Week One of the Sugar Detox

I have completed an entire week! The past week has had its challenges, but that makes me feel all the more accomplished.

My energy level and mood took a nosedive after the first few days. This is supposed to be a common occurrence as your body adjusts to not being fed a steady stream of sugars/carbs. I kind of took things easy, skipping a couple workouts and just kind of sitting around more than I usually do. For the past couple of days, I have been feeling much better. I'm looking forward to doing some sprints tomorrow!

Then there is the odd rash I developed. I got an itchy, red, scaly rash up the side of my neck, all along one side of my mouth, the rims of my nostrils, and even my upper lip (sexy!). Along with this, my throat was sore and I had inflamed tonsils. According to the 21-Day Sugar Detox materials, these are symptoms of candida die-off. The idea behind this is that, while everyone has candida (a fungus) in their digestive system, some people have an overgrowth. When you go on a diet such as this one and deprive the candida of the sugar it consumes as food, it begins dying off in mass quantities and your body reacts as it is flushed out of your body. I actually saw the doctor about this, and he had (not surprisingly) never heard of such a thing. He cultured my throat (negative for strep, thankfully), pronounced my rash a type of eczema, and instructed me to put hydrocortisone on it. I have never had eczema in my life. I decided against the hydrocortisone, seeing as it and sun exposure don't mix, and treated it with coconut oil instead. (You know how the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding put Windex on everything? That's me with coconut oil.) At any rate, my rash is now starting to clear up, which is such a relief! I am not convinced it was truly caused by "candida die-off", but it does seem like a huge coincidence.

Social settings presented their own challenges. On the Fourth of July, my family and I went to the movies. The kids got a tub of popcorn to share, but I somehow managed not to eat even one kernel. I munched on the pistachios I smuggled in instead. (Being prepared is of the utmost importance!) Then of course there is the typical barbecue fare served on the Fourth. My husband (who is being super supportive and doing this along with me) and I had grass-fed burgers and hot dogs, minus the buns, and I made up some foil veggie packets for the grill. Roasted broccoli and salad rounded out our meal. On Sunday, the kids and I spent the day boating with family. To take along in the cooler, I made some roast beef roll-ups with yogurt cheese and roasted red peppers. I also packed a bag of raw mixed veggies, a sugar-detox legal muffin from a batch I'd baked the previous day, and the materials required for my new favorite drink: club soda with lime. (Lemon and lime juice are allowed.) Aunt Vicky brought on board a selection of frosted sugar cookies that the kids eagerly went for, but I discovered that they didn't even look appealing to me. (It's working!)

It truly is getting easier after that first week. I'm feeling good, my energy has come back, and I've lost three pounds! Right now this seems like a sustainable way to eat, although I am definitely looking forward to eating fruit again. I'm a third of the way through!

Day 3 of the Sugar Detox

Things are going pretty well! I am not craving sugar much at all...maybe a few fleeting thoughts, but nothing unmanageable. The worst was yesterday when I baked some homemade peanut butter granola bars for my kids, which I decided to do because I'm apparently a masochist. The whole house smelled incredible and the kids were exclaiming over how good they were, but I got through it with a handful of almonds. Overall, I've actually not had much of an appetite, although I'm more thirsty than usual. I think making sure I'm eating plenty of fat, as suggested by the program, is helpful. Lots of butter and coconut oil, and I am now keeping a jar of bacon grease on my counter like my grandma used to - I never would have seen that coming! I am glad that before I even started this detox I had stopped believing in the unproven theory that saturated fat is bad. (See the movie Fathead for more information.)

My energy levels are so-so. I went for a run yesterday morning and incorporated sprints, which I've been doing once a week. My sprints were pretty strong and fast, but I was wiped out for the rest of the day after that - and starving when I got home! For a recovery snack, I ate some plain Greek yogurt with cinnamon. I'm not sure if I could ever get used to eating unsweetened yogurt on a regular basis - it at least needs some fruit. Today I did my regular strength training routine and got through it fine (my squats are getting deeper and my push-ups are improving!) but by the time I got home from grocery shopping with the kids this afternoon I needed some coffee. My mood hasn't been the best, but it's been worse! Everything is supposed to improve by Day 7, so I'm almost halfway there.

The 21-Day Sugar Detox

 

Today I started a new program, The 21-Day Sugar Detox, so I thought I would revive the blog to keep myself accountable and to keep the majority of people on my Facebook friends list from becoming alienated. The idea behind the detox is to eliminate sugar/carb cravings by removing foods containing high amounts of sugar from your diet for three weeks. My carb snarfing is way under control compared to my half-marathon training days, but I still regularly get sugar cravings - especially ice cream - and I would like to kick the habit. I would also like to kick to the curb the last nine pounds I need to lose in order to reach my goal weight, and I'm sure this program will put a dent in that.

The "Do Not Eat" food list is pretty restrictive. Fruit, grains, processed foods, anything containing any type of sweetener (including artificial ones), any type of alcohol, sweet/white potatoes, peas, and all legumes (including peanuts) are forbidden. There are three levels to the program. I chose Level 2, which allows full-fat dairy. I couldn't care less about milk, but I love butter and cheese. Fortunately for me, the program is not too different from how I have been eating lately, as I have been eating about 90% Paleo/Primal for the past month or so. I don't make grains a regular part of my diet anymore (although popcorn is a must-have treat for me) and I've been trying to avoid most processed foods for quite some time now. I will miss fruit, but it's only for three weeks! I can still eat most vegetables, any type of meat, most nuts and seeds, eggs, cheese and butter (along with other healthy fats, such as coconut oil and olive oil).

Last night I had some farewell-to-sugar snacks: a mango and some stove-popped popcorn. I'm rather proud of myself that I didn't turn it into an excuse to make an ice cream run. Today I had Jason take some "before" pictures, which I may or may not share - it depends on how good the "after" pictures look! Today it was fairly easy sticking to the program: kale sauteed in butter with eggs for breakfast, leftover (Paleo) southwest chicken vegetable soup for lunch, and roasted chicken with spaghetti squash au gratin and cooked baby carrots for dinner. (I was pleasantly surprised carrots were allowed, being one of the sweeter vegetables.) I admit I looked a little longingly at I Scream U Scream when I went out to pick up a movie tonight, but it wasn't hard to resist. Day One is in the bag - just 20 more to go!

 

Rocking A 5-Mile Race

I was very excited about doing the Y's Rock the 80's race for several reasons: it's fun, it's close to home, many members of my run club were participating, and the course was designed by the leader of my run club and another member. I was originally planning to do the 10-mile race but I wasn't far enough along in my training; plus, I wanted to ensure I'd be back in time to do the Fun Run with my kids. So in the end I opted for the five-miler. (Note that this race was measured in miles, not kilometers!) I was also excited once I thought about planning my 80's outfit! Instead of going for the traditional 80's valley girl look, with a side ponytail, leggings and neon colors, I decided to go for the Dirt Rocker girl look, which is much closer to how I was in high school, even though that was in the 90's. I really wanted to wear a Metallica shirt because they were my favorite band back in the day, but when I went to Hot Topic in search of an 80's-era Metallica shirt they didn't have any. I settled for an overpriced, brand-new Guns N' Roses shirt that looked like it had been around since 1987. A studded pleather wrist cuff and a skull bandana completed my ensemble nicely.

The race had a start time of 8:00, so it was still very chilly when I left my house. All three of my kids were still in bed and in the care of my wonderful, encouraging husband. It was also extremely foggy! I took extra care driving to the Y, questioning the wisdom of wearing all black clothing.

I met up with fellow members of the O'Fallon Y's No Boundaries run club for some joking and words of encouragement, and we made sure to stop by the timing booth to say hi to our fearless leader, Robin, who designed the day's courses. My run club is composed of an amazing group of strong, supportive, fun women, and my life has been so enriched by knowing them. Much love, ladies! We were milling around waiting for the race to start, and then all of a sudden it did!

I started out fairly slow but steady. Not in the rear, but not quite the middle, either. Immediately my glasses started giving me a problem. The foggy conditions led to constant fogging of my glasses. I wish I could run without them but that really isn't an option! I had to settle for taking them off periodically and wiping them off with my shirt. And as it turns out, a studded pleather wrist cuff is not the most comfortable item to wear while running, either! It kept rubbing on my wrist and I knew I'd have raw skin if I didn't remove it, so it was gone before I was through the first mile. I carried it in my hand for a couple miles before I finally had the sense to fasten it to the Spibelt around my waist.

Toward the end of Mile 2, I started to catch a good stride. First, I passed a pair of guys in their 20s. Then I started up the large hill on North Lincoln. I thought about what Robin had taught me about hills: don't lean into them, even though you want to. I kept myself upright and tried not to shorten my pace. Huffing and puffing - and keeping my 45-minute goal in mind - I passed another runner on the hill! The only person I was truly interested in racing against was myself, but the psychological boost I got from passing those runners - especially the guy on the hill, since a hill is my natural nemesis - was very powerful for me! I needed little recovery time at the top of the hill and I started going decidedly faster.

At about 3.5 miles came THE hill. The hill on North Smiley, shortly before Wildwood. Anyone who has ever run south on Smiley in O'Fallon is surely familiar with it. I crossed the street to the left because I think it is easier to go up that side - and no one had better dare try to disillusion me on that! I took some deep breaths to fill my lungs with oxygen, remembered again to stay upright, and went up that hill far faster than I ever have in the countless times I've tackled it before! Recovery time was a little tougher after that one, but I knew what was just ahead: the four-mile mark! Home free!

It is so gratifying to hear people cheering in the distance as you approach the finish line. I can't even describe how it feels. I barreled down the length of sidewalk leading to the Y's parking lot, which made me think of Anthony Kiedis running in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under the Bridge" video. Robin taught us to always speed up at the end of a run, and hopefully I did her proud! I passed the finish line at 48.37. It was more than the 45 minutes I was shooting for, but I still came in at under a 10-minute split! I drank some water and dashed home to get my kids, hoping to be back in time to see my 10-miler friends pass the finish line. I didn't quite make it, but I still got to see them and congratulate them on a job well done! We went inside and warmed up in the sauna for a few minutes. (I decided I still don't like saunas!)

We headed back outside for the award announcements, arriving toward the end, but in time to hear Amanda's name announced for first place in her age division. I fully expected her to win and was so happy for her, especially considering it was her first race! We rushed back inside to warm up and get our kids for the Fun Run. On the way back out I was told I had won one of the prizes for Best Dressed. "Hey, at least I won something!" I said. It was a gift certificate for one paid class, so I know I'll put it to good use, too.

We had a great time with the kids during the Fun Run (which was composed of Run Club members' kids only!), and when we went back in both Maria and Robin told me they thought they had heard my name called while the medals were being given out. I didn't think that was possible at all! Robin had the finish times on her laptop and checked them and, to my surprise, I learned I placed second in my age division! I couldn't help but tear up a little! I never thought I could win anything in a race - not until I get older and the competition dwindles, at least! Less than a year ago, I did my first 5K and I wasn't even able to run the entire thing! It felt pretty amazing to be the recipient of a medal, even though it was a small race and all the really fast runners did the 10-miler. :)

I'm feeling a lot more positive about running these days. I want to keep going, and I want to run that half marathon on Mother's Day! I set that goal a couple months ago and I made promises to my run club ladies, so I'm going to stick with it!

Second place, in your face!

Running on Apathy

Headed for the finish line at the John Wilt Foundation 5K last October

I am not loving running as of late. I am supposed to be training for a half marathon on Mother's Day and I was initially very excited about it, but now I'm kind of "meh".

It could be because I have been unable to run regularly. Over the past several weeks, snow days, sick kids, and other factors have prevented me from sticking to a schedule, and I've only been able to get a couple runs in per week.

I've also been feeling really slow. I have been way behind everyone else in my run club, and running in the back by yourself can be rather demoralizing. I run a heck of a lot faster than I used to (I went from averaging a 12 to 12:30 minute mile to 10 to 10:30), but I run with some gazelles! (For anyone in my run club reading this, I hope you know I don't resent you for being fast and I am in fact very happy for you.)

I know I've been tired. I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in a long time. The baby was sick for a week and she hasn't been sleeping well ever since. Hopefully this will change soon!

I'm not eating carbs like I used to. It's been slightly more than two weeks since I changed my diet and my body is still adjusting. Maybe I need to cave and eat a bowl of oatmeal before my next run. (Although I did have a good run after eating a breakfast of eggs, spinach, cottage cheese, and an orange.)

Then there is the fact that a large component of running is psychological. The more weightlifting resources I read, the more I think that long-distance running is too much cardio, and something the human body is not designed for. It kind of makes me wonder why I'm doing it! To prove that I can? I feel like I've already proved I can do a lot of things. I would have never dreamed I could run six miles, so why do I feel a need to more than double that?

This is not to say I'm giving up on exercise - far from it! Exercise is important for my health and happiness. And while I'm no longer sure I'll be getting up at 5:00 in the morning on Mother's Day to run 13 miles, I'm not giving up on running for now. After I pick up the kids from school, I'm heading to the gym - nothing like logging a few miles on the treadmill to renew a love for running, eh? ;)

Adventures in Real Food

Weird happenings in my kitchen today

Today I made yogurt cheese! The claim on all these health food websites is that yogurt cheese is very similar in taste and texture to cream cheese. Unlike cream cheese, it's full of probiotics. It can take the place of cream cheese in any recipe as long as it doesn't need to be melted. And it's super simple to make: pour a container of yogurt into a piece of cheesecloth (or a cotton kitchen towel, if you're like me and have no idea where to buy cheesecloth), suspend it over a container, and let the liquid whey drain out. I hung up the ends of the ends of the towel in order to keep the bottom out of the whey. I plan to make veggie and fruit dips from the yogurt cheese, but I'm hanging on to the whey, too. It's good for added protein in smoothies and many other recipes

It only took a few hours for a 32-ounce container of plain Dannon yogurt to drain. It made almost 2 cups of yogurt cheese and a little over 12 ounces of whey. I had some of the yogurt cheese with celery. It's really good! It does indeed taste like cream cheese, albeit a bit tangier. I can't wait to see if it passes the kid taste test.

This little real food experiment went much better than the one I attempted yesterday: making my own chicken stock. I buy cartons of chicken broth or stock regularly, but it never occurred to me how much more economical and healthful it would be to make my own. The directions I followed to make the stock stated to let it cook for up to 24 hours in order to extract the most nutrients from the chicken bones. I brought the leftover carcass from a roasted chicken to a boil, cleared the area of anything remotely flammable, and set the burner on my stove to its lowest setting overnight. (I figure it's no more dangerous than leaving a crock pot on while I'm gone during the day.) When I woke up this morning, the pot wasn't so much as simmering! I stuck my meat thermometer in there and it barely registered 140 degrees. Salmonella city! Into the trash it went. Such a disappointment, but I plan to try again tomorrow.

Rethinking My Diet

I mean "diet" in the true sense of the word: my regularly consumed food and drink; not in the sense of a restrictive regimen designed to lose weight. I want to change my eating habits for the better permanently - and my family's, too, whether they like it or not!

When I lost 60 pounds four years ago, I was following the South Beach Diet, which is an approach to low-carb dieting. It obviously worked - until I got pregnant and went back to my carb-bingeing ways. When I got back on track a year ago and decided to get the weight off again, I initially went back to South Beach. I had the plans memorized and knew that it worked. Then I discovered calorie counting. The general wisdom there is that as long as you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. That is true. However, I began budgeting things like pizza, french fries, donuts, and other things with refined flour and sugar into my calories for the day. On a typical day, I'd eat a low-calorie breakfast and lunch (Special K and Lean Cuisine were my friends) so that I would still have 1000 calories (sometimes more) available for dinner. I was happy I wasn't eating like someone on a diet. I was also setting myself up for failure.

I did calorie counting for almost a year. I finally came to the realization that it wasn't working. Yes, I was losing weight, at times rapidly, but there were long periods of time when nothing happened. I yo-yo'd with the same five pounds from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day! Eating those unhealthy foods just caused me to crave them more, and overindulge more and more frequently. With what I was eating in the amounts I was eating it, you'd think I'd have started piling the weight back on, but I would alternate with calorie deficit days and exercise so much that it evened out. Running five miles or doing a Spinning class would burn 600-700 calories a pop. I would get really cranky on days I couldn't do a workout because I couldn't eat as much as I needed to truly feel full. I was also obviously not eating healthily, nor was I having a positive relationship with food. Something had to change. A lot of things, really.

My "Ausamerican" friend Haley (visit her blog here) had been posting some articles and information on Facebook that were making me question what I thought I knew about healthy eating. I asked her some questions and that led me to explore "real food". Real food is food that is as close as possible to its natural state. Guidelines for looking for real food include "not eating anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food" and "not eating anything with a logo on it". Fresh or minimally processed fruits and vegetables, meats, dairy, eggs, butter, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains. Using real food guidelines, I came up with my own healthy eating plan:

• I'm eating more fat. Eating healthy fat helps improve satiety and keeps food cravings at bay. I was surprised to learn that conventional wisdom about saturated fat no longer holds water. I started using real butter instead of I Can't Believe It's Not. I was disappointed to learn that the canola oil I'd been baking with and using in whole-grain pancakes and waffles was highly refined, bleached and deodorized. I ordered some coconut oil and am learning to use it. At least I was already regularly using one type of healthy fat: olive oil.
• I'm not eating anything with added sugar or artificial sweeteners. I will allow myself some honey or real maple syrup if needed. I used to think stevia was natural, but the process that makes the white powder found at the grocery store is anything but.
• I'm cutting out processed food. There are certain items in my kitchen, such as salad dressing, that I'm going to finish up because it would be wasteful to just toss it, but I'm planning to make the switch to homemade and real food versions of everything I can.
• I'm watching my carb intake again. I'm shooting for 75-100 grams of carbohydrates a day, maybe a bit more on run days. My Fitness Pal is still very helpful at tracking this for me. I even set my profile to my new carb ceiling.
• For two weeks, I am not eating any grains. That includes wheat, oats, rice, and corn. I am doing this to get cravings for problem carbs under control and to stabilize my blood sugar. I also want to see how my body reacts as they're (slowly) reintroduced.

It's been a week and a day since I've fully adopted and stuck to this new eating plan, including not eating grains. I have lost five pounds! I'm not sure if I was retaining a lot of water or what - all I know is that the scale is showing five pounds gone. My stomach has shrunk noticeably. My eating self control has improved by leaps and bounds. (I have even made waffles and muffins for my kids and not tasted a bite.) I'm not hungry all the time. It's hard to judge whether I've had more energy because I've been dealing with a sick toddler who hasn't been sleeping well, but I certainly don't have less energy than normal.

All of this is not set in stone. If I deviate from time to time, I'm not going to beat myself up (although I am going to be strict about the no-grain period). I think the 80/20 rule is good to follow - if you eat right 80% of the time, the other 20% of not-so-great eating will not affect you too much. Which is what I'm going to use to justify taking my kids to their school's McTeacher Night at McDonalds this evening.