  Lactose intolerance occurs when a person's digestive tract does not secrete enough of the enzyme lactase which is necessary to digest the protein lactose.   Symptoms that you are lactose intolerant include stomach pain, bloating, diarrhea, nausea, and/or gas after eating foods containing lactose (milk sugar).

That's not what happens to me.  When I first consume dairy nothing much happens.  This is probably why I went until about the age of 33 with no idea I was allergic to dairy.  My entire childhood was spent with my throat feeling itchy, my tongue feeling "funny", hives mysteriously appearing and disappearing on my face and upper body, and oh yeah, my stomach cramping and lots of diarrhea too.  I drank milk with at least 2 meals a day, frequently ate ice cream, and loved cheese.  Because dairy was such a big part of my diet it never occurred to me that what I was feeling wasn't normal.  I also had strep throat and tonsillitis at least 4 times a year and tonsil stones all year long. And constant sinus congestion.   Inflammation was my middle name.  Oh, and even my acne had acne.  More inflammation.

As the years went by I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and seasonal allergies.  Sinusitis and rhinitis.  Things got worse.  My seasonal allergies went all year long, my face was always broken out, my lower abdomen bulged even in high school and college when I thought I looked best when I weighed under 100 pounds.  Believe it or not, the bad skin, bad bowels, and bad sinuses weren't the worst part: it was the endless itching.   Hives would appear in waves from my scalp to my stomach.  That is what it feels like to have a dairy allergy.  Does this sound like you?

So let's talk about leukotrienes (I swear I don't make these names up!)   Leukotrienes are fatty molecules that are part of the immune system and are usually accompanied by histamine and contribute to inflammation.  The production or overproduction of leukotrienes is directly influenced by arichidonic acid, a molecule found exclusively in animal products.  In other words, it wasn't just the dairy products contributing to my overall poor health, it was probably the dairy products, the meat products, and the egg products!  When I decided to become vegan every single "allergy" symptom disappeared and my face cleared up.  Hmmmm...

Over the years I have become a very lax vegan.  I got tired of preparing 2 dinners: one for me and one for Steve and our daughter.  I got tired of being "high maintenance" at restaurants.  I got tired of never being able to just "stop for a burger" -- it seemed like everything took so much planning.  I still don't eat dairy products (mostly because of the hives that I still get, even inside my mouth and throat!) but I've noticed a gradual but persistent return of "seasonal" allergies as more and more animal products have crept into my diet.  I have a feeling I know the culprits: it's those darn leukotrienes!

Now I have absolutely nothing against becoming a dedicated vegan again, but in case you do I have some other suggestions: Omega-3 fatty acids are the most effective at keeping those pesky leukotriene levels in check.  You know the sources of Omega-3s: salmon, walnuts, olive oil, supplements, etc. but did you know about the connection between sugar and leukotriene levels?  Ah yes, the evil warlord sugar rears its ugly head again.  Apparently sugar is so effective at causing inflammation in the body that it puts the immune system into overdrive and kicks those leukotriene and histamine levels waaaaaaay up.  Thus even if you eliminate all animal products and take truckloads of Omega-3 supplements if you also knock back a  few completely vegan Cokes, you're undoing all the good you've done.  Imagine what my former ice cream consumption did to me?  No wonder I spent a week every 3 months suffering from tonisillitis!

It just doesn't seem fair, does it?

Stress is my choice, not my reality

I'm going to post this sign on my front door!

Right now my life feels chaotic: schedules are colliding, I'm out of laundry detergent with one load left to go, my daughter is home from school with a headache, tuition is due soon and I think I spent the money on 18 dinners out, 1 Nook, a Boston Duck Tour, 4 new pairs of workout pants, and a complete Aeropostale summer wardrobe for my daughter.  Oh, and new uniforms for the very school that now wants more money.  I've broken up with New Stylist Lisa because my haircut is awful and the color slightly orange.  I'm still recovering from a toe injury (I know, I can't believe I mentioned the toe again either), I haven't mailed any Mother's Day cards, and I picked a zit located right in the middle of my cheek so much that it has scarred.

Yoga would probably help if I wasn't too stressed out to do yoga, that is.

Sugar, oh that sweet miracle of distraction, would probably help too but since I don't eat sugar anymore...oh who am I kidding, I've downed so much sugar lately that a mosquito that bit me went into diabetic shock.

So I feel angry with myself because after 4 months of sugar free living (again) I fell off the wagon at a birthday party last Sunday when I told myself "oh, one little piece of cake isn't going to derail me."  Wrong! One little piece of cake, one sip of my daughter's rootbeer float, 4 Newman's Own fake Oreos, and one bowl of apple crisp (topped with a disgusting amount of Ready Whip) later (you may substitute the word HUGE into any of those descriptions for accuracy), I feel headache-y myself.  (Side note: if any other addicts are out there please chime in and let me know I'm not the only one who struggles with this!)

So back to simplicity I go.  Straighten the house.  Begin another new box for charitable donations as the last one was just picked up.  Go through the mound of papers on my desk, recycle or shred/recycle most of them.  File the others.  Take out the trash.  Put away the 8 pairs of shoes scattered around the kitchen, dining room, and hall.  Make the bed.  Open the windows.  Take a deep breath.  Drink a cup of green tea.  And start again.

I haven't eaten any sugar today and I've been up since 5:15a.m. so that's a good start.  I can manage our schedules, buy detergent tomorrow, pay monthly on the tuition, find a new stylist, heal my toe, e-card my mother and mother-in-law (I can always claim being green rather than being a procrastinator), and put concealer on my zit-scar.  That's the beauty of life: every moment that we are alive is a moment of choice.  I was choosing stress, thus releasing massive amounts of adrenaline into my system which will only serve to add lines to my now-scarred face.  Stress also pumps cortisol into our bodies which increases the craving for sugar and encourages our bodies to retain fat.  Now I'm choosing simple, peace-inducing, one-task-at-a-time thoughts which increase serotonin and oxytocin levels in my brain which helps my body sleep well at night, regulate my metabolism during the day, and quiets cravings.

What choice will you make?

Diary of a Sugar Free Life, Volume 2

Ahhh, the Easter hangover: too much sugar.  I didn't actually partake of anything from the bunny, nope, my sugar intake was far more insidious than that.  It all started with a breakfast that included cinnamon rolls, a lunch that included bundt cake, and a dinner that included rootbeer.

And I was doing so well.  Remember my resolve back in December?

The problem with sugar addiction is that it is so acceptable to be addicted to sugar.  You don't have to sneak a cinnamon roll, heck, have two!  So it's all up to the addict to police themselves and hold fast to their resolve. 

I did not hold fast to my resolve.

I have been working out so hard.  Religiously I have been building muscle, continuing aerobic activity, and gaining flexibility.  While I won't be so dramatic as to say that I've undone all my hard work, I certainly feel as though I've let myself down by allowing sugar to creep back into my diet.

The good news: I'm not eating sugar right now.  Tomorrow is another day.  Every minute, every hour, every day and week and month and year that I don't eat sugar is a major victory.  There are so many reasons not to eat sugar and really only one reason to eat it: it tastes good.  Taste is a cheap reason though, I mean I love the taste of avocado but I wouldn't say I'm an avocado addict.  It's the ability of sugar to alter the body's chemistry and become a regular craving that makes it so dangerous.  Eating avocado doesn't make me crave avocado, and I've never had a carrot hangover.

I read an interesting article that said if you start craving sugar try fruit, cinnamon, vanilla, or peppermint (even the smell of peppermint or vanilla may satisfy a sugar craving) instead of eating the sugar.  I can definitely attest to the fruit and the cinnamon but I've never tried the scent therapy.  The reality is that nothing is going to be the magic solution.  I didn't even realize I'd fallen off the wagon until I'd already chomped down a piece of bundt cake, my ability to compartmentalize and deny is so great, but I certainly noticed how headache-y and irritable I was all afternoon.  And how tired.  And how disappointed I felt with myself.  And rather than looking forward to my weight training class tomorrow morning, I find myself dreading it because I know I'll probably have a headache.  I'll feel lethargic.  I'll feel weak and out of shape. 

Could any cinnamon roll be worth all of that?  Nope.

It's all in my head (or at least my sinuses)

All weekend long I have been asking myself the same question:  how can I possibly produce this much mucus?  How is it possible that sinus cavities that are measured in millimeters can become this swollen and blocked?  And how am I getting any oxygen at all?  My nose is plugged, my tonsils are so swollen they are clearly blocking my airway.  I am probably breathing through my skin like a lizard.

The common cold has come to visit and my immune system has let it in.  I don't blame my immune system for failing.  I have been exposed a lot lately to so many different sick people that my living room began to resemble a doctor's office waiting room.   Every child that came to play was hacking and sneezing.  Every adult was pale, sweating, and blowing their nose.  Steve has been sick continuously since Christmas.  My daughter has spent more time at home lately than she has in school.  My immune system valiantly fought it all until this past weekend when a combination of too many germs, too little handwashing, too much sugar (ah yes, the sugar addiction haunts me still), and too little exercise all combined to create the perfect storm.  I have consumed so many liquids since Saturday evening that I feel like I'm floating.  I don't want to even look at another smoothie.  The thought of salt water makes me gag.  I've run so much saline through my nose that my eyes are floating.  Still I suffer.  Soon I will take another steamy shower with Olba's eucalyptus oil sprinkled liberally around the tub.  I walk around the house with eau du Vick's and a box of tissues.  And a water bottle.  Or cup of tea.  I have apologized profusely to my immune system for the sugar intake (I knew it was a mistake to make caramel corn and chocolate pretzel sticks for the kids last week...), taken Evening Primrose supplements to try to metabolize all that sugar, and now I wait.

See it's never my immune system failing me.  It's always me failing my immune system.  Our bodies are meant to work so perfectly that if we don't gunk them up they can fight off almost anything with little or no impact on our daily lives.  The caramel popcorn and chocolate dipped pretzels?  Well, they qualify as gunk.  The lack of exercise?  Well, that lymph fluid has to get around my body somehow and the only way it does is if I move.

So I'll just keep blowing my nose, thanking my body for producing all that mucus to trap bacteria.  And drinking fluids to keep hydrated and keep my lymph fluid from getting too sticky.  And walking around the house or even outside if the sun continues to shine to move that fluid around. 

I really am in awe of my body's amazing response to a viral threat.  I just wish it wasn't so messy and painful.

4 dinner parties, 1 cookie exchange, covered in hives, still no sugar

Well, still considerably less sugar, no more than 24 grams each day. The detox process is getting a little weird, might I say. I thought I would have a whopper of a headache and I really haven't had that, but today I am covered with hives that appear on my neck, go away, move to my back, go away, currently on my face and left elbow (?), but I trust they will go away soon. I had absolutely no idea how much sugar I was consuming until I started this little exercise because I didn't know that things like spaghetti sauce, salsa, ketchup, and salad dressing could have so much sugar!

I have based my 24 grams limit upon information I found on several websites, including this news article www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32543288/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/ that suggests that for 1800 calories consumed only 6 teaspoons (or 24 grams) of sugar should be consumed. There was also a lot of information on websites catering to diabetes but the one I have linked says all the same stuff very concisely: eat less sugar.

I'm eating a lot of natural peanut butter and tuna fish, that's for sure. I still have a smoothie for breakfast and that takes up a total of 12 grams (6 grams of sugar for 1/2 c. blueberries and 6 grams for 1/2 a banana) so the rest of the day is pretty restricted. Counting the sugar has given me a lot more freedom than I would have thought because I feel like I can make choices: skip the smoothie and save 12 grams that I can then use for something else, OR have a smoothie for breakfast and another for lunch and that's all the sugar for the day but I only have dinner to get through and that's actually the easiest meal for me, OR drink two 1/2 smoothies for snack time and still have 12 grams for left...you get the idea.

When I lived in Toledo I actually had this list posted to my pantry door: www.mercola.com/article/sugar/dangers_of_sugar.htm the article lists 76 ways sugar can ruin your health. I liked the list because it has scientific research backing it up, it is easy to read, and it listed a lot of things I hadn't realized could be affected by sugar such as sugar can cause a loss cellular elasticity (turkey waddle neck, anyone?), and sugar can cause nearsightedness, reduce collagen in skin, and contributes to accelerated aging! I just see myself with coke-bottle-thick-glasses, saggy skin, and looking about 65 when I'm only 40 all because of sugar! Not a pretty picture. Anyway, when we moved the list probably got thrown into a recycle bin because I hadn't seen it for awhile until I embarked on this new venture. Rereading the list was an excellent jolt for me and I will print it out again and re-post it once I buy ink for my printer...(As a note to all of you waiting for Christmas cards, the ink-buying-delay also applies).

(Also just to keep you informed, the hives have moved to my right calf and right pinkie finger...)

I became particularly interested in sugar's effect on the body when I was looking for ways to reduce my brain tumor. My neurologist and neurosurgeon, both extremely educated and fantastic men, basically said that there wasn't anything I could do but have surgery. I couldn't accept that. They also didn't recognize a link between nerve irritation and hormones but I knew for a fact that my symptoms were worse during my period than other times of the month. Armed with this limited info and a life-or-death-desire to not have brain surgery again, I began to research online "hormones" and "tumors." What I found is basically summed up in 2 facts: 1.tumors (cancer) feed on sugar; 2.sugar can throw your hormones out of whack.

Could there be a greater impetus to reduce sugar than that?

Diary of a Sugar Free Life (Volume 1)

I am addicted to sugar. I have admitted it, danced around it, justified it, resisted it, accepted it, and fought against it. I am finally doing something about it. I have gone "off sugar" before but never truly cold turkey. I have resisted cookies but still eaten yogurt (my Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt has an astounding 26 grams of sugar in a 6oz. serving!). I have refused cake and candy but still put jelly on my toast. And peanut butter sandwich. And bagel. And anything else that would hold jelly. I have been diligent in refusing soda but still used maple syrup on my pancakes. And waffles. And French toast. And oatmeal. And anything else that would hold maple syrup.

In other words I wasn't really ever "off sugar" before in my life. I have changed the source of my sugar but I never really gave it up. The food log that follows is exactly what I've eaten for 2 days. It's clearly not a diet plan or even very good nutrition but it's a realistic account of how much effort it's been to avoid sugar. It's been 2 days of eating foods that contain no more sugar than 4g/serving, here's how things are going:

Day One
Time to eat breakfast and I'm not even sure what to eat. I think about not even having fruit because of the fructose but decide that since my frozen blueberries are unsweetened and my smoothie contains almost every important vitamin, mineral, roughage, and supplement I get all day that I'd better not drop it yet. I have the smoothie: 4oz. plain soy milk, 4oz water, 1/2 scoop whey protein(unflavored), 1 scoop psyllium husk, 1 Omega 3 supplement packet, 1 vitamin E capsule (broken open), 1 royal jelly capsule (broken open), 1 banana, 1/2 c. blueberries. Blend. Drink.

Lunch was very difficult. I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich almost every day because I love peanut butter and jelly and I am lazy about cooking, especially for myself. If pb&j seems like too much trouble I have cold cereal. If even that is beyond me I have yogurt. If I'm going to be running errands I have a protein bar (Balance bar, cookie dough flavor: 17 grams sugar). I stood in the kitchen for a long time contemplating eating a pb&j without j. Could it be done? Would I survive? Would it be palatable? I decided to go ahead and try it and if I simply couldn't stomach it I would heat up some tomato soup. I was extremely surprised to find that I liked it! I put natural peanut butter on both pieces of whole grain bread and amazed myself by not really missing the jelly like I thought I would.

Snack: no snack. Unable to figure out what to eat I simply gave up.

Dinner: Steve wasn't home so my daughter talked me into macaroni & cheese and carrot sticks.

Dessert: sigh. No dessert. I did have a single sip of the pomegranate martini Steve made when he got home. The sip was very small and since I don't like martinis, was not satifsying.

Day Two:
Snow day, everyone home, I made oatmeal for breakfast and nearly wept as I sprinkled 2 bowls with brown sugar and one bowl with nothing. No brown sugar for me but I surprised myself again by not missing it because I had cooked the oats with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a pinch of cloves. The resulting spices (combined with the butter I did put on the oatmeal) made the taste really good without being sweet. I didn't know food could be good without being sweet!

Lunchtime was easy because I had planned ahead and started thinking about lunch before I was really hungry and tempted to eat 'whatever.' I reheated leftover ravioli with tomato sauce (canned sauce, Organic Arrabiata, 4g sugar).

Snacktime was easy too because I once again had a plan: I had a few carrot sticks, a few walnuts, and a piece of Cracker Barrel sharp cheddar cheese. I don't usually eat the dairy but I can't be vegan, sugar free, and sane all at the same time.

Dinner was hamburgers and french fries but I made it all myself and only the bun contained sugar (Organic whole grain bun, 3g of sugar).

So that's where I am so far. I have been inspired by Chellie who for some reason continues to believe in me despite the fact that she has seen me off the wagon more than on. I am inspired by my neighbor who is healing from breast cancer and is looking to me to support her effort to not eat sugar. Mostly I am motivated by the fact that I don't have headaches, I don't have PMS, and my eye doesn't twitch when I don't' eat sugar. Coincidence?

I'm blogging this journey to keep me motivated, keep me honest, and remind me of my victories and maybe even my defeats. I can't believe I am embarking on this journey 3 weeks before Christmas but when is there really a good time to quit an addiction? I've put it off so many times for so many good reasons that even I don't believe myself anymore.

Do or do not, there is no try - Yoda

Weekly Wellbeing: Losing my mind

I have lost my filters, lost my temper and lost my composure. I have turned into a screaming banshee who is incapable of discussing things rationally. I disregard time, place, audience, and appropriateness of content. Sound like a description from a mental heath journal? Well, it probably is a description of someone: someone who has lost their mind.

Usually I am the master of keeping cool under pressure. I used to have such a tight rein on my emotions that I defied even a botoxed southern belle to keep a straighter poker face than I could.

Recently, I seem to have lost all that ability.

I am not sure that it's necessarily a bad thing to be expressing my feelings. I mean all that the tighter-face-than-a-Botox-babe thing really got me was irritable bowel syndrome and a brain tumor. It's not having the feelings that is bad, it's how they are being expressed that is not really working for me. Or my marriage. Or my parenting ability.

Breathe.

Once upon a time, a very healthy time, I did yoga, didn't consume sugar or animal products, and regularly got together with other women for some good ol' fashioned girl talk. Now I couldn't do a downward dog to save my life, I eat anything that doesn't run from me, and I live in almost complete isolation saved only by my cell phone and 2 dedicated friends.

How is all this a weekly wellbeing? Well, sometimes it takes hitting bottom to really begin to look up and let me tell you: my head aches from hitting bottom so hard. So now I wake up, pick myself up, stop feeling mixed up, hook up with some friends, clean up the house, open up to my husband, fix-up our marriage, count up my blessings and move on (up, of course!).

I'm exhausted. I think I'll have a few doughnuts as a pick-me-up (just kidding!).

Pity Party or Mardi Gras?

Last week I had no posts. No weekly wellbeing. No grace. Nada. What was I doing, you may ask? Well I was wallowing in self pity of course! I couldn't take time away from my own personal pity party to write, I had to concentrate on financial ruin! Single car-dom! Homelessness!

But like all parties, this one had to end, the house had to be cleaned up, and life had to go on.

I was recently telling my husband that I'm the one you want in a crisis. I'm the calm, cool, collected character who can stop the bleeding, pack up the house, bake the 4 dozen cupcakes, or pay the bill. It's after the crisis that I fall apart. Sometimes it's so long since the crisis has taken place that even I don't immediately understand why I am falling apart. In this case, it has taken me 5.5 months to really feel the move from Ohio to Massachusetts. Last week, I felt it. Usually in these situations where I might have uncomfortable feelings I like to self-medicate with sugar. Enough chocolatey-goodness and I can't remember ever having had a bad feeling. This year I've decided that I'm just going to see what life would be like without sugar.

Well, it's not good, I can tell you that much.

I haven't returned to sugar, but like any recovering addict I can tell you that I am taking it day by day, hour by hour and Dear Lord do I need a sponsor! And how did I get through, you may be wondering? Well, I'm glad you asked: I bitched. Almost nonstop. I bitched to Chellie. I bitched to Debbie. I bitched to Steve. I would have bitched to more people if I hadn't gotten their voicemail (perhaps the tone of my voice gave my intended topic away...). I sang the blues 'til even I couldn't stand the sound of my voice anymore. Steve had to spend so much time "talking" to me that he has had to play violent war games on the Wii every night for three days running just to recover. I feel a lot better though and I discovered that one way to ensure my own wellbeing is to occasionally have a little-bitch-fest, so I guess I did have a weekly wellbeing last week even without knowing it. AND I discovered how grateful I am for 2 friends and a husband who will by-god-listen-to-the-endless-litany and not hang up/leave the room. So I even discovered a hidden Grace during the week.

Still, I did begin to wonder how long I could keep the pity party up, I mean if it had gone on any longer I was going to have to hand out purple and green beads, flash my boobs, and call it Mardi Gras!

Grace #4 Gum

Can you really be grateful for gum? Well, I am. I am really trying very, very hard to not eat sugar when ever fiber of my being is screaming for a Tastykake. I am succeeding, but only because of gum. Trident original is my gum of choice. I can't fathom how gum ever came into being because it was first marketed in 1848 which, to my not-always-historically-accurate-memory, is during a time when people still had to work pretty hard just to eat, let alone to chew something that wasn't intended to be swallowed. (Yes, that's right I googled when gum was invented, I actually am that dedicated to bringing quality education to this blog!) If not for gum, I would have caved to the sugar cravings long ago. I would never have the confidence to talk to someone up close after just having eaten. I would not have been able to entertain my toddler daughter on long car trips by blowing bubbles. There would be nothing for the tooth fairy to leave under the pillow. No cool urban legends about how long gum takes to digest would ever have been created. Checkout lanes at most stores would have 2-3 empty shelves. My pockets would be empty thus leaving me without the wonderful washed-and-then-dried papers to find in my lint drawer. There would be nothing left in the world that still costs a penny.

Gum, it's what's for dinner..or..after dinner.

Trick or ...Carrot Stick?

I've been buying a lot of candy lately because it's almost Halloween. Buying candy for me is like an alcoholic buying drinks...it's only a matter of time before I'm going to eat some of it. I'm not going to want to, I'm going to try my hardest not to, I'm going to regret it even before I do it, and still, I am most likely going to eat some of that candy.

I'm addicted to sugar.

A sugar addiction is socially acceptable, not usually seen as an addiction, and just as dangerous and deadly as any other addiction. But oh my God it tastes so good! I have always had a sweet tooth. Until about 4 years ago I thought that handling problems by eating chocolate was not only a good idea, but also fairly healthy. I am not one of those women who will demure coyly saying "oh, that's too rich for me!" I have never, and I mean never turned down something for being "too rich." I have quit sugar many times: gone cold turkey, weaned myself off sugar, substituted natural, unrefined sugars, tried just eating fruit, every trick in the book has been attempted. I always go back to sugar. Sugar is insidious! It's in everything from bread to barbecue sauce!

I can directly relate my sugar intake to my mood: feeling bad? eat a lot of sugar, feeling good? eat a lot of sugar, not sure how I feel? hey, here's something to do, let's eat some sugar! Moving to Massachusetts hasn't helped at all because Dunkin' Donuts is everywhere in this state. There is actually a Dunkin' Donuts across from a Dunkin' Donuts just down the road from my house. People here say there are so many Dunkin' Donuts stores because the coffee is so good. I don't drink coffee (one addiction being enough, thank you) so if you see me at the Dunkin' you can be sure I'm going for a Munchkin fix.

So now for the most sugar filled holiday of all: Halloween. My daughter is too old to fall for the "just checking your candy" ruse, and too wise to believe me when I say I just want one little miniature Snickers bar. I have, though I'm not proud to admit it, been reduced to sneaking candy out of her bag after she goes to bed, lying to her about the number of candy bars she had, eating so much of her candy that to hide my indiscretion I tell her I "donated" it, and forced myself to go to bed when she does to avoid eating at night. All for sugar.

My next hurdle is to somehow not pass this addiction on to the next generation. I feel I am failing already as my daughter will do almost anything to get dessert, a trip for ice cream, or bubble gum. Restaurants that give candy with the bill are among her favorites. She considers chocolate a food group. She gets cranky if denied sugar and even sometimes appears to get a headache if she hasn't had sugar in a while.

She is her mother's child.

But all is not lost. I once successfully had no sugar at all for 6 months and wouldn't have broken that streak except I was too embarrassed to refuse dessert when it was offered by a woman who intimidated me. I have days, weeks, sometimes even months where I am able to make better food choices and feel great. I have not purchased sugar foods for our home in months, thus only consuming the occasional dessert when we go out for dinner.

But it's Halloween again, and the Trick is avoiding the Treat...