One thing that really fuels my motivation to keep this up is to arm myself with knowledge. I watched a lecture on YouTube (that's had 6 million views) called Sugar: the Bitter Truth by Dr. Robert Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology. Some of the chemistry in the lecture is technical, but the rest is easy to follow.
The most helpful information I gleaned was on the difference in how the body processes the carbohydrate found in bread, pasta, or rice (pure glucose) compared with how it processes both white table sugar and high fructose corn syrup (which contains some glucose with a lot of fructose). Without going into too much detail, here are some things to note:
1) Gram per gram, a much higher percentage of fructose ends up as fat compared to an equal amount of glucose eaten.
2) When equal amounts of glucose and fructose are consumed, fructose effects the body's endocrine system much more negatively than glucose, spiking insulin and taxing the liver.
3) Glucose is the natural fuel of every cell in the body and needed for brain function. It triggers fullness sensations in the brain which fructose does not. Fructose is not a natural fuel and must be processed in the liver to be used. Something which the liver has to process to use is also called a poison.
4) Despite the similarities in names, fruit does not contain large amounts of fructose, but has mostly glucose with small amounts of fructose. The large percentage of water and fiber contained in fruit offsets the small amounts of fructose, so the intake of fruit does not need to be limited.
5) And lastly, a real shocker: Soft drinks made with high fructose corn syrup are pretty much the worst thing of the planet that anyone could consume. Of course, we all knew they were bad for us, but perhaps few knew how bad. Since I've always had an interest in science, for me, there's no motivation in the world like knowing the facts behind something. A vague notion that something's bad for me is nothing like hearing a scientist say: THIS IS A POISON, and then explain exactly how it's a poison.
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