21 Days of No Processed Sugar

 I mentioned on the last blog post, that I had reached a point where it was time to take a break from sugar.  It had reached a pretty unhealthy level.  I cleared through a bag of Hershey Nuggets- family size, by myself in 3 days.  I didn't stop eating my nightly ice cream.  I just realized I had perhaps become too reliant on using sugar to help deal with stress.  

It's not a life style I'm adopting.  I will not follow a diet where I'll never eat sugar, when the 21 days is up.  I just needed a reset.  

Here's how it's going after 7 days, with 14 more to go: 

1. I have not had any headaches, shakes, frothing at the mouth. puking, extreme grumpiness etc (side note- if you ever watched Little House on the Prairie, do you remember the episode where Pa helped Albert overcome his morphine addiction?  That haunted me for life.  That episode is why I'm still afraid of drugs to this day.  I never want to go through a drying out period like that.)

2. The first 2 days I was okay, as far as yearning for candy/ice cream/baked goods.  Day 3 was a little harder. Day 5 was a disaster.  There were several stressful things happening on that day: we discovered a very expensive home repair that needed to be done earlier in the week that was due to builder error.  Of course, all of our warranties were well out of date, but thankfully we have an AMAZING real estate agent who helped us get a response from the builder and it appears they're going to fix it.  But Thursday we were just beginning the process of getting in touch with them and waiting to hear what they would do.  The boys are quarantined, due to direct exposure to someone who tested positive- and showed symptoms after their exposure. Technology issues with on-line learning had hit an all time high.  There were several other school issues that popped up.  (Side note: I have not yet figured out how to teach online and not have my phone and email open- so while I'm teaching I'm still getting CONSTANT requests and communication from admin and parents and I don't know to arrange my day so that I take a break from that type of communication so I can focus on teaching.  The multi-tasking is taking a toll.) Alexa had a lot of downtime with her online school last week (that is NOT a judgement.  That was a good idea on her teacher's part.  Take it slow so they could hammer out how the routine looks, and see how the kids can do navigating technology).  however- with Alexa's downtime . . . came a lot of boredom.  Especially because I cracked down on tv and ipad use.  She spent a lot of time in my work area with me, rolling around on the floor, getting the dog stirred up, and talking in a super high pitched voice, and then yelling, "NO!" or pouting because the dog scratched her when she played too rough in response to Alexa's play style.  Thursday was bad.  I was literally in the parking lot at the grocery store to buy actual necessities- but also load up on sugar, when my mom gave me some cheerleading.  I did buy some dark chocolate.  The kind of dark chocolate that is legit dark.  That I normally would think it tastes horrible.  Now it tastes fruity.  

3. I still am struggling with not having ice cream.  I miss the creamy, cold comfort while sitting on the couch at the end of the day.  If you are trying to ease off of a bad habit.  Don't call my mom.  She'll talk you out of going off the rails.  Or actually- do call my mom.  Last night I texted to ask her if I got "healthy ice cream" like Rebel or Halo- which is no sugar added.  (Rebel is sweetened with monk fruit.  So- it's healthy" because it has fruit in it!!!) does it count as cheating (I mean- I'm already cheating with dark chocolate- but I want to cheat more and then . . . I'll be right back where I was.) and basically she said "Yes! because I'll get the sweet taste and want more."  She's right.  I haven't had ice cream.  

4. I haven't napped like my usual way.  Normally my brain is so overwhelmed the first week of school, I have to take a nap everyday.  My brain is overwhelmed this week.  I took a few "lay on the couch" and do nothing moments.  (I did take a pretty awesome nap on Thursday- but I deserved that.  That day was insane.  Like- totally and completely insane). But I'm definitely not feeling that physical drag that comes over me, like usual. I think I feel more mentally clear. I also think I am less bloated.    

What's my goal?  Well- the goal is 21 days no processed sugar to reset myself.  I want to get to a point, where I can have sugar just 2 days a week.  That's not totally unreasonable.  The other goal is- while I'm doing 21 days of no processed sugar, I don't replace that sugary snack with: giant handfuls of nuts (hehehe), or more Diet Coke (another habit I'm slowly working on . . . ), or excessive amounts of cheese.  This past week I did pretty well with- not adding another kind of junk- to replace a junk I was missing.  This isn't about a weight thing (I mean- it should be, I could stand a little dieting), but I don't diet.  I try to make better food choices that I can do for the rest of my life.  Completely cutting out sugar is not a food choice I can make realistically.  Getting myself down to a day or two a week- is realistic.  And hopefully I can do that.  I'll keep giving ya'll updates because I am "sure" you want them.  :-)