Holy cow, there are no words for yesterday.
Here are the issues I encountered: (1) headache which I eventually relieved by eating sugar (and I might add WAY TOO MUCH of it); (2) major sluggishness yesterday between 3 and 5 (and this was before eating the sugar); (3) I thought I was going to throw up yesterday morning after breakfast having to eat so much protein; and (4) this is opening my eyes to more than just my sugar addiction.
First, Step 1 of this program is harder than I thought. Learning to eat 30 something grams of protein at breakfast, eating all that within an hour of getting up and doing this every day is going to take some training. I can truly understand why she says each step much last a month or as long as is needed to make this a habit.
I'm beginning to think that sugar is not the only problem with my diet. I haven't been getting near enough protein.
My mind is running away with things I ought to say so I think it best I stop this post here.
Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Day 10 - Another Confession . . .
I am not just sugar sensitive . . . I AM SUGAR SENSITIVE with NO self control. I tell ya NO SELF CONTROL AT ALL.
The last five days have been a serious flow of peaks and valleys. I know what the lady in the book is trying to tell me . . . everything in moderation. Unfortunately my personality is having a hard time regrouping to this way of thinking. If I eat one thing sugar during the day or let my cravings overwhelm me I turn in to a sugar monster. A couple of nights this week I tried to justify my intake of sugar by justifying the amount of fiber in the blueberry frosted mini wheats! Really?? I do hope I am not the only one in this great big world who does this. :( This train of thought might work if I were only eating one serving but I am NOT. What's worse is that when I am in these sugar crazed states of mind I am afraid that if you were to try to take my food away I might just bite your hand. I think they need to show more of this on the Biggest Loser and then show exactly how they redirect the contestants. Cause I need some serious REDIRECTION!
Learning to eat foods without sugar is truly a challenge for me. However, I must say that paying attention to sugar content has been VERY enlightening for me. One of the meals they encourage you to eat for breakfast is cottage cheese (preferably low or no fat) with fresh fruit. Since I like cottage cheese and love fruit this is not a challenge BUT did you know that once I consume this I have had 8 grams of sugar. Yep! The cottage cheese has 4 grams in a 1/2 cup serving and a half cup of slice strawberries has 4. Wow! My goal for each day is 20 grams or less of sugar and it must come from natural sources versus added.
I also tried going back to my sugar free creamer this past week and I truly believe that was the beginning of my down fall. It may be "sugar free" but it still has some sort of sugar alcohol which unfortunately feeds my sugar monster. I am back to black coffee this week and will be using a bit of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. It's funny looking back over the last two years of my eating habits. When I started having reflux so bad and I realized that milk/milk products were a big part of the problem I was able to take milk out of my diet very easily. I'm guessing I need to turn this sugar addiction in to a medical "problem" and it will make it easier. I have had hints of good things happening to my body on the days that I truly go "sugarless" but I won't speak of those things yet . . . need to get serious about this sugar thing so I can make a true correlation.
Oh and just so you know, finding time to blog is WAY harder than taking the sugar out of my diet. I am truly afraid to blog on those evenings when I've had a breakdown. There is really no telling what I would write. :) So we are erring on the side of safety since these words go out to the world.
Here's to a very happy and sugarless Monday!
The last five days have been a serious flow of peaks and valleys. I know what the lady in the book is trying to tell me . . . everything in moderation. Unfortunately my personality is having a hard time regrouping to this way of thinking. If I eat one thing sugar during the day or let my cravings overwhelm me I turn in to a sugar monster. A couple of nights this week I tried to justify my intake of sugar by justifying the amount of fiber in the blueberry frosted mini wheats! Really?? I do hope I am not the only one in this great big world who does this. :( This train of thought might work if I were only eating one serving but I am NOT. What's worse is that when I am in these sugar crazed states of mind I am afraid that if you were to try to take my food away I might just bite your hand. I think they need to show more of this on the Biggest Loser and then show exactly how they redirect the contestants. Cause I need some serious REDIRECTION!
Learning to eat foods without sugar is truly a challenge for me. However, I must say that paying attention to sugar content has been VERY enlightening for me. One of the meals they encourage you to eat for breakfast is cottage cheese (preferably low or no fat) with fresh fruit. Since I like cottage cheese and love fruit this is not a challenge BUT did you know that once I consume this I have had 8 grams of sugar. Yep! The cottage cheese has 4 grams in a 1/2 cup serving and a half cup of slice strawberries has 4. Wow! My goal for each day is 20 grams or less of sugar and it must come from natural sources versus added.
I also tried going back to my sugar free creamer this past week and I truly believe that was the beginning of my down fall. It may be "sugar free" but it still has some sort of sugar alcohol which unfortunately feeds my sugar monster. I am back to black coffee this week and will be using a bit of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. It's funny looking back over the last two years of my eating habits. When I started having reflux so bad and I realized that milk/milk products were a big part of the problem I was able to take milk out of my diet very easily. I'm guessing I need to turn this sugar addiction in to a medical "problem" and it will make it easier. I have had hints of good things happening to my body on the days that I truly go "sugarless" but I won't speak of those things yet . . . need to get serious about this sugar thing so I can make a true correlation.
Oh and just so you know, finding time to blog is WAY harder than taking the sugar out of my diet. I am truly afraid to blog on those evenings when I've had a breakdown. There is really no telling what I would write. :) So we are erring on the side of safety since these words go out to the world.
Here's to a very happy and sugarless Monday!
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Day 3 - Sobering reality . . .
I don't have time for a diatribe tonight but I will leave you with this brief bit of information to ponder. I have a friend who turned me on to a book about addiction - in particular sugar addiction. The name of the book is Potatoes Instead of Prozac (I'm reading the 2nd Edition). I read nearly half of the book today and I am stopping at step 1. I am not going to read any further until I can honestly say that I have completed Step 1. This book talks about the science behind addiction and gives a 7 step road to recovery. I know this may sound funny and ridiculous to some and to that all I can say is I am so glad you have that response. Because if you have that response, you do not have a physiological sugarsensitivity as I do. Both of my children would have laughed out loud at some of the descriptions given in this book because they were describing ME! Suffice it to say that my very first blog about "learning to live without sugar" is so addictive in nature that I am laughing at myself as I sit here typing.
Step 1 is simple. Eat breakfast every morning; eat it within an hour of getting up; and eat the appropriate amount of protein for my weight. Sounds simple huh? The author asks you to do each step for 1 month before moving on to the next step. So blogs might be a little boring and short some days but this is what I am going to do. I had to figure out my protein amount and if you are not sure how to do this, I'll give you a very short simple explanation. Take your weight (mine is 190 - yeah, yeah, yeah, I lost a couple of pounds already), divide this amount in half which gives me 95 now I divide that by 3 (for 3 meals a day) and that gives me 31.66. So for breakfast each morning I've got to figure out how to get 31.66 g of protein in my diet. I also have to have one serving of a complex carbohydrate. Yeah, this is going to be fun. After looking back at my week of breakfasts on MyFitnessPal I haven't eaten more than 15 g of protein at any breakfast. I may be going to the store in the morning before work! In Step 1 you don't count any other numbers you focus on eating every morning, within an hour of getting up and eating the appropriate amount of protein for your weight.
This book is all about learning to use food as a recovery to addiction and not eliminating or denying yourself sweets. It is a scientific methodology to balancing your blood sugar levels, your seratonin levels and your beta-endorphin levels. I comprehended what I read and I get what's going on but don't ask me to explain it.
Here's to another day of learning to live without addiction.
Step 1 is simple. Eat breakfast every morning; eat it within an hour of getting up; and eat the appropriate amount of protein for my weight. Sounds simple huh? The author asks you to do each step for 1 month before moving on to the next step. So blogs might be a little boring and short some days but this is what I am going to do. I had to figure out my protein amount and if you are not sure how to do this, I'll give you a very short simple explanation. Take your weight (mine is 190 - yeah, yeah, yeah, I lost a couple of pounds already), divide this amount in half which gives me 95 now I divide that by 3 (for 3 meals a day) and that gives me 31.66. So for breakfast each morning I've got to figure out how to get 31.66 g of protein in my diet. I also have to have one serving of a complex carbohydrate. Yeah, this is going to be fun. After looking back at my week of breakfasts on MyFitnessPal I haven't eaten more than 15 g of protein at any breakfast. I may be going to the store in the morning before work! In Step 1 you don't count any other numbers you focus on eating every morning, within an hour of getting up and eating the appropriate amount of protein for your weight.
This book is all about learning to use food as a recovery to addiction and not eliminating or denying yourself sweets. It is a scientific methodology to balancing your blood sugar levels, your seratonin levels and your beta-endorphin levels. I comprehended what I read and I get what's going on but don't ask me to explain it.
Here's to another day of learning to live without addiction.
Day 3 - Morning musings
Well the power nap did a number on my sleep. I went to bed at 10. Yes, actually went to bed at 10 pm, no lights, music or TV. I slept great until 2ish. After that it was a ton of tossing and turning and literally waking up every hour on the hour. :( However, I must say that I feel fine this morning. I'm not sleepy and I feel like getting up. However, I slept until 7 which gave me more than 8 hours. This is only because I forgot that I had silenced my 6 am alarm for the weekends. :)
Now on to the good things about this morning! (1) I am alive, up and breathing! Hallelujah! That's the best way to start holy week. (2) I feel lighter. This is not the same feeling as bloated vs not bloated. I am starting my official 3rd full day of no sugar and I truly feel lighter. I wasn't going to do this but I did it any way - I hopped on the scale before my shower AND yes there is a reason for feeling lighter. It actually said 189 lbs. Yep, I know 3 pounds in two days is alot but I can assure you this is just from the shock that my body is going thru. I will make history if this keeps up. :) But alas I am of realistic mind and know that it won't. But I won't lie and tell you I wish it would.
My walking yesterday was good but I only managed to get in 8,600ish steps. My knee and toe kept me from doing any more than that. For those of you who don't know me, don't ask. The knee is one of the issues that I am hoping that the no sugar, weight loss and exercise is going to help and maybe even fix. We can dream can't we????
Now for the real part of this blog, I started my day off with oatmeal (NO SUGAR), 1/2 unsweetened almond milk and black coffee. Today, the coffee is too strong. Not sure how I did this as I think I put the same amount in the coffee pot. :( The oatmeal was not horrible. I used to put at least 2 tbsps of brown sugar on it. Now that I think about it, I also put milk on my oatmeal. It's a real wonder I didn't keel over from too much sugar. My poor poor body.
Oh well, I'm off to a good start today. Oh and I've noticed that I haven't had any bread. I'm not "cutting" it out of my diet but it hasn't come up in any of the recipes. Hmmm, wonder why that is. (Sarcastic moment there) I know that wheat (in any form) is another major culprit in my diet. I learned this from my gluten free stint. I've never been a big bread eater so that's why I knew sugar was the next major thing to get rid of.
Now on to the good things about this morning! (1) I am alive, up and breathing! Hallelujah! That's the best way to start holy week. (2) I feel lighter. This is not the same feeling as bloated vs not bloated. I am starting my official 3rd full day of no sugar and I truly feel lighter. I wasn't going to do this but I did it any way - I hopped on the scale before my shower AND yes there is a reason for feeling lighter. It actually said 189 lbs. Yep, I know 3 pounds in two days is alot but I can assure you this is just from the shock that my body is going thru. I will make history if this keeps up. :) But alas I am of realistic mind and know that it won't. But I won't lie and tell you I wish it would.
My walking yesterday was good but I only managed to get in 8,600ish steps. My knee and toe kept me from doing any more than that. For those of you who don't know me, don't ask. The knee is one of the issues that I am hoping that the no sugar, weight loss and exercise is going to help and maybe even fix. We can dream can't we????
Now for the real part of this blog, I started my day off with oatmeal (NO SUGAR), 1/2 unsweetened almond milk and black coffee. Today, the coffee is too strong. Not sure how I did this as I think I put the same amount in the coffee pot. :( The oatmeal was not horrible. I used to put at least 2 tbsps of brown sugar on it. Now that I think about it, I also put milk on my oatmeal. It's a real wonder I didn't keel over from too much sugar. My poor poor body.
Oh well, I'm off to a good start today. Oh and I've noticed that I haven't had any bread. I'm not "cutting" it out of my diet but it hasn't come up in any of the recipes. Hmmm, wonder why that is. (Sarcastic moment there) I know that wheat (in any form) is another major culprit in my diet. I learned this from my gluten free stint. I've never been a big bread eater so that's why I knew sugar was the next major thing to get rid of.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Day 2 - The hard lessons of today . . .
Let's just say that today has been interesting. Here are the main issues:
1. Keeping the kitchen a "NO SUGAR" zone.
2. What the crap do I do with myself when I'm having a "SUGAR CRAVING".
I read a great website blog today and they made a comment that you need to find the foods "that love you back". Hmmm, this will take a little thought. I guess I really need to analyze each day and what I've eaten and how it made me feel. As I look back over the last two days, I really believe that I need to add a multi-vitamin. I really thought that I was getting more of my vitamins than I am. I never seem to get enough Vitamin A or B.
Interesting time today - I had a really bad sugar craving. I opted for a granny smith apple and one tablespoon of NaturAlmond Butter. Believe it or not but the apple has 6 g of naturally occurring sugar. WOW! Going to have to watch my fruit intake. I did get a headache today when I had the sugar crazing. I know all the best people say do things in stages but that just doesn't work for me. I will have to learn to eat as soon as the headache starts. Apparently (from what I've read) the headache comes from an insulin spike. Hmmm, will have to figure out how to keep this from happening.
I did make chicken salad with one tablespoon of sweet pickle relish. It only contains 2 g of sugar in 1 tablespoon so that will have to be my "cheat" for this weekend. I'll save this for Sunday evening or maybe Monday's lunch. :)
So I bought a popcorn popper today so I can have a quick low calorie snack. I also bought a water pitcher with a built in filter. I don't know why it took me so long to buy one of these. I've been very "ungreen" as I have been buying bottles or gallons of water. Well there will be no more bottles!! YAY!!
Well I had a weak moment after supper. :( I tried but I just needed a bite of something so I scoured the frig and found a package of semi sweet chocolate chips. I had 2 itty bitty chips. This did the trick! I completed my day with 13 g of sugar. 2 more than yesterday. Oh well, I'm am WAY below my usual amount.
I do hope this gets easier because I really do find myself thinking about sugary sweets WAY TOO MUCH!
1. Keeping the kitchen a "NO SUGAR" zone.
2. What the crap do I do with myself when I'm having a "SUGAR CRAVING".
I read a great website blog today and they made a comment that you need to find the foods "that love you back". Hmmm, this will take a little thought. I guess I really need to analyze each day and what I've eaten and how it made me feel. As I look back over the last two days, I really believe that I need to add a multi-vitamin. I really thought that I was getting more of my vitamins than I am. I never seem to get enough Vitamin A or B.
Interesting time today - I had a really bad sugar craving. I opted for a granny smith apple and one tablespoon of NaturAlmond Butter. Believe it or not but the apple has 6 g of naturally occurring sugar. WOW! Going to have to watch my fruit intake. I did get a headache today when I had the sugar crazing. I know all the best people say do things in stages but that just doesn't work for me. I will have to learn to eat as soon as the headache starts. Apparently (from what I've read) the headache comes from an insulin spike. Hmmm, will have to figure out how to keep this from happening.
I did make chicken salad with one tablespoon of sweet pickle relish. It only contains 2 g of sugar in 1 tablespoon so that will have to be my "cheat" for this weekend. I'll save this for Sunday evening or maybe Monday's lunch. :)
So I bought a popcorn popper today so I can have a quick low calorie snack. I also bought a water pitcher with a built in filter. I don't know why it took me so long to buy one of these. I've been very "ungreen" as I have been buying bottles or gallons of water. Well there will be no more bottles!! YAY!!
Well I had a weak moment after supper. :( I tried but I just needed a bite of something so I scoured the frig and found a package of semi sweet chocolate chips. I had 2 itty bitty chips. This did the trick! I completed my day with 13 g of sugar. 2 more than yesterday. Oh well, I'm am WAY below my usual amount.
I do hope this gets easier because I really do find myself thinking about sugary sweets WAY TOO MUCH!
Day 2 - Well Day 1 wasn't so bad . . .
So much for blogging twice a day. I'll try to do better. :)
Well I awoke on Day 2 already noticing a difference in how I feel. Most notably how well I slept, but that could also be from the extra exercise I got yesterday. Not really sure which area I want to give the most credit too. :)
Looking back at my food entries (I use MyFitnessPal to track my food), I ended up with 11 grams of sugar for the day all of which came from natural fruits and vegetables. That is a HUGE drop in what I have been getting. I dare not tell you how much sugar I used to get in my diet AND how much artificial sugar I was getting! Using sugar free items is only replacing one bad thing for another. To think that I won't take medicine but I'll put all that unnatural crap in my body . . . what a hypocritical lifestyle.
So I ate my last serving of bacon this morning. MUST check those labels next time I am at the store. Today I need to spend some time thinking about how I want to handle my grocery shopping. If food is in the kitchen, I will mindlessly graze. Thus, I think today should be about cleaning out the "crap" (a/k/a high sugar content foods) from my kitchen. I guess this means I have to say goodbye to my frosted blueberry mini wheats! :( Makes me sad just thinking about it. Maybe I will hide the box somewhere else so that when I'm feeling weak I can grab a couple. I promise I'll tell you if I hide the box so I can be held accountable. I can already tell that I am going to regret like hell starting this blog. :)
I have a church dinner group tonight so I think I will make crockpot mac n' cheese. Easy to make and no sugar. Lots of other stuff but I can assure you it will make everyone at dinner group smile.
Today is beautiful so I hope to get my 10,000 steps in outside! Here's to an exciting and productive Day 2.
P.S. For anyone who wants to hold me even more accountable, you can follow me on MyFitnessPal, comment on this post and I'll send you a request.
Well I awoke on Day 2 already noticing a difference in how I feel. Most notably how well I slept, but that could also be from the extra exercise I got yesterday. Not really sure which area I want to give the most credit too. :)
Looking back at my food entries (I use MyFitnessPal to track my food), I ended up with 11 grams of sugar for the day all of which came from natural fruits and vegetables. That is a HUGE drop in what I have been getting. I dare not tell you how much sugar I used to get in my diet AND how much artificial sugar I was getting! Using sugar free items is only replacing one bad thing for another. To think that I won't take medicine but I'll put all that unnatural crap in my body . . . what a hypocritical lifestyle.
So I ate my last serving of bacon this morning. MUST check those labels next time I am at the store. Today I need to spend some time thinking about how I want to handle my grocery shopping. If food is in the kitchen, I will mindlessly graze. Thus, I think today should be about cleaning out the "crap" (a/k/a high sugar content foods) from my kitchen. I guess this means I have to say goodbye to my frosted blueberry mini wheats! :( Makes me sad just thinking about it. Maybe I will hide the box somewhere else so that when I'm feeling weak I can grab a couple. I promise I'll tell you if I hide the box so I can be held accountable. I can already tell that I am going to regret like hell starting this blog. :)
I have a church dinner group tonight so I think I will make crockpot mac n' cheese. Easy to make and no sugar. Lots of other stuff but I can assure you it will make everyone at dinner group smile.
Today is beautiful so I hope to get my 10,000 steps in outside! Here's to an exciting and productive Day 2.
P.S. For anyone who wants to hold me even more accountable, you can follow me on MyFitnessPal, comment on this post and I'll send you a request.
Day 1 - Confession time
Here it is, confession time . . . I AM ADDICTED TO SUGAR. There I said it, now how to deal with it.
It is Friday, April 11th, 2014 and it’s around 8 am. After a restless night where my thoughts wrestled constantly with what I can do for myself, my health, as well as my children, I decided it was time to take extreme measures. Mind you this is not a new thought just a realization that I have to quit thinking about this and DO IT!
Thus, after my shower this morning I weighed myself. It revealed a whopping 192lbs and I am not quite 5’7”. I am approximately 60lbs overweight (this actually puts me in the “obese” category L) and I have some health issues that I believe could be changed/fixed with a diet/lifestyle adjustment. I’m not talking about a diet, I’m talking about cleaning up my diet and life in a huge way. I had the pleasure (I use this term loosely) of reading a couple of articles last night that inspired me but also scared me.
I am convinced that sugar and dairy are the main culprits in my diet right now. I went gluten free and dairy free about a year and a half ago with amazing results. Why did I not stay on this??? That is a million dollar question, especially after my body showed how great the results were.
I am committing today to what will be a life of “hell on earth” as I can only imagine how hard it is going to be for me to take as much sugar out of my diet as I possibly can. I have an addictive behavior pattern and thus cold turkey is going to be best for me. I make all kinds of excuses when I try to “wean” off of sugar. Therefore, I am starting this blog so that I can hold myself accountable to myself and to the world. My thoughts are that if I blog about this every morning and every night, I might figure out how to break these patterns. Funny how putting thoughts to paper brings about greater revelation . . . at least it does for me.
In addition, I am taking the 10,000 steps challenge. I usually average anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 steps a day but I need to kick this up. My weight is not only dictated by what I eat but also by how much I exercise.
My first item of “tweaking” will be my coffee. Black! I usually use sugar free creamer but that contains a different form of sugar. What I am learning is that sugar in all its forms needs to be deleted or curbed to the very minimum. I know that I will not be able to eliminate sugar 100% because of the natural occurring sugar in fruits and some vegetables but I’m shooting for the 90% target as I can assure you that will make a HUGE difference for me.
Here is my first “slip up”. I had bacon, scrambled egg with some black pepper and 2 tbsps of shredded cheese AND black coffee. Yep, no creamer. I actually drank it. Funny thing is, I think I actually drink the coffee for the coffee and not the creamer. Who knew! J Well I started this paragraph to explain my slip up. Did you know Bacon has sugar in it? I didn’t. I buy the uncured, nitrite free kind and sure enough, 4th item on the list under ingredients is “sugar”. Well in an effort to be frugal and because I hate to throw everything in my cabinets out, I will eat the remaining bacon later this weekend. I only have one serving left so I’m not slipping up heavily. I can already tell that taking sugar out of my diet is going to decrease my calories in a BIG way.
Well off to work. Lunch should be interesting as I don’t have anything to take with me so I’m going to be at the mercy of restaurant food.
See you tonight!
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