Motivation to keep going!

If you are considering a sugarless diet, this will win you over!!

60 min segment on Sugar being toxic

Step 1: Awareness!

Ok, so I decided I had way to much sugar and I should try to detox*, I don't really like the idea of cutting fruits and things in general from my diet but the more I read the more I thought I should, for a short period at least.
The first thing I did was eliminate anything that had sugar, I found this list on this link: Sugar on food labels

• Agave Nectar
• Barley Malt Syrup
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
• Dehydrated Cane Juice
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Fructose
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Glucose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Honey
• Invert sugar
• Lactose
• Maltodextrin
• Malt syrup
• Maltose
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Raw sugar
• Rice Syrup
• Saccharose
• Sorghum or sorghum syrup
• Sucrose
• Syrup
• Treacle
• Turbinado Sugar
• Xylose

I also eliminated anything that was made of white flour. Here is why:  "When you eat something made from white flour, your body doesn't have to do much work at all to access the sugars (energy) that the food provides. As soon as it hits your stomach and intestines, the sugar molecules are absorbed across the skin membrane as glucose into the blood, leading to a huge blood sugar spike." Full article

I made simple adjustments such as: 

• Eating plan yogurt (It's hard at first but after a few days your pallet will get used it) 
• Drinking unsweetened almond milk
• Not adding anything to my coffee
• Always having nuts in my purse to snack on
• Drink more water!
• I tried to avoid gum too but sometimes it helps to have a piece

In terms of fruit, the more reading I did the more I leaned the amount of fruit I ate in a day added up to a lot of sugar (or fructose) so I decided that for the first few weeks I would give up on fruit (except green apples, I have a small one a day) and lastly no alcohol for the first couple weeks (the end of the semester is almost over so I might need to be flexible on this).

Thank you to all the resources that helped me throughout this process!

My sweet indulgences! Sugarless!!!

Ok, so being the sweet tooth addict that I am today I made it my mission to have something sweet like that would suffice my desire for chocolate.

I am not a soda fan, but if you are Zevia is a soda sweetened with Stevia. Also a spoonful of unsweetened peanut butter will do the trick for me.

As for the coconutty bites, I made these up tonight. And they worked for me! 

Keep in mind, the sweetest thing I've eaten in the last 10 days is a green apple! This is how I made them:

I melted coconut oil in a pan then added some unsweetened chocolate (tried it on its own and it made me sad to know it was very unpleasant tasting), a pinch (it's really sweet) of Stevia and some unsweetened peanut butter until it was all melted. Then I turned off the stove and added brown rice crispies and stirred until it was all mixed. I set it on a plate and let it cool.
Once cooled I used a little bit of coconut milk just enough to splash the brown rice crispies then added a tad bit of coconut flower to thicken it. I added some coconut flakes for extra coconut. I put them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to hold its shape and cool down faster, but I actually enjoyed it cold. 

The hard things!

One of my biggest challenge so far has not been the fact I'm not eating sugar. The hardest thing was telling people why I was doing this.
In Brazil (where I am from) sugar is in everything. People use A LOT of sugar in their coffee. When I told my mom that I was doing this she thought it was just for the purpose of self inflicted pain. It wasn't! and it wasn't that painful! But I was very strict with my no sugar rule, especially in the begging. That meant no drinking alcohol either, not that I am a heavy drinker but who doesn't enjoy a beer on a Friday night? The weekend would be my biggest challenge I knew it, but more on that later.
My point is every time I am out with anyone I feel like I have to defend my diet, explain the whys and get asked multiple times if I am sure I don't want a drink or a piece of pizza! It's not easy!
 I need to come up with some sort of drink I can order while I am not drinking (which I only plan to do for 3 weeks total), I'm not doing artificial sweeteners either because I feel like that would defeat the purpose of health.

Handy tip: I always have a bag of almonds and sunflower seeds in my purse!

I went to the movie with my friend to watch The Lucky one, which was terrible in my opinion, but this is the snack that I brought to the movies with me. Way to save some $$ and not be tempted by unhealthy snacks!

The first few days

I know that sounds dramatic but if you knew of my late night chocolate binges you would be surprised!

First of all, yes it was challenging in the first days. But it is totally doable! You just have to commit to it! Find something that motivates you and drives you! 

On the first days I spent most of my free time reading blogs of other people who had done this (hence why I decided to share my experience) and it was a great motivator to know other people had gone through the same thing as me. I will later post the details of how I've been doing this diet change. But here is a little visual of my grocery list for the first week (I did eat more than this and things that were not on the picture).
The first day was great! It was a Sunday, I worked out and was feeling great!
On Monday though, I woke up shaky, not feeling well. Had a fog in my head most of the day. I did not get crazy headaches, but I felt strange! I never went hungry in this whole time! I think since this is a big change I am  eating allowed foods freely.
Day 3- Was very similar, fighting the urges and staying away. Mornings and nights were the worse! I just felt weak almost. I also noticed my skin was more bumpy this day and I felt like I was sweating a lot (but that might be due to the fact it was hot and I was moving but still).
Day 4- I woke up feeling groggy at first, but then again I always do and like magic I was feeling amazing before my coffee! WHAT??? I usually don't even open my eyes before my french press has been pressed down! I had a lot of energy this day and was feeling very motivated by that. I also felt like I wasn't hungry ALL the time. Before I would get these sudden urges to eat and that didn't seem to happen as much.
I will list some the resources that I used: I bought a great E-Book called I quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson that helped me a lot. The more I read and got informed I got more inspired to keep going. I wasn't actually that tempted to eat sweets anymore and that felt like FREEDOM to me, who a week before devoured a bag of chocolate chip cookies in two days.
Strength!!

My own sugar detox

Why did I even think about eliminating sugar from my diet?
I used to get a lot of migraines ever since I was a child, and after puberty it got even worse. There are certain times of the month when I ALWAYS have one, woman out there I'm sure some of you relate. But when I started to be more careful about the food that I am putting into my body I noticed a huge change. I have tried to cut down on refined sugar before and I was always very successful Monday- Friday. Friday night I would go out for some drinks then grab a 2am pizza slice, then come home and rage on chocolate chips. Oh, the chocolate chips! They got everywhere! I would find them hidden on the couch, on my bed...it was bad!

I started researching online about sugar binges, and night binges and came across the sugar detox diet. When I read the goal was to but ALL sugars from your diet I nearly fainted and thought what a cruel thing to do! 

I thought I could have moderation, I have always believed in that and did not like the idea of not eating fruit.

Two weeks later I was making breakfast for a friend who has been sugarless for two months and he pointed out (as a joke, but still) how much sugar I had added without noticing. Apple sauce, peanut butter ( I had the sugar added one), soy milk, dressing, the list went on and on...

That is when I decided to give it a try. How bad could it be? I would do it for only a few days and see how I felt! The next day I went through my food and gave away TWO full grocery bags away!

On Sunday April 22nd I started!