It has been now almost 3
weeks since I officially gave up sugar. I am at the same time, slightly
disappointed in the amount I have cheated, and also quite proud of how many
times I have resisted the urge to cheat. When I began this, I was determined to
do it right. I was determined that no matter how difficult it was to control my
cravings and how difficult it was to find things that I was allowed to eat, I
would not cheat (except for modest alcohol consumption, as it was the only exception
I was allowing myself).
I found it was surprisingly
easy to find things I could eat and drink. As I generally ate pretty healthy to
begin with, I only had to eliminate the bad stuff and find a few new healthy
replacements. Whole wheat crackers and unsalted peanuts substituted when I
craved the crunch of chips, and the bubbles of seltzer replaced the bubbles I
missed in my ginger ale (although I do still miss the ginger in my ginger ale.
I think I will have to start drinking more ginger tea and try to incorporate it
into my meals occasionally). I consider my greatest success so far in this
challenge to be that I have not once cheated due to loss of control and letting
my cravings get the better of me. Each and every time I cheated on my diet, I
made the conscious decision to do so, and did so at a time when I was not
feeling an uncontrollable urge to cheat. Maybe everyone won’t see the
difference, but to me it is a big one. I feel in complete control of my
cravings, and it feels great!
My biggest disappointment or
failure so far is that I have not been cooking healthy meals. I originally
planned to try one new recipe a week, to start gradually, but so far I have
done this only once in 3 weeks. Despite this, I have not been cheating when I
eat dinner. I simply revert to my easy standbys of Trader Joe’s burritos, whole
wheat pasta, or a variety of veggies, fruit, whole wheat pita w/ hummus, and
whole wheat crackers, or whatever other healthy snack options I keep around the
house now.
Ok, I have to change the
subject now, because I just had a revelation of sorts… I spent the weekend drinking
with a friend from out of town. I made the conscious decision to cheat a little
because it’s not often I have friends from out of town. All of my meal choices
still followed my required diet, but I indulged in many sugary cocktails this
weekend. When I cheat like this, I try to pay attention to the differences I
notice in my body. So far, whenever I drink, I notice that my dizziness
returns, but I’m never sure if it’s the alcohol or the sugar causing it.
Tonight however, just now as I was writing this blog, I experienced one of the
more unusual symptoms of sugar overload… eyeball or eye socket ache. When I
realized tonight that my eyes were aching, I also realized I haven’t
experienced this once since I began my new diet. During my sugar heydays, I
experienced eyeball ache frequently and just thought it was a symptom of being
overtired.
It is quite an “eye-opener”,
and a wonderful motivator when I realize that these symptoms truly are tied to
my sugar consumption, and it reminds me how much better I feel when I avoid
sugar and all simple carbs. The more I am aware of this, the easier it is to
resist temptation. To be honest, a lot of the things I used to crave are now
starting to not look so tempting anymore. I still have some seriously bad
cravings from time to time (my whole body was shaking on Friday as I tried to
resist the temptation to indulge in some delicious looking cupcakes that
someone brought in to work), but I am starting to see that I will reach the day
when my cravings will disappear or at least fade to almost nothing. I look
forward to that day. I am now focusing on all the delicious foods I DO get to
eat. It’s been quite an exciting culinary adventure so far, and I haven’t even
started cooking for myself yet. Once I get to that phase, I think is when I
will really start to forget about all those once-delicious, misery-inducing
candies!
And now it is time to rest
my weary, aching eyes…
For quick meals at home, I started making a big batch of brown rice on the weekend (I use organic chicken stock instead of water) and use that as a base for meals throughout the week. Just add veg and protein. The meal I been doing a lot lately is bowl of brown rice w shredded spinach sauteed in garlic/butter and soy sauce w two over easy eggs on top and hot sauce. Pretty inexpensive and super yums.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea! I'm definitely going to start using brown rice for meals. I had sushi this weekend and substituted brown rice and actually liked it better... Thanks for the idea, I'm definitely going to try that!
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