Natural Sugar isn't white??

So this year has been a big body adjustment for me.  Let me paint a picture for you - this time last year I had recently quit smoking (which was quite an adjustment in itself) I was filling my smoking cravings/stress release with candy and misc. snacks, giving in to every whim of what I craved to eat..   

So a diet wise, a regular day (AT WORK) could consist of:
a 16 ounce energy drink
a poptart
6 rolls of smarties
a hand full of "chicken in a biscuit" crackers
a pack of starburst
2 bacon cheeseburgers
a small french fry
a 20 ounce pepsi
a bag of peanut butter M&Ms

Soooo I suppose as most people could guess I VERY quickly gained about 20 pounds.. Then I had my lung/autoimmune situation come up and as I went through all that I gained another 10 pounds. 

Somewhere along the way, in the last few months, I realized I need to make some changes, (gee you think??)  It's soooo hard, because I have always been able to eat whatever I want and not have weight issues and not have it really affect me, but I've concluded that at least 2 things make my autoimmune inflammation pain worse - lots of sugar, and coffee.  And obviously my metabolism has taking a dive.

I also realize that even though I'm removing my breasts to prevent breast cancer, that's not the only cancer associated with the BRCA 2 mutation, and having a healthier diet can only help.  So I'm trying gradually to shift things around.

I successfully changed from energy drinks to coffee back when the autoimmune thing first started, now I've switched from coffee to green tea.  And I switched from sweetening the tea with sugar, to sweetening it with honey.  Instead of drinking soda daily I'm trying to limit myself to just a couple times a week.  I'm taking a couple supplements (fish oil and magnesium).  I'm trying to bring lunch to work so that I don't drive to Wendy's, and when I do, I get a plain chicken sandwich instead of 2 bacon cheeseburgers!  I'm trying to not eat candy... I've had rolls of smarties sitting in my desk untouched for 2 weeks now!!

I've been exploring health food stores with my sister (from afar via text) looking at various teas and supplements.  Then I went to spend the weekend with her and learned soooo much.   About organic food, and different tea and how you shouldn't take supplements with green tea, and there are flavored fish oils you can add to stuff (like YUMMY green tea frozen yogurt with lemon zest fish oil added).  I'm still not entirely sold on stevia.  It has a very particular taste that I can't quite wrap myself around, but then she mentioned that if I was going to have sugar, I should at least have organic sugar, and she showed me a bag that she had stowed away, and it was brown!!  (well... off white).  It had never occurred to me that sugar wasn't naturally white.. that it was bleached!  Ya, I think I'll switch to organic sugar. So that's just on food!

I've also started to switch my body care. I didn't realize that toothpaste has saccharin in it!!   There used to actually be labels on gum that contained saccharin about it causing cancer in lab rats, and we're brushing our teeth with it!?  So there are good natural non-cancer causing toothpastes out there, that I got to try out on my visit.  So I might switch that too.I still love my Bath and Body works lotion, so until someone shows me that they cause cancer, I'm not giving them up.  I changed to a "natural" shampoo.  Instead of using a chemical anti-aging/acne face wash I'm using a natural olive oil/aloe face bar, That's it.. glycerin, olive oil, and aloe.  Then instead of using the chemical face acne medicine/toner... whatever it is.. I just use aloe.  And I have not had a breakout since switching (it's been 3 months!).   

So I'm trying... I still give in here and there, like when my coworker bring yummy chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.. or pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, but maybe I'll just have 2 cookies instead of 6.  I still feel like there are things I love, and I'm not at a point where I'm ready to give those things up entirely, but I can certainly take a  generally healthier approach and then treat myself to those things!  (and it really does taste soooo much better when you've resisted it awhile).