Soda & Splenda Withdrawal
I'm in the process of completely overhauling my diet with an ultimate goal of eventually transitioning to a organic vegan diet consisting of at least 60% raw foods. Since the changes will be permanent, I'm taking small, incremental steps each month to eliminate certain foods from my diet. I'm hoping to complete the process by the end of the year.
At the beginning of June, I abruptly stopped eating meat. It wasn't really a conscious decision as much as a strong visceral reaction. For reasons I still don't completely understand, I suddenly developed a complete aversion to all meat products. There was no concrete reason or thought behind the change. One day I was happily enjoying a carne asada taco at the beach in San Clemente. The next day, just the smell of meat made me feel sick. Even the sight of animal flesh now makes my stomach turn. The best way I can explain things is that meat suddenly felt like a low-quality, low-vibration dead food that my body no longer wanted. So, I stopped eating it and have had no desire to go back.
For this next phase, I'm focusing on slowly removing sugar and artificial chemicals from my diet. This week, I am eliminating alcohol, diet soda, and artificial sweeteners. Alcohol has been no problem since I don't really drink much anymore. I used to drink quite a bit but seem to have developed some kind of intolerance to alcohol over the years. These days, I can only drink alcohol in very small amounts or it makes me physically sick. Have any of you ever experienced anything similar?
I've had a love/hate relationship with Diet Coke for years and have even quit cold turkey at several points in the past. Still, it always seems to creep back into my life. I have a similar issue with Splenda. I stopped consuming both as of last Saturday. On an intellectual level, I understand how addictive diet soda and Splenda are and the reasons for this. However, knowing this does not make the physical withdrawal symptoms any easier to manage. Even though I never consumed either substance in excessive quantities, I feel awful. Sunday, I started having soda cravings like never before. I was literally sitting in the car with a bottle of water and a fresh iced coffee right next to me and all I could think about was Diet Coke. Even though I wasn't thirsty and in no way needed a soda, my body was physically craving the intense excitotoxic reaction that Diet Coke provides. Fortunately, I was able to drink water and wait things out until the craving passed.
Since then, I have been experiencing a wide variety of physical symptoms that I believe are related to Splenda withdrawal. These symptoms include intense headaches, stomach pain, bloating, fatigue, brain fogginess, nausea, lower digestive issues, hot-flashes, mood swings, and insomnia. It feels exactly like the Klonopin withdrawal I went through 6 months ago when I discontinued taking all psychoactive meds. As horrible as I feel right now, I'm also happy to know that all these symptoms are the result of my body eliminating all the toxic substances inside it. Still, withdrawal is a bitch.
Once I feel better and the symptoms improve, I start eliminating all sucrose and white flour products. That should be a fun week too.
At the beginning of June, I abruptly stopped eating meat. It wasn't really a conscious decision as much as a strong visceral reaction. For reasons I still don't completely understand, I suddenly developed a complete aversion to all meat products. There was no concrete reason or thought behind the change. One day I was happily enjoying a carne asada taco at the beach in San Clemente. The next day, just the smell of meat made me feel sick. Even the sight of animal flesh now makes my stomach turn. The best way I can explain things is that meat suddenly felt like a low-quality, low-vibration dead food that my body no longer wanted. So, I stopped eating it and have had no desire to go back.
For this next phase, I'm focusing on slowly removing sugar and artificial chemicals from my diet. This week, I am eliminating alcohol, diet soda, and artificial sweeteners. Alcohol has been no problem since I don't really drink much anymore. I used to drink quite a bit but seem to have developed some kind of intolerance to alcohol over the years. These days, I can only drink alcohol in very small amounts or it makes me physically sick. Have any of you ever experienced anything similar?
I've had a love/hate relationship with Diet Coke for years and have even quit cold turkey at several points in the past. Still, it always seems to creep back into my life. I have a similar issue with Splenda. I stopped consuming both as of last Saturday. On an intellectual level, I understand how addictive diet soda and Splenda are and the reasons for this. However, knowing this does not make the physical withdrawal symptoms any easier to manage. Even though I never consumed either substance in excessive quantities, I feel awful. Sunday, I started having soda cravings like never before. I was literally sitting in the car with a bottle of water and a fresh iced coffee right next to me and all I could think about was Diet Coke. Even though I wasn't thirsty and in no way needed a soda, my body was physically craving the intense excitotoxic reaction that Diet Coke provides. Fortunately, I was able to drink water and wait things out until the craving passed.
Since then, I have been experiencing a wide variety of physical symptoms that I believe are related to Splenda withdrawal. These symptoms include intense headaches, stomach pain, bloating, fatigue, brain fogginess, nausea, lower digestive issues, hot-flashes, mood swings, and insomnia. It feels exactly like the Klonopin withdrawal I went through 6 months ago when I discontinued taking all psychoactive meds. As horrible as I feel right now, I'm also happy to know that all these symptoms are the result of my body eliminating all the toxic substances inside it. Still, withdrawal is a bitch.
Once I feel better and the symptoms improve, I start eliminating all sucrose and white flour products. That should be a fun week too.