No sugar 30-day challenge: Day 7

Day 7  -  Successful

I can’t believe I actually made it seven days! Today is Friday, so I know from past experience that the weekend will be difficult.  But for some reason, I feel this is different than my usual calorie counting past. I did it last weekend, so I think I can continue this one.  Why does this feel different?  Is it the sugar addiction?  Could that possibly be a real thing?

This morning, hungry as usual, my pants felt looser.  I feel like I am losing weight.  Is this just wishful thinking or could it possibly be true?  Losing weight in November?  That would be something.  I will weigh myself next week at the gym.

Tonight for dinner, we did happy hour so I had a couple glasses of wine and I did the best that I could.  I had some fries, a tomato mozzarella salad, some artisan bread and some pizza.  The pizza was a pear gorgonzola that was really good, but the pears tasted too sweet to be natural. Probably had some sugar.   I had a cappuccino afterward.  So I still feel like I did pretty well.  It is also the only time this week I have gone out to dinner.

This experiment is having some unexpected results.  For one thing, I am finally writing every day.  I need to do this more and more.  For another, I have finally broken Peter of the habit of bringing me sweets as a treat.  I have been telling him for years that I don’t like getting candy as a “goody”, but he continues to do so, thinking that I am complaining but not really truthful.   Then I eat it because I would feel too guilty throwing it away and thus starts the self-loathing cycle.  He is respecting this and even came home with whole wheat bread this week since he wanted to give me something. 

No sugar 30-day challenge: Day 6

Day 6

Successful.   It’s getting easier, but I still feel hungry all the time.  I always have felt hungry all the time, but now I just can’t satisfy it as easily.  I am a carb lover and that’s what I want.  So I am eating dried fruit which doesn’t really give me the same feeling – no fat perhaps, or tortilla chips, or trail mix. 

I do feel better about not eating sugar.  I’m not as tempted any more.  I’m doing a pretty good job of not eating after dinner.  Maybe I will lose a little weight.

I don’t have the moodiness because I am eating too much at night and then regretting it in the morning. 

So, things are going well.

No sugar 30-day challenge: Day 5

Day 5

Successful.  Tonight I went to Sprouts after yoga and just looked around and bought some bread and dried fruit.  I bought jumbo golden raisins, dried cherries, some trail mix, some dates and replenished my supply of apricots.  I’m actually finding this to be kind of an eating adventure. It’s more of a challenge than it is a burden, even at this point.  We’ll see how I feel in 20 days or so.  Right now,  I feel like I could make it to the end of the month and I am discovering where my problems lie.  I am also eating enough so that I am not tempted by the vending machines.

No sugar 30-day challenge: Day 4

Day 4

Successful, however this experiment does have a new data point.  One reason I started this was to see if I was a “sugar addict” (if such a thing really exists) and if quitting sugar would help my emotions.   After today, I have to say that it has no effect on my moods.  Today, I was sad to very sad most o the day with some periods of uncontrolled crying and very negative thoughts about myself.

The positive part was that I didn’t binge.  My inclination is to binge on sweets until I rid myself of some of these emotions. Of course, instead I hate myself more for eating so much and feeling sick.  I also felt like drinking, but that is something that I am just not in the habit of doing.

No sugar 30-day challenge: Day 3

I was successful again today.  I woke up and swam this morning.  It was easier to get up, but that could be due more to going off of daylight savings time than my eating changes.  For the past few years, I have eaten a 100-calorie granola bar before exercising in the morning to give myself some energy.  Today the granola bar was out, so I ate dried apricots instead.  They didn’t quite satisfy like the granola bar did.  And that’s the toughest part.  I like to - am used to - snacking on foods like granola, cereal, crackers, etc. and since they all seem to have sugar, I am going to have to change my habits. 

One thing that I did notice is that my morning mood was better than normal. Usually, my mornings are the roughest, most depressing part of the day for me.  In hindsight, this is obvious.  Since I didn’t binge on sugar in the evening, I didn’t wake up with a sugar hangover and have to dig myself out of that self-loathing.  I just didn’t see it when I was doing it.  I was trying to wake up with a new day and new outlook and it just wasn’t happening.

I’ve had a low grade headache all day.  Not enough to do anything about, but enough to notice.  Could I be having withdrawal symptoms or is this another effect of daylight savings time.

For lunch today, instead of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I had a (natural) peanut butter and  banana sandwich.  I also perused the vending machine.  I think I could eat the sunflower seeds if I needed to.

No sugar 30-day challenge: Day 2

I successfully got through another day not eating sugar. 

I woke in the middle of last night with a near-migraine.  It was fine after a few advil and hours of sleep.  Was it because of the no-sugar or due to something else? 

The morning was a little iffy.  I needed something to eat on my run.  Normally, I will have a peanut butter and jelly or gels, blocks or beans.  All contained sugar.  I didn’t have natural peanut butter yet.  So I baked a potato at home and seasoned it with butter and salt and pepper.  It was actually a surprisingly good snack while running.  I also ate some pecans afterward.

The rest of the day was relatively easy eating.  Leftover soup and cornbread for lunch and nachos for dinner.  One thing that I noticed today is that I didn’t get the extreme hunger that I usually get.  Again, I don’t know if that is just today or due to not eating sugar.

I went to the store. What a nightmare.  I was reading every single label.  It was amazing the items that had sugar (for example, diced Italian tomatoes and seasoned black beans) and those that didn’t (tomato sauce and plain black beans).  I could not find a wheat bread without sugar. I looked at all the tortillas to find one without sugar.  Many of the tortillas had lists of ingredients a mile long.  Shouldn’t that be pretty simple?

Are my moods better? It’s hard to say yet.   I cleaned the whole house and didn’t get the rage I usually feel when I am the only one that seems to do chores around the house.  I was still very tired and disappointed.

No sugar 30-day challenge - Day 1

I am starting a 30-day challenge.  No sugar.  I should say no added sugar. 

Why am I trying this?  The first reason is that I have been binging with no fix.  And what do I binge on?  Sweets.  I know I am not tasting them going in, but I get full and bloated afterward and I hate myself.  Loath myself for yet again doing what I shouldn’t be doing.  Is this how an alcoholic feels the day  after?  Is sugar addiction real?  Am I taking the family history of alcoholism and just turning it to sugar?  I’m pretty sure that I have mild depression, some days are better than others.  Is sugar contributing to this? The binging is, but there is a lot of sugar everywhere.  What if I stopped eating it?  Would some of my mood swings diminish?  Would I finally lose some weight?

There are other reasons as well.  There is some anecdotal evidence that Alzheimer’s may be a form of diabetes.  Our culture is fed hundreds of pounds of sugar each year in all kinds of foods that we eat. The incidence of diabetes is increasing.  I want off that roller coaster.  Away from the corporate foods.  I want to age with all of my wits.  I want to be like Jack Lalane who didn’t eat sugar and died at 96 still in fabulous shape.

Okay, now for the rules and guidelines for this challenge.  I’ve met people that claim not to eat white sugar but substitute brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, etc.  Those are all simple carbohydrates and all are seen by the body as the same thing.  So, for me, those are out as well. Also, I don’t want to use sugar substitutes to make my body think I am eating or drinking the real stuff.  I won’t buy “sugar-free” products because that is just replacing the sugar with a substitute. I do occasionally like the sugar substitutes in my drinks.  I will continue to do that in moderation since that is what I do now. However substitutes of fruit juices are fine.

I will continue to drink.  I don’t drink much, but I will stay away from my beloved margaritas and stick with beer and wine and the 1-2 servings I consume a week.

On my first day, I had a little bit of a hard time.  I am going to have to replace my processed peanut butter with natural.  I will have to find a substitute for jelly on my sandwiches.  I love craisins, but those are sweetened before drying so those are out, but there are a number of good dried fruit alternatives.  I ate dry roasted peanuts and discovered that they are coated with maltodextrin  which is a form of sugar.  Raw peanuts now.  Fritos and saltines have no sugar, but some pretzels  do. Most bread products do as well.  French bread doesn’t.  I will try to find a wheat bread without sugar.  Also, flour tortillas do too.

What this comes down to is that I am going to have to cook more to be sure of what I am eating.  I will probably ramp up the amount of dried fruit and nuts that I eat since that is a simple way to get satisfying snacks.   Thirty days is going to be tough, especially in November when Thanksgiving occurs.  I am going to have to find workarounds for my favorites: pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato casserole.