And I thought I was being healthy!

I've done a bit of an overhaul of my food and drink habits over the past few months. I decided it was a good idea to get unaddicted to caffiene and also to cut out artificial sweeteners out of my diet as much as possible.

The caffiene break is probably not permanent, but since I'd repeately told my husband that I could easily stop with the caffiene any time, and yet I never ended up doing it, I thought it would be a good challenge to push myself through it. A couple of months after that decision, I'm glad I made it; it's nice not to NEED caffiene in the morning and to know I won't get a headache if I don't have any for a day (or a week). I still drink coffee, but I just opt for decaf. And I do drink iced tea occasionally, but that to me is fine, since tea has way less caffiene in it per serving than coffee.

As for the artificial sweeteners, again, I wasn't crazy concerned about them, but I had read a few studies that tied artificial sweeteners to more cravings for the real sweeteners (i.e., anything with sugar), and that, in turn, had been tied to weight gain. And since I already crave anything sweet like a mad person, I thought this could be a good thing for me. This was a huge deal considering it meant giving up my beloved diet coke. I thought I'd be so unhappy without, but I'm actually pretty used to not having it now and don't miss it too badly.

To replace the artificial sweeteners, I subbed in Sun Crystals, which is made with sugar and stevia (a naturally occurring sweet plant) and is only 4 calories per packet. It's been great. Not quite sugar or splenda, but good.

Another item I subbed in was agave nectar. And that's where the title of this post comes in. I thought agave nectar would be a good substitute for sugar or honey and I was using it in my coffee on occasion. Then I saw this article today. Looks like agave nectar might not be such a healthful alternative after all. The article pretty much equates it with high fructose corn syrup. Not what I was thinking of when I decided to try to use something healthier than artificial sweeteners. I'm going to check on this with my mom (a nutritionist), but until then, I think I'll be laying off the agave nectar.

Other than the agave nectar issue, the changes have gone really well. But I can't lie, I still crave a diet coke every once in a while.