I'm Detoxing - Week One

I'm detoxing and it sucks. Seriously, it sucks. Don't worry, I'm not detoxing from drugs, just donuts… For the last week or so, I've been on a no sugary foods diet. I have not eaten or drank one sugary thing since last Monday and I am both suffering and supremely proud of myself simultaneously.

It all began last Monday when the universe spoke to me and told me that it was time that I drastically cut down on my sugar intake. When I say that I ate a lot of sugar, I don’t just mean that I typically would consume a soda and a candy bar a day. I mean that I'd have a 600 calorie coffee drink in the morning, six bags of cookies by lunch, a Shirley Temple or two at dinner, and a slice of cheesecake for dessert… on a good day. Not to mention my obsession with donuts, Cinnabon, ice cream, and candy. I literally have the sweet tooth of a young child with no parental restraint. I haven't always been this way. Believe it or not, there were many years that went by when I wouldn't consume any sugary foods for weeks.

Now, I do understand that cutting out all sugar from my diet is nearly impossible. Sauces, condiments, and yogurt, for example, all have plenty of sugar in them. Plus, all carbs break down to sugar in your system in the end. But, I also know that omitting all sugar from your diet isn't a healthy idea - especially for someone like me who consumes as much of it in a day as I do. So, the goal of this little experiment wasn't to cut out all sugar from my diet completely, but rather to simply cut out sugary things like Toaster Strudels for breakfast and white chocolate mochas for an afternoon pick-me-up. I figured even just this much of a change in my diet would make a massive difference in my overall well being.

So, with that little disclaimer and bit of backstory out of the way, I should explain where my inspiration came from in the first place. A week ago I was at Kroger at about 8:30 in the morning, getting my morning latte, when I got the intense urge to get myself a donut or two. I literally crave donuts on the daily. I love them. There have been days where I have consumed an entire DOZEN Krispy Kremes all in one sitting! So, I picked out a chocolate iced ring and a cinnamon roll and brought them up the self-checkout only to discover that that particular store didn't accept Apple Pay. For whatever reason, I didn't bring my wallet with me on this morning, so I was forced to hand the donuts back to the man who was manning the check outs and walk away… empty handed, literally.

That was, without exaggeration, the hardest thing I'd done all week. It literally broke my heart not to be able to take a massive bite out of the little round bit of glazed goodness. Now, I could have walked across the street and gotten my wallet. But instead, I had a quick conversation with one of my lovely work ladies and she made me think, really think, about the opportunity this massive disappointment had given me. She said, "you should give up sugar, for a whole month. It would make a great blog post." And it was that that sold me. I'd be remiss to tell you all that I did this experiment for any reason other than the blogable opportunity it presented. Sure, I should be giving up my sugar habit so that I don't become insulin-dependent before I'm 30, but my short-sightedness was really only concerned with the story I could tell.

So, here I am one week in and I haven't eaten anything sugary in seven days. I cannot even believe it. I honestly didn't think I'd make it past Day One, as much of a struggle as it was. For the first three days, all I could think about was sugar - candy, donuts, cake, desserts, pop (and I don't even drink pop - ever!). The cravings were unlike any I have ever experienced before. And I swear, call me crazy, but for the first few days, I was legitimately experiencing withdrawal symptoms. I have never been more cranky, tired, and headachey than I was when this all first began. I guess I really was just living off a constant sugar buzz. My comedown was severe enough at one point on Day Two that I was legitimately shaking, severely, from low blood sugar. I hadn't eaten enough that day to counter-act the crazy difference in my blood sugar and my body literally had a fit. I couldn't fix those Ramen noodles and shove them in my face fast enough. I'd had a blood sugar drop before, but that was pretty frightening, I'm not gonna lie.

I was often tempted to throw in the towel. And I actually, admittedly, gave in to temptation once. But, similarly to the way the universe stepped in at Kroger earlier in the week, it stepped in again when dedication was wavering. Ethan and I went to Johnny Rockets in Windsor for dessert after dinner and we got milkshakes. I was going to let myself have one reward for getting so far into this without messing it up. We ordered the shakes and somehow his got switched with mine before they landed on our table. I took one sip of his and nearly threw up - I hate apple pie, which was the flavor he had chosen for his shake. I tried to switch the cups and get mine, but you know how shakes are blended in those metal cups and stores usually leave some in the bottom for you to top your shake off with? Yeah, well, I like to consolidate mine early so it's all in one cup, but unbeknownst to me, I actually dumped the rest of Ethan's shake into MY cup and topped mine off with his - contaminating the entire glass. We're still hazy as to how that even happened. He says he switched them, but so did I, so in the end, we aren't sure who did what. Either way, I couldn't drink even ONE sip of my shake and ended up missing out on the whole thing.

So, one week later and despite the CONSTANT provoking of candy bars in stores and granola bars and cookies at work, I'm still sugary food free. I have been trying, also, to replace some of my normal sugar intake with water, because before this week, days would go by and I would never drink a single glass of water. *Don't come for me.* So, that's another little bonus for my body. I imagine a few more weeks of this and I'll be feeling pretty damn good. I'll have another update for you in a week or two. Wish me luck - only three more weeks to go. *sigh*

But in the meantime, what's one thing you could do to be better to your body? What should you be adding or giving up? I'm interested in hearing your vices below.