Sugar update

It's been a week, so I thought I'd let you all know how my sugar free life is going.  I'm sorry to report that I haven't experienced any drastic changes in my life.  I'm not bursting with energy.  Fruit doesn't taste any sweeter than usual (no, I didn't give up fruit, although some sugar free die hards say one must to have a truly sugar-free experience).  And I've cheated a bit.  I had ketchup twice.  I've been putting honey in my tea and stevia in my coffee.  I made "sugar-free" cookies with a healthy dose of honey.  Mea culpa.  It's only been a week, so cut me some slack.  I have to say, though, that this has been very, very hard.  Much harder than I thought it would be.  My negative side effects from sugar withdrawal include:

1. Persistent headache
2. General crabbiness
3. Intense sugar cravings
4. Sugar-themed dreams
5. Boredom from loss of baking activities.
6. Aimless wandering through kitchen, opening cupboards, and sighing.

I have really questioned my sanity with this experiment. Questions I have asked myself include but are not limited to:

1. I wonder why the heck I'm doing this?
2. Food is one of the pleasures of life.  Why should I deny myself one of life's simplest pleasures?
3.Who are these people who say sugar is so bad, anyway?
4. Why, God, why?
5.  How long should I do this?
6.  Why is sugar freaking EVERYWHERE!?  You literally cannot look anywhere without seeing a candy bar ad, a shop window full of cookies, even a homeless guy with a doughnut someone gave him.
7. I'm really off the deep-end now, eyeing the homeless dude jealously
8.  How am I going to live without x? (x = frappuccinos, ice cream, chocolate, jam, iced coffee with vanilla syrup, french toast, chocolate, pie on the fourth of July, homemade chocolate chip cookies in the winter, Wok of Flame's sweet and sour chicken, chocolate, s'mores when camping, ketchup on hot dogs, burgers, chicken, and eggs {yes, I like ketchup on my scrambled eggs, so deep is my addiction}, everything at Trader Joe's, and chocolate)
9. Oh, sweet Jesus why?
10. Did the Starbucks logo lady just wink at me?

You may say "You don't have to live without all of those things, just moderate yourself.  Have pie on the fourth of July, it's a special occasion!"

But that's exactly the problem.  I've said many times "Geez, I really need to cut back on the cookies," but when they're in front of me I just don't care.  If they're there, I'll eat them.  And as for "special occasions," they happen way more often than you think.  Catie's at a friend's birthday party? Sure, I'll have a piece of cake, it's a special occasion.  Date night? We pretty much have to have dessert, it's a date night law.  Memorial day barbecue?  I owe it to the fallen veterans to have this ice cream cone.  See how it all adds up?  I'm afraid I have to go all or nothing.  Maybe after I've been without sugar long enough I'll be able to moderate myself.  Or maybe I'll go sugar-crazy after prolonged sugar deprivation.  One or the other.