It’s officially my two year anniversary of when I first began seriously tackling this thing called being sick. My 2 year anniversary of “Hey, I’m super messed up, please help fix me!”

I sat in a dimly lit room with my first Naturopathic MD in Lincoln Park, Chicago while she told me I had Candida and wrote down a strict diet I was to adhere to for at least six months. Main things to avoid: Sugar, Bread, Alcohol. Turns out that majority of Americans now have some levels of bacterial yeast overgrowth in their gut due to excessive use of antibiotics and other western drugs and excessive use of….things that are bad for us! Yay! Just turned out mine was more severe than the average American because my body had been taking antibiotics for 20 years straight for my yearly bouts of pneumonia, and my gut was severely out of whack.

I could lie and tell you that when Dr. Kelley wrote down “No Sugar, No Bread, No Alcohol” I earnestly shook my head yes, clutched this precious piece of new revelation, and promptly began a clean diet, free from these abhorrent, candida-feeding monstrosities.

Instead, I earnestly shook my head yes, while thinking to myself- “No way in hell am I giving up sugar and bread. No fucking way. Does she know who I am?? The queen of sweet eating? Does she realize what this deprivation would cost me? Sandwiches are my favorite thing in the world! Ok Lady…yeah, sure I’ll stop eating sugar and bread. Ha!”

If you find yourself reeling in horror at the idea of cutting these two major staples out, you are not alone. I tell you this to encourage you- it’s taking me a full two years to reach and sustain the strict no bread, minimal sugar diet I am currently on. 2 years of battling my cravings and feeling like I am stepping into battle every time I walk past the bread aisle. BUT, there is good news, my beautiful friends! GOOD NEWS I SAY!

Step 1 in “getting clean” from sugar is cutting out SODA. Yes, my friends. That villainous, poisonous mixture of pure sugar and pure chemicals. Soda is your beacon of light in this dark and dismal journey of getting well. I am over 1 year clean of No Soda and it is this magical thing I can point to and say- a victory! No matter how small or big this challenge is for you, this is the number one tangible thing you can cut out of your life, knowing without a doubt that it will decrease your sugar intake greatly, concurrently decreasing your inflammation, which is the NUMBER 1 CAUSE OF DISEASE.

Reasons No Soda is an amazing first step:

1) No one will guilt you or pressure you to drink it at social events

2) You only have to “say no” to one item in the entire grocery store

3) You’ll begin to develop that feeling of pride that comes with abstaining from a concrete, known substance that is harmful to you

4) All the cool kids are doing it- something to brag about at parties

5) No extreme sugar rushes, followed by extreme bouts of depression filled black holes of lack-luster living, struggling to stay awake at your desk.

6) In order to eventually achieve a huge goal, we all need baby step victories along the way that help to keep us moving in the right direction!