So Long Sugar

Last week I decided to join up with Laura in a sugar detox, where we would remove all processed foods and sugars from our diet for one week. I mentioned before how I am not really a sweets person, so things like soda or dessert would not be an issue for me. However, it was kind of fun to see what there was in my life that I did miss.

I think I mentioned in my last post that I would have a hard time with coffee and morning oatmeal, since I do use a bit of Splenda in both (or for coffee I use flavored creamer). These were not as bad as I thought they would be. Actually, I put a little unsweetened applesauce (or extra fruit) in my oatmeal and I was good to go! For coffee, I just used whole milk and it turned out fine as well!

The other thing I thought would be difficult was running fuel. I had a race on Saturday and it turned out okay, food-wise. I had some oranges, some bananas and some potatoes with salt. If the race would have been longer, the no-sugar may have been an issue, but as it was, it turned out fine! I did kind of miss the gummy bears, as these are my go-to trail race fuel!

I was worried that evening time would be difficult, as that is when I usually have a nice little after dinner snack, which is usually dried fruit or trail mix. Unfortunately, most dried packaged fruit has added sugar, and my trail mix has mixers such as yogurt chips, dried fruit (again, with sugar) or chocolate chips. So I thought I would just eat plain almonds, but actually I made do with regular fruit instead.

So...what WAS harder than I thought?

1. Booze: I actually had a huge fail due to the fact that I went out on Wednesday to see a friend's band play and had a couple of beers, on Friday for happy hour for a couple glasses of wine and on Saturday to a music festival (and a few more beers). I kind of sound like a lush! To be honest I don't really drink very much usually and most weeks not at all, but this week was probably a bad one to quit sugar! However, since I am usually pretty much of a hermit, I don't feel bad about getting out for a change and having a few drinks!

2. The small things: Things like gum and vitamins (I use the gummy ones) were something that I did not even realize I used very much. However, gum is my cigarette; I have it after lunch, before I start my commute home and often during a run (okay maybe that's not really like a cigarette...). It's such a habit to always have a piece at the ready. I also chew it when I am craving a sweet, so it usually curbs my craving. So I did have even more fruit than normal this week!

3. Eating out / People cooking: I stopped being a vegetarian partially because I was tired of being THAT picky person. You know the one who comes to your house when you are cooking meat and you have to cook something special for them? So when I went to my friend's house for Mother's Day, I ate what was there, which was processed sausages, tomato pie, croissants etc (plus Birthday fruit tart!). Also, eating out, when  you can't control what goes into the dishes, can be difficult! I went to Thai food and got the chicken curry, which I think may have had peanut butter or sugar in the peanut sauce...but I am not sure!

So...how did this make me feel?

I have to be honest, I did not have a revelation and a feeling of supreme health. I felt the same as I always do. Maybe this is because I don't really eat that much sugar or processed food anyway, so it wasn't a huge change really. I probably snacked less after dinner, which is good, but I made up for it by eating about 5 extra pieces of fruit in order to feel like I was getting a bit of sugar after lunch (one day I ate 4 apples). I think I will have to try this again on a week where I don't have any social outings coming up!

Did you join up for the detox? Have you ever given up one type of food? Is there anything you feel you could probably cut back on food-wise?

Pour Some Sugar on Me

I know you are singing this song now. Gotta love that hair.

I am not one of those people that eats or craves a lot of sugar. I prefer a nice salty snack over a sweet one most of the time. However, there are a few things I either eat that have added sugar, or that I add sugar to. When I say sugar, I mean honey, maple syrup, sugar, or any other form of sweetener.

Laura over at Mommy Run Fast is having a sugar detox challenge this week, which not only includes added sugars but processed foods as well. This does not include fruits or naturally sweet foods, thank goodness, because in that case I am not interested. We all know how much fruit I eat on a daily basis.

At first I thought that it wouldn't be very hard, as like I said, I am not a sugar person anyway and I usually eat pretty naturally already. But there are a few things that I have pinpointed that may be a little harder to give up than I think.

1. Coffee creamer: I love the vanilla flavored creamer. It's full of things I cannot pronounce. At work we have Coffeemate plain creamer, which is also full of weird things. I will be using either cream or nothing in my coffee this week.

2. Almond Milk: I am not a huge milk fan, but almond milk has "natural flavors" as one of the ingredients (among other things). Not so natural. However, even skim milk has some weird things floating around in it. So I am considering using regular milk or yogurt in my oatmeal this week to see how it goes.

3. Splenda: I confess; I use Splenda. Don't hate me. I use it both in my oatmeal and my coffee at work (where I don't have flavored creamer). I will sometimes use brown sugar or honey but either way, this week they are out. I always add fruit, but this week I may have to add a bit extra.

4. Sweet nuts: Sometimes when I DO have a little sugar craving, I go for some maple almonds, or cinnamon (and sugar) almonds, or my favorite, coconut (and sugar!) almonds. I will just stick to plain almonds for now (which is not a problem).

5. Running fuel: Gu and gels and chews are basically all just processed sugar. So for next weekend's trail race, I will be using dried fruit or baby food as my fuel. I have done this before and it has worked out great, but the dried fruit is a bit sticky.

6. Nutrition bars: I don't eat these very often but do like to use them in a pinch from time to time. However, most of them are loaded with added sugar. I did find out that Larabars do NOT have any added sugars (source: apple pie flavor).

I am not a huge fan of cutting things out entirely; I am much more a fan of everything in moderation. However, this is more of an experiment to see what things I may need to eat less of or maybe substitute with something just as good or better. So...what's on the menu? Lentils, navy beans, beets, acorn squash, quinoa, veggies, fruits, nuts and chicken: all things that I cooked or roasted in the oven yesterday. I will check back next week to let you know how it goes!

Are you doing the sugar detox? What would be the hardest thing for you to cut out sugar-wise? What about processed food-wise?

Master Cleanse Day Five

DAY 5: The Results

I have a headache from the glass of wine I drank last night. I guess my body isn't quite ready for that yet. I also decided to lay off coffee for a little while to see what happens. I woke up with a headache but other than that, I feel great! I am happy to be at work; I am awake and lively and not even very hungry. Maybe there is something to this thing after all. I will not miss the Salt Water Flush but the rest of it was….Not too bad!

A couple blogs about it that I found when researching...in case you want to know more:

http://mickipedia.vox.com/library/posts/tags/diet/
http://themastercleanseblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/final-thoughts.html
http://bethbrianmastercleanse.wordpress.com/

Master Cleanse Day Four

DAY 4:

7:42 am: I have my watered down OJ all ready to go. I am nervous about eating, since too much too soon can cause digestion problems. I think though that with only 3 days of detox, I shouldn’t have too many problems hopefully.

9:57 am: Have had some spicy lemonade and some watered down OJ. I still do not feel hungry but I want to have some real food tomorrow so I have to get my body ready for it. I actually think I could do this for a few more days, but I really don’t feel like going through the weekend without being able to cook something.

2:46 pm: I am so bored. I realize that when I am bored, I eat. So now when I am bored I drink liter after liter of water and watered down OJ and then I run to the bathroom a lot. However, it is not really keeping me from being bored. My stomach is gurgling. I think it has tasted freedom. Or was that just watered down OJ?

7:42 pm: I was going to wait until tomorrow to eat real food, but I am hungry. The OJ jumpstarted my…something. So I have a salad and some hummous and…a glass of wine. Satisfaction attained.

Master Cleanse Day Three

DAY 3:

11:03 am: I am doing well today. I am not hungry at all and have no ill effects (except that I am freezing – everyone else is in shirtsleeves and I am wearing 2 sweaters). I almost ate something this morning because I was a little stressed out. Normally when I am stressed, I exercise, eat or drink…and I can’t do any of those…so I almost caved. But then I had a few sips of the spicy lemonade and got to work and all was well.

11:14 am: I just walked by the smell of turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes. It smells good, but oddly enough, doesn’t really tempt me to want to eat it. My tummy didn’t rumble and my mouth didn’t water. It just smelled pleasant.

1:31 pm: I am still not hungry. And I don’t have a headache. It’s great! I do have some rumblings in my stomach. I have decided to start incorporating stuff back into diet tomorrow. You are supposed to wean your way back on to food with broth and watered down juice and stuff. I really can’t wait to chew something.

7:15 pm: Went grocery shopping for tomorrow’s food. I am tempted to eat some of it now. I am starving. I want Mexican food.

9:15 pm: I feel great. I am not hungry anymore and don’t have a headache. However, I am very, very tired. I go to sleep around 9:30.

Master Cleanse Day Two

DAY 2:

6:14 am: I wake up before my alarm. I am not sure why. I am not hungry at all. Last night I had to do the salt water flush (SWF) in order to cleanse myself of any impurities. It was horrible! It tastes like drinking the sea. And who likes that? What follows is not much better, but I will not get into that. I had a hard time going to sleep due to a horrible headache. I had read a couple of other blogs and many people report sore muscles, but I have not experienced that. I had a marvelous breakfast consisting of spicy lemonade and…nothing.

7:05 am: The elevator at work is broken. I take the stairs. 15 floors later, I am soooo tired… I have NO energy at all. I am starting to get a small headache again. It could be due to not having coffee; I do drink at least a cup every day. Or it could just be because I have not eaten.

8:23 am: I am cold, which is weird because usually I get cold after lunch. Maybe I drank too much spicy lemonade.

11:10 am: I am waiting for lunch time so I can…stop watching the clock. It is such a habit to be able to look forward to 11:30 or so. I think I will go home and take a half hour nap. That is almost as satisfying as food. I am not hungry at all but still want to eat just because. Maybe it is just boredom? Also, I must have jinxed myself when I talked about the sore muscles because now my back and neck muscles are really sore. Does that mean all the toxins are rising to the surface? Or am I just falling apart due to lack of food?

2:08 pm: Went home and took a nap. While asleep, I dreamed about a rap song. When I got back in my car, that song was playing on the radio. I am confused. Did that really happen?

4:57 pm: My back hurts. I think I am going to go home and have a Top Chef Marathon and eat until I burst. Minus the eating part. One good thing is after today, I will be halfway done. I cannot imagine doing this for 10 days.

7:00 pm: Watched Top Chef and it doesn’t even make me hungry. Weird.

10:00 pm: Went to bed with a splitting headache.

Cayanne, I Can

After eating way too much over the last few weeks with the excuse of "being on vacation" and always saying I will "exercise more when I get back", I have decided to try to purge my system for a few days. To do this, I am using the Master Cleanse method. This method uses a combination of water, lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. You make up this mix and drink it and lots of water for as many days as you want to cleanse. It is supposed to get rid of any toxins in your body and make you feel great. Most people do it for 10 days; some do it for as little as one; I am doing it for 4. The reason for this is that I have a concert to go to on Saturday and there is no way I am not eating/drinking that day! I am a little worried, as the hardest part supposedly is getting back INTO food (oh and the toilet issues, but for that you can read the Master Cleanse website)

So, today is day one. Here we go.

1 o’clock pm: So far, so good. I have not eaten all day, although I have had about 6 bottles of water and peed about 300 times. I am not too hungry, although I do miss putting food into my mouth. I went home for “lunch” (ie to watch Jeopardy) and walked by the Whole Hog BBQ place thinking, “Wow, I could eat a WHOLE hog!” Then while watching Jeopardy, there were two categories relating to food! Then as I was driving back, I couldn’t help but noticing billboards for McDonalds, people in the park eating sandwiches and the smell of tacos in the office as I walked back in. So, like I said, I am not very hungry, but I WANT FOOD! I have already started to try to think of things to do when I get off, in place of shopping, cooking and eating (it takes a lot of time!)

4 o’clock, normal snack time: NOW I am getting hungry. I have drunk another liter of water and a half a liter of spicy lemonade (which I actually like the taste of). I have gone pee about 5 times since 1 o’clock. I keep thinking about opening my desk drawer and eating a handful of nuts. Who would know? I kind of have a headache. My teeth feel fuzzy. I had planned on starting back up at the gym this week, but am going to postpone it because I wont have any food to give me energy. When I get off work I am going to do laundry, download pictures, take a bath, read, remake the beds and clean the bathroom and I will probably STILL have spare time.

4:12: Argh. The lady in the cubicle next to me just heated up rice and chicken and it smells delicious! I am starting to plan my meal for Saturday.