From Week 1, Give up Soda, to Week 33 Give up High Fructose Corn Syrup, I have finally come to my final resting point with sugar for the year. The details of what this will mean for me are as follows. I will no longer eat anything with sugar as an added ingredient. This includes white granulated sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, brown sugar, anhydrous dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, fructose, confectioner's powdered sugar, lactose, malt syrup, raw sugar, sucrose, nectars, invert sugar, corn syrup solids, honey, molasses, pancake syrup, maple syrup and maltose. Thus leaving sweet potatoes and figs as my new best buddies. This made breakfast . . . pretty interesting.
I woke up, and wasn't quite really sure where to get started. I walked upstairs for breakfast already knowing that I was going to have to walk by brownies and cookies. This was no problem because I knew it was coming. I then approached my usual breakfast cereals, no longer an option. OK, i'll just have some Granola and yogurt. I turned around and walked to the fridge. Vanilla yogurt, no longer an option. OKAYYY, so i'll just have an egg sandwich. I walked back across the kitchen to get some bread. Bread, no longer an option. OKAY. I ended up having to make a trip to the store to buy plain yogurt and tortillas. What I ended up with was a berry, kale, banana It brought me back to that wise saying, eat your colors, and not only felt and tasted good but renewed some confidence that this wouldn't be as much of a challenge as I have been making it out to be. So from here on out no more sugar for the rest of 2014! and yogurt smoothie as well as a tortilla, with egg, avocado and a sugar free hot sauce. Other than being quite tasty, the thing that stood out about this meal to me the most was that it was COLORFUL!
I woke up, and wasn't quite really sure where to get started. I walked upstairs for breakfast already knowing that I was going to have to walk by brownies and cookies. This was no problem because I knew it was coming. I then approached my usual breakfast cereals, no longer an option. OK, i'll just have some Granola and yogurt. I turned around and walked to the fridge. Vanilla yogurt, no longer an option. OKAYYY, so i'll just have an egg sandwich. I walked back across the kitchen to get some bread. Bread, no longer an option. OKAY. I ended up having to make a trip to the store to buy plain yogurt and tortillas. What I ended up with was a berry, kale, banana It brought me back to that wise saying, eat your colors, and not only felt and tasted good but renewed some confidence that this wouldn't be as much of a challenge as I have been making it out to be. So from here on out no more sugar for the rest of 2014! and yogurt smoothie as well as a tortilla, with egg, avocado and a sugar free hot sauce. Other than being quite tasty, the thing that stood out about this meal to me the most was that it was COLORFUL!
End of Week Update
I knew this goal would be very challenging but it ended up being even more so then I had imagined. It ended up being the closest I have come to quitting my project so far this year. Giving up meat, alcohol or really anything to date have nothing on this goal. Giving up Facebook and Walmart sort of sound like a joke now. What were those? By- weeks? It's sort of like if a football team played Division three teams all year and then played FSU. They'd have no idea what was about to hit them.
Last Tuesday as my weekly donation I decided to donate blood. With my body being tired from this and trying to recover from the Barkley Fall Classic, giving up sugar starting Wednesday made things very challenging. I had weird headaches for the first two days. I see this as a result of the sudden diet change and not constantly feeding my body sugar.
Slowly throughout the week I started to figure out that I was going to have to eat five to six times a day to keep myself energized. I've always heard that having three meals with snacks in between is the healthiest approach to eating. This of course does not mean eating McDonalds three times a day with two snacks of full size Doritos in between. So here is a little breakdown of what my meals looked like on Tuesday 6:30 AM - 10:30 PM
Breakfast - Smoothie made with Yogurt, Kale, Chia Seeds, Banana, and mixed frozen berries
Two eggs cooked and wrapped in tortillas with hot sauce and tomatoes
Cup of tea
10:30 Snack - Pear
Lunch - Tortilla (full banana and natural peanut butter), grapes and a glass of unsweetened almond milk and 12 oz water
Dinner - Pasta with butter and a baked potato filled with onions and apples sauteed in balsamic vinegar and 24 oz water
After run - 16 oz milk with 48 grams of Pea Protein Powder and 60 oz of water
Now that the week 39 has come to a close and I have done some serious thinking on my diet and done a lot of talking with people about foods and health I am feeling a lot of confidence in this goal. The one MAJOR thing that this week really helped me understand was how people are a product of their environment. The three things that really made an impact on my week were working on and around vegetables at Glade Rd Growers, running into and chatting with a friend Micah at Eats and rewiring my brain to come to the realization that there were still tons of new meals and ways to be creative with cooking on what most people would consider a very limited diet. Thank you to those of you out there that made it easier! On to week 40!
I knew this goal would be very challenging but it ended up being even more so then I had imagined. It ended up being the closest I have come to quitting my project so far this year. Giving up meat, alcohol or really anything to date have nothing on this goal. Giving up Facebook and Walmart sort of sound like a joke now. What were those? By- weeks? It's sort of like if a football team played Division three teams all year and then played FSU. They'd have no idea what was about to hit them.
Last Tuesday as my weekly donation I decided to donate blood. With my body being tired from this and trying to recover from the Barkley Fall Classic, giving up sugar starting Wednesday made things very challenging. I had weird headaches for the first two days. I see this as a result of the sudden diet change and not constantly feeding my body sugar.
Slowly throughout the week I started to figure out that I was going to have to eat five to six times a day to keep myself energized. I've always heard that having three meals with snacks in between is the healthiest approach to eating. This of course does not mean eating McDonalds three times a day with two snacks of full size Doritos in between. So here is a little breakdown of what my meals looked like on Tuesday 6:30 AM - 10:30 PM
Breakfast - Smoothie made with Yogurt, Kale, Chia Seeds, Banana, and mixed frozen berries
Two eggs cooked and wrapped in tortillas with hot sauce and tomatoes
Cup of tea
10:30 Snack - Pear
Lunch - Tortilla (full banana and natural peanut butter), grapes and a glass of unsweetened almond milk and 12 oz water
Dinner - Pasta with butter and a baked potato filled with onions and apples sauteed in balsamic vinegar and 24 oz water
After run - 16 oz milk with 48 grams of Pea Protein Powder and 60 oz of water
Now that the week 39 has come to a close and I have done some serious thinking on my diet and done a lot of talking with people about foods and health I am feeling a lot of confidence in this goal. The one MAJOR thing that this week really helped me understand was how people are a product of their environment. The three things that really made an impact on my week were working on and around vegetables at Glade Rd Growers, running into and chatting with a friend Micah at Eats and rewiring my brain to come to the realization that there were still tons of new meals and ways to be creative with cooking on what most people would consider a very limited diet. Thank you to those of you out there that made it easier! On to week 40!