Confessions of a sugarholic- a failed experiment

My name is Becky, and I'm a sugar-holic. I just love the sticky stuff. When I was younger, it was tough to find a dealer (my parents gave us non-sugared cereals and treats were just for special occasions). Since I became legal and started buying my own cereal, I exhilarated in the freedom to purchase the frosted sugar coated confections. Now I have settled for just buying "lightly sweetened" multi-grain cheerios (but occasionally the marshmallow matees do sneak into my cart). For my birthday this year, the only thing I asked for was a HUGE bucket of jellybellies from Costco ( I claimed I would use some for toilet training treats which I did... "good job using the potty, one for you and a few for me since I helped.." I have noticed, that I am especially susceptible to sugar cravings in the mid-afternoon. It's as if my body cannot rest until it gets a fix. (This all started, as near as I can tell, on my mission when we would always stop and buy a 25 cent ice cream after our huge almuerzo around 4:00. I claimed it was to cool us off, but since then ice cream has become my sixth food group.

It is because of this need for sugar, that I decided to challenge myself and see if I could go a month without sugar. It wasn't really for weight loss, it was mostly to challenge myself and see if it were possible. I have friends who are very strong and have gone off all sugar including carbs and fruit, but I knew I couldn't do that, so I just decided to go off processed sugar and sweets. My friends told me that the first few weeks were hard as they de-toxed, but then their body adjusted and they didn't crave it or even like it anymore. I thought that might be nice, and I even talked my sister Laura into doing it with me. We wrote ourselves 2 cheat days: the 14th which is her birthday and Halloween, but I figured that this would keep me from snacking on Halloween candy all month (Sept 30 I hid all our candy and sweets that we had in the house which is not all that effective because you can't hide something from yourself). The first 2 days were very hard, but then my mom gave me "no sugar added" ice cream which is not the same as no sugar at all, so I felt a little guilty. I survived a few afternoon cravings forcing myself to eat some fruit or string cheese instead. But, on the 9th, I had to make some Halloween cupcakes for our neighbors, and sure enough, before I knew it, I had licked the spoon. I fell off the wagon, and since I was off, I didn't see harm in tasting the finished product and then I had to give jack a bathroom, treat... one for you, one for me...
There are several things I've learned from this experiment:
1. It's a good thing I'm not tempted to fudge on commandments, because once I fell off the wagon (after a lousy 9 days!) I figured I might as well enjoy my guilty pleasures.
2. I did notice that I've had increased headaches with sugar
3. the worst cravings come when I'm stressed out and need something fast, and
4. I have amazing friends Charlotte, Alison, Stacey who have much more will -power than I have and my respect for them has increased dramatically.

Laura says I should re-commit and try again, but I'm not sure. Maybe the idea that sweets are off-limits makes me think about them more.