Sugar-How sweet it isn't!

Hi, My name is Lexy and am a recovering Sugar-aholic.  Cotton candy, cupcakes, kool-aid, you name it, I sugared it.  I even loved sugary sweet lotions and perfume. 

Thanks to my dear friend Corie for sharing this sugar video with me.  It's 14 minutes, but I promise it will make you look at sugar differently.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403942n 

Of course I knew that sugar was in ice cream and cookies,  but I didn't know it was hidden in bread, salad dressing, canned baked beans and peanut butter.  Seriously, sugar in my beans?? And don't be fooled, just because the ingredient list doesn't say "Sugar" look for it under it's other names like brown rice syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, maltodextrin, and just about anything else ending in -ose.  As Americans we consume 1/3 pound of sugar everyday and can be actually addicted to it.  If sugar was a new product, the FDA wouldn't even approve it, there is nothing beneficial about it.

Once I cleansed my body of toxic sugar I actually stopped craving it.  Food that I never would have found sweet, like carrots, now taste sweet to me.  Now, a fresh juicy peach will normally satisfy my sweet tooth.  Don't get me wrong, if I am having a craving for dessert I will have a small piece of dark chocolate, or some homemade kettle korn (be on the lookout for that upcoming post!)  We no longer keep regular white sugar in the house, and definitely not the chemical filled sweet'n low or splenda.  There are so many naturally occurring sugars in many fruits (and vegetables) so we use the following in moderation:

• Stevia-25-30 times sweeter than sugar, and far more healthy
• Truvia-made from the stevia plant, 2 times sweeter than sugar (We use this one the most, it is the most comparable in flavor to regular sugar)
• Agave Nectar-consistency of honey and is naturally sweet (perfect to squirt in Carrie's oatmeal recipe, or a smoothie)
• Succant-looks like brown sugar but still has the vitamins and minerals that are normally lost during processing.  (I use it in baking)

Thanks to the wonders of Pinterest I found a new best friend, she just doesn't know it yet!http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/
It's an amazing healthy dessert blog.  I made a chocolate chip cookie dough dip and a giant baked chocolate chip cookie, with garbanzo beans!  She's super creative and has lots of healthy alternatives for traditionally sugar laden desserts. 

How did you kick your sugar habit and what natural sweet treats do you like?