SUGAR

SUGAR

THE WHITE DEMON.

There once was a little girl, she liked diamonds, ponies, and pearls; but what she loved the most was something so dangerous that it was made to ruin her body and soul. That thing was everywhere, she even gave it a name.

The White Demon; but you might know him as Sugar. Sugar stocked her for years. Anytime she was invited to a birthday party, he was chilling near the cakes, at home, inviting himself to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. White Demon even interrupted date nights; movie theater candies, and chocolate soda and popcorn He was at restaurants as well; fries her worst temptation he was even at church; potlucks, Brother Stephane homemade famous bread pudding; the ultimate best in this universe.

I tell ya; she could not resist that juicy mouth-watering bread pudding. She consumed so much sugar that he marked her, that darn sugar marked her with diabetes. I was that girl!

My name is Nyka and I have diabetes. I am four months sober of sugar. It has been the best four months of my life.

REASONS WHY I GIVE UP THE COMFORTING YET DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF SUGAR.

1- Thirst

A symptom of eating too much sugar. It leaves me so thirsty. My thirst replaced all the important meals of the day. I was not even hungry; I was only thirsty. I remember going grocery shopping and only having liquids in the cart. Not even water quenched my thirst. I will drink all day and binge all night on snacks. TERRIBLE!

2- Lack of energy

Each day at 2 pm I would crash. It didn’t matter if I was in front of the computer writing the next episode of Meet the Donavon’s or shopping outside, I had to stop and nap. Imagine napping in the mall during Covid-19 no seats in the mall, no food court, no changing rooms. NIGHTMARE!

3- Frequent bathroom breaks

The horror. Every fifteen minutes I had to pee. I like shopping on St Hubert street in Montreal Quebec because there are nice things for a very reasonable price. My favorite beauty stores are on St Hubert Street. However, St Hubert is disgusting, you will catch me dead eating at a restaurant there. I always say if the bathroom in the restaurant is nasty chances are the food is going to be contaminated. When I need to use the bathroom in that area; most restaurants require you to buy something. By the time I reach my favorite store, I am short of money to buy my favorite hair products due to paying the toll to pee. Ridiculous!

4- Hospitalization

Some nights I went to bed not knowing if I would get up the next morning. I was hospitalized four times because my sugar levels were too high. Let me tell you this, when I say I will snack all night it was not eating cakes and donuts, I like sugar but those are not my choice of comfort food, I ate chips. Chips were my go-to. What spiked up my sugar levels were foods like potatoes, pasta, rice, and bread. I had too much protein in my urine and ended up being hospitalized; it was very scary. I knew it was time for me to change my eating habits.

5- Eyesight

As some of you know I love writing, I am always on the computer typing something up. My eyesight is not what it was a few years ago. I could not see the screen anymore. I thought oh well I am getting old. However, my age had nothing to do with my poor eyesight. I noticed each time I ate too much food with sugar my eyesight worsen.

TODAY

Today I am 4 months sugar-free. I feel great all those problems I just mentioned are gone. However, yesterday I almost relapsed. I saw a clip of someone eating chocolate cake on Instagram and suddenly had the urge to get some chocolate cake. Instead, I started writing. I made myself an egg salad with some sliced cucumbers to snack on. Suddenly that craving went away.

MY FAVORITE TIME TO EAT

Breakfast Lunch or dinner, which one do you love the most, I loved midnight snacks. I used to sleep eat. Do you know what that means, well it's very embarrassing. I am a night person it did not matter what time I went to bed at night or wee hours in the morning, I would get up early for school regardless of the time I went to bed. When I was working on my gratitude art piece, I ended up watching all the episodes of Sabrina the witch (first season). All I remembered of that night are the birds I heard chirping when daylight broke. If you are not sleeping at night, you are eating. The nights I did went to bed early I would sleep eat; sleep eat is like sleepwalking. Picture this, you wake up in the middle of the night stomach is growling, you can barely open your eyes, but your stomach keeps interrupting that voice in your head who keeps screaming…

Girl you better drink a tall glass of water and get your butt back in bed.

However, that stomach overcomes the good voice, and you start sleep eating. Then the next morning you wake up with snacks around your bed and a snack hangover. I told you it was embarrassing.

BACK HOME

In Trinidad, we ate a small breakfast, a large lunch, and a small supper. In Canada, we eat a rush breakfast. After all, we are running to work or school, a small lunch because we must rush back to work or class, and a large supper because it is the only time we are all home to enjoy each other’s company. We mostly eat seafood, in Trinidad but on the other hand, we eat a lot of carbs. For example, my mother is the best bread maker, it is so hard to say no to her bread. Potato salad is one of our favorite salads in our family and rice and peas…well let me say it like this, it is not a true Sunday lunch without rice and peas. However, back in Trinidad, we eat callaloo, which is made of spinach and okra. As previously mentioned, we eat a lot of fish and we dance a lot, so all those carbs turn into good ole sweat! I’ve decided to go back to my roots, without the carbs, and a lot more workout!

THE BREAKFAST CLUB!

I love breakfast but sadly I can only eat breakfast at around 11 am because eating too early gets me an upset stomach. However, breakfast is especially important, and I must eat earlier to fill up on energy. I found a solution to have that energy and have a steady stomach.

SUPPLEMENTS

PASSION DRINK

This drink helped me reduced my diabetes levels and replaced coffee. No sugar and full of energy. Remember earlier I told you that 2 pm was my knockout hour? Well not anymore, with my passion juice I have the energy I need, more than any coffee or expresso can give.

After my workout, I reward myself, with my…

PROTEIN SHAKE THEN I AM…

READY FOR THE DAY!

THE LUNCH AFFAIR.

Though I would love to eat with my family during lunch like most of us in North America aI don't have a lot of time to eat nor to make a healthy lunch. It is easier to uber eat or shove something unhealthy in my mouth. Instead, I meal plan, this helps me a great deal. I eat a good healthy lunch; I have enough time to digest the food before supper and I don’t have to worry about making the food every day. The way I see it I have two choices,

1- I can eat fast food five days a week.

2- Meal Plan, make sure my lunches are healthy and save on time.

This week I am making a solid salad, mix with spinach leaves beans, shrimp, and pepper. My side dish is couscous to replace the rice. The best thing about having a good lunch is that you don’t feel bad going back for seconds.

SUPPER TIME

With a lunch like that, I do not usually feel too hungry at night, so I normally drink another protein shake, or I eat a bowl of cereal. I eat a small supper because I don’t want to have too much in my stomach before I go to bed, and eating an early supper is not always convenient for me.

This is the routine I stuck with for four months and has already seen a big difference. My doctor is so proud of my diabetes levels these days. Most importantly I am immensely proud of the progress I’ve made. If you want to make changes, I encourage you to say yes to a healthier you.