One Day At ATime

Not too long ago, I posted a blog on my embarrassing history with sugar. (If you haven't read it, feel a compulsion to do so and have the time, click here.) Today, I embark on a journey that will last the rest of my life. I am giving up sugar.
Now, I realize that fruits are something I should have in my diet. They will not disappear from my plate. "But," you say, "fruit is loaded with sugars!" Yes, but those are the sorts of sugar I can have. Let me be more specific. I am giving up refined sugars and, for the most part, carbs. The good carbs, just like the natural sugars, I can keep.
Let me break this down for you. Fruits with a low Glycemic Index, such as bananas, kiwi, grapes, cherries, etc. will be kept on for nutritional value as well as "desserts." However, they will not be abused as desserts. For instance, I am now able to eat a serving of oatmeal for breakfast every morning without adding sugar and milk. (This has been a change within the past week. I went from originally adding about three or four tablespoons of sugar and about a 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup 2% milk, down to vanilla or honey Chobani yogurt to nothing. And, you know, with that middle step, I am able to appreciate the subtle flavors and texture of oatmeal that I couldn't before.) This morning, I added a banana to my plain oatmeal. What a treat! I feel that I could do that once in a while, but not feel as if I need it every time.
Whole grains (oatmeal, barley, brown rice, etc.) and legumes will be my carbs. No more bread, pasta, white rice. Also, I found a mixed bag of frozen veggies at the market labeled "Ranchero Mix." This will be mixed with my grains for lunch and dinner meals. It contains broccoli (which I can no longer eat raw due to my hypothyroid condition), red kidney beans, garbanzo beans, red peppers and green beans! Loads of good things to liven up the old brown rice! I've found, too, that adding some lemon juice and a touch of salt and pepper to the mix makes it a tasty and filling meal.
Yea! for being healthy!
Other items that I eat regularly that I will never eat again: cheese...this means the feta that I have been regularly adding to my lunch salad for the past month..., chocolate, coffee, wine (the only alcohol I've ever consumed, so I don't need to list any others, as I never intended to try them, anyway), Pocky(*U_U*)...the list goes on and on.
This all began today. I'm not looking forward to the withdrawals (who would?), but I am looking forward to being free of this chemical reaction in my mind and body. Who wants to be a slave to something so minute you can barely see one piece of it with the naked eye? I gave up meat thirteen years ago; I can certainly give up sugar!
It's just going to be a bit more difficult.
Other foods I must give up because of my thyroid are either because they are deemed goitrogenic, or because they simply interfere with my synthroid medication.

Goitrogenic foods: cabbage, broccoli, turnips, rutabaga, mustard greens, kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, peaches, pears, strawberries, radishes, cauliflower, millet, African cassava, potatoes and corn. I have the option of eating these, but not in large quantities, and they must be cooked. I just can't do cooked spinach, so I suppose quinoa will have to take over for nutrition's sake.

(Read more at Suite101: Hypothyroidism - free Suite101 course http://www.suite101.com/lesson.cfm/18912/2313/3#ixzz0nXI7qWqJ)

Foods that screw with the function of all Thyroids (even yours!): Flouride (not a food, I know, but water containing flouride can be a hazard) and Soy. As a vegetarian, I must say, "BOO!" But, I have heard and read that soy never fully breaks down in our systems and is never fully flushed out. Any bits the body can't process are filtered off to the side until the body knows what to do with them. Usually, it never figures it out, so the soy stays in your body. Of course, not being a scientist, doctor or foremost authority on soy and its effects on the body, I cannot say that this is all written in stone.
Here is some extra reading on the findings of soy in our bodies, if you are so inclined.
~Does Soy Have a Dark Side? CBS News
~Is Soy Healthy? healingdaily.com
~The Ploy of Soy The Weston A. Price Foundation

Anyone else willing to take the plunge? I promise myself to never eat refined sugars again. As an addict, I want to abstain from temptation and avoid it altogether, lest I fall back into my old, binge-filled routine. Today is day one of the rest of my life!