Day Five

What a crazy week. It feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day! So glad for the weekend to be here. But my weekend will also be crazy busy as I’m moving into a new place. One of these days I will have a total day of rest and it will be amazing.

I skipped the warm water with lemon this morning. Because I forgot about it. Guess this new thing has not yet become routine.

I did, however, have another cheese and avocado wrap. I must say I do really enjoy having something warm for breakfast. It’s very cozy during winter.

And I also did this:

Don’t worry. It’s just coffee. Nothing added. I woke up way earlier than usual today and the coffee definitely helped me get going.

Then things got tricky. I had a work lunch. At Chuy’s. And guess what…they don’t have nutritional into available. That makes me incredibly nervous. I mean, it’s 2014. I feel like 99.9% of chain restaurants have their nutritional info available for review. And I’m especially surprised Chuy’s doesn’t provide theirs as they are headquartered in Austin, TX. I feel like Austinites are very concerned about nutritional facts. Provide us with your nutritional info, Chuy’s!

So I went for it blindly and had a Mexi-Cobb salad and used salsa as dressing. Hopefully that was okay? I have no idea. And I didn’t take a picture because that would have been super awkward.

And then dinner. Stuffed Bell Peppers with Cauliflower Mash. The “stuff” was a mix that included ricotta, toasted pine nuts, kale, and zucchini. AND sprinkled with parmesan. Yummmmm. And Cauliflower Mash is literally mashed cauliflower. Also yummy.

I still have a million things to do and not enough hours. But I still have some energy!

Cravings: None
Mood: Anxious
Energy Level: Still going full steam ahead

Day Four

I was SUPER sleepy this morning. Quitting sugar is definitely going to take some time. I keep reminding myself of this so I don’t get discouraged over detox symptoms.

As usual, I had a cup of warm water with lemon to start off the morning. Then I made this creation:

Yogurt with cinnamon, walnuts, coconut, strawberries, and blueberries. Yum! Yes, there is sugar in the berries, but this week is about cutting down to only limited natural sugars. It’s kind of hard to tell what this concoction looks like in my vintage mason jar (I swear I’m not a hipster). Here’s another view of said yogurt at my desk. The great thing about using mason jars is that I can take my breakfast to work with me!

For lunch, I had leftover Vegetable Curry. I was SOOOO disappointed in this. It kind of tasted horrible. It was so amazing last night. This is a dish that really needs to be eaten immediately after it is cooked.  Not so great the next day.

I had some serious writing I needed to do at work this afternoon and felt so out of it. So I had a small cup of coffee (black, nothing added) and that seemed to help me push through the rest of the day.

I’m in the process of moving so my evenings have been hectic this week. To be honest, I didn’t have time to spend 30 minutes to an hour cooking something so I stopped by my number one guilty pleasure: Chipotle.

Amen to burrito bowls! Now, this is way more guacamole than should be eaten for dinner and I’m pretty sure sour cream has a tiny smidge (is that a word?) of sugar in it. Everything else in this bowl is sugar free. And delicious!

Seriously, I love Chipotle. I just learned that their exclusive Farm Team is no longer excepting new members. So sad. I should definitely have a personalized Chipotle card at this point. I feel like I single-handedly keep my local Chipotle in business.

Things are going great. I already feel so much better. No bloating. At the end of the day I feel like I can rest. All good things!

Cravings: None???
Mood: happy!
Energy level: more alert
Pounds down: 8!!!

Day Three

Oh man. Today was so weird. This afternoon I felt like I was having an out of body experience. But no headaches.

I started my morning with a cup of warm water with lemon. And then had a bowl of Coconut and Almond Oats. I liked it even more today than I did on Monday.

Lunch was a different story. I had a wrap with leftovers from dinner last night. It was too many different flavors and textures mixed together. I ended up just picking out the coconut chicken and eating part of the wrap.

Thankfully I had the carrots and hummus that I didn’t eat yesterday with me so I made it through the rest of the day without feeling hungry.

Then at about 4pm, I had an OVERWHELMING craving for chocolate. And had some sitting at my desk. It was torture! But I did not give in!

I came home from work and felt pretty dang tired and was not looking forward to having to cook. But I did it anyway. And the most delicious vegetable curry was my reward!

All in all, a pretty good day. I can definitely feel my system adjusting. I’m in this for the long haul. There are many more days to go!

Cravings: CHOCOLATE
Mood: disconnected
Energy level: low

Day Two

Guys, sugar makes you fat and sick. And I’m reading about it all over the news. Which is helping me see that this truly is a lifestyle change I MUST make.

This afternoon was rough. In Day Two of my detox I had a gnarly headache. Which leads me to believe that experiencing such a headache on Day Two means I have a serious sugar addiction.

I REALLY enjoyed my meals today. So much so that I forgot to take a picture of breakfast until I was halfway into it. Also, this is a typical morning for me – out the door at the last minute and eating breakfast during my commute to work. Thankfully a cheese and avocado wrap is pretty simple to eat!

 

For lunch, I had leftovers from last night – sausage, kale, and walnut hash. I was worried about getting hungry during the day and the nearby chocolate in the office defeating me, but I was fine. I took some almonds and carrots for a snack but didn’t eat them.

Then 2pm hit and my head felt like it was going to explode! I drank some extra water and eventually the headache subsided.

For dinner, I made coconut chicken and pumpkin mash, served with broccolini and snow peas. Delicious!!! I will for sure be making this again.

 

All of the meals I’m eating are from Sarah Wilson’s eight week program to quit sugar. The lady knows good food! I’ve tried different meal plans before to eat healthier and save money, but they are always disappointing and I can never stick with it. Plus, for a single lady like myself, it’s difficult to plan meals without feeling wasteful. Sarah’s meals are fantastic and planned out for one person. I’m actually excited about the days ahead and getting to try different things and learn new cooking techniques.

Cravings: chocolate
Mood: sort of sleepy in the afternoon / killer headache
Energy level: low midday and then picked up in the evening

Day One

Here we go. I Quit Sugar, Take One. 

It started with a cup of warm water and lemon. This was actually quite nice and I ended up not having any coffee (which is insane).

 

Breakfast involved a little bit of prep work. Coconut and Almond Oats. The oats soaked overnight in coconut milk. End result = dessert for breakfast. Yes, there is sugar in fruit. This week is about cutting majorly back.

Lunch was easy. Veggies and chicken wrapped in nori. I’m a little iffy on the nori. I’ve had sushi, but usually wrapped in rice, not nori. I basically eat the kid version of sushi. Confession: I’m scared of weird seafood.

                    

And now it’s time to be honest. This afternoon I had some cravings. I wasn’t hungry. Maybe just bored. I wanted something sweet. And I wanted junk food. And I was slightly disgusted with myself. But I was strong and I did not give in! I am sure this will only get worse as the week goes on.

For dinner I had a hash, basically one of those throw-some-of-this-and-some-of-that meals. And it was PHENOMENAL.

I’ll say Day One was a success!

Cravings: junk food in the afternoon
Mood: Sort of blah
Energy level: low

The Break-Up

What a terrible day for grocery shopping. I made the biggest grocery shopping trip of my life and of course, I did it during the afternoon before the Super Bowl. DUMB. I will never do that again.

I bought a lot of unusual things – beets, daikon, nori, kale, vanilla powder, coconut oil, and on and on. Dang, that’s a lot of stuff.

After hauling all of the above inside and putting it all away, I did some prep work for the week. I poached chicken for the very first time in my life and par-cooked a bunch of veggies to make my life easier during the week.

I murdered some beets.

Tomorrow the detox officially begins. I’m a bit nervous, only because I know the first bit is going to be rough and I really want to follow through with this. I know I can do it! I will have to let that positive voice be louder than my doubts and sugar-craving headaches.

AND…some of these new foods are kind of fun. I made a pumpkin puree and a sweet potato puree. Whole Foods was out of the regular orange sweet potatoes so I went with another option…purple sweet potatoes.

Good riddance, Sugar. I’m officially breaking up with you.

I’m Quitting Sugar

Long story short, I’ve been feeling like CRAP. And I’m tired of it. I’ve seen several doctors and had all kinds of tests done and the answer keeps coming back as “we don’t know why you feel this way.” Awesome.

I’ve been dealing with Hashimoto’s (autoimmune disease of the thyroid gland) since 2007. The doctors always say, “Here, take this medication for the rest of your life. You’ll still not feel great but, that’s just how it is.” Not cool, doctors. Not cool at all. And I do not accept this.

There MUST be something I can do. Some change I can make. I’ve attempted to discuss options with multiple doctors and always get shut down. If it’s not a pill that they can prescribe me, there is no discussion to be had. So I’m taking matters into my own hands.

I’ve been following Sarah Wilson for some time now. She has the same condition as me and I first discovered her because of a blog post she wrote describing how she felt on “thyroidy” days. I remember reading through it and thinking, “She SO gets me!” And then a little over a year ago, she significantly changed her diet and felt so much better. She quit sugar.

Sugar is super tasty. I crave it, and for good reason. It is addictive. Some say more addictive than cocaine. That is insane. But it also makes sense. The more sugar I consume the more I want. But after doing some research, I’ve come to the conclusion that sugar is evil, for multiple reasons. (if you’re interested in reading a rather lengthy article on the dangers of sugar, click here.) It also causes inflammation, which is my number one enemy when it comes to my autoimmune disease.

I’m at a breaking point. I need to do something different before I begin to feel even worse. On Monday, February 3rd, I will begin an eight week process of quitting sugar. (You may want to avoid me the first few weeks…I’m not sure how pleasant of a person I will be!)

Accountability: This is not going to be easy. At all. So to keep myself in check, I’m going to take pictures of everything I eat (like I don’t pretty much do that already) and post it on here. I feel like doing so will keep me from cheating or being tempted, because I’m going to have to show all three of you who read my blog what I’m eating. So prepare yourself for some delightful foodie pictures.