satisfying the sweet

the one thing i have used to satisfy my sweet tooth...sugar free trident gum - watermelon, strawberry, orange...basically it has an artificial super sweet taste. i have chewed piece after piece. wrappers are everywhere. the car. my pockets. next to my bed. reminds me of being a little kid. my mom said she always used to find little wrappers in my room. as a kid, i loved to chew gum. i even fell asleep with it my mouth only to find it stuck in my hair the next day. another thing i would do was to put a chewed piece on my nightstand to save for when i woke up. yes, i have been a gum addict. back in those days it was full on sugar gum. as i got older i switched to the sugar free kind. my dentist has shared that gum chewing is not only bad for the teeth but also for the jaw. in the past couple years i have cut back and in fact stopped buying it. now with the food experiment that has all changed. recently my husband did the grocery shopping and i had him add trident to the list. yes, gum is acting like a food. and the addiction is back in full force. i am chewing non stop - blowing bubbles, walking around like a chomping cow. attractive right? however today i decidede that it is time for me to start cutting back. why now? my jaw hurts. sure, it helped me to get through the 100 days but now it is time to go...again.