Week 2-How I learned to really read the lables

Week 2 has had its ups and downs. I discovered I was getting accidental exposure to seeds. I drink a lot of tea, I’m not a water person so tea, herbal tea, is my drink of choice right now. I was drinking a lot of teas that had the word detox in their name, they also all had cardamom seed in them. I was drinking 2-3 cups a day.

I also had some turkey bacon and after I ate it I read the label and saw it had paprika in it, dang this is hard. So now I read the labels very carefully and if in doubt I don’t buy.

I am a little dis- heartened because I still see no improvement. I’m beginning to wonder what else I can do

Time to Get Serious

So I’ve been slowly changing my diet and lifestyle to be more Paleo, with all of the research I’ve been doing I don’t see why not. Since I gave up grains, legumes and cut way back on my sugar I continually feel healthier, have more energy and less brain fog than I have in years. I’m reading Chris Kresser’s book Your Personal Paleo Code and because of the information in his book I have also given up dairy. Things are going well but the one thing I was  hoping would  improve, the swollen bags under my eyes, either caused by blepharitis or rosacea, is staying the same. I still can not wear make up or my contacts. So I decided to go the next step and see a doctor that specialises in, I don’t even know what to call it, holistic medicine, functional medicine, basically someone who is not going to treat the symptoms but get to the root of the problem.

My first visit went as expected, a thorough review of my symptoms, a physical exam and lots of questions. I was very happy that I had a good rapport  and that she was easy to talk to. Unfortunately the expectation of a striker diet was also true; along with grain, dairy, legumes, I also have to give up eggs, lectins, nightshades and alcohol. Here is the hardest thing, I can only have one cup of coffee a day. I’m not surprised by any of these eliminations, I’ve done enough research to know that these are all typical food to get rid of when trying to calm down immune responses. Just wondering how I’m going to manage, I love my egg soup for breakfast.

The First Week:

Lucky you! You get two post in one.

The first week was really hard, hard because of external factors. It was parent-teacher conference week at my school so right there I had to plan for two 12 hour days. This was hard because I had already lost most of Monday night at the doctor’s. Also I had gone shopping for the week and many of the meals I had planned i could no longer eat. To make matters worse there was an extreme tragedy in my extended family. They live about 4 hours away and because of it being parent teacher conferences I could not go to lend my support. My stress level was high. Most of the week was a blur. I did drink some wine on Wednesday and Thursday and didn’t pay too much attention to eliminating all of the foods I should. I did continue to avoid the usual, wheat, dairy, legumes, and I added eggs but I did have some peppers and chocolate and like I said, wine.

I really don’t notice any difference in how I feel, but it was a stressful week, and I didn’t eliminate everything on the list. But starting Sunday, yesterday, I got serious again.

I had salmon and broccoli sprouts for breakfast,  I made a roast for dinner and had left over lamb/liver meat balls for lunch ( yuck, I don’t like ground lamb). Today was a little harder, I really wanted that second cup of coffee. I even spent 20 minutes on the internet trying to find a site that would say it’s ok, you can have two cups. Instead I read coffee is a seed, another thing I can’t eat and that it can stimulate your immune system. So no second cup for me. I also love to have herbal tea. I started looking into the ingredients and have found that most of the tea I drink has cardamom seed in it. I can’t have seeds so that knock another thing off my list.  After going through all the tea in my cupboard I ended up having Nettle Leaf tea, not crazy about it but it will have to do tonight.

Sugar Detox Revisited

One of my new favorite ways to eat salmon, by the way I did not like salmon until I did the detox.

I should have ended my sugar detox on the 21st of January, I chose to end it early. If you recall I was starting to complain about being bored Sugar Detox Day 11, Day 16 Sugar Detox. Maybe bored wasn’t the right word or changing up what I was eating and trying new recipes would have taken care of that. I think the better explanation for why I stopped my sugar detox 5 days early was that I was no longer seeing new benefits, meaning I felt as good as I thought I could feel on this detox. I felt great! I didn’t stop because I felt it wasn’t working I stopped because it worked so well!

I stopped on a Friday and celebrated with a glass of wine, the only thing I missed on the detox. After a glass or 2 my son convinced me to get a pizza, I should have known better. Before I started moving toward Paleo I had no known sensitivity to wheat. So we ate our pizza, drank some more wine and were having a nice evening. About 30 minutes after my first piece of pizza I started to feel my gut move around, I thought “I’m just not use to it anymore.” About an hour and a half after the pizza I started having stomach cramps, so I thought “I’ll not finish this glass of wine, drink a big glass of water and head to bed.” Cramps woke me up a couple of time and then at 1:00 AM my body said “NO WAY!!” and I was in the bathroom eliminating my pizza and wine, I’ll spare you the details. I woke up the next morning feeling ok and with a lesson well learned!

My lunch, both left over favorites, from the book. Spinach and garlic soup, quiche.

Even thought I am not on a sugar detox I did learn in these last 10 days that sugar really does have a strong effect on me. I have had some sub par chocolate, you know the ones that melt in your mouth not in your hand, and even those, my favorite candy, just didn’t do anything for me. So the sugar I am eating is in the form of fruit. I haven’t even had honey or maple syrup. It also took until last night for me to want a glass of wine, and that was all I wanted and I will never want pizza (the delivered kind) again!

My over all review of The 21 Day Sugar Detox by Diane Sanfilippo is  I highly recommend it! I can’t wait for a payday or two so that I can buy the cook book that complements it. I had bought the book as a kindle addition because I wasn’t sure it would be for me; I will buy the cookbook in print.

3 Phase Paleo

I wanted to read 3 Phase Paleo by Stacy Toth and Matthew McCarry, the Paleo Parents, a couple of times before I did my review. The first time I read it I thought “Wow, where was this book when my family was young? We could have really benefitted from it!” After reading the book through that lens I had to read it again looking for the benefits for me. See I really questioned buying this book because it seems marketed toward families with young kids, that’s not me. Again I thought “Wow.” only this time I was excited for the section on the 3rd phase, which is where I am at in my journey–Introduce Healing Foods. So then I had to read that section again, just to make sure I was still impressed, and I was.

Click here to visit Paleo Parents and buy the book.(this picture provided by the Paleo Parents website)

What I liked about this book, compared to many other great books I have read on nutrition and Paleo, is how practical it is. I felt like after reading 3 Phase Paleo I have the skills to really rock this life style. I love the lists of what to buy at the different stores and the section on how to stock your pantry. I’ve been eating Paleo for longer than I knew I was eating Paloe but if I was new I’d have printed and posted the Food Swap List on my fridge, on my desk at work and in my car! Like I said I have been eating Paleo for a while but after reading this book I feel like I was eating Beginner Paleo. Phase 3 has given me the tools and wonderful ideas on how to move to the next level. Ideas on how incorporate stock, or bone broth, into my diet daily ( I do my version of Stacy’s Soup) and my next venture is getting organ meat into my diet. This will take some metal preparation and the Spaghetti Squash with Meat and Offal Sauce recipe but I will do it.

eggs in broth, so yummy!

For me the greatest benefit of this book is the recipes. 75 new ways to be creative and try something new, my favorite part of being Paleo 🙂

Now that I have read the book 3 times and have loved it more every time I can’t wait to share how much it has helped me, even without a family to work with, in my journey to better health and real food.

Day 16 Sugar Detox

I have a confession, today I choose to eat sugar. Why,  because I am just bored. I’m sort of done with the detox. I know I have 5 more days, but I feel like I’m at the point where all the benefit I was going to get I got. Now I’m not saying I didn’t benefit, I think I benefitted a great deal from this and I will avoid sugar again until the 21st but not as carefully.

The benefits of the detox for me were I broke the habit of eating sugar. I discovered a lot of really great recipes without sugar and without grain. I feel like my skin is brighter, I’m happier and over all I have more energy but I feel like I have obtained all the benefit I can get. I’m sure that if you tested my glucose levels or what ever else you might test you would see room for improvement. I won’t go back to consuming all the sugar I was before, like I said earlier, I have broken my habit. I will also avoid sugar for my last days on the detox but I needed this break. I needed a night to not be concerned about what I ate. For the record, it was just old junky Christmas candy so I feel crappy and it wasn’t all that enjoyable to eat. I just needed a 15 minute vacation from the sugar detox.

Sugar Detox Day 11

Half way!!! Whoot!!

Yesterday and today I’m feeling a little tired and bored of this. I am not missing sugar as in chocolate or fruit, I realize my sugar consumption was habit not addiction. But I do miss a few things from my pre sugar detox lifestyle, ok, only one thing but yesterday I missed it a lot.

I had a frustrating day at work, I was trying to import apps for iPads into a program on a Mac (I’m a PC person) from the Volume Purchase Plan, yeah I know, what ever, and it wasn’t working. I have done it before but it was like I was just missing one step. Worse, I was trying to show someone else how to do it so I was flustered. I am a media specialist in a very busy middle school library so while I was trying to figure this out there were lots of students that needed help. Thus frustration, not at the kids, I love the kids, at myself for not being able to figure this out.

On a typically day like this I would definitely have a glass, or 2, of wine when I got home, yesterday I couldn’t. I also planned on changing up my blog layout and again I just feel more creative if I have a glass of wine while I’m working. Not that the wine makes me more creative, it’s the ambience of the glass sitting on the table while I work. I’ve been substituting tea and bought some fun teas, green tea with strawberry, ginger, orange, mint herbal tea, my favorite Earl Grey and some detox tea. But a cup of tea just isn’t a glass of wine.

Other than missing the wine I feel great. I’ve been making the dishes from Diane’s book and have loved 99% the other 1% have been good just didn’t love them. My energy is increasing everyday and my mood is off the charts! I feel calmer yet with more energy than I’ve had in years. Counting today I have 11 days left and I’m sure that when I’m done I will continue to limit my sugar.

Sugar Detox Day 6

Yesterday was hard, I didn’t really eat meals, I ate food but I didn’t sit down and enjoy a meal. I did a lot of snacking yesterday and never felt satisfied. Today I sat down while I  ate my breakfast and dinner, I feel like I did less snacking.

I don’t feel quite so easily irritated like I did yesterday and less fog in the brain. I am having sugar cravings too. Not bad cravings but enough where I gave all the left over fudge from Christmas to my ex. The big thing that helped to-day was I did some yoga again. I really felt good after that. I’ve fallen away from doing yoga daily and I’m hoping this is what I need to get back into it .

I did have a big disappointment today, I was making bone broth and I must have bought some bad bones. When I baked the bones, first a clear liquid, maybe fat, not sure, leaked out of the bones and then when I put them in the crock pot the broth stayed clear. My other batches were a nice beefy brown color. I’m letting it cook until I go to bed, if it still looks suspect I’ll throw it out and start again. I don’t thing the dogs will get this bone either, just to be safe.

My copy of the new book by Chris Kresser, Your Personal Paleo Code, comes tomorrow. I can hardly wait. I’m hoping to get it read in a week or two, as soon as I do I’ll add my review. There are a lot of great reviews out there on the book if you can’t wait.

I did take a picture of my breakfast, sautéed garlic and red pepper with chicken and egg in bone broth. Looks gross but tasted great.

bone broth and egg breakfast

Dinner was Mustard Glazed Chicken (from 21DSD) and steam broccoli that I put butter and lemon juice on, it was wonderful.

Mustard Glazed Chicken and steamed lemon broccoli

Sugar Detox Day 5

Lunch yesterday ended up being easier than I though. I had looked the menu up online before I went so I knew I was going to get the cobb salad. I also brought my own jar of dressing. I did good.

Today was not such an easy day. I woke up all achy, but I do have an old mattress and I did sleep on the other side of my body ( I wanted to see if I could even out the swelling under my eyes, it work). I also woke up with a slight headache, nothing coffee couldn’t fix.

I did some baking, roasted nuts and kale chips (snacks for the game, we lost) so I munched all day. Tonight is not so great. I feel light-headed, not hungry, and crabby. My headache is back and it is worse, I can’t have caffeine now. To make things worse my kids were eating pizza and munching on chocolate. The pizza didn’t bother me but I did looking longingly at the chocolate. So basically today I feel like crap but not so bad I can’t do things. I’m having a hard time focusing. My motivation to get things done is gone. And last but not least my eczema is back. I’ve been rash free for 2 years 😦

Despite this all I’m going to keep going. I know I will feel great on January 21st or at least have a lot of blog posts.

Morning of Day 4

I truly meant to blog everyday on my sugar detox but on the afternoon of Day 2 I was hit with another health setback, Rosacea. I have been struggling with Blepharitis for months now and felt like I was in a continual flare up. I also need new glasses. I decided to wait for my eye exam to talk about my Blepharitis flare up. That’s when the word Rosacea was said. What I liked about my doctor was that he was respectful to how I’m eating and how I’m trying to remove toxins from my diet, so he gave me an option. I could try to heal myself with larger doses of fish oil or I could take a more aggressive approach and go on an antibiotic and steroid eye drops, ok, I’m vain, I took the more aggressive approach. I feel I can work on my end changing my diet to heal my gut( a post on gut heal will be coming soon) and taking the antibiotics to speed things along. Yes I realize that the antibiotics will be working against me trying to balance the flora in my gut but hopefully I’ll develop some good habits so when I can come off the antibiotics I will be able to heal my gut quicker.

Ok, now why you are really here, to hear how my detox is going, I have one word  -Great-!!

I could not be happier with how not difficult this is, I won’t say easy because it’s not easy but I will say it’s not difficult either. What makes it tough is planning and as the book The 21 Day Sugar Detox preaches planning is the key. Today I’m  doing my 2 week grocery shopping run and to sit and plan 14 meals and making sure I have something to snack on took about an hour. All of the dinners I’ll be eating will be from the book. But, I feel good and prepared for my next 14 days.

So far I have not felt any different, no withdrawal symptoms  like I thought, so I guess that’s good. I’m a little hungrier than normal but once I eat something, usually cheese, I feel satisfied. I have alway slept good so that hasn’t changed. As for energy and mental clarity I have noticed no changes.

Today will be a big challenge for me, I’m going out for lunch. Thanks goodness for online menus, I’ve already picked out what I will eat, a cobb salad, and now I just have to sneak my own dressing in and pray that it doesn’t come with something  sugar infused.

Sugar Detox Day One

I’m sure the first day is easy for most people and it was extremely easy for me. I did indulge on a little more sugar than normal yesterday, with it being New Years Eve and all, and I did pay for it this morning. My payment: more trips to the bathroom.

I started out my day with my typical cups of coffee. I had invited my parents over for a sugar-free, grain free dinner so I was busy most of the day taking down bits of Christmas decorations and cleaning in-between my preparing the meal.

I made a crock pot roast with homemade bone broth, carrots, celery and onions, it was delicious. For my sides I made mashed cauliflower, much to my son’s disappointment, he thought it was going to be mashed potatoes and herb biscuits. Everything, even the apple crisp which I messed up on, turned out wonderful. All but the roast are recipes from The 21 Day Sugar Detox.The apple crisp is not in the photo because it was still in the oven and when I took it out my boys ate it so fast I didn’t have time to get a picture.

I feel great, accomplished and full.

Oh and Happy 1st Birthday to my dog Bessie.