Sugar Cleanse, Day 1; Or, How the Sugar Cleanse Almost Cost Me My House
Posted in Cruel WorldLife @ The Grand
So, as I mentioned, Rebecca and I have decided to do a two-week fast from sugar. To be honest, I really didn’t think it would be that hard. I mean, I am doing this because I’ve been eating a lot (a LOT) of sugar, lately, but I can quit any time I like. Right?
The temptation started before I even got out of bed this morning. Simon, bless his little heart, offered to share the jelly beans that he had taken home from Grandma’s birthday party yesterday. (We told him that he could eat them “tomorrow.” He doesn’t kid around. He was out of bed and immediately remembered the jelly beans.) I had one in my hand before I remembered they were off limits.
Next up, breakfast: I was feeling strong and perhaps got a little cocky: I made muffins for the boys and the friends we had over for a playdate. It was kind of amazing to me how many times I just automatically reached for a muffin. I never did give in, but it was almost comical how often I had to stop and think and then not eat!
Naptime was the worst. I realize now that that is the time that I raid the pantry, always for something sweet. I made myself a cup of coffee, which took the edge off just enough, but good grief, I was wanting something—anything!—sweet.
I’ll pause here in the chronological rehash to confess what a cliche I am. I think I wanted to eat sweets today for just about every reason—habit, boredom, frustration, convenience, reward for some little task, craving, thought popped into my head, “I see it. I want it.” (family joke), and so on. What strikes me most is how mindlessly I can grab something to eat. I am thinking that if I want to make it through this that I’m going to have to dig at least a little deeper emotionally—cliche but true. And I’m going to have to have some serious guns to replace both the habit and the craving, which brings me how we almost lost the house tonight.
I have found that a cup of coffee, along with tasting pretty darn amazing alongside a good dessert, will also often be enough to curb the desire to eat something sweet. After dinner I decided to make another cup (it would have been my third). To make a long story short, I turned on the wrong burner and cracked my baking dish and melted the handle of the can opener and, well, could have burned the house down.
Come to think of it, in the hubub of cleaning up the mess, I never did make that coffee. I sure could use a little sumpin’ sumpin’. Sigh.
Comments
tara
i need to share with you my favorite no-sugar snacks, because naptime and after dinner were my most tempting times. i am SO glad you did NOT burn the house down.
RT
Well, crap! A good dish and can opener are trash. But your house is standing. I’m grateful for that on so many levels.
I’m allowing myself all-fruit jelly, so that’s the only way I survived the morning. The afternoon, as you already know, was narrowly kept pure by freeze dried mangos. I might not make it through the night. Pray for me.
christina
Oh you are so lucky it just cracked! I put a hot baking dish on a hot burner once. I realized what I did, turned off the burner, moved it, left the kitchen just in time to escape a huge explosion. Shards of glass and cornbread everywhere! I cleaned it up for days. God protected me that day.
Bethany
You need to get some fruit in your house, pronto!
Lindsey
I did a no-sugar, no-gluten, no-dairy, very-little carb cleanse two weeks ago, and I was miserable for about three days. That pretty much leaves meat, lettuce, and non-starchy veggies. I think I spent 30 minutes thinking about tortillas (and have previously never given them much of a thought), one day. But the fourth day I woke up with a lot more energy, and since then have only had a tiny cracker in a moment of weakness. I feel better, but I miss cheese more than anything, surprisingly. Drinking 80 oz of water a day has helped a lot.
That SUCKS about the baking dish! I did that to one of my favorite glass bowls, and I’m still mad about it.
Renae
@Christina: Yikes. I am especially thankful it wasn’t worse because the boys had been in the kitchen by themselves just a couple of minutes earlier.
@Lindsey: I thought about doing a vegan cleanse, but it would be too hard to cook 2 different things for every meal for 2 weeks—the family wouldn’t go for it.
Jen
This is hilarious. When I have tried to go off sugar, I have thought about it lovingly the whole day through. This must be universal. When we eat sugar, we don’t think about it at all. It just goes right down the hatch.
Bethany
I am curious: what qualifies as “sugar” for the purposes of this fast? Just refined white sugar? Brown sugar? Stevia? Artificial sweeteners? Honey? Fruit high in natural sugars?
Renae
@Bethany: all of those, save fruit. Dried fruit also ok.
RT
B, I’m allowing artificial sweeteners in diet soda and coffee. And fruit is fine. But none of the others. My goal is break my addiction to sweets and to replace it with healthy choices. At this particular moment I might kill someone for a breakfast pastry. Clearly the addiction is not broken by the dawning of Day 3!
Renae
Yeah, I forgot about artificial sweeteners in diet soda. My goal is the same as RT’s (with the added hope for me that it will be a jumpstart for weight loss); I don’t want to replace junk with more junk. I realize that no sugar is not a forever thing, but I do hope to lay the foundation for realistic long-term habits.
I have no idea if this is related, but I woke up with Clara at 6 this morning and actually had the energy/alertness to stay up. Win! This morning has been glorious. (Granted, I know I have a sitter coming for a couple of hours this morning, so I could crash later. Ha.)