How I, and those around me, survived a 21 (ok only 17) - Day Sugar Detox

Day -1 Preparation Begins...

Making a HUGE veggie frittata to eat for breakfast over the next several days and drinking hard apple cider. Makes sense to me. 

The frittata has broccoli, green, red, orange, yellow and jalapeño peppers, baby zucchini, patty pan squash, asparagus (sautéed in coconut oil),12 eggs, lots of spicy seasonings and lots of Himalayan salt then baked on 350 for 30 minutes. Did you know you can tell the sex of green peppers? 3 bumps on the bottom = boy and 4 bumps on the bottom = girl. I only buy the girl green peppers.

---

Day 1:

My first cup of coffee without stevia. This is what I am looking the least forward to because I LOVE stevia and am sad to give it up! 

Well, not only did my scale weigh 4 lbs heavier than when I decided to go on the 21, I used a new tape measure the measured me 1” bigger than my previous. Stupid liar.

---

Top O’ the muffin to ya Day 2!

Well, for someone that doesn’t really eat sugar, this is harder than I thought it would be. The fruit and other sugars I consume every day are calling my name. My mouth tastes like shit (ketosis?) and my coffee tastes like shit without stevia. My belly is hungry and I want to drink a yummy vanilla protein shake to make it happy. But it’s not on the list.

---

Day 3:

I want sugar so bad I am willing to eat shit that looks like baby food. Sweet potatoes mixed with coconut milk and chia seeds with some cinnamon. Yeah, you may be thinking “gross!” And you’re right. I scarfed down my big breakfast in like 2 seconds and my belly still feels like a bottomless pit. Day 3 pretty much sucks. I quit smoking cigarettes 8 years ago and detoxing from sugar feels almost as bad. Why isn’t it this hard to stop doing things that are actually good for you? 

---

Hello Day 4...

I am going to put Day 3 behind me and say that Day 4 will be so much better. Apparently I am moody without anything sweet in my life. Duh. 

---

Day 5, I love you...

Other than gaining half of the pound that I lost yesterday emotionally devastating me (slight exaggeration), I am finally starting to feel somewhat normal. The coffee is starting to taste better and I feel like I’m not going to starve to death. Watch out, now that I am feeling better I am going to start telling you that you NEED to do this detox.

---

Day 6:

It was a planned cheat day but we canceled our party so I stuck with the detox and didn’t take the cheat day anyway. This is new for me. “Old Kristine” would have been so excited about a cheat day! No, I don’t want to lose the progress that I have made. This really should be metaphor for my life. Why cheat your great progress?

---

Day 7 = week 1 in the books! 

Wow! Who knew that quitting sugar would be so hard for someone that doesn’t really eat sugar.

---

Day 8:

I gained 4 lbs and I don’t want to talk about it.

---

Day 9:

I lost 3 of the 4 lbs that I gained so I’m feeling a little better. I’m still really missing my stevia in my coffee.

---

Day 10:

I lost 1 more pound and my NEED for sugar seems to be going away.  Maybe it’s because I’ve added apples back to my diet this week. After the tough first week I am now trying to figure out what I’m going to detox next. Coffee? That scares me more than sugar. So I probably should do that.

---

Day 11

I gained some weight back. I hate you, scale!

---

Day 12

I spent the day imaginary carbo loading for my 10K.

---

Day 13:

I ran the Shamrock Shuffle 10K, which the 21 Day Sugar Detox advises against, but I felt great!  And the big, huge green beer at the end was delicious.  And made me feel like shit.  And triggered cravings for sugar and more alcohol.  Starting my 365 day green beer detox right now!

---

Day 14:

I AM READY TO BE DONE!!!!!  Stupid beer.

---

Day 15:

Not a bad day.  Weight stayed the same despite running a 10K over the weekend.  I must have to run a 10K to counteract a big green beer.

---

Day 16:

I gained 1 lb.  Ready to quit!  STILL missing my stevia.  BAD!!

---

Day 17

I gained 2 lbs. I am now sure that my body needs some sweet. It makes us happy and probably lowers cortisol, at least to a point. I’ll have to research this further when my brain is full of sweet happiness. 

I made it through the morning and then talked to my nutritional advisor and decided to stop the detox a few days early. I’m not sure if it is because I don’t normally eat sugar that this was so hard but it was. My blood sugar felt like it was around 50 for 17 days. I constantly felt tired and my brain felt like it was in an Idaho January inversion. 

I didn’t go off and go crazy. I put some stevia in my coffee and had 1 glass of wine. 

---

Reflection and Advice:

If you are going to go on a sugar detox or hcg or any other cleanse or diet, be sure to get a group of supporters (suckers) to join you. The pain seems less if you have friends or family by your side to encourage you. 

---