No sugar Sugar...

Ok, so here's the skinny.  I have decided to take a 30 day no sugar challenge.  I began this trial on Monday the 2nd.  I really wanted to get back to basics, cleanse myself of unusual habits and really rediscover how food tasted again.  Being aware of sugar in everything you consume is a BIG challenge.  I tend to make everything from scratch at home from bread to salad dressing and everything in between.  Knowing food ingredients hasn't been a problem.  However, cutting the few teaspoons I do have daily in things like coffee and tea has been a colossal issue!  I never thought of myself as "addicted".  I have always prided myself (wait for the fall) in eating as naturally as possible.  Anything we consume at home is 95% on a raw/natural level.  I rarely add sauces to food, cheese to vegetables or anything of the like.  What I have discovered is that I have consumed just enough sugar daily that now that I have removed any sugar intake I have come to a horrifying conclusion.  I AM ADDICTED TO SUGAR!  I feel weak, lathargic, gripy, I snap over nothing, I am not sleeping well, and I have tried to quell the cravings with carbs, which don't make it go away!  I had the misconception that you had to intake a large amount of sugar daily to feel any side affects if you didn't reach that intake daily.  I am very mistaken.  I actually have reconsidered my plight almost hourly the last two days.  I suddenly sympathize with heroine and crack addicts, I never had that empathy before.  I realize I am comparing a hard core drug with......lightbulb, another hard core drug!  Oh My Goodness, it is the same thing!  The only difference is that sugar is legal and in EVERYTHING that is not homemade.  Even jam.  We are an organic family, however that means nothing when you are concertedly cutting sugar out of your diet.  I am not even having ketchup!  I know the reward will be worth the journey.  I have seen it already.  I also know that as I turn the corner into the next week, it will consume my thoughts less and less.  When I have my first bite of something sweet, which I am going to try to extend beyond 30 days and allow a sweet treat at my daughter's birthday next month, it will taste all that much sweeter.  Without the fogginess of an addiction, I will really see how truly sweet is my life!