As I sit here typing, I know that many who read this will not believe me. But if there is even a chance that you, dear reader, MIGHT respect my honest opinion, please-- do TRY what I am going to describe.

It's about sugar and sugar addiction. It's about sugar and serotonin. And it's about serotonin and chocolate.

SUGAR AND SEROTONIN
They say that sugar cravings in SAD are increased from one's usual sugar-craving levels. Me, I am not particularly afflicted with a sweet tooth: I might want something sweet a couple of times a year, but when the sugar-jones comes back the next day-- as it will just because of the sugar-serotonin reaction in our bodies-- for me, it's easy to override it, have something healthy, and forget about it. I LIKE sugar but I do not crave it. In fact it does awful things in my gut and I'm a little sugar-aversive as a result. (IBS in pastorwife/polyester suiting.... not a good mix.) :~)

Stick with me... this is going somewhere.


SEROTONIN AND CHOCOLATE
Chocolate....mmmm....mmmm...... Now, chocolate has real, medicinal properties to soothe the savage breast. Women with PMS know this well, tho it also can cause or worsen migraine..... some days ya just gotta have a little chocolate. (I have never met an ice cream- slinging woman who did not understand that on some days, MORE hot fudge is REQUIRED.) And I have been known to run into a powerful choco-craving. I'm sure it ALSO boosts serotonin.


CHOCOLATE AND SUGAR IN S.A.D.
Anyway, one year I had a really bad time with SAD and was driven to antidepressants. I knew that part of my winter thing was based in personal history-- the annual rekindling of memories. Anniversary-grief, I call that. I looked forward, each year, to the year's evolving grief and concomitant, evolving growth. But there was one bad year when my job, that year, did not allow me to dive in deep. And so, a great doc I had then.... cooperatively prescribed. I took Elavil. I liked it better than I had expected to. But it gave me the most awful reaction to chocolate: I'd crave it, and have "some," but instead of ONE Snickers bar, my tongue would insist on not two, not three, but four or FIVE! It was very puzzling, and my doc didn't understand it, either. Some chemical thing.


THE BIG SURPRISE
Now, here we are in SAD again, and again it's a year when I'm taking Elavil. And there's the old choco-craving again. I braced for the 5-Snickers thing-- not looking forward to the expected IBS result.

But THIS year, I'm living with a diabetic, so our house contains no refined sugar. It just happens that I taste-test any sugar-free items before I give them to Hardi, because he DOES have a sweet tooth. Also, he DOES know the difference between good sugar-taste and bad-taste. So I preview stuff as we try new things.

And that's when I learned the MOST AMAZING THING. And that is, Splenda and other sugar-free, BLENDED sweeteners...

1. Satisfy the sugar craving completely in one serving
2. Do not make me want MORE and MORE sugar all day long
3. DO come in a sugar-free CHOCOLATE syrup that is GREAT on ice cream!!!


So now, it's sugar-free chocolate sauce blended with sugar-free caramel sauce and natural, sugarless peanut butter.... on sugar-free (medium-fat) ice cream, and it's as good as ONE Snickers bar, and JUST ONE IS PLENTY.


SAY WHAT?!?!?!
Yes, this is the crazy thing. Our brains are actually fooled by the sugarless sweeteners!!!!

This changes everything about sugar consumption. Yes-- there is a difference in flavor between sugar-free and sugar. Sugar DOES taste better.

But here's more unbelievabale stuff.... that is actually TRUE. If the sugar-free version is introduced gradually, the palate adjusts-- and can no longer tell the difference. I SWAR! You mix regular chocolate with sugar-free, and you get reduced-sugar that tastes good. You then gradually adjust the mix, until it's all sugar-free. And it tastes FINE!


BRAGGING
And thus I have gained chocolate... lost the sugar that had been connected to it... AND I can even have REAL COFFEE without an IBS attack.

Another handy example was at a friend's for supper the other night. She presented a choice: sugar-free vanilla pudding? or turtle cheesecake? BOTH! Hardi and I split a sliver of sugary cheesecake and then topped it with slathers of sugar-free pudding. It was GREAT! Sweet, and creamy, and a VERY nice textural enhancement to the cheesecake.

I ain't SAD no more!

~Susan