Ok, so I did it! I went 3 whole weeks without bread, flour, sugar of any kind (including honey, maple syrup or any sugar substitute), corn, beans, and rice. Quite miraculous I think. I mean, those things were basically my diet prior to this sugar fast. So I did this to do two things: see if I had a sugar addiction (I do/did), and to rebalance my hormones which have been as wack as wack gets for the past...TWO years! Thank you second born. No, I probably can't blame him. I'm the one that is addicted to sugar.
Here was a quick run down of my three weeks...
Day 2-I took a nap (which I hardly ever do) and woke up with the shakes. When I read this prior to my fast I sort of laughed about it being compared to an actual drug. Turns out, withdrawal symptoms are legit. I was withdrawing from my addiction already by day 2. Talk about quick! I started crying because there was no denying I had a true addiction.
Week 1-Really difficult. I made the mistake of not having an eating plan. I just decided I would go for it. Looking back, I'm glad I did just start because I might not have otherwise. There's always an excuse for something like this, and I knew that about myself. BUT, you gotta do research and recipe look ups before you're limited to basically meat, veggies and cheese. The first week was incredibly difficult.
Week 2-I started to get the hang of things, went to the grocery store with a plan, and stuck to it. I still dreamed of cookies and every candy or piece of cake that crossed my path was like the devil himself. I noticed a significant decrease in my waistline. Part of it I'm sure was that my intake decreased, but by the time I went back to consuming tons of food in week 2 (see above week when I had no plan, and felt like I couldn't eat anything), I was still losing. ::TMI:: I noticed I basically had no gas. Didn't realize that being bloated was a thing for me until it was gone. It's amazing the things you don't know are there until they're gone! I felt pretty icky though, and felt like I stunk constantly. Everyone I told this said they didn't smell anything...probably just being too nice...but I felt like my body was detoxing through my pores. It felt gross. I had next to no energy too, which was disappointing. I was eating constantly. Like all day long in week 2.
Week 3-I was still dreaming of sweet things for sure, and felt a little hopeless at the beginning of the week. I thought nothing was going to change if I literally could not get sweet things off my mind. I texted a friend who gave me a good pep talk, and I decided to change my attitude about the whole thing. And what do you know, it worked! I counted down the days, and started appreciating food for it's nutritional value and taste. Before I was emotionally eating all the time. And that's my biggest struggle still--doing something productive with my stress rather than upping my happy hormones with my go-to gummies.
So it's been two days off my sugar fast, and I've noticed some pleasing results. I lost 5 pounds, and most in my abdomen. This has been the most encouraging thing because I still have diastasis recti (abs separated) from pregnancy, but the fat that collected around my stomach pooled only around the unsupported area. Basically, I looked like I was still pregnant because I had fat in the front, not the sides, and it bulged out where my abs were separated. I for sure looked pregnant. But now it's so much better. Huge help for the self-esteem!
The other result that has been great is my knowledge of food and ability to make nutritious meals with mostly produce. I think it's even changed my family's way of eating as we don't have snacky foods in the house anymore. Now snacks aren't crackers or several squeezy pouches of apple sauce. Snack is raw veggies, or hummus, leftovers, healthy fats like avocado or some fruit. Still working on the apple sauce pouches, because man its easy! But the kids will devour a Costco size box in a week, and there's better options than that. So we keep working on it.
Mentally speaking, I think things have mostly improved. I feel more level-headed, less of the really low lows, and my mind feels sharper. Like I'm able to think more clearly without the "fog." I think that's the hormones getting into check.
Something that's a little disappointing: I still think constantly about crap food. Constantly. But now I recognize it. Like yesterday I was thinking all day about those chocolate hazelnut cookies from TJs. After a while I thought, "Why do I really want these?" and figured out that I was craving a treat, some "me" time, and a pat on the back for achieving something. I wanted to celebrate. So instead, I took a bath after a busy and stressful day and it felt wonderful. I don't know how long this will last, but hopefully the longer I eat well the more routine this will become. We went to brunch with my parents in Carlsbad this weekend, and saved a blueberry muffin that came with my meal. The muffin smelled amazing, and I was thinking about it that whole day. Emerson took a few bites that night, and I thought to myself, "It's Sunday night, which is basically Monday, which means I can have a single bite of this muffin I've been dreaming about all day." And I did. And the way it smelled and what I created it to be in my mind (true euphoria), was not at all how it tasted. It was ok. So I had no desire to take another bite simply based on the idea that it was delicious, because it was just okay. I had the same experience with some grapes yesterday. After just a few my tongue was overwhelmed with the sweetness. WILD! This coming from the woman who could eat the entire bag or box of anything sweet in one sitting. The peach was great though.
So now what, you ask? Well, I'm happy that I have a resource, and now the experience to do a sugar fast if things get out of hand again. I'm being realistic and saying that it is likely. This next week I'm introducing fruit back into my diet and still limiting sugar. After that I think I'm going to follow the 80/20 idea. I heard on a podcast that this mother of young children eats really well 80% of the time, and the other 20% she allows herself some "cheat" foods. Which really means like an occasional bowl of cereal (that is already low in sugar), or an occasional dessert on the weekend (homemade coconut ice cream). I really liked that idea when I heard it, and thought it was something that I could realistically follow. As a general rule of thumb, I'm going to try not to buy bread or use flour anymore. There's just nothing nutritious in it, but it tastes soooo good, right?? So not going to buy it, and it won't be a constant temptation in my house.
Monetarily, we spent much less on groceries and food these three weeks than prior to my fast. I think there are probably two reasons for that: 1. Food in a box costs a lot of money either because it's more expensive, or because you eat more of the box of $4 crackers/cookies than a $1 cucumber. And since we had to make everything, we went out to eat maybe twice. I feel like our fridge was always full too and pantry was pretty bare. So there was always some real food to eat. It just takes a little creativity.
There you have it my friends. Sugar fast complete. I highly recommend doing something like this if you have health problems, and then when you reintroduce things back into your diet, listen to your body to figure out what it likes and what it doesn't. Eating well takes a lot, I mean A LOT of work! I was doing dishes all day long. But looking back, I'm so glad I did it. It's a very very small sacrifice to make in this journey of optimal health. Best of luck to you on your own journey!
