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I did well over the weekend, somehow, but slipped up last night. Was feeling jetlagged/a bit stressed and the Kona Coffee Dark Chocolate Macadamia Nuts were calling out to me from the cupboard. I had 6. Felt kind of sick afterwards.
I'm doing really well with fruits and veg though. With all the cooking I did over the weekend, I'm getting in plenty.
lhamo
Ahh, today is good. I weighed in; the is my day one of 21...have been "leaning in" since last week,and today it is okay. After work I went out into the COLD and walked for half an hour and then just finished half an hour of my latest version of yin yoga (I took two classes so I am trying to work from there). Have rehearsal tonight so I am not too worried about slips; probably will be ready for sleep when I get home.
Feels so much better.....even though I know I haven't gotten the sugar out of my system yet, I still feel better. the power of the mind.....
Isn't it interesting how we keep doing things that we know will make us feel sick? I've been thinking about this quite a bit. I'm determined to break that pattern!!!
Yesterday was good for the sugar intake and I did reduce my fruit by one piece but I still ate a bit too much sweet potato. I notice that about once a day I feel either a dull headache or a slight tummy ache. And I've been feeling a bit congested too. Don't know if that is my body dealing with a cold/flu or if it's carb & sugar withdrawal. But I do notice that it's when I'm feeling yucky that I reach for a bite of sweet potato. Today I'm going to see if I can stop and choose something else to make myself feel better when that happens.
On the plus side, yesterday I had a great deal of energy! I got a ton done and I felt really good most of the day. Hope today is also a good day, although my congested nose is trying to tell me otherwise!
I resisted the call of the chocolate covered macadamias last night! It was a close call, but I had some celery with cream cheese instead, and then went to bed soon after.
Today is DD's birthday, so I may have a little bit of cake. Trying to figure out how to handle that.
lhamo
Congrats Ihamo!
Leslieann - how are you doing?
Yesterday turned out to be a great day. I met all my diet goals and the congestion I felt faded out pretty quick. I ended up spending a good chunk of the day outside, it was a gorgeous day, sunny and in the 60's. I did gardening, visited with neighbors and walked for about an hour in the park looking at the hills.
I think part of my congestion has been due to dry indoor air. Last two weeks were pretty cold and the heater has been on quite a bit. So yesterday morning I humidified the house and that seemed to really help. I also think I've been dehydrated these past few days. Yesterday when I started to reach for the sweet potato in the fridge I had a glass of water instead and it made me feel better. I made sure to drink lots of water throughout the day and that seemed to solve the munchies and the headache. I had not realized that I'd been drinking hardly no water at all.
Oh, today I'm trying out corn tortillas to see if I react to them or not. I think I might be ok with them. They're still carby but if my body doesn't have an issue with them it will be nice to know.
I've been doing great sticking to the diet, but I've been bicycling up to work, (partly on snow-covered trails), now that vacation is over, and I feel wiped out. I'm still trying to do phase one of Dr. Gundry's diet, so no fruit even. I think, with all the bicycling, my weight is starting to drop, but I can't say that I'm feeling zippy.
I hope your energy picks up, Paul. Watergoddess, thanks for asking. Today is day three of no sugar for me; I am doing well. I have some unpleasant cold symptoms so last night I went to bed really early and hope to do that tonight, too. I have had passing thoughts for the chocolate but I seem to be okay with letting it just be there. I know I'll feel better if I stay clear of it.
I have been eating sweet potato, though. I had some leftovers and did finish them. Even though I know sweet potato is high in carbohydrate, it is still a really nutritious vegetable and helps me feel satiated. I won't be cooking any more during this three weeks but I have also been eating cooked carrots. Back in the day when I did the Atkins diet, those veggies were not okay. But I have found that they are digestible, satisfying, and I know they are full of good nutrients. I am not eating any grains so I think I can tolerate the carbs. We'll see. One of the challenges for me in this three weeks is that I am NOT getting back on the scale until January 28th. I tend to obsess so just staying away is good.
Over on Mark's Daily Apple there was a thread about eating more vegetables than vegetarians. MDA is a site supporting the so-called Primal diet, on which one eats meat, fish, eggs, lots of vegetables, and good fats. And dairy if you tolerate it. Anyway, I found the thread funny but I could relate. When I am attending well to my diet, I eat WAY more vegetables than I did even during my vegetarian days (quite a few years ago now).
So....onward! I am impressed by riding a bike on snow covered trails....we have a LOT of snow here and I don't even like walking on our trails.
Foods like carrots, sweet potatoes, and even waxy white potatoes in moderation are what make it feasible for me to maintain a very low-grain and no-wheat diet. They are high in fiber and other nutrients and I see no need to avoid them, personally. They certainly don't impact my weight. Did you see the press release about the potato-industry manager who ate a potato-only diet for 2 months? While maintaining his usual calorie intake (2200/day, I think?), he lost a fair amount of weight and improved his blood glucose and cholesterol. Also, waxy potatoes have a different nutritional profile than fluffy/baking potatoes (russets), and I prefer their taste and texture anyway.
Paul - you might need to increase the amount of food based on your new activity level. Feeling tired or low-energy is a sure sign for me that I'm not eating enough. I was having a really hard time controlling my evening munchies until a few days ago when I thought, "hmmm, maybe I'm so munchy because I'm hungry." Sure enough, as soon as I increased my portion size at dinner the munchies disappeared.
Leslieann - congrats on day three. The cold symptoms might be withdrawal, I went thru the same thing and now they're gone. It's so true about the veggies! I eat waaaay more veggies now than I ever did before. Most days (when I'm on my game) I eat veggies at every meal, including breakfast and I really enjoy it. I also didn't weigh myself on purpose. I'm thinking of doing a two-week Atkins-type induction at the end of the sugar detox. I like how quickly I lose the water bloat and I enjoy the resetting of my body. Would you be interested? I wouldn't be doing it till about the 23rd or so.
Rosemary - good for you that you're able to eat a good amount of starchy veggies and some grains without it affecting you. I'm finding that corn tortillas are ok for me - no cravings, no energy crashes. Not so with sweet potatoes though - it's hard for me to stop eating them once I start.
Yesterday was a good day. My sugar cravings have subsided dramatically, I don't think much about cheating anymore. I was even able to resist the temptation of my favorite bagel shop when I was next door buying coffee beans. But I had an orange yesterday and I had a strong reaction to it - a sharp headache, a short one but still. I know that I'm reactive to acids but I was surprised at the strong reaction. That's one benefit of a restricted diet, you really notice how your body reacts to different foods. Today I'm going to test out bananas.
My scale is not very trustworthy, so I don't know what my weight really is, but it looks like I lost between 5 and 10 pounds over the past four days, (after not budging much in the first three weeks of trying this eating regimen), so maybe, with the bicycling thrown in, I should up my food intake a little more. The funny thing is that I have not been craving food, though I noticed that I've become both snappy at people (in my family) and a little spacey. Dr. Gundry's diet has a phase 2 where you can add back up to a half cup of brown rice or beans and his list of "good" fruits. His final stage is to largely eliminate the animal proteins. I'm not quite there yet. Tonight's dinner is tuna steak and a bag of greens stir fried with a little mushroom and garlic. I did notice today that my clothes are a little looser. I've dropped from around 205 to under 200. For my height, 5'9", the generic BMI tables say I should weigh around 165 to 170, so I have 25-30 pounds to go. I hope this way of eating will stick as a permanent lifestyle change and not be just a "diet." As soon as I start snacking on those quesadillas and eating spoons of sugary peanut butter, my weight creeps back up.