Sugar!

About a year ago I posted something about how I was going off of sugar totally. I even had a counter on my blog of how many days I hadn't had it. I think it got up to something like 150+ or so.

Anyhow, I realized I never reported on it. And I learned so much. What made me realize I never reported on it was reading Christina's blog. She did a similar experiment, although for a shorter time. What amazed me though, is through all of her reporting, we both came to pretty much the EXACT same conclusions. So really, reading her posts on it are really insightful. And she did a really thorough job.

My food experiment and what I learned
Sugar, Sugar
Honey, Honey
Sweet Recipes

After I had my last baby, of course, I had some weight to lose. In the ballpark of 25 pounds. So I set some insane excercise goals. I think I was running 5 miles a day. It was just the kind of excessive plan that I was sure would get me back into my own clothes in 3 months. Not so. Not one pound budged. Not one.

Also at the same time, and actually for years, I've had really frequent headaches. Like almost daily. Just pop in some tylenol and the problem was solved. But I started wondering if something could change in my diet that would fix my headaches.

Critical in understanding me is to understand the people I was raised by. If you know me personally, you know that my dad is legendary. Way before wheat grass showed up at Jamba Juice as an add in, he was growing it in several containers on our countertop to juice, like in the 80s. He's never been measured at anything above 4 % bodyfat, and on those "how old are you REALLY" tests, he registers somewhere at age 33. I register at 35. He is 67 and well, I'm still a few years away from 35. I have never seen anyone who is very healthy come even close to being healthy in the way my dad is. To some it borders on fanatical, to me it is both inspiring and, ok, sometimes entertaining. He used to wear a blue fanny pack that had nuts and a nutcracker in it, and sometimes a big carrot dug out of the garden with the green leafs still attached. That was his movie snack. I distinctly remember him taking out this treat at a Harry Potter movie. Cracking nuts and eating a big leafy carrot. He denies this though, so don't ask him about it.

Ok and then there is my mom who hid evil, evil Coke under MY bed while I was growing up. (The red kind, not the gold kind. Don't know what the gold kind is? It's the kind without caffiene.) I had two oppostite views of food and therefore am both extremes that my parents are. Picky picky picky about some things like freshly ground wheat and lots of fresh fruit; not afraid of five or six thickly frosted brownies. (I am LDS and hope you know I'm joking about coke being evil....right?)

So back to where I left off. I had some extra chub chub and bad headaches. I vowed to go off of sugar, and I did. (although to be perfectly honest, there were 3 distinct cheats, well planned and worth it). The rules were VERY simple. No calorie counting. No limiting myself on anything else. Just no sugar, high fructose corn syrup. The only sweeteners allowed were honey and maple syrup. My reasoning was that no one ever overdoes is with honey or maple syrup, nor are they sweeteners regularly coupled with other really bad things.

I went to good earth and bought some blueberry and raspberry fig newtons sweetened with honey. When things are sweetened with those, you don't overdo it. Trust me, one is enough. I bought fruit leather, LOTS of frozen fruit for smoothies and I was set.

In the first three months of no sugar, I lost 25 pounds. I also cut back excercising to 3 hours per week and I just did yoga, no running.

Like I said, no sugar was the only rule. So I was free to binge on anything else I wanted. Chips and salsa, WITH lots of cheddar cheese. Fruit smoothies made with spinach, sweetened with either 1 tsp of honey or 1 TBSP of apple juice, and I would even make them on occasion with cream so that it would seem like ice cream - which it totally did. When you say "no sugar" and mean it, there is very little that you can buy that is packaged. So my theory is that I lost the weight because by avoiding sugar, even the 1 gram in a serving of cheerios, I avoided just about any and everything else that could be bad for your health.

AND no headaches. Not one ever for 5 months.

And I am about to do it again. When I have this baby, I will put the counter back up on my blog - "Days without sugar". And you will all want to join me as I hopefully report loss of baby chub chub. OK just kidding, you may not want to join me.

**And one last note. When going off sugar I was really worried about being invited over to someone's house for dinner and what if they made Cafe Rio pork which is cooked in brown sugar and coke?? I decided to try and not be offensive and let things like that slide. They are out of my control and I don't want to be rude. However, it was never an issue. Also, no one seemed to be offended if I turned down dessert and I didn't make a big deal out of it - just said I was too full.