Hey guys!
Here we are. We've made it three weeks into the sugar detox!
How are you guys feeling? Are you ready to be done? Have your cravings vanished? Are you feeling on top of the world? Are you feeling like you've sold your soul and you're dreaming of eating donuts? I've felt all of those things this week. Literally ALL OF THEM. Some days I felt like I was totally in this and I was totally done with this bad habit. Then there were other days where I felt like I would literally sell my kidney for a butterfinger like RIGHT NOW. I think if I'm being honest, this was the hardest week so far. I don't know if it was the added stress that was going on in generally for me this week that left me seeking comfort in food or what it was, but my body was kind of an emotional mess. There were so many up and down feelings and evenings left feeling so snacky for no reason, BUT nonetheless, here we are. I'm reminding myself that change doesn't come easy and often not in a linear path. This week was a certain demonstration of that. It feels a bit dramatic to write that I'm thankful to have just made it out alive, but that's kind of how this week left me feeling. Still I am holding my head high as I roll into the last nine days of the January sugar detox and focusing on the positive results I've seen. More to come on those soon!
How I’m feeling
Day 15 - This is the first day I’ve been able to meal prep for real since I’ve been home and it felt so good! My body is feeling great (minus the whole hand thing). I do have a slight attitude still related to my inability do things normally, but I still managed to get my to-do list done and stay on track with food.
Day 16 - The biggest non-scale victory I have experienced so far is that my skin is clear! I have always struggled with bad skin and it feels encouraging to have made progress towards finding the cause of the issue.Something I also read this week though, related to skin, was how big of an emphasis society puts on having perfect skin and how unattainable and destructive that is. Maybe I can share more thoughts on that later. I got outside for longer than I had in forever and gave Henry a good walk, which I know he appreciated and the fresh air felt so nice! I had a great workout at orange theory and I feel fabulous! My hand is still an issue, but I am getting some of that tiger blood that everyone talks about. The regulated energy has been so amazing! This day I definitely did not even miss sugar at all, which is nice to be able to say when you're just a little over halfway through a detox. It's super encouraging!
Day 17 - Today all I want is spaghetti and meatballs. In my normal non-whole30 or non-sugar-detox life this would never make it to the top of my favorite meals, but today it sounds so good! I made the huge mistake of going without eating for most of the day and then having coffee on an empty stomach. My energy just totally crashed, but now I’m hyped up on coffee and I feel jittery, but somehow exhausted. It's horrible! Josiah and I ended up eating dinner at home, but even though I was starving, nothing sounded good. Then after dinner all I wanted to do was snack. This was probably the hardest day so far. It was possibly an inevitable crash after feeling so great yesterday! Good news, my hand situation seems to have resolved for the most part!
Day 18 - I woke up with a major headache and zero motivation to get out of bed. Today I have a doctor appointment and a dentist appointment, which would normally leave me wanting to treat myself to a special latte or a pastry, but that is not going to be an option. I made a hair appointment for Monday, which should feel like a good non-food reward. I think I would have given my right arm for a cookie before bed. I ended up snacking on an apple with almond butter and calling it a night, but these late night snacky feelings are really annoying!
Day 19 - I slept so deeply last night! I think I’m feeling the tiger blood? We’ll see how things go as the day goes on, but this AM I am feelin’ good. We went to a fancy dinner with one of our good friends and the waiter was the most accommodating man in the world. He made sure that my meal was prepared completely free of all of the things I am currently avoiding and then apologized profusely when he realized the dessert menu didn't have anything on it that would accommodate all my restrictions. His thoughtfulness can not be overemphasized and made eating out while on an elimination diet not feel high maintenance or unattainable!
Day 20 - The steroids that I am on for my hands are still screwing up my sleep, but hey NO MORE HAND PAIN! The doctors think that it is rheumatoid arthritis so it's something I'll deal with forever moving forward, but for now, the pain is gone and I am so thankful. Because the steroids disrupted my sleep, I'm not feeling as tiger-blood-ish as I was yesterday. I got up at 5am and got a good workout in, which made me feel amazing! Then I waited too long to eat breakfast so I had a major energy crash. I had a hard time focusing on a paper I'm supposed to write, but I think it's because I'm tired and not just related to whole 30 or the sugar detox, but who knows. We are hanging out with my little brother this weekend and he showed up with a plate of cookies in hand and I had to restrain myself from shoving them in my mouth. He said "Jenna, you can just have one! I promise one won't make you fat." I tried to explain to his eleven year old mind that it had nothing to do with getting fat, but had everything to do with breaking a bad habit. I don't know if he understood or not, but I was pretty bummed to be turning down a cookie he baked specially for me. They were oatmeal, coconut, and chocolate chip and I'm so not thinking about them at all anymore. Except I totally am. We went and got smoothie bowls for dinner and that totally made me forget about the cookies. I <3 smoothie bowls! I brushed my teeth right after we got home and had no cravings after that. I should probably adopt this habit more regularly.
Day 21 - Wow, this feels so insane to be able to say that I have made it this far. Three weeks of doing anything is a for sure feat, especially cutting out a super addicting substance. Today I wanted so badly to justify a small bite of a donut or a little sip of a gingerbread latte, but I didn't and I'm glad. I slept super poorly again last night, which made me not feel my best today, but nonethelesss I had a great day!
WHAT I'M EATING
Two sunny eggs + a kiwi 🥝
Spaghetti squash with a creamy almond pesto sauce + chicken topped with nutritional yeast
golden butternut squash soup with roasted butternut squash seeds and crispy pork belly pieces
Hash made with mushrooms, green peppers, Trader joe’s Apple chicken sausage, and pre-cooked potatoes topped with two sunny eggs
Basically everything I had in the fridge was thrown in a bowl and I called it lunch
Lettuce + grapefruit + sauerkraut + sunflower seeds + avocado + chicken + tahini sauce
Whole30 Chicken Alfredo with broccoli
sautéed cabbage with tahini + sunny eggs with everything but the bagel seasoning
Half an avocado + grapefruit slices + scrambled eggs + half of a Trader Joe’s chicken apple sausage
Coconut kefir mixed with chia seeds and topped with almond butter + banana + a matcha coconut fat bite
A bunch of random items from Whole Foods hot bar: green beans with walnuts, potato wedges, chicken thighs, and broccoli bacon salad. (This was likely not 100% perfectly compliant, but I was in between appointments and starving so I made do and didn't necessarily have time to spend 30 minutes reading food labels!)
Green chicken chili with kale topped with diced avocado
Scrambled eggs with everything but the bagel seasoning, avocado, and grapefruit. I completely forgot how delicious and refreshing grapefruit can be!
Steamed broccoli + roasted chicken topped with tahini sauce
Sweet potatoes + brussel sprouts + quail with a mustard sauce from Lula Cafe (my favorite restaurant in Chicago!)
Berries blended with coconut milk and topped with walnuts, bananas, strawberries, and goji berries from Fruit Paradise . This particular bowl usually comes with granola, but I just asked to add walnuts instead and they were super sweet about it. Their smoothie bowls are only like $6, which is a bargain! Josiah and I liked to come here often in the summer. We've come so much that we're practically on first name basis with the owner.
Spaghetti squash and Trader Joe's spaghetti sauce with homemade grain-free meatballs and a ton of greens topped with Tessemae’s green goddess dressing .
I also snacked on these matcha coconut butter fat bites all week and they were so great to have on hand for between meals. I used this recipe and just added in a touch of matcha for color and some health benefits.
a Greek salad with gyro meat on top (I tried to eat around all the cheese)
