Week 1 Recap!

It's now Monday night, and I am officially 1/3 of the way done with the 21 Day Sugar Detox.  I have to say that it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Don't get me wrong, it's not easy to say no to all of the junk food I am constantly surrounded by.  I do, however, feel pretty good when I am able to resist the temptation! Here's a recap of my week!

Last day of Junk- I went crazy... I ate so much stuff! I had pretty much any junk food that you could imagine.  I ate as if I would never eat anything else in the world.  Was it a good idea? no! Was it childish? yes! Was it worth it? no! Did I know that I would feel terrible after eating all of that junk? yes! Did I do it anyway? yes!  I felt sooo gross afterwards, that honestly, I didn't want to eat anything but healthy foods!  This is how I felt at the end of the night!

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Day 1- I skipped breakfast.  I know, I know, it was not a good way to set myself up for success.  Honestly, though, I felt so nauseous from the crap I ate on Monday that the thought of putting anything else in my stomach made it just churn.  I didn't have time to make anything super fancy for lunch, but I just had some tuna.  I managed to avoid any student birthday treats. By the end of the day, though, I really wanted a cookie or some little dessert to treat myself though.  I wanted to throw myself a little pity party to grieve all of the foods I'll never eat again... (again, the stupidity of addiction to stupid foods that I shouldn't like to begin with!!!)

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Day 2- I've realized that I was mindlessly consuming a lot of calories throughout the day, mainly from sugar.  A few skittles here, a few pretzel sticks there, a little bit of popcorn after lunch, etc...  I've never been more aware of how much junk is around me!

Day 3- Telling everyone that I'm on a sugar detox helps!  It can be hard to resist sweets, but when you tell people that you are avoiding them, you are even less likely to cheat because you know that other people are watching!!!

Day 4- Some of my junk eating is so mindless, that I don't even realize I'm doing it.  I've had to stop myself   a few times because I didn't even think of the fact that I had a tootsie roll in my hand (I give a lot of candy as motivators at school haha)  I was proud of myself too because the principal was really sweet and bought all the teachers pizza, but I said no thanks and passed for the salad :)  I also made it through a meal out and stuck to the detox plan! I ordered a burger with no bun and had them switch the fries for sauteed mushrooms.  I even resisted the fried calamari that was ordered as an appetizer! Score a few points for me!

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Day 5- Went to a party with yummy temptations like chocolate covered strawberries, chips, spinach dip, meatballs, etc... I thought ahead and prepared by bringing my own food... kinda weird, I know, but I was ready and since I could eat my own yummy food, it was a little bit easier to resist!

Day 6- When you fall down, don't wallow, just get up and start again!  I cheated a bit... I work with a youth group called Job's Daughters  and I drove some of the girls to Fredericksburg for a meeting and a dinner.  Long story short, the girls hadn't eaten all day, we missed the dinner, and it had started to snow so we needed to get back on the road fast.  I also had Chase with me, making getting in and out of the car with a carseat and girls and snow etc... just a mess... so I broke down and we all went through some crappy seafood drive through.  I had some fried shrimp that was totally not good or satisfying.  It was a mistake, but I'm still proud of myself for getting right back on track rather than saying, whatever, I'll just eat anything I want now.... 

Day 7- I'm on spring break!  I was able to cook a leisurely breakfast, work out, and spend some much needed quality play time with Chase!  Despite the junk meal I had for dinner on Day 6, I got right back on track.  I even resisted some queso and tortilla chips that a friend had brought to our weekly small group Bible Study... that was really really really tough because I LOOOOVE chips and queso!

Overall- it's been tough at times, but I really am proud of the fact that, aside from that one meal, I have totally stuck to the plan.  I've realized that the few little cheats I've been sneaking have really added up over time and I need to cut it out!  Thank goodness for this detox.  I've been doing really well on the baby weight loss, but I need to get motivated again and remember:

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Just a few little caveats

So, I've just finished reading the whole 21 day sugar 

detox e-book.  I'm all in and totally on board for the concept and the plan!   I will say that starting on a Tuesday (when I didn't have time to plan and cook meals for the week) has been pretty tough.  I'm making in through though.

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After reading the program, however, I do have some terms and conditions that I wanted to share with you all.  I do plan to share all of my meals and snacks on my facebook page, but there will be a few different things that I will be eating that aren't exactly on the plan.  I don't want anyone to be looking at what I'm eating and say... "Hey! You ate THAT?! That's not allowed!"  I'm also going to give you my rationale behind it. 

First, as I mentioned before, I'm a nursing mom, so the plan actually has modifications for pregnant and breastfeeding moms.  According to the plan, I need to eat a little bit of a nutrient dense carb at each meal.  This includes sweet potatoes, butternut squash, white potatoes, etc... So, I'll be eating some foods that others who are doing the 21 DSD shouldn't eat.  

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Also, according to Chris Kresser's The Healthy Baby Code, I need to drink about a quart of full fat, grass-fed milk/dairy per day.  I'm eating as much dairy as possible to get to that goal, but I have never been a fan of milk.  I don't like it and never really  have.  The only time I ever really had milk was in a bowl of cereal or with some oreos, but since both of those are out of the question, I've had to find some way to stomach the taste of milk. Sooooo, I've been drinking chocolate milk. Now I know that this is definitely not on the detox, but I'm going to keep drinking about 1/4 cup of chocolate milk mixed into my whole milk.  I'll hopefully be able to get rid of the chocolate soon, but I just can't choke down plain milk. 

Also, peanut butter is definitely not on the detox, or on paleo.  I do, however, want to eat a little bit per day.  Since Chase is getting exposure to whatever I eat, I want him to have the exposure to peanuts.  I don't intend to eat peanuts or feed them to him when he's older, but I don't want him to have a peanut allergy.  I work in a school and I have seen some crazy allergies and definitely don't want him to go through that if he doesn't have to.  I know that Chase will be less susceptible to allergies because I'm infusing his gut with tons of good probiotics, nor do we have allergies in our family. I just don't want to push it, so I'm going to eat a little bit per day.  Don't worry, it's not that super processed, sugary stuff that hardly resembles a peanut.  

Other than that, I'm going to be gung ho!  Let the journey begin!

21 day sugar detox

So...it's been FOREVER since I've made a posting!  As it turns out... I've been super busy training my new sous chef!

This little cutie is the reason that I've been somewhat MIA.  Having a baby seems to actually take up a lot of time!  Who would have thought?!  

Chase was born on October 9, 2012.  He's an incredibly healthy and happy little guy.  Curt and I are so blessed to have this little nugget with us!

All that being said, I've tried my best to be super mom and get home from work, cook a healthy Paleo meal, work out, do laundry, and spend some quality snuggle time with the hubs.  Some days, though, something had to get cut, so often, it was nutrition/exercise. 

I've fallen off the hard core paleo bandwagon and am now ready to jump back on!  

I've never questioned whether or not paleo was the way to go.  Besides just wanting to lose the baby weight (I gained 60 lbs with that little Peanut!!!), paleo is just so much better for you.  I'm a big follower when I understand why I am doing something.  

Knowing how bad grains (even oatmeal and whole grains) are for you, how could I, in good conscience, continue eating them?  I'm typically pretty good about avoiding grains, I can't even remember the last time that I had pasta.  Sugar and desserts.... THAT'S a different story.  I CRAVE sugar.  I love cookies and cakes and brownies and donuts... also, I'm a teacher, so there's always some opportunity to eat a tasty bit of a birthday treat or some banana bread left in the teacher's lounge.  Believe it or not, being a teacher is EXTREMELY stressful.  I keep chocolate (granted it is good quality dark chocolate) in my filing cabinet to "get me through the day."

The thing is...sugar is just as bad for you as grains!  I really need to kick this habit that I've gotten into.  This is especially important because I have diabetes all over both sides of my family tree.  Being a new mom, I want to set a good example for my little guy.  I don't want him to think that macaroni and cheese and doritos and lunchables (staples in a majority of student lunchboxes) are "quality food" to nourish him and help him grow. 

Anyhoo... I turned to pinterest to find some paleo detox tips and I found the 21 day sugar detox. It's called a sugar detox, but it helps you to kick the sugar and carb cravings.  Carbs just break down into sugar anyway.  The best part is that they have personalized plans for nursing moms!

Why do a detox? Why not just go back to hard core paleo?  Well... like I said, my sugar craving has gone out of control.  I wouldn't say that I am as bad as I was in college.  Back then, I would put 10 sugar packets in 1 single glass of iced tea!  But, I've started making excuses for myself to eat a little bit of sugar every once in a while, which turned into eating a little bit after each meal, which turned into eating a dessert of some sort because, hey... I'll start paleo tomorrow. 

So, long story short... I'm starting this detox plan!  I'm excited to start it.  I am sad that I won't be wanting an occasional cookie (see how messed up it is that I don't want to give up something that I KNOW is terrible for me?!), but that is exactly why I need to do this!  

I'll do my best to chronicle my experiences and hopefully even upload a recipe or two!  I figure that by publishing this, I'll be more accountable since people actually do read my blog!