That title might be a little deceiving, but I love when things rhyme… or kind of rhyme. Let me explain. In the middle of December, we realized that we were eating sugar in giant quantities. Who doesn’t during the holidays? We have had this book sitting on our counter for a long time, but we had never actually signed up to do the detox. We just made a few recipes out of it and said we’d do it eventually.
We got back from our New Years trip and jumped right in. The detox is 8 weeks, but it’s more gradual. The first week is about cutting back and learning how to figure out how much sugar you are actually eating. Once you cut back, you end up almost completely cutting it out for weeks 3-5. It gets added back in the last few weeks little by little.
This wasn’t a weight loss thing for us. We wanted to learn how to be more aware of the amount of sugar we are eating and force ourselves to try some new recipes that involve more veggies (a constant theme in this household.)
It actually grossed me out when I started doing the math on each nutrition label. It works out that each gram of sugar is 4 calories. The rule for the first few weeks is to keep your sugar intake to under 10% of your total calories. Companies aren’t required to show you the percentages, but if you just multiply the grams of sugar by 4 and compare that number to the total, you’ll know how much sugar you’re eating.
The things I’ve struggled with so far or don’t like:
1. Coffee creamer. This unsweetened almond milk creamer is not good. I like a hint of caramel or vanilla.
2. Donut pictures on Instagram.
3. FRUIT. I miss fruit. I miss berry smoothies.
4. Fake sugar. I don’t love that the author suggests using Stevia or Brown Rice Syrup for things. We have avoided any of that for the last 4 weeks.
The things I’ve learned and enjoyed:
1. English muffins have little to no sugar in them.
2. Justin learned how to make a perfect poached egg. It’s amazing.
3. Cheese. She says to eat cheese. I will never say no to that. It has become our dessert when we want dessert.
4. My 2 favorite red wines have the least amount of sugar. Even though we’ve cut it down drastically, I still knock back a glass once or twice a week.
The book that we are using is a good outline. She doesn’t give you meal plans or strict rules – just some facts and suggestions and then a whole bunch of recipes. Like I said before, we have avoided the recipes that use brown rice syrup or stevia – but we may try them after the 8 weeks are up. She has a whole website and a program you can purchase that gives you meal plans and all the extra, but I think the book gives you plenty to work with.
I will do another update at the end of our 8 weeks. In the meantime, if you could all keep your Instagram filled with vegetables and puppies and less of beautiful, colorful donuts – I would really appreciate it.
Also, a friendly reminder that the Beautycounter promo ends tomorrow night, so if you want to take advantage, visit the site or refresh yourself on my top 5 favorite products.
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i love me some fruit and I think it's ok to have fruit but not too much of the tropical kind (pineapples, mangos etc) since they have the highest sugar content. I stick with berries mostly (lowest sugar content).
This is great! How do you feel? 4 weeks in is awesome, definitely interested in how you are feeling internally – more energy? less bloated? any of that?
We are both feeling really good. I don't think my energy levels have changed much, but I definitely have noticed that there is no bloating and my stomach is flatter than it's been in a long time. I feel like I don't have snack cravings anymore, but the first few weeks – there were some weak moments.
Two things I don't want to live without in life:
1. half & half
2. fruit
The other stuff, all in to cut back.
If you are just cutting added sugar, try coconut milk/cream in your coffee! I lasted all of 15 days on the Whole30, but have continued to substitute coconut milk/cream where I would originally use half and half and the flavor and consistency is just as good. Just make sure you get the stuff in a can vs cardboard.
I got a sugar detox book a few years ago, but have never got the courage (aka wanted to take the time and money to buy things I need). I'm always grossed out when I stick to using my fitness pal and see how much sugar is in the stuff i eat (that I don't think of as being a sweet). I'm interested to hear about your next update and this is really encouraging to hear how well you guys are doing so far!
This is so impressive! I totally believe that whole "sugar is a drug" adage. Although that doesn't stop me from eating sugar. Lol. Cannot wait to hear your thoughts and results at the end of the 8 weeks!
I purchased 2 dozen donuts this morning, drove an hour into work with them and now have a box sitting beside me…and I don't intend on eating a single one. I'm channeling my inner detox Steph right now! Haha.