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Tag Archives: sugar

7 Days Without Sugar Makes One Weak….

No, wait, I got that wrong. It makes one strong! Strong enough to bypass the sweets.

I made it a week, way to go me! But why all this self denial anyway?

Too much added sugar in your diet is no bueno. I kept telling myself I wasn’t really eating that much sugar… But, when you compound that with a lot of simple carbohydrates (gluten free foods are loaded with them) and *gasp* alcohol, well you (I) might just be overloading your (my) liver.

“Your liver metabolizes sugar the same way as alcohol, and converts dietary carbohydrates to fat,” says Dr. Hu. 

Harvard Health Publishing

I’ve been feeling the effects of chronic inflammation for a while now. I gave up the daily coffee habit back in late September thinking that might help. (Notice it was easier to give up the Joe than convince me onesies to give up the sugar!) And as it turns out, I really haven’t missed the stuff. Although sometimes that cuppa tea isn’t quite as satisfying… And I haven’t noticed any benefits from not drinking coffee other than no more withdrawal headaches.

So by process of elimination, sugar is next on the list of priorities after coffee… Then dairy (cheese) but I don’t want to talk about that.

Today is my last day of avoiding fruits too. I’m looking forward to enjoying some apples, oranges & grapefruit this next week. Fruits are essential, which is why I didn’t want to go too long without them in my diet. I just wanted to go long enough to reprogram my taste buds!

So far, and I know a week isn’t that long… I haven’t noticed anything that’s a major breakthrough. But I’m persevering and hopefully by the end of thirty days I can notice something beneficial.

Tonight I took a shot at creating a virgin version of my favorite dirty martini. I poured olive brine into lemon lime seltzer and it wasn’t bad!

6 Days Old

I made it through Sabbath and oneg without too much trouble. Thankfully there weren’t too many temptations!

I’m looking forward to eating fruit again, of course I have to wait a little longer. I found this recipe for citrus & avocado salad that looks scrumptious. It’s on the menu for Monday! I’ll just omit the sugar in the dressing. It will be sweet enough with the oranges & grapefruit.

Little Phoebe

Did you know that Little Phoebe means the cardinal number 5? I was today days old when I learned that. 🤓

I’m five days in y’all and I really just want a cookie and a glass of wine.

I’ll have butter chicken & iced tea for dinner instead.

I haven’t noticed any real changes, other than the aforementioned desire.

May the Fourth Be With You

And me. It’s definitely with me. Four days.

Yesterday wasn’t terrible but I am feeling it. I’m preoccupied with food. I want to eat all the things. And the thought just occured to me that I should get back to taking my supplements. I’ve fallen off the wagon over the holiday season.

I may have had a little too much dinner.

Third Day

Besides being one of my Favorite Bands, I’m starting to feel the sugar cravings. Sweet breakfast items .. yogurt… Pudding… All things that I looked twice at this morning.

But I resisted temptation.

I made it through the afternoon. Then I got really tired. Oy. Had to take a nap

Another Day

Besides having insomnia last night

I was tired but for some reason sleep would not come easy. Oy. (I actually started this post at 1:50 am.) So automatically I know today is going to be harder since I’ll be sleep deprived.

But I made it.

Stopping for that post work soda and snack on the way home, I was good, I opted for water and beef jerky.

I’ll be ready for bedtime.

And How Did My First Day Go

Not too bad. Lots of iced tea and nuts for snacks. We cut a load of firewood this afternoon so that kept me occupied. No real sugar cravings yet.

Ditch the Sugar

It’s been a long time since I did a sugar cleanse, must be 20+ years! Whoa!! I think it’s time to overhaul my diet again.

Our diet changed drastically when we moved to Alaska almost 9 years ago. Being a newbie I was unaware of local buying clubs and honestly, didn’t have the cash flow to buy in bulk anyway. I tried to maintain a few constants like whole grains and no sugar but…. sugar crept back into our diets as did white rice.

Change happened gradually but mostly due to finances & Dean having a sweet tooth didn’t help. He often brought candy home to the kids in our early years here. They were thrilled, I was not. Also, cooking with natural sweeteners only is quite expensive here. What I used to buy a gallon of honey for will only buy a quart here, if that. Maple syrup is pretty expensive too. So unbleached sugar has been a regular part of our diet for several years now.

I’m planning 30 days w/out refined sugar, HFCS, alcohol, and all that stuff. Maybe a week of no sugars, fruit included, to jumpstart the process. Then I’ll add whole fruits back but leave the rest of the sweets alone.

Oy. Can I do it? I feel like I need a huge grocery shopping trip to prepare myself! Stock up on protein snacks and unsweetened beverages.

Also, I picked up a rectangle loom at the thrift store last week to start loom knitting again so I have something to keep my hands busy.

We’ll see how it goes. With a house full of sugar eaters and bakers… I’m sure it’s going to be a challenge!

I know that I will feel better and that’s my encouragement!

The plan is to start tomorrow, MNO with the Solstice Sisters tonight. Wish me great success!!