SUGAR SUGAR

I can smell it in the air…

’tis the Sugar Season.

I don’t mean harvesting sugar, I mean consuming it. Sugar vehicles are omnipresent…. and by “vehicles,” I mean the transportation of sugar into my mouth. Pumpkin spice everything. Birthday cake. Swedish Christmas cookies. Sugar…it’s everywhere at once.

For fifteen years, I have been a “Low-Carboreater.” I initially began this lifestyle change to lose weight. After two C-sections and two back surgeries. I had ballooned up to nearly 300 pounds. I felt horrid all the time and I barely left my house. I was smoking, drinking copious quantities of caffeine, and eating all things not secured. I finally realized that these choices were not only affecting me, but my children as well. I needed to take back the wheel of control.

On a cold November morning in 2002, I smoked my last cigarette, ate my last cream-filled donut, drank my last super-sized mug of coffee, and went to the hospital for yet another surgery. I put a stake in the ground that day, determined to control the catalyst of change that I so desperately desired….to be strong in body, mind, and soul.

I lost 130lbs. I gained multiple sclerosis. During these victorious years of loss, I began to develop strange, unexplainable symptoms. This weirdness started slowly, intermittently, and I could not understand any of it. After a plethora of doctors, and just as many “it’s all in your head” diagnoses, I was again beginning to feel hopeless and helpless. The control that I worked so diligently to regain was slipping away from me, but this time, my choices were not the cause.

I was finally referred to an amazing neurologist who, through a marathon MRI, identified lesions on my spine. Not one other doctor had looked in this direction. Although the result of this finding was an MS diagnosis, I was seriously elated! Strange word choice, yes. But after searching and spiraling, an answer was found… and it literally WASN’T in my head!

Here’s where the sugar re-enters…or, doesn’t re-enter. The choices I made years before to eliminate sugar from my diet have helped me exponentially maintain my strength during this time of progression. I firmly believe making consistent positive life-choices will positively affect our lives, no matter how small the choices may be.

As I am grow older, with as much grace as possible, I continue to struggle with my weight. But I know how to win this game. So, when that delicious Christmas cookie whispers,

“Lori, honey…I am so little…I am your friend…and I will make your mouth sooooo happy”

I can walk on by.

What’s in your mouth, Sugar?