Success! We have made it to day 5 of the detox without dying.
My best friend and sugar detox buddy, Sarah, sent me a fabulous day 1 journal entry that I thought I would share.
Check back later today for a recap of our week reflection and a workout! :)
{Sarah's Day 1- Monday, February 27}
Why do a sugar detox you ask?
Why not I’d say…it’s only 21 days, that’s three weeks; do
you know how fast that will fly with all of our busy schedules? Way too
fast. That’s not really a reason I
suppose just answering a question with another question. So really now, why
does a girl who lives life generally by the “everything in moderation”
philosophy decide to up heave everything and go cold turkey sugar
elimination? Well, maybe because I have
gone through several years post undergrad college of efforts to clean up my
diet. Not that my diet was terrible to
begin with, but felt there was definitely room for improvement. The biggest goal being to eat more vegetables
on a regular basis. The process over the
last few years has been slow and meditated one experiment at a time. Trying new vegetables, new ways to prepare them,
moving beyond vegetables to switch to whole grains, eating minimal bread, and
virtually eliminated packaged foods and beginning to cook much more had all been
successful efforts. I felt like I had
done and was continuing to do a really good job cleaning up my diet, while
maintaining the safety of some of my habitual foods and comfort foods (*cough*
ice-cream) in moderation. And, yes, I
would say I felt better, had more energy and all of that as compared to the
time eating my pre-cleanup diet.
Then, after being encouraged, coaxed, persuaded, bugged,
badgered and nagged, to try the Paleo diet for about a year I finally relented
and decided what the hell, 30 days, I can do 30 days….right? Well I had agreed
to, so I better figure out how. I actually
had begun reading paleo food blogs
regularly and had moved dinners to generally paleo cooking. Switching other meals would be the key. About 3 weeks in, I realized I felt better. I’ve always been skeptical of the
psycho-somatic effects of these diets, or general life changes that often go
along with these types of diet changes (ie exercise and getting more sleep);
that these things can contribute to the “I feel better and have more energy”
phenomenon, than actually the diet itself.
But this time I had a quantitative measurement! Without going into great
detail, I’ve always had a sensitive and temperamental digestive system, and all
of a sudden around week 3 I noticed things were more regular and streamlined
than they ever had been….EVER. That was
pretty good evidence for me that my body liked something about this diet. Much to my skepticism.
So, coming from a skeptic, when Leah asked if I wanted to do
the 21day Sugar detox, having seen the benefits of previous
diet-experimentation, I figured why not? I
can certainly gain from lowering my sugar consumption, I am kind of a sucker
for the drug. And it IS a drug. Something you don’t realize until you try to
quit! I dislike the idea of being
dependent on something, or not having full control over my choices, so I see
this as a way to regain control and increase insulin sensitivity.
Here goes nothin'!
-Sarah
Don't forget to check back later for our end of the week recap and a little workout!
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