Week 2 on a Sugar Detox: Recap

This week was SO much better! I'm past the point of sugar highs and lows and even when I'm hungry, I'm not shaky and jittery. I'm just hungry! What a concept! I didn't realize what a slave I was to the sugar crashes. I'm sleeping better this week too. For months, I wasn't sleeping through the night. I don't know why that is. Well, for a month, I had the flu and a lingering cough that would wake me up a couple times a night. But even before that, I wasn't sleeping well. Now, I sleep through the night without interruption! I don't know if that is solely because of this sugar detox, but I'll take it! I didn't lose as much weight this week but that's ok. So far, I've lost about 8 pounds. I ate out a couple of times and while I chose restaurants where I could get food within my restrictions, I still ate more than I would have at home.  I tried a few new recipes this week as well. All of them were yummy! Meal recaps are below!

Day 8
Breakfast: Nothing, slept in
Lunch: Hamburger patty with cheese, spinach
Dinner: Almond Encrusted Pork Chop, Mashed Cauliflower, Salad

Day 9
Breakfast: Atkins Shake, Iced Plain Coffee
Lunch: Chipotle (1/2 serving brown rice, double chicken, fajita veggies, cheese, and lettuce)
Dinner: HuHot (stir fried chicken, veggies, pork, NY strip steak, chili/garlic oil)

Day 10
Breakfast: Brown Rice Cake, Almond Butter, Sliced Banana
Lunch: Salami, Turkey, Cheese
Dinner: Leftover Almond Pork Chop, Mashed Cauliflower, and Asparagus

Day 11
Breakfast: Atkins Shake
Lunch: Hamburger Patty and Iced Tea
Dinner: Kneaders Cafe (Chicken Ala Mondo Salad and Cream of Broccoli Soup)

Day 12
Breakfast: Atkins Shake and Iced Coffee
Lunch: Salami, Cheese, Green Salad
    Snack: Green Applesauce (made this in the crockpot. Yum!)
Dinner: Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon

Day 13
Breakfast: Sausage, Brown Rice Cake with Almond Butter and Banana
Lunch: Salad with turkey
Dinner: Chicken Vegetable Soup

Day 14! (Woohoo! 2/3 of the way there!)
Breakfast: Atkins Shake
Lunch: Lentil Curry Coconut Soup and Salad
Dinner: Pork Tenderloin, Mashed Cauliflower, Asparagus

• To recap: I feel GOOD! Like really good. It's enlightening to see that in only 2 weeks, how much food has an impact on the quality of my daily life. Now if only my skin would be better. I've never dealt with acne but I find its a bit uneven in tone and I've had this one painful pimple for like 10 days. Hopefully, that will improve this coming week! Fingers crossed!

Week 1 Recap: Sugar Detox

One week down on my sugar detox, 2 weeks to go! A day or two were not so fun, mostly because I didn't plan very well and ended up really hungry and too low on blood sugar. Day 3, I almost caved and ordered some Chinese food because I was SO jittery and had a massive headache. I was trying to come up with something on the food plan to order but then realized that the Chinese delivery place I go to is closed on Mondays! Saved! So instead I threw in some gluten free chicken nuggets that I had bought at Whole Foods and reheated spaghetti squash with it. The next morning, I definitely felt better and glad I didn't divert!

Honestly, I don't think I feel much different. I've lost about 6 lbs this week which is really nice but I don't notice much difference. Some people have said that they feel more alert after the first week. Or they sleep better. Or they have more energy. I wouldn't say any of that applies to me. One thing I did notice this week was I didn't have ANY diarrhea from the medicine I am on. I tend to forget to take my Metformin and if I go a few days without it, I'll get stomach issues for a couple of days while I adjust to the meds again. I took the medicine in the morning everyday with an Atkins shake and had no issses at all! Hmm, maybe it's something about certain foods and the medicine combining? I have no idea!

I did some grocery shopping at the beginning of the week to get ingredients I needed for some recipes I want to try this week. Why do smoked sausages have added sugar to them? I was looking for a keilbasa for red beans and rice I made and out of 8 different companies, they ALL had sugar in them! This includes all the natural/organic companies at Sprouts. I finally found one, Harvestland, that at least had honey as a sweetener instead of corn syrup. Why does one need to sweeten meat? I don't understand.

I made homemade ketchup in the crockpot. It's not bad! Disclaimer: if you're looking for it to taste just like ketchup, you're going to be disappointed. But I like it and I don't mind swapping it out for ketchup. I'm not such a ketchup fan that I need something that's just like it. Maybe adding in some honey would sweeten it up and make it taste more like traditional ketchup. The recipe is HERE. It's part of the 21-day sugar detox so it's gluten free, paleo, and clean. Not everything I'm eating on this detox will be though! Well, at least not paleo. They will be clean.

So here's a day-by-day recap and meals that I ate in case you ever want to try this out. It's really not that bad so far!

Day One
Breakfast: Atkins Shake and Banana
Lunch: Lundberg Brown Rice Cake, Turkey, 1/2 slice of Cheddar Cheese
Snack: Almond Butter and Green Apple
Dinner: Modified Chinese Spareribs (used the ketchup I made instead of hoisen sauce), Mashed Rutabaga, and Roasted Broccoli
Comments: Day one on any new diet or detox is never bad for me. I don't usually feel any different!

Day Two
Breakfast: Atkins Shake
Lunch: Rotisserie Chicken dipped in leftover Biaggi's tomato sauce, Rutabaga
Snack: Marinated Mozzarella Balls, Sliced Turkey, Strawberries
Dinner: Red Beans and Brown Rice, Leftover Broccoli
Dessert: Frozen Banana dipped in Dark Chocolate
Comments: That red beans and rice recipe is great! Although I did some modifications to it. I add 1/4 tsp of cayenne and switched the ham for keilbasa. I also used butter instead of lard. I didn't have any. SO yummy!

Day Three
Breakfast: Atkins Shake
Lunch: Rotisserie Chicken dipped in Ranch, Carrots, Strawberries
Snack: Almonds and Green Beans
Dinner: Almond crusted chicken nuggets, Spaghetti Squash, and Salad
Dessert: Frozen Banana
Comments: This day was hard on me. I started on a Saturday so this was Monday, my first day at school. I didn't pack enough food to get me through the day and I have a jam packed day, classes back to back from 8am-5pm. So, trying to find a time to eat something was hard. I came home with a horrible headache.

Day Four
Breakfast: Atkins Shake (I really have no problem having the same thing everyday!)
Lunch: Out for lunch at Tucano's.
Dinner: Baked Sweet Potato
Dessert: Frozen Banana
Comments: Tucano's is a great restaurant for this diet! Or if you're paleo/low carb. TONS of meat! I was stuffed! Today, I felt exhausted most of the day. Took a nap and then was craving carbs so I ate a baked sweet potato with butter for dinner. I'm not really concerned about weight loss right now, but I have lost 4.5 pounds in 4 days! Probably just water weight.

Day Five
Breakfast: Coconut Yogurt, Strawberries
Lunch: Fruit Cup from cafeteria (grapes and cheese)
Snack: Cheese and Sausage sticks
Dinner: Coconut Curry Chicken
Comments: This day wasn't as bad, though I was out all day again. I did forget to pack lunch and ended up grabbing a fruit cup at school along with a plain iced coffee but I wasn't shaky till right before I got home at about 5:00pm. Didn't really like my recipe for curry chicken though!

Day Six
Breakfast: Nothing, I slept in late
Lunch: Hamburger patty with cheese, sauteed onions and bok choy, strawberries
Dinner: Chicken Cauliflower Soup
Comments: First day I added exercise! Just 45 minutes on the elliptical at the gym. And I did really well with controlling blood sugar today!

Day Seven
Breakfast: Atkins Shake
Lunch: Leftover Chicken Soup
Dinner: Moo Goo Gai Pan
Comments: I've lost 6 lbs as of this afternoon!

Day 1: Sugar detox

My family is away for 18 days on a Compassion International trip to Thailand. I'm quite jealous! But while they're gone, I'm going to try a sugar detox. I mentioned on Facebook that I was considering it while they would be gone because I think it's so much easier to concentrate on something like this when you're not surrounded by people who are eating something else and having to juggle cooking for them AND cooking for yourself. I can make whatever I want without anybody saying "What is THAT?!". So today is Day 1. I considered these detox plans: The 21-day Sugar Detox and The Sugar Detox but didn't really like either of them exclusively. So, I'm combining some of the aspects of both and revamping both of them to my own personal preferences. For example, The 21-day Sugar Detox is very Paleo based. So no dairy. I don't like that idea. So I'll include it in moderation within my detox. Here's what I will not be eating:

• No refined sugars
• No artificial sweeteners (that's ok, All but Splenda gives me a headache!)
• No refined flours
• No white potatoes
• No white rice
• Nothing corn based
• Nothing processed

I'll eat in limited amounts:

• Dairy (always organic with no hormones. Sprouts has it on sale this week!)
• Sweet Potatoes (Because they are high in sugar)
• Brown Rice
• Honey
• Fruits ( lemons, limes, strawberries, green apples, and green-tipped bananas are approved)

Everything else is game on! I'm not placing any weight loss goals on myself for the next 18 days. I just want to see how this affects my body and my blood sugar levels. Like I've said, I have PCOS and with that comes blood sugar issues. The medicine I'm on helps with that but I do get extreme dips in blood sugar from time to time which trigger horrible migraines. So that's my plan! First up on the meals, I'm going to make homemade ketchup, a slightly modified version of Chinese Spareribs, and mashed rutabaga. Wish me luck!

P.S. Oh, I forgot to mention that the one exception I'm adding to this plan is I'll be drinking Atkins Shakes. I know, not sugar detox approved. They're processed. But I travel to Pueblo 4 days a week for an 8:00am class and trying to prepare breakfast beforehand is really challenging for me. I'm not a morning person. On a normal day, you won't see me out of bed before 9:00. So getting up to make something for breakfast is just not going to happen. Also, I hate most breakfast type foods. Eggs least of all. Can't stand them. So in order to make this doable for me, I'm going to add these shakes. They've only got 2 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of sugar so I think these are a better addition to my Sugar detox!

Pitfalls of New Year's Resolutions

It's always the #1 goal for Americans on January 1. Lose weight. Everyone is hopped up and raring to go. The gyms are full of people and I'm sure gym owners are thrilled. They're making lots of money right now. I see numerous coupons for Slim Fast shakes and weight loss pills. But by Valentine's Day (Maybe Presidents' Day if they're lucky), the motivation dwindles and the gyms empty. Lines to McDonald's and Taco Bell get longer and longer. It happens every year. Even with me. Especially with me. I'm hoping to change that this year.

Let's start with me and a bit of my history. I have PCOS. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I was diagnosed at age 17. And while my menstruation problems (I've gone a couple of years without a period before) have been fixed with Metformin, my weight issues have never been resolved. 3 or 4 years ago, I lost about 25 pounds doing the Biggest Loser plan and I finally discovered what worked for me. Clean eating and A LOT of exercise were the only tools that helped me lose weight. But I didn't stick with it. I know I should have. I have no excuses. I didn't have fast food for 3 months and then got so sick after eating a taco. Mhmm, that should tell you something. :)

Let's talk about diets for a minute. I have some strong opinions on some of them. And they don't come from bias or media hype. I'm very educated on them. I've done extensive research on a couple of different diet plans including The Paleolithic diet and the Gluten Free diet. I've written research papers on them for school. My degrees are in Biology and Chemistry. I know how the body operates. My goal at the end of my education is to be in medicine. Not nutrition (though that's my brother's end goal) but I still have a fascination for nutrition and especially for the trends going on in America's diet right now. I don't say all of this to brag but to show you that my opinions don't come lightly. They come from a well-educated, well-researched mouth. But we're not going to get into those opinions right now. If you want to know, ask me. I'll tell you what I think and I'll have support to back it up.

Tonight, we're talking about resolutions and pitfalls. Especially MY pitfalls. Did you know only 8% of people will complete their New Year's goals? That's pretty small. Here's my plan for avoiding being one of the 92%.

1. I'm not going to focus on a number. I'm not going to say, "I want to lose 35 pounds by Spring Break." or Summer Break. Or whenever. I'm going to focus on changing how and what I eat. Cutting out the sugar, white flours, processed crap. I'm upping our food budget a little in order to introduce whole foods. I'm going to eat out WAY less to balance out the food budget increase. Eating out gets old anyway. And I love to cook!
2. I'm getting a personal trainer. I've had a gym membership for like 3 years. And I think I went all of a dozen times last year. Granted, almost 4 months were spent in a different state but I didn't go to the gym there either! For me, it doesn't matter how little I eat. I don't lose significant amounts of weight without exercise.
3. I'm not going to beat myself up and give up if I get off track. Sometimes I get distracted. It happens. Move on!
4. I'm going to focus on prayer. Because that's what's crucial. With God, all things are possible.

Do you have resolutions this year? How do you stay successful?