Changes I Made Before my Sugar Detox Started

OK, so here is my next post I promised about the changes I've made in the week before beginning the 14 day sugar detox I am starting TOMORROW!  (If you missed reading my first post about this sugar detox, read this post first.)   So, if you know me, you know that I LOVE SWEETS!  My husband and I often joke that I have a separate "dessert stomach" because even if I'm full from my regular meal, there's always room for sweets and desserts!  Most of the time on a regular day, I am pretty controlled in my eating habits for breakfast and lunch . . . it's dinner and evening snacks I've made changes to so far, and will have to continue doing so if I want to see results.   So far I have just limited my carbs, sugar, dairy, & gluten consumption.  So basically, I've cut a lot of carbs out of my dinners and a lot of sugar and dairy out of my snacks.  I will admit I had a chocolate chip cookie (or two or three) over the past week, but hey, I had to get rid of them before this detox OFFICIALLY started, right?!  I normally have 2 scrambled eggs in a croissant with cheese for breakfast, so the past week, I just had the 2 scrambled eggs, along with 1 or 2 pieces of bacon on a couple days.  For lunch, I normally would've had a greek yogurt and crackers with peanut butter for instance.  So for the past week, I've had tuna salad (made with almonds and plain greek yogurt).  Since I'm cutting out dairy for the next 14 days too, I am going to try to make the tuna salad with avocado to make it more creamy, starting tomorrow.  I also have had some strawberries and blueberries at lunch or for a snack.  Sometimes I'll have a handful of almonds for a snack, or celery with almond butter.  Then for dinner, I really haven't been creative yet.  I basically have just had whatever meat we were having along with vegetables.  If my family was having rice or macaroni or corn, or anything starchy that I couldn't have, then I just wouldn't eat it and would eat more veggies instead.  Hopefully eventually, I can get my family into this new healthier way of eating too, but for now I have to learn first and just make small changes with them . . . more on this later on another post probably.     Then here are the BIGGEST CHANGES I've made so far . . . my COFFEE and my NIGHT-TIME SNACKING.  I really, really love my coffee . . . ask my co-workers.  I often come into work, set down my coffee I brought from home that I made (with plenty of creamer and milk), along with a starbucks iced white chocolate peppermint mocha . . . oh, it pains me to even say it!  My favorite starbucks drink!  I even learned how to make a pretty similar version at home, by ordering the peppermint and white chocolate syrup from amazon.com.  As we speak, I even have half a bottle full of each, and I'm sending them to my mom's house to store in her fridge since I won't be using them for a while.  :-(  But I can't stand for them to spoil or throw them out!     So, my NEW COFFEE ROUTINE is . . . black coffee with 1 tsp of coconut oil and 1 tsp of coconut sugar.  I am so happy I don't have to just drink it black.  The coconut oil and sugar is on the approved list for me to have, and I also like pouring about 1/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk in to make it more like a latte.  It's actually pretty good, and much better than what I could imagine black coffee would be - I haven't even tried it completely black out of fear! :) Ha ha!   Then for my NIGHT-TIME SNACKING . . . usually I would grab easy, carb and sugar loaded stuff . . . like ice cream, chips and salsa, chips and dip, about the worst thing for you.  I think I often just snack out of boredom or stress, but sometimes I actually am hungry, because I usually exercise after dinner and by the time we get the kids to bed, then I'm hungry again.     My NEW NIGHT-TIME SNACKING routine has been lots of veggies (different colored peppers or celery) dipped in either almond butter or guacamole.  Sometimes I even grab a hard boiled egg.  This does fill me up!  And that is the goal . . . eat to be full.     I already do not normally drink soda, usually just water or sweet tea.  But in the past week, I have also cut out the sweet tea.  Tonight I tried unsweet tea with coconut sugar mixed in and lime.  Delicious!  I've also had the unsweet with just lemons squeezed in, and that is good too.   I took my "before" measurements and pictures tonight . . . maybe one day I'll be brave enough to share.  But I thought it was too cute that Alaina, my 3 year old daughter, wanted me to take her pic too, with her pool floatie around her of course!  

I think this is the way I've been feeling even without a pool floatie, bloated and yucky in my mid-section.  So, here's to feeling better overall after this detox is up, and hopefully making some good changes that I stick to even afterwards!   I'm hoping in the next week to try some new dinner recipes.  Eating this way takes a lot of prep and shopping for the right foods.  The main thing I have to focus on is that overall I'm feeling better and that is the most important.  I'll try to update with new posts through the next 14 days on how everything is going and with some new recipes that I try.  Thanks for following along with me on this journey to better health!  Click Here to read Part 3 of my journey.   

Why I Decided to do a 14 Day Sugar Detox

So, if you're friends with me on facebook then you've probably seen a couple of my posts about going on a sugar free, carb free, gluten free, dairy free detox for 14 days.  I decided to blog about my journey, because it always helps me to process things when I write/type them.  Plus, maybe it will help someone else.   Disclaimer - I am not a health expert, just someone trying to learn how to live a healthy lifestyle in a busy world!  Please consult a health professional for your specific health situation.
First, a little background as to why and how I'm doing this.  I started following a mom's facebook page called https://www.facebook.com/HausOfGirlsFitFamily  probably about 9 months to a year ago, after one of my running friends told me about one of the challenges she was doing for a certain amount of miles in a certain month.  I enjoyed seeing her fitness tips and she was inspiring to me . . . a busy mom just like me with 3 children, staying fit and healthy.  Just recently, I began to see all of her posts about eating more clean and all the benefits it was providing her and her family.  I then began to check out her and her 3 other sisters' website that they have together called http://www.fourfitsisters.com  It turns out all 4 sisters are moms and are inspiring and have some great ideas!  They each are coaches for beachbody.com and run challenges in which you focus on a specific thing, whether it be a nutrional goal, a fitness goal, or both and if you sign up and join the challenge (most cost a fee), then you are placed in a secret facebook group where you receive the sisters' coaching and instruction and given information on how to go about making the healthy lifestyle change.  I decided to join the 14 day sugar detox challenge that Marta is having for a few reasons.   My reasons for doing this 14 day sugar detox:   1.  If I pay for it, I usually will stick to it.  This particular challenge cost me a small amount, but so far, it's more than worth it!   2.  I know that I have always loved sweets and bread - sugar and carbs - and I know I need to cut back on them.  They have always been my "comfort" food to go to when I am emotionally eating (which I sometimes do when worried or stressed, and not feeling so in control of myself).   3.  I always feel tired and run down.  For as long as I can remember, probably starting in late high school/early college, I am just ALWAYS tired.  Not just a little tired.  But exhausted tired.  Despite eating what I think is fairly healthy and proper portion control and exercising regularly, I still feel tired.  I wake up tired.  I stay tired all day.  I go to sleep tired.    4.  I have gained a lot more weight than I would like over the past year or two.  Two years ago, when my daughter was only 1, I went on "The Game" diet which was a challenge with friends that was based on a book called "The Game" I think where you basically played a game with others and kept points for doing certain things.  I never read the book, but just got all the requirements from the people running the challenge.  Sometimes we contributed $5-$10 to play, sometimes we contributed $20 to play.  Whoever won the challenge with the most points got the cash pool that everyone had contributed to in order to play.  The basis of this game was good in a way.  It taught portion control - there was so much of a carb, protein, & fat that you were to have each meal, and you were supposed to have 5 small meals a day, with a 100 calorie snack optional.  Also there were other requirements to better yourself, such as drinking 3 liters of water a day, and doing some sort of exercise daily for 20 minutes to get your points.  You also had to choose good habits to start and bad habits to break.  So, overall this game was good for me and my husband, who played too, and we both lost 10-15 lbs at the time.  He may have lost close to 20.  I think we both played about 3 times over the past year and a half, but the only time we really significantly saw change was the first time we played.  And slowly but surely the weight crept back on both of us.  So . . . long description to say, I know I can change my eating, but have to get back to it.  There are some things from the game diet that I still usually do, like drink almost 3 liters most days of water, and exercise most every day for at least 20 minutes.  But even throughout the game I was still feeling tired.  So, I am interested to see if cutting carbs, dairy, & gluten will help me to feel better overall and lose the weight I need to and want to lose.   5.  I had gestational diabetes with my 3rd pregnancy, and I'm supposed to be more at risk to develop diabetes because of it.  I actually have a physical coming up the beginning of July, and will have my blood/glucose levels tested, and quite frankly I was beginning to be concerned that I might test positive for being diabetic or pre-diabetic with all the sugar and carbs in my diet.  So, I am also making this change for my overall health and future health.   So, that is the background and reasons why and how I'm doing this sugar detox.  After the 14 days, I am hoping that I will have learned some new ways to eat, and that hopefully I will feel and be healthier.  I have been digesting all the information that my coach, Marta, is giving us in the group for the past week, and have made some small changes in my diet and already lost about 4 lbs this first week, just with making SOME of the changes.  I will talk about some of the changes I've made so far in my next post, even before officially starting the detox (we start this Wednesday, in 3 more days).  I also have already felt a little more energy, honestly even in the past few days.  I hope some of my readers will follow along with me on this journey!   (re-posted from another blog of mine . . . June 25 - July 8, 2014 I did this detox . . . be sure to check out my other posts to see how it went!)   

About Me . . . and Purpose of this Blog

Hi! 

 It's never too late to get fit and healthy.  I've always been a fairly active person, but I'm ready to take my fitness and nutrition to a new level.  Starting this venture at age 36, I am aware of the good and bad things I've done to my body, and I'm hoping to do more good than bad from this point forward!  Hoping to inspire, encourage, and take others along for my journey to a healthier and fitter lifestyle.  

I am a busy wife, mom to 3, & work outside the home in accounting part time as well, so I understand the challenge of fitting healthy choices into your already overwhelmed and busy life.  If I can do it, you can too!  I hope others will join me for some of my challenges and learn along with me how to be healthier in a fast paced and unhealthy world!  

Please click here to read a little more About Me and the purpose of healthy and fit at 36.

Thanks for stopping by!

 ~ Jill