Starting tomorrow

I was going to quit eating sugar today, the Monday after my ice-cream-every-day vacation, but yesterday I couldn't even deal with quitting "tomorrow," which is when most of my other attempts to quit sugar had started. It was always "tomorrow" when I would be a better eater and eventually quit sugar. But yesterday, I couldn't even handle the thought of quitting "tomorrow."

So, today it will be tomorrow, which really means I am quitting sugar tomorrow. I have debated how long I'll give up sugar. Last year I did No Sugar August, which went really well and I felt great. But at my sister's Labor Day picnic (September 1st) I was already back to over-indulging. Clearly, then, 1 month isn't long enough. So then I decided to do 100 days. That will put me squarely at the beginning of holiday season, which seems like the perfect holiday overeating storm (3 months of abstinence followed immediately by the holidays? Good luck with that...). So now I'm thinking that what I really need to do is to abstain pretty much forever. I'm toying with the idea of adding 1 or 2 treats per year, but really I don't know what that would accomplish. So as of right now, I'm thinking this will be a more or less (see my hesitance to commit?) permanent change.

But why do such a thing?!? Why quit something that I love so very much? I have a list of about 100 reasons, which starts off a little something like this:
1. Regular over-indulgence
2. Persistent weight gain (obviously because of #1)
3. Desire to be healthier
4. Desire to be thinner
5. Desire to be a better runner
6. Desire to be more comfortable in my clothes
7. Because I know I can't moderate sugar, and I can see where this will inevitably lead...and it's not pretty

I have honestly tortured myself for a decade now with my over-consumption of sugar. This was all prompted by an overly restrictive (a la anorexic) diet that forbade fat consumption. I was down to an unhealthily low weight, horribly depressed for dropping out of graduate school, and suddenly discovered the tranquilizing effect of sweets. That was a formula for disaster and a decade-long physical and emotional roller coaster. But honestly, I'm just sick and tired of it now. I want it to be over.

So tomorrow, I quit sugar indefinitely. As a scientist, I'm always open to a good experiment, so let's try this and see how it goes...