Detox
I'll clear it up for you- even though we do weird things in our house, we are not, nor have we ever been addicted to drugs or alcohol, therefore this "detox" post will not be about one or all of us going to a detox program. However, I am going to do a detox from another addicting, yet much more socially acceptable product: sugar.
This is not like my usual posts. Usually I am writing some amusing (or, so I intend) anecdote about someone in my family. I feel a bit narcissistic posting this post. It's all about me (well, really the entire blog is, but the purpose is usually to entertain someone). Today's post is me making a confession and putting out in public a goal I have, in order to hopefully keep myself honest.
Here's how it all started (you know I have to give background stories). January and February have been rough months for me. A) I hate it. It's cold. There's nothing to look forward to. I hate being cold. Therefore I do not want to go outside. Therefore I do not exercise (sure I could go to the gym, but keep reading). Because I am not exercising, I am lethargic, bummed, and a little more moody than usual (yes Doug- only a little bit. As in not a lot. I am hardly ever moody.) B) However, I haven't really been exercising in months. I massively fell off my bandwagon. I mean massively. It sounds like a good idea for tomorrow. Except tomorrow never comes. C) Not only am I feeling a bit out of sorts because it's winter time, I am achy. I have NO energy. Everything is boring and uninteresting and requires too much energy to get really excited about. D) because I feel that way, I eat sugar in any form: cookies, candy (my favorite), pancakes, waffles, maple syrup, hot chocolate. Not that I would do this, but I have heard of people eating 6 Fun Sized Milky Way bars in one school day. Or maybe 9 homemade chocolate chip cookies in a 2 hour time period- at the end of that school day. Again- so not me. That's just what I've heard of people doing. I'm just giving an example.
I read health magazines. I know sugar is really bad for you. One of the worst things (besides Diet drinks- which I am also steadily increasing my daily intake) you can eat.
Last week I threw out my back, which cured the sciatica I was struggling with, however I couldn't stand up straight and I looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. It has taken days to improve. I started really thinking about how I was currently eating, how I am tired, achy and out of sorts and decided I needed to consider some diet changes to start me off on the right track. Somehow this lead me to 21 Day Sugar Detox.
It's a book written by a holistic dietitian; Diane Sanflippo. If you are not familiar with it, let me preface all of this by saying: I don't need to juice, take weird supplements, or eat weird food. Well, the food will be weird to me because I am not all that much into vegetables. So I'll be eating vegetables, no bread, and no sugar. Kill me now. However, after reading through it and seeing what vegetables I can eat, I actually like all but maybe 3 on the list (and those three I am not sure about as I've never eaten them I just assume I don't like brussel sprouts because who does?. Turns out I do like vegetables, my family doesn't.
I am scared and excited. A lot scared and a little excited. In the book, the author wrote how you may feel day by day. I am the most scared for the first 10 days. The first 3-5 days I'll probably have head aches and could possibly feel like I have the flu, while my body goes through withdrawal. I might get zits from the toxins leaving my body (I better be hydrating like crazy to flush out those toxins! I don't want my face to break out!!!). There are days when I'll be craving sugar like crazy. I am probably going to be a delight. Poor family.
Why am I doing this? Why am I creating more work for myself? Why am I setting myself up to feel bad? Why am I quitting Diet Coke for 21 days?????? WHYYYYY????????? Because I need to. I eat entirely too much sugar that I know about. I am not counting the sugar I don't know about in my bread, salad dressing, yogurt, and spaghetti sauce. I think I am making a "healthy" breakfast choice when I eat a piece of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter and a cut up banana on it with a small glass of milk. Turns out I am eating practically 20 grams of sugar! The thing I am really hoping to stop is eating enough that I shouldn't want to eat again for 2 hours, and yet . . . finding that I am "starving" again and eating- sugar of course (a granola bar, which is a perfectly common mid morning snack), then I am starving and eat a not entirely healthy lunch- but a lot of lunch and yet . . . 2 hours later I am starving and exhausted. Today I was helping a student with some of their school work and I about nodded off on them. I was sitting in my warm classroom and my eyes wanted to close so badly. They were just so so so h e a v y. How could I be that tired? Well I may or may not have eaten a sandwich with some chips, followed up by some Fun Sized Milky Ways (which thank God are now GONE!). I am tired of feeling like I have no energy, and tired of the way I am eating. I want to jolt my system a little bit. Surprise it, switch it up, and see what happens. Hopefully I'll lose the constant need for sugar. It's so bad for us. It can make your joints hurt and your skin look cruddy.
Why am I telling you all of this? Why do I think you care? I don't think you care. I am fine with you not caring. I am not asking for your high fives or interest. I am putting it out there in public, with the hope that if I let the Internet world know about my plan, then maybe, just maybe I'll stick with it.
This is not like my usual posts. Usually I am writing some amusing (or, so I intend) anecdote about someone in my family. I feel a bit narcissistic posting this post. It's all about me (well, really the entire blog is, but the purpose is usually to entertain someone). Today's post is me making a confession and putting out in public a goal I have, in order to hopefully keep myself honest.
Here's how it all started (you know I have to give background stories). January and February have been rough months for me. A) I hate it. It's cold. There's nothing to look forward to. I hate being cold. Therefore I do not want to go outside. Therefore I do not exercise (sure I could go to the gym, but keep reading). Because I am not exercising, I am lethargic, bummed, and a little more moody than usual (yes Doug- only a little bit. As in not a lot. I am hardly ever moody.) B) However, I haven't really been exercising in months. I massively fell off my bandwagon. I mean massively. It sounds like a good idea for tomorrow. Except tomorrow never comes. C) Not only am I feeling a bit out of sorts because it's winter time, I am achy. I have NO energy. Everything is boring and uninteresting and requires too much energy to get really excited about. D) because I feel that way, I eat sugar in any form: cookies, candy (my favorite), pancakes, waffles, maple syrup, hot chocolate. Not that I would do this, but I have heard of people eating 6 Fun Sized Milky Way bars in one school day. Or maybe 9 homemade chocolate chip cookies in a 2 hour time period- at the end of that school day. Again- so not me. That's just what I've heard of people doing. I'm just giving an example.
I read health magazines. I know sugar is really bad for you. One of the worst things (besides Diet drinks- which I am also steadily increasing my daily intake) you can eat.
Last week I threw out my back, which cured the sciatica I was struggling with, however I couldn't stand up straight and I looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. It has taken days to improve. I started really thinking about how I was currently eating, how I am tired, achy and out of sorts and decided I needed to consider some diet changes to start me off on the right track. Somehow this lead me to 21 Day Sugar Detox.
It's a book written by a holistic dietitian; Diane Sanflippo. If you are not familiar with it, let me preface all of this by saying: I don't need to juice, take weird supplements, or eat weird food. Well, the food will be weird to me because I am not all that much into vegetables. So I'll be eating vegetables, no bread, and no sugar. Kill me now. However, after reading through it and seeing what vegetables I can eat, I actually like all but maybe 3 on the list (and those three I am not sure about as I've never eaten them I just assume I don't like brussel sprouts because who does?. Turns out I do like vegetables, my family doesn't.
I am scared and excited. A lot scared and a little excited. In the book, the author wrote how you may feel day by day. I am the most scared for the first 10 days. The first 3-5 days I'll probably have head aches and could possibly feel like I have the flu, while my body goes through withdrawal. I might get zits from the toxins leaving my body (I better be hydrating like crazy to flush out those toxins! I don't want my face to break out!!!). There are days when I'll be craving sugar like crazy. I am probably going to be a delight. Poor family.
Why am I doing this? Why am I creating more work for myself? Why am I setting myself up to feel bad? Why am I quitting Diet Coke for 21 days?????? WHYYYYY????????? Because I need to. I eat entirely too much sugar that I know about. I am not counting the sugar I don't know about in my bread, salad dressing, yogurt, and spaghetti sauce. I think I am making a "healthy" breakfast choice when I eat a piece of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter and a cut up banana on it with a small glass of milk. Turns out I am eating practically 20 grams of sugar! The thing I am really hoping to stop is eating enough that I shouldn't want to eat again for 2 hours, and yet . . . finding that I am "starving" again and eating- sugar of course (a granola bar, which is a perfectly common mid morning snack), then I am starving and eat a not entirely healthy lunch- but a lot of lunch and yet . . . 2 hours later I am starving and exhausted. Today I was helping a student with some of their school work and I about nodded off on them. I was sitting in my warm classroom and my eyes wanted to close so badly. They were just so so so h e a v y. How could I be that tired? Well I may or may not have eaten a sandwich with some chips, followed up by some Fun Sized Milky Ways (which thank God are now GONE!). I am tired of feeling like I have no energy, and tired of the way I am eating. I want to jolt my system a little bit. Surprise it, switch it up, and see what happens. Hopefully I'll lose the constant need for sugar. It's so bad for us. It can make your joints hurt and your skin look cruddy.
Why am I telling you all of this? Why do I think you care? I don't think you care. I am fine with you not caring. I am not asking for your high fives or interest. I am putting it out there in public, with the hope that if I let the Internet world know about my plan, then maybe, just maybe I'll stick with it.
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