I tried SweetKick but couldn't kick the sweets. Here's why
I may have mentioned my penchant for sugar in a blog post or ten over the past few years. I've definitely showcased my love for sweets in my Instagram stories (@leslienif_tv). It seems like I'm baking some delectable treat or other every. single. day.
A few months ago, in an act of rebellion against my sweet tooth, I ordered Sweetkick off of an Instagram ad. As much as I love sugar, I know that it's bad for me. I know that it's turning to fat, raising my blood sugar levels and causing major energy crashes during the day. Plus, the more sugar I have, the more I want. It's an endless cycle of crave-satisfy-crave again. I wanted out. I've wanted out for a long time. But...every time I think I'm out, it pulls me back in.
The shining star Sweetkick is the mint that you are supposed to take after a meal or whenever you have a sugar craving. The mint changes the way sugar tastes for about an hour after you have one. That means, if you pop the mint right after you eat, your desire for sugar will subside for a while--hopefully long enough for the craving to go away.
A few days before my Sweetkick box arrived, I received an email from the company with a few helpful tips. One of them was to prepare my home for the sugar ban by getting rid of all of the sweets in the house. That included table sugar, sprinkles, ice cream..all of it. Even the bakers chocolate that was lurking high up in the cabinet had to go. I ignored this step. I did not cleanse my home of all things saccharine. I actually don't keep very much sugar in my pantry to begin with so I felt comfortable that I would be able to resist any urges once I started the program. That being said, whatever sugar is occupying my pantry real estate is well on my radar...I have a pretty good mental inventory going.
The rest of the email from Sweetkick managed my expectations about what the first few sugar-free days could bring. I might be tired, cranky or upset. I scoffed at this caveat...what am I, a toddler? Ha!
They also mentioned that I would probably have cravings around the same time every day. None of this seemed to worry me. I felt confident in Sweetkick's ability to easily and with little inconvenience to me break my sugar addiction.
Well, as they say...an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. "They" happen to be quite wise.
Sweetkick did not fail me. I failed it. As you might have guessed by my lack of preparation, I did not successfully kick my sugar habit using Sweetkick.
Here's the skinny:
1. I forgot to eat the mints after many meals. I would find myself satisfying my sugar craving and then thinking oh yeah, I was supposed to eat a mint after dinner. Once I remembered, I took the mint and didn't have any sugar for the rest of the night. See--Sweetkick did its job. I did not do mine.
2. I did not cleanse my pantry of our staple junk food. I have two kids so we usually have some ice cream in the house and some left-over holiday candy. In my brilliance, I ordered Sweetkick right around Easter and that little mint was no match for Cadbury Mini Eggs, my all-time favorite candy and the one that my daughter specifically asked for in her Easter basket. What can I say? I'm a sucker for colorful candy shells.
3. I did not use the powdered drink that came in the pack - the one that is meant to fill-in some missing nutrients from your diet and keep you feeling satiated. The powder is flavorless and is easy to make and drink. Can you believe that I wanted the powdered drink to be sweet? I was actually disappointed that it had no flavor! Of course, they couldn't but any sugar or artificial sweetener in the powder - that would have been totally counter-productive. Still, I wanted it! And without it, I simply forgot to add it to my water on most days.
Why am I documenting my failures here? I have a few reasons. For one, this blog serves as a personal journal in which I can open up about my thoughts on what I've experienced in my life. It helps me organize my thoughts around my successes and failures which is important for personal growth. See ma, I'm still growing!
Also, my love/hate relationship with sugar is one of those up and down struggles that many people can relate to. If I can explain why I was unsuccessful this time around, perhaps I can help someone who is on the same path but a few steps behind.
Finally, it reminds me that achieving wellness is a journey; one that starts with a want inside of you. I have that want, yes, and I have knowledge on how to live a healthy lifestyle, but sometimes outside forces come into play. It becomes a question of how bad you want something and what you're willing to sacrifice to get it. This time around, I was not willing to sacrifice my mini eggs. That's ok. I have to accept that. I also have to come to grips with the fact that I might have wasted some time and money this time around.
Perhaps I should have made more of an effort to follow the guidelines that the company had sent around. And, I most definitely should have enlisted the kids and my husband in the effort. Their support and our collective banishment of sweets in the house for a while would have been a healthier and more productive approach to finally kick the sugar habit.
So, we live and we learn. And we bake and we eat sugar. I still have some mints left and they absolutely do what they're supposed to do. I just have to do the same. ~In wellness,
Leslie