After a Sugar Detox…My thoughts

So obviously I didn’t do a full blown sugar detox.  I still had my 85% dark chocolate most days and probably too much fruit and substitutions but I decreased my sugar consumption by a considerable amount for me so I’m calling it a sugar detox.  This was hard for me.  I love sugar.  I am a self proclaimed sugar addict and while I did feel better during the day and think I slept better at night, I still don’t want to cut the stuff out of my diet.  It was a good experiment to bring me back down off my sugar cloud but the fact of the matter is that it makes me feel happy and I feel like a prisoner when I limit what I eat.  I don’t like the feeling and I actually really look forward to my daily treats.  I love my salad and eggs and veggies as well and when I’m super hungry I want to fill up on that stuff but I also really like the habit of eating something sweet after my meals to finalize them and move on with my day.  Yes, I called this a habit because I don’t need to do this but I really like to.  I also don’t like making substitutions for my sweet treats.  All 10 days I was trying to substitute my sweet snacks for things like shakes made with only coco and banana and almond milk or super dark chocolate that really wasn’t satisfying or some sort of treat that I’d made with only bananas and a few other none sugar items.  It wasn’t working for me and wasn’t making me happy.  This life is too short to not feel happiness everyday.  Some may argue that food shouldn’t make a person happy and that there’s something else psychologically going on.  Ok, maybe there is and I’m ok with that!  In these intense times in my life I really love having sugar as my substance of choice to go to and make the world right again.  Sure I may pay for it with mood swings and poor sleep but I may not.

Here’s the thing, after the 10 days I totally blew off everything I learned and did.  Ok, maybe not everything.  I was still conscience of what I was doing and eating sugar wise but I ate real cow’s milk ice cream and have pretty much every day since last weekend.  I don’t do my mindless snacking on M&Ms and TJ’s boxed chocolates still but who knows, that will probably be back at some point.  I haven’t done any baking either except for an amazing paleo treat that I’m trying very hard to resist eating every last bite because paleo or not, they are incredible (and SUPER high in calories).  So I have cut back and I’m trying really really hard to only eat my treats after the kids go down but even that has been a challenge for me because I really just like sugar.  It’s the same with coffee.  I will never give that up and I don’t care to.

So where am I at now that a week has gone by?  Well I feel like my sleep is honestly the same and my moods have actually continued to be steady.  I really don’t think you need to completely give up sugar at all to feel the benefits.  I think that if you just cut back on sugar and take in the recommended daily amounts of sugar you’ll be fine.  I’m sure you’d be fine even going over that limit if you exercise.  I do exercise and pretty intensely at that so I feel like my sugars get used up in my body so that maybe I don’t feel the effects like some people do.  Who knows, I do know that when I eat way too much sugar I do feel it.  I definitely am more tired when I consume nothing but sugary treats all day and I’m more on edge.  But that also happens when I don’t exercise.  So who knows.

All in all I can say that I’m glad I did it for the small amount of time that I did.  At some point I really really really want to try to stick to and do a Whole 30.  I have read the book and the cookbook and done a ton of research on Whole 30.  I love the idea but again, I just don’t want to cut sugar out for that long.  I do know just after doing my little experiment that it does work and I could gain more energy and sleep better and all that but I’m just not ready to give up my treats.  Maybe I’ll do a Whole 30 with a night time chocolate treat 😉  I’m sure the authors would love that, especially after writing about my experience.  Anyways, bottom line is that you need to do you.  And I highly recommend That Sugar Film which can be found on Amazon Prime.  Wow, it was eye opening and such a great documentary.  I loved every second of it.

I’ll end with saying that I’m now much more aware of the added sugars in things that don’t even need sugar.  My kids are better without sugar too.  Why would I cut sugar out of my diet and not theirs?  I want to always teach them that sugar isn’t the enemy but portions are and I just want them to be aware of how much sugar is in our food.  They can make their own choices.  I loved doing this and I hope that some of my habits (not eating a treat after breakfast) stick around but to give up sugar completely is a crime and, at least for me, would take out a lot of the joy in my every day life that I experience.  I love rewarding my kids with special dates to get cupcakes or donuts and I just can’t/won’t deprive us of those special memories.

Sugar detox, Day 10…The Final Day

*This was supposed to publish on 8/22.  Oh well.  Here you go…It’s now 8/27.

Alright so full disclosure, I have probably not been on the same “detox” that a lot of people deem a real sugar detox but that wasn’t the point of this in the first place.  I went into this with really only the expectation that I could get rid of processed sugary foods like cakes, muffins, cookies and candy.  I really didn’t care if I eliminated hidden sugars in my diet because truth be told I really don’t use hidden sugars in my diet so that I can eat all. the. processed. sugar.  Anyways, I’ll write a full report when I’m done with day 10.

Today I woke up and was TIRED.  I slept on my daughter’s floor from 2am until I decided to leave her room at 5:15am.  Well joke was on me because at 5:30am she noticed I wasn’t there anymore and started crying and just got up for the day along with my other two kids.  It was a horrible morning and definitely not a recipe for a good day.  That being said I did jump on the treadmill somehow and pump out 7 miles.  I knew that if there were any day of the detox that I was totally going to snap it was going to be today because of the lack of sleep situation and the cold that was in full blown effect now.

Breakfast

I was starving when I came up from my run so I snacked on some roasted pecans while I made my breakfast.  I made egg whites with chopped red peppers.

Mid-morning snack

I was trying to get us out the door earlier than the previous day so I really don’t remember eating anything (I’m writing this post on Sunday and trying to recall everything).

Lunch

I sliced two cucumbers and mixed them with 1/2 an avocado.  I brought some sugar free caesar dressing in a container with me and used maybe a tablespoon but that’s probably being generous.

Mid-afternoon Snack

I came home from our outing and was starving.  I made myself a shake and also snacked on my homemade banana ice cream.  Oddly enough, this was all I wanted.  I didn’t even need anything else to be satisfied.  I was so happy about this!

Dinner

Chad was going out to dinner with friends so I made the kids some organic chicken nuggets and sliced red peppers.  I also had a few nuggets along with some sliced manchego cheese and seeded crackers and then finished my dinner with some plantain chips and guacamole.  It was a super snacky dinner but it was delicious and one of my favorite types of dinners.  The kids were all in bed by 6:15pm and Chad left so I was on my own to create something.  This can end very badly.  I really really really really wanted some ice cream but not the dairy stuff we had in our deep freezer.  I wanted vanilla ice cream with something chocolatey.  So I did the best I could do and made a coconut vanilla ice cream with honey as the sweetener.  I technically wasn’t supposed to have honey on my detox but I just really wanted it and so instead of eating twice as much food to fill the craving with other stuff I didn’t want I caved and made vanilla ice cream with coconut milk, vanilla extract and honey.  I also made these brownies which didn’t set and were actually not great but they totally hit the spot probably because I haven’t actually had sugar for so long.  They were more like a thick chocolate sauce than a brownie but they were perfect for what I needed.  I had a few bites of both the ice cream and the brownie and I was done.  That’s all I needed!  I was surprised because in the past it would have taken much much more to get the same satisfaction. I was happy and went to bed happy and to me, that was all that mattered.

Notes on today:

*I felt horrible today.  Like the worst I’ve felt in a long time.  I am sick and irritable BUT I was flat.  The kids fought so much and were so annoying today but I didn’t blow up once.  Was that the fact that I had given up sugar and my moods have been more stable or was it the fact that I was so sick that I just didn’t have the energy to deal with them?  Who’s to say but I almost always spark and yell at them when combined with little sleep and being sick and I just stayed totally calm and flat today.

*I’m so glad I “broke” the sugar detox tonight.  I have never been happier with a decision and I actually felt free.  I went to bed with an entirely different outlook on how I’m going to continue on with my life with less sugar in it.  It really is all about moderation and I needed to run this experiment to get myself back on track with a healthier lifestyle.

Sugar detox, Day 9

*I had actually set up days 8-10 to be published this past week so that I wouldn’t have to do anything with my blog but the publisher didn’t work!  UGH.  Anyways over a week later and here is day 9…

And I’ve made it to Thursday!  Only TWO more days before I hit my goal of staying away from processed sugars for 10 days!  I’m only going to blog about the first 10 days but I’m going to continue to eat like this as long as I can.  I really like what I’m seeing in terms of how different I feel day to day.  It’s so good!

Started my day off at 5:17am when Aubrey woke up and I had to feed her.  She went back to sleep so I came downstairs and had a few extra moments to myself because no one was awake so I blogged and had my black coffee in peace.  These are hands down the best mornings and basically why I go to bed so early.

Breakfast

I ran on my treadmill for 7 miles and still in the back of my mind was thinking about my weight.  I hate that my weight can get the better of me but it actually really helped me make good choices today and really think before eating something.  I came up and made myself a huge bowl of frozen kale, egg whites, ground turkey and salsa and topped it with a scoop of cottage cheese.  This bowl is SO Filling.  So much so so that I was stuffed and wasn’t even thinking about food all morning.  I was able to get all my chores done without thinking about a sweet or something to eat.

Midmorning snack

Like I said, I wasn’t really thinking about food but Chad came home for lunch with a few bags of chips so I did have a few handfuls of those.

Lunch

We went to the Nature and Science Museum late today.  It was 12:15pm before we even left the house.  We almost never do this but Aubrey napped until 11am, at which point I actually woke her up finally and Cam slept in until about 9am so I figured we did have some wiggle room for nap skipping.  I packed our lunches and we ate around 2pm today.  I made myself a similar cauliflower bowl that I made for the art museum with riced cauliflower, ground turkey, 1/2 an avocado, salsa and a scoop of cottage cheese.  It was better than yesterday’s but still not great.  Again, I just need to make meat with taco seasoning.

Mid-afternoon snack

I had a larabar and needed it.  I usually am home all afternoon and I think this is what gets me into trouble.  When we are out I actually listen to my hunger cues and never need something sweet or even crave it.  This even happened to me prior to cutting back on sugar.  When I’m home it’s my ritual and it’s been a damn hard one to break.  Today I was starving so I had my bar and actually reached for a few bites of the kids bagel and cream cheese that they didn’t eat for lunch because I was so hungry.

Dinner

It was so amazing to be hungry for dinner tonight.  I picked up some organic freezer burritos for dinner and sautéed some zucchini in olive oil and salt and pepper.  The kids got red pepper slices since neither like zucchini.  I had made 4 different burritos and cut them all in half so we could try each of them.  I had one and a half.  Two halves were chicken and one was a potato/bacon/egg one.

After dinner snack

I made the kids strawberry “ice cream” which was a total hit by throwing frozen strawberries, 2 bananas and some unsweetened almond milk in the food processor.  I put a few shakes of sprinkles on it for the kids and they LOVED this!  I totally tricked them and love doing that, esp. with desserts.  I ended up having my usual 2 squares of 85% dark chocolate and then making myself banana “ice cream” by blending bananas, coco powder, almond milk and vanilla extract and then I added some cacao nibs for some crunch.  I sat down and thoroughly enjoyed this while watching my secret obsession, Bachelor in Paradise.

Notes on Today:

*I was really tuned into my hunger signals today which felt really really good.

*I still had heartburn at night and figured out it was the xanthin gum I was putting in my afternoon shakes.  This stuff makes the shake a creamy consistency but I still have yet to find out the perfect “pinch” of the stuff that most people are talking about.  I have read that it can give people horrible bloating and indigestion problems.  Totally the case for me and I’m going to stop using the stuff.

*I feel myself starting to get sick so I’m hoping my healthier lifestyle will pay off and either ward off the cold or at least diminish the length of time I’ll be sick.

Sugar detox, day 8

I seriously can’t believe I have gone this long without any processed sugar.  Heck, I can’t believe I have gone this long without baking chocolate chip cookies or some sort of paleo treat with maple syrup or honey either!  It’s crazy to me and I am still feeling better than ever.  Today is my true test because I got very little sleep last night.  So today is Wednesday.  I’m going to be honest about today.  I woke up in a really bad mood and very tired and didn’t get my usual morning to myself because I slept with Emmett and then Campbell and then my own bed (guest room bed) and then Emmett all night last night.  It was horrible and I was thinking I’d just sleep in but Emmett woke up seeing that I wasn’t in his room at 5:30am and freaked out and so I got up a little later than normal but with Emmett.  Aubrey and Chad actually beat us downstairs so there was no “me” time to help me prepare for the day.  I did get to go on a 7 mile run which always helps and I went outside and by myself so that helped but as I write this it’s 10:21am and I’m tired and grumpy and want to be sleeping right now and don’t want to do the mom thing today at all because I’m moody and have no energy and hot.  It’s so damn hot.  I’m so over summer I could cry.  I just wish it would cool off for a few days.  I hate sunscreen and sweating and pants when it’s hot and sweaty armpits all the time and sunburns.  I forgot to mention that on Monday I even tried to take my kids to our rec. center’s indoor pool and as we drove up in the parking lot there was a sign that said “Pool closed until further notice”.  Seriously!?  We ended up going to our outdoor pool which was too crowded and I had to deal with all the things I’m hating right now.  Anyways, rant over.  Let’s get to the bulk of the day.

Breakfast

I ran 7 miles after drinking my black coffee.  I came home and was starving and myself some chopped up red peppers with egg whites and a chopped chicken apple sausage.  This breakfast hit the spot  and was great.  I also had more black coffee in hopes that it would bring my mood up.  It did not.

Mid morning Snack

Some sugar snap peas while making our lunches and an iced coffee with unsweetened almond milk from home while driving to our morning activity.

Lunch

I made lunch to go because we went to the Art museum today.  I made myself riced cauliflower, 1/2 an avocado, ground up turkey and topped with salsa.  I thought this was going to be way better than it actually was.  It most definitely tasted very much like cauliflower and nothing else.  It was pretty gross but I was hungry and it’s all I brought for myself so I ate it.  I think it lacked seasoning from the meat.  I have made this in the past and it’s actually been really good and the flavor of the cauliflower has been completely masked.  I think it’s because I didn’t season the ground turkey.  I think for tomorrow nights dinner I will make some ground beef with taco seasoning to have on hand and see if that helps this situation out.  It was super filling though so that’s definitely a win.

Mid afternoon snack

I almost got through the afternoon without this.  I wasn’t hungry at all and had I not been home I could have easily waited to eat until dinner.  Annoying.  I had 2 squares of 85% dark chocolate and I thought that would be enough but I was feeling super super snacky.  I made myself some unsweetened almond milk with cinnamon and vanilla extract and it was actually really really good.  I think it would be great as a blended drink too.  After that I had 2 bites of a kids leftover banana muffin (recipe from the other day) and a 1/2 a pecan pie larabar then I made the kids dinner to keep myself occupied.

Dinner

I had a sugar free whole wheat, low carb tortilla with colby jack cheese and a smoothie made with unsweetened almond milk, 2T cocoa, vanilla extract and a banana all over ice and blended.  I topped this with a handful of cacao nibs and oh my word it was SO GOOD.  It felt like I was eating ice cream because I ate it with a spoon.  I could TOTALLY do whole 30 with this creation.  I mentioned it before in a different post but adding the cacao nibs just puts an entirely new spin on it.  I had this because we were getting ready to go to an ice cream social at C’s preschool and I wanted to try very hard to resist the temptation.  I told Chad that if the ice cream happened to be from a local ice cream store then I’d have some but other than that it really wouldn’t be worth it.  And guess what…It was from Nuggs, a local ice cream store and guess what?  I didn’t even want any of it!

A weird thing is that I was having heartburn for the majority of the evening.  It sucked and I’m still trying to figure out why and what caused this.

After dinner snack

I was this close to skipping this.  I should have gone to bed but I was watching Bachelor in Paradise and old habits die hard.  It’s so annoying because I really really really didn’t want to give in but I actually was hungry once the show ended.  We ate at 4:45pm last night (wtf!?) and so it was no wonder that by 9:15pm my stomach was growling.  I’m a huge proponent though of eating when you’re hungry so I had about 4 or 5 mini tangerines and a string cheese and iced tea and put myself to bed.  No sweet treat type things!  I was in bed by 9:30pm.

Notes on today:

*Today was hard but I’m glad I had the motivation I did because it could have easily turned into a very bad day considering I was so tired and moody and when those two things are combined I usually reach for the good stuff aka processed sugars.

*So I weighed myself today because I was scared that I was the only person on the face of this planet who gave up eating processed sugars and gained weight and low and behold it was TRUE!  This totally could have contributed to my bad mood.  Never ever ever weigh yourself if you’re already in a bad spot.  Why do I do this to myself!?  Well for starters I thought I’d be pleasantly surprised and either stayed the same weight or dropped a pound.  Now let me remind you I did not do this to lose weight.  I actually wanted to reap the health benefits and just figured weight loss could be a side effect of it all but I most certainly didn’t want to gain weight!  I really like the weight I’m at and am really happy with my body so weight loss or gain isn’t something I’m at all interested in but CLEARLY I need to scale back on all the non processed snacks I’m eating throughout the day.  I’m glad I weighed myself because it made me be honest with myself.  I’m eating way too many replacement foods when I’m not hungry and those are out of habit.  I’m eating a ton more nuts and a ton more high calorie nutrient dense foods to replace the sugar that I was once eating and while I do feel a TON better I am also putting on a few pounds in the process.  The idea isn’t to replace this stuff but to eliminate it all together so I’m going to work hard on just getting rid of it rather than replacing it and I’m going to listen to my hunger signals more often instead of eating out of habit.  I need more water and less food.  I definitely don’t want to throw in the towel and go back to eating how I was eating because I feel like a new person now but it’s hard to look at my old diet of all the sugar and happiness (aside from being low on energy and tired all the time) and not want to go back to eating like that to get my 3 pounds off.  Who would have thought!?  I found a way of eating in the past that works for me calorically so it will just be hard to find a new way I guess.

Sugar detox, day 7

Sugar detox day 7 I was back on track.  I can’t believe I’ve made it through 7 days of zero processed sugars!  Actually, I haven’t even had my staples when I do paleo which are maple syrup and honey!!

I woke up with a renewed sense of motivation.  I felt disgusting after my casein disaster from the night before and I was ready to start fresh.  So it’s now Tuesday and I get to start over so let’s begin.

I felt tired though.  I woke up at 4:57am because one of the kids cried out and it woke me up right before my alarm went off at 5am.  I also woke up to a text right after I dozed off for the night at around 10pm which made my heart race and made it tough to fall back to sleep (my phone is always on airplane mode but I forgot to turn my iPad off) and one of the kids cried out at 1:17am which woke me up and that’s when I experienced a bout of terrible heart burn and couldn’t fall back to sleep.  Even coffee wasn’t doing it for me.  I just felt tired and I’m not sure why.  Is my body detoxing?  Hard to say.

I didn’t have time to run today because we had a doc. appointment super early for Aubrey.  I still set my alarm for 5am and had plenty of time to workout but hadn’t taken in a break in a long time so I decided this unplanned rest day was probably a good idea.  Plus, I haven’t really had the energy or excitement I usually have for a run and this is usually a pretty good indication that I need a break or a day off.

Breakfast

I had cauliflower oats with a 1/2 banana for some added sweetness and some cinnamon and egg whites for protein.  It was a pretty decent breakfast and kept me full all morning.

Mid morning Snack

I don’t really think this counts as mid morning but it wasn’t lunch so that’s how I’m categorizing it.  After the doc. appointment I went grocery shopping and by the time I was done I was so hungry that I was starting to get moody and short fused.  I grabbed some applegate deli turkey slices and that helped.  I grabbed an iced coffee with unsweetened almond milk from home and left to keep running errands.

Lunch

I didn’t get to eat until about 2:30 because we had to pick Cam up at PDO and it took forever and then we always come in hot after that.  Aubrey was hungry and so were E and C so everyone was yelling at each other and Aubrey was screaming her head off so I grabbed a quick tiny tupperware of leftovers from the night before and put E and C in front of the TV with leftover spaghetti and chicken sausage which was cold and then went to feed Aubrey and put her down for a nap.  I came down after that and got Campbell and put her down for her nap and then finally made myself some frozen broccoli, sugar free marinara sauce and turkey meatballs.  I felt my blood sugar come back up and then of course wanted something sweet.

Mid afternoon Snack

This is always the worst time for snacking because I’m stuck at home and even if I wanted to I can’t leave.  I had a few tangerines to start but that didn’t touch my sweet tooth so then I had a nut butter truffle and cheat alert, a few bites of pumpkin flavored noosa yogurt.  Oh well, there are worse things I could have grabbed for.  Luckily neither of the girls decided to nap so the rest of the afternoon was spent holding them and trying to manage 3 very grumpy children.  Hey it kept me from eating.

Dinner

I wasn’t hungry because I had eaten lunch so late so I just picked at some roasted chicken and dipped it in Brianna’s cesaer dressing.  I knew I’d be back for something later so I was fine with doing this.

After dinner snack

And here it is…I was back for more and wasn’t even hungry.  This is just my nasty habit.  I wish I could just go to bed and forget this part but the truth is that it’s my only time with my husband without kids in the entire day and I just want to hang out and decompress. Unfortunately that comes with eating.  Because of the night I had previously with the casein I didn’t want to blow this so I grabbed a small bit of 85% chocolate and then I had a wonderful creation!  I mixed my banana chocolate chia seed creation with some plain yogurt and topped with cacao nibs and that totally did the trick completely!  I was so satisfied!!!  I ate that and then made some iced tea to sip on during the next few days and I went to bed!

Midnight snack

Ugh.  Of course this is the night that my son gets sick and wakes up at 11pm with a croup type cough and freaking out because he is sort of like his mom and is a hypochondriac.  I can’t blame him.  He was scared and crying and coughing and probably couldn’t breath very well and the only thing that was going to make him at least think that he was better was for me to do his nebulizer.  Of course as soon as we started it up he miraculously got better and calmed down.  Placebo effect or not it worked but then he was hungry and wanted a turkey sandwich.  I wasn’t hungry at all but because he was eating and it would be selfish of me to have him eat alone I decided to join him.  I grabbed a bunch of Mary’s organic rice crackers and some manchego cheese slices while he ate his sandwich.  He’s the slowest eater on the planet so I ate more than I’d like to admit.  I also had several turkey slices while making his sandwich.

Notes on today:

*I’m not happy with myself for my midnight snack.  In my normal life with sweets I do pretty well with only eating when I’m hungry and even then I can usually put that off until the next meal.  I think now I’m trying to overcompensate.

*I still felt pretty good all day despite eating at odd times.  I never felt that afternoon slump and it was pretty stressful yesterday having to run around doing errands and appointments and lack of naps from any child.  I’m not sure I would have handled a day like that with such grace had I been eating sugar all day.

*My husband had some ice cream after the kids went down and I didn’t even want any!  That’s HUGE for me.

Sugar detox, day 6

Monday.  I survived the weekend.  Last night was the best night of sleep I think I have ever had in my life.  I went to bed at 9:30, woke up never, and then woke up to my alarm at 5am.  That NEVER happens.  I always wake up throughout the night whether it be because of kids crying out or a baby or just myself being super hot.  It’s always something so you can imagine my surprise when my alarm was going off and I thought I had set it for 1am.

Breakfast

I went for a fasted run (had coffee) on my treadmill for 5 miles.  I really wanted to take a break but opted to run because I had a feeling I wouldn’t be running the following day.  For breakfast I made myself eggwhites with turkey, 2 slices of sugar free toast, and 1/2 an avocado.  I was really itching to try something “sweet” so I also had a few bites of Campbell’s oatmeal.  It was made with almond milk, a 1/2 a banana, oats and walnuts.

Midmorning snack

I wasn’t hungry but dang that sweet tooth.  I ate one of my truffles from baking yesterday and a 1/2  a banana muffin that I also made yesterday.

Lunch

I packed lunches for the kids for the pool and almost didn’t pack anything for me which I new would end poorly so I packed a lunch too.  I had 2 spiraled zucchini with sugar free marinara sauce and a chicken sausage from the other night.  I was satisfied but new that I would be eating something else when I got home.

Mid-afternoon Snack

And eat I did.  Guys, this was just a bad day for me.  I wanted nothing but sweets.  I just couldn’t get my mind off of them and it was a hard day.  Nothing I ate satisfied that sweet tooth or the urge to just go get that ice cream out of the deep freezer.  When we got home the kids wanted some snacks so I also had some stuff.  I had some strawberries and while sweet didn’t take the edge off.  I also gave the kids some truffles which they both tried and then left on the table so I had a few bites of those too.  I also had a few slices of frozen banana with almond butter.  I still wasn’t satisfied so I had a few macadamia nuts then I remembered a great smoothie recipe that tastes like a Wendy’s frosty that I used to make a lot.  So I made that and was finally satisfied.  It’s made with a banana, 2T of cocoa powder, 2t of vanilla extract and about 1.5 cups of unsweetened almond milk.  Add ice and blend and you have yourself an amazing sweet milk shake type beverage for less than 200 calories.  Genius.  I will be making this more often starting off rather than finishing my “binges” (if that’s even what you call this).  Emmett also asked for a snack so I made him some chocolate “pudding”.  While looking for dinner recipes I came across a sugar free version of pudding and immediately knew I had to make it.  It was 4 bananas with 4T cocoa powder.  Throw that in a food processor and bam!  Pudding!  I also threw in about 4T of chia seeds for added nutrition which I won’t be doing again.  I thought the pudding tasted great prior to the chia seeds and didn’t think the chia seeds would change it all that much but they did.  Now we have a ton of this pudding stuff in our refrigerator waiting to be thrown away.

Dinner

This dinner was so random but so delicious.  I made 91% lean grass fed burgers, roasted sweet potatoes in coconut oil, grilled zucchini in olive oil, minced garlic and salt and pepper, this sesame ginger carrot salad and avocado slices to go on top of our burger patties.  I wasn’t starving for this dinner but I ate every last bite anyways.  All the flavors came together beautifully and I was happy with the end result.  We didn’t have any leftovers. The sugar monster was also alive and well and all I could think about was dessert and what in the world I was going to fill that void with.  We went on a walk and I thought that would help but it didn’t.

After dinner snack

I almost lost it here guys.  The kids were all in bed by 8pm and this is the time I want to be “bad”.  Us parents are so good all day long and have to put our best foots forward.  This is like my one vice.  Sugar.  I love to put the kids down and then just go nuts on the sweet stuff.  Tonight was proving to be extra challenging for some reason and my will power was seriously waning.  So I grabbed a small amount of 85% dark chocolate which is quite a bit sweeter than the 90% if you could imagine and ate that super slowly.  It did sort of do the trick because I didn’t want very much.  That’s the point I guess.  But when I put it away I just wanted that ice cream in the deep freezer.  Chad suggested I made some sort of “dessert” with his casein cake batter flavor protein powder.  I really think this totally defeats the purpose and plus all that stuff is is chemicals and fake sugar.  I don’t eat fake sugar anymore and have completely given it up with the exception of a diet coke every now and then but I was dying.  I needed something.  So I experimented and made my own version of “cake” with this stuff.  The good news is that all the experimenting took time and by the time I was done it was bedtime.  The bad news is that it all pretty much tasted like shit.  It wasn’t what I wanted at all and because I didn’t follow a recipe it was a total flop.  HOWEVER, this all prevented me from reaching for the real stuff that keeps me up and makes me feel like shit so I suppose Chad gets a point here.

Notes on today

*Today was by far the most challenging day I have had.  I don’t know what sparked the ugly sugar monster but today was tough for me.

*I was totally rested and again, no slumps what so ever.  I was low on energy though.  My body just felt tired.  While I was never sleepy I just felt off.  My run even suffered.  I barely could get through miles and I pushed to get those 5 miles in.  I should have listened to my body and taken a break.

*I had horrible horrible heartburn after I ate dinner.  I really didn’t feel it until we got home from our walk.  It was awful.  I was trying to think about what would have caused this and I still have no idea.  All I can come up with is that I overate and this was a natural reaction to that and not from what I ate.

*I went to bed a little after 9:30 and fell asleep immediately but woke up with terrible heartburn.  I actually went to bed with terrible heartburn too.   I’m still trying to figure this out.

*The good news about today is that I don’t have the sugar cravings anymore after waking up to day 7 (I write these posts the morning after).  I don’t feel gross but I want to avoid what happened last night because I have my motivation back.  I don’t want to feel that way going to bed and I certainly don’t want to wake up with heartburn in the middle of the night anymore.  I can only attribute this to just going off the wagon a bit by eating too much fruit in the afternoon and eating fake sugars before bed which are known to cause gas, bloating and indigestion.

Sugar detox, day 5

Day 5 was on Sunday.  I am not sure I am even going to come close to writing down all that I consumed in this day.  I was extremely hungry all day, starting at about 2:30am.  I am not kidding when I say I couldn’t get enough food.  So I’ll do my best to recount what I had.  The strange thing about it all was that not once did I feel the urge to reach for something sweet or sugary.  I was actually craving whole foods!

Before breakfast middle of the night snack

I haven’t eaten something in the middle of the night since after I had Emmett and I was breastfeeding him and would wake up starving.  We lived in an 800 square foot condo and I would feed him out in the living room so the kitchen was like 5 feet away.  It was super easy to just grab a yogurt or something after putting him back down.  Tonight my middle child woke up with a cough and only wanted me so Chad had to come down at the same time because my 3rd child wanted to eat and we had no milk in the fridge.  He was warming up some milk and I was holding the middle one and HAD to eat.  I was so so so hungry.  Thankfully I had put some protein waffles in the fridge and grabbed those to eat.  They did the trick and I was able to go back to sleep easily on my toddler’s hardwood floor.

I woke up at 6:15 and despite sleeping on a hardwood floor felt great and rested so I got up.

Breakfast (Sunday)

I wasn’t going to run today because I hadn’t taken a break in over a week so I ate a bowl of strawberries with vanilla chia seed pudding, coconut flakes and cocao nibs.  If you are looking for something sweet this totally does the trick.  I love chia seed pudding because of the texture and the cacoa nibs with the strawberries feels like I’m eating chocolate.  I also had a few bites of strawberry protein pancakes that Chad made for the kids with the Kodiac Cake mix we have.  Just a side note, I checked the ingredient label on these bad boys and there’s 3g of sugar in a serving.  That’s WAY better than normal pancakes but I was wondering where the hidden sugar was.  They add brown sugar to the mix if you’re at all wondering.

Mid-morning snack

This is where things just got out of control and not in a bad way but dang I was so hungry.  I decided to run for 4 miles on my treadmill because I was antsy and it’s hard for me to take breaks.  Once I got showered and ready I was STARVING.  I reached for an orange and figured that would suffice.  Not even close.  I then got out some macadamia nuts I purchased at TJs on Friday.  I had a few of those but realized they are very high in calories and fat and while I’m not at all concerned with consuming high calorie or high fat food I also bought those as a “treat” and not to fill me up when I’m ravenous.  I put then away and pulled out some leftover fresh green beans with toasted almonds we had for dinner one night.  The kids wanted a snack so I got out some trail mix and snacked on that with them too.  I also “cheated” and opened up some noosa pumpkin yogurt for each of them and ate a few bites of that after stirring them up.  I will never buy this yogurt again.  There’s so much added sugar and very little protein.  I think there’s more sugar in a serving of this yogurt than in a bowl of ice cream.

After all this snacking I decided to make some snacks to have on hand for both myself and the kids when we want a sweeter tasting type treat.  I made a batch of these banana muffins only sweetened with bananas and taste amazing, especially with grass fed butter and I made these “truffles” which are surprisingly good.  After all that I was done in the kitchen.

Lunch

Lunch wasn’t eaten until almost 2pm because of my midmorning binge.  I spiraled 2 zucchini and sautéed that was about a tablespoon of pesto and diced up chicken rosemary thighs that were leftover.  I sprinkled the final product with parmesan cheese.  It was amazing and filling.  I didn’t even need anything after this but of course I wanted something sweet so I made myself an iced coffee with about 1/4 cup iced coffee concentrate I bought at Trader Joe’s and about 3/4 cup almond milk.  I put those two ingredients in a cup filled with ice and topped it off with cold tap water.  This was amazing and totally did the trick to get rid of that pesky sweet tooth.

Just a side note, I checked the ingredients on my pesto and it said there was 1g of sugar (in a 1/4 cup serving) in a serving!  I was wondering how in the world there was sugar in pesto because I’ve made pesto before and never had to add sugar to it.  Of course it was right there in the ingredients as just plain old SUGAR.  Ugh.  So frustrating.

Dinner

Chad made dinner while I was out with my son seeing a movie.  He made chicken sausage and shrimp sautéed in seasonings for dinner with a diced white potato mixed in.  It was amazing and the kids loved the shrimp.  I have never even purchased shrimp so it was a fun different thing for us to eat.  I also had a few slices of dried mango while giving some to the kids for “dessert”.

After dinner snack

I couldn’t stop thinking about sweets after dinner so I reached for my banana ice cream with cacoa nibs and also added some almond butter this time.  I thought I’d be full but I wasn’t.  I was still craving sweets so I went back and had some plain yogurt with about 1/8 teaspoon of maple syrup added and some more cacoa nibs mixed in.  This still didn’t do the trick so I reached for my 90% dark chocolate and had 2 squares and that did the trick.  I am absolutely blown away with how satisfying this dark chocolate is and how I can actually taste the sweetness now.  Prior to going on this whole sugar detox thing I found the 90% to be so bitter that it’s been in our pantry since I last May because I haven’t wanted to go near the stuff.  I pulled it out a couple of nights ago to try it again and it tastes amazing now to me.  That’s how much my taste buds have started to change.  It’s truly incredible.

Notes about today:

*Even though I slept on a hardwood floor in my daughter’s room and was up for about an hour in the night and woke up multiple times for various other reasons, I still somehow never felt tired the entire day.

*My fuse has become so long that I don’t even recognize myself anymore

*I wish I knew why I was so hungry today but don’t really care because I held out and never once grabbled for ice cream or M&Ms or baking something like I normally would have.

*I think the best part about today was that I just didn’t feel at all tired.  I know I’m talking a lot about sleep but I really can’t get over how great I feel with such little sleep.

*I also feel so much less bloated and have experienced zero indigestion which I have struggled with my entire life.  Doc’s have tried to put me on multiple types of drugs for this when really they should have just told me to eliminate or reduce sugar in my diet.  Annoying.

*I am constantly amazed at my steady stream of energy throughout the day.  I had so much energy going into this and was so skeptical about how good I would really feel but it’s been a game changer with my mood and energy levels.

 

Sugar detox, day 4

Day 4 was Saturday.  Oh the weekend.  We all make excuses for weekend treats but because I had been feeling so so so amazing the weekend didn’t scare me.  I think I consumed more food than normal but stuck with my guns pretty well…

Breakfast

I ran 6 miles on my treadmill before eating today.  Because I enjoyed what I for breakfast so much the previous day I went ahead and ate the same thing again today.  I had 2 eggs overeasy, 2 pieces of 50 calorie toast and 1/2 an avocado.  I also had trail mix while preparing my breakfast.

Midmorning Snack

Didn’t need one!  I ate my breakfast and didn’t even think about food after that!  I did have copious amounts of black coffee though.

Lunch

I packed a lunch for the pool.  I made broccoli with meatballs and sugar free marinara sauce and sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top.  I also had some mixed nuts and dried mango slices.

Dinner

My husband and I went out to eat.  We first took a walk and then decided on Italian.  I had already decided that I was going to just get what I was in the mood for but when we sat down and ordered I decided that a huge pasta bowl just wasn’t sounding that great.  I ordered a grilled polenta dish with spicy sauce and Italian sausage.  It was to die for.  The waitress also promised us a bread basket but it never came which I’m so thankful for!  I would have definitely had some bread and you know it would have been the white sugary stuff no one should be eating.  I did order a 1/2 pint of beer and it was perfect.  It was so tiny and just what I wanted, a few sips and I was done.  I didn’t feel wasteful but I also really wanted a taste of beer.  I wish more restaurants offered this size.   It was a craft beer and so incredible.

After dinner snack

I wanted ice cream so badly after our meal.  We were right next to a mom and pop type ice cream place that has the best home made ice cream.  But Chad said he wasn’t going to get any and I promised myself that if I was going to have sugar it would have to be for a special occasion or when doing something social.  Tonight didn’t fit the bill for either of those and I’m SO glad he “saved” me from myself.  I went home and had my banana “ice cream” with cacoa nibs and that was just as fulfilling.

Some notes about today:

*I am so proud of myself for not caving and eating that ice cream.  Although, even if I had, ice cream does have some protein in it.  I’m not justifying this but if I’m going to chose a treat than I do think full fat ice cream is a good one to consume.  It has less sugar than frozen yogurt and is much more satisfying because of the fat content so I tend to feel be much more fulfilled after eating full fat ice cream than I do eating frozen yogurt.

*I left the restaurant feeling totally amazing.  I wasn’t full and bloated like every other time I have ever left a restaurant.  I didn’t overeat and I didn’t have indigestion.

*I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up a few times throughout the night because of the kids but felt fine all day long and made it all the way through bedtime with zero feelings of being “over it”

*I feel like I’m a nicer mom.  I haven’t had crazy mood swings and the kids don’t set me off like normal.  My fuse is much longer and I don’t feel nearly as anxious as normal

Sugar Detox, Day 3

Feeling SUPER motivated and great!

Went for a 5 mile run with my main man Emmett in the BOB after drinking copious amounts of black coffee.

Breakfast (this was on Friday)

Trail mix with nuts and raisons while preparing breakfast.  Breakfast today was 2 slices of sugar free sour dough bread (you guys, this stuff is amazing.  It has 50 calories a slice, is organic, and is free of both processed and natural sugars!  It’s made here in CO and I’ve never fount it anywhere else in the nation so I feel lucky that we have it in our grocery stores), 2 whole eggs over easy, and 1/2 an avocado.  I made the kids protein waffles which include oatmeal, cottage cheese, eggs, vanilla extract and cinnamon.  I ate their leftovers with maybe less than 1/8 teaspoon of maple syrup.  This was so entirely satisfying that I was ready to tackle the day.  I also ate a date roll from sprouts that the kids didn’t finish.  This date roll totally tastes like a dessert.  It’s processed dates rolled up to the size of a fun size snickers back rolled in unsweetened coconut flakes with an almond on top.  Heaven when you have given up processed sugars.

Morning Snack

I made a 3 quart container of decaf orange spice black iced tea.  I sipped on this until 1:30 when I started to get hungry for lunch after running errands all morning.

Pre-lunch

The kids and I made a run to Trader Joes and I stocked up on all things naturally fruit sweetened and snacks to get me through this.  We all had some dried mango on the way home from running errands.  These are SO good.  Trader Joes sells both dried mango that’s sweetened with sugar and dried mango that’s labeled as “just mango” so you have to be careful with your purchases and REAL LABELS!!!  I always buy dried fruit that’ just dried fruit.  SO SO SO many types of dried fruits have the second ingredient labeled as sugar of some sort so just be aware that these do exist and do your research before purchasing.  I also purchased some dried Turkish figs so the kids and I busted those out and oh my word…they actually taste like fig newtons!

Lunch

I came downstairs after putting Aubrey down for her nap and was actually hungry for lunch.  This is so rare these days because I so often ruin my appetite with M&Ms or whatever I have baked that week.  I usually go through the motions of eating a lunch of some sort but it’s rarely satisfying because I snack so much prior to eating lunch.  Today I was ravenous but in a good way, not a way that my blood sugar was so low that I felt like I had to get something immediately.  It was a really really good feeling and one that I have missed because I was actually craving a healthy satisfying lunch today.  I pulled out our leftovers from the previous nights dinner for both myself and the kids and we ate meatballs with broccoli and sugar free marinara sauce.  I also had an apple with almond butter for “dessert”.  I kept myself busy the rest of the afternoon by doing chores and prepping food.

Afternoon Snack

While prepping dinner I also made banana “ice cream”.  I made this up and to make it I used 5 ripe bananas, 1 can of light coconut milk, 5Tbs of almond butter and some vanilla extract.  You could probably add cinnamon and it would be amazing or cocoa powder and you’ve got yourself a decadent chocolate dessert.  I snacked on that while putting it away with some cacao nibs.

Dinner

I made cauliflower crust pizza!  WOW!  I have tried this once before and it was a total fail.  I think I used the food processor wrong last time and shredded the cauliflower rather than ricing it.  I loosely followed this recipe with some minor variations and I totally forgot to add the parmesan cheese so I’m sure that may have changed the consistency a bit but mine still turned out amazingly.  The kids NEVER eat their pizza at dinner time because dinner in our house it a total shi* show.  They actually ate every last bite of this pizza and after Emmett’s first bite he actually said “this pizza is good!”  I also added mozzarella cheese, olives, Italian sausage and sugar free pizza sauce.  Chad even said it was definitely something that we could do every week instead of our usual white flour pizza crust!

After dinner snack

And since I still can’t seem to break myself of this habit, after the kids went down I treated myself to some chia seed pudding and watermelon.  I used this recipe for the chia seed pudding but omitted the added maple syrup/honey option.

Notes for today:

*I woke up feeling tired but slept great because I had zero slumps during the day.  Chad came and got Emmett in the middle of the day after the girls went down for their naps and I never once felt the need to sit down or take a nap.  I prepped food the entire time the kids slept.

*We went on a walk after dinner and I chased Emmett and Campbell and had so much energy.  This is definitely something I lack by the 5pm hour.  I also almost always have heart burn, bloating and indigestion ,which I thought was completely normal, after dinner on most nights.  On this night I experienced none of that.  I felt like on our walk I could have taken a run or something and I am NOT an evening exerciser.

*I went to bed at 9:30pm

Sugar Detox, Day 2

How about we jump right into the day!

Day 2 (Thursday)

(I ran 4.15 miles with Campbell in the jogging stroller after having black coffee)

Breakfast

I came home famished after this run.  I immediately grabbed a ton of grapes while making my cauliflower oats.  I made the same thing as yesterday: cauliflower, eggwhites, almond milk and frozen blueberries.  Again, I was so stuffed after this meal that I didn’t even want to think about food.

Morning Snack

We went to the movies so I popped some popcorn and I actually used 6g of this kettle corn stuff (it’s a seasoning) that I got a long time ago.  I figured adding 6g to an entire popped bowl of popcorn wasn’t going to be terrible.  We were all eating the stuff so I think we each prob. consumed a gram of sugar each since we shared the popcorn and didn’t come close to finishing it.  I also used coconut oil and salt to pop it.  I know this is totally frowned upon and not on a normal sugar detox but I’m not going crazy and really just trying to eliminate processed sugars like M&Ms and store bought ice cream and baked goods and stay within that 22g a day window.

Lunch

We went over to my parents house to swim after the movie and I grabbed a handful of mixed nuts and some TJs potato chips.  The potato chips actually said that there was zero grams of sugar on the label but when you look at the ingredients there’s a hidden sugar in the seasonings called maltodextrin.  This is just another name for sugar.  The label doesn’t have to say that there is actually sugar in the serving because it’s a trace amount.  Anyways, I knew what I was doing and I wanted to try this new “pickle and spice” flavor.  I didn’t have very many but again, would be frowned upon on any other sugar detox diet.  I actually skipped lunch completely because I just wasn’t hungry.  I drank a ton of iced tea and the nuts and chips filled me up.  I had a few apple slices at the pool and by the time we left it was almost 4pm and I needed to get home to make dinner.

Before Dinner

I was STARVING when I got home so I had about 1/4 cup of rice with coconut green curry chicken (paleo recipe) that was leftover from Monday night’s dinner.  I also snacked on some nuts and raisons while I made dinner.

Dinner

We had microwaved frozen broccoli, sugar free marinara sauce and turkey meatballs.  This was basically heaven because I was so hungry.  The kids also ate every last bite up.

After dinner snack

I finished the night off with plain full fat yogurt, a banana mixed in and topped with cacoa nibs.  This was SO good.  It really hit the spot.  I brushed my teeth after this and popped in some gum and was done eating for the day.

Notes from today:

*I had a horrible nights sleep the first night of my sugar detox.  I think this was still due to the fact that I was coming off sugar and my body still hasn’t adjusted.  However…

*I set my alarm this morning for 5am and JUMPED out of bed.  I was so excited to actually get out of bed before the kids.  I haven’t set an alarm since before Aubrey was born (almost 7 months ago) so this felt really good to know that I was the first one up.  Despite not sleeping well, I still felt rested so I suppose the little sleep that I did get was quality sleep.  What I have noticed with prior sugar detox type diets that I have done in the past is that I sleep less because of life but I get better sleep than ever before.  If this is the only reason to give up processed sugars than it’s 100% worth it.  Sleeping less and feeling rested!?  I wish there were a magic pill for this.  I’m sure we could all use more hours in our days!  Eating less sugar definitely wins on this front and provides me more energy with less sleep so that I can accomplish more and while accomplishing more, I do things with more motivation and energy.

*I went to bed around 9pm

*I slept really well.  I would wake up and then fall right back to sleep

*I had more energy again today

*I feel more motivated than ever

*I still am not missing my daily doses of processed sugars at all even though I have ice cream in the freezer and M&Ms in the pantry.  For some reason I am not at all tempted by this stuff.  Maybe it’s because I feel so good during the day?