It's been quite awhile since I wrote on here. I ran out of steam and didn't want to bore anyone with daily check-ins. I promised myself, I'd write a new blog when I had a personal goal to share. This week the scale read under 200 for the first time in 18 months. I'm at 197.0 lbs. It's been slow to come off, but that doesn't really matter. I fell into a fitness slump for a few months. I just couldn't motivate myself to get out of bed at 5 a.m. to workout. I'm doing better fitting in fitness now that school is out. And if I don't workout at 5 a.m., it's near impossible for me to fit in a workout or a dedicated walk after work. I'm in non-stop mode from my roles as mother, prep-cook, teacher, taxi-driver, tutor, wife, homework helper, cheerleader, and storyteller from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. 5 days a week. Come 9 p.m. my body shuts down and I'm wiped out. So if I'm going to fit in any type of workout during the school year, it has to be at 5 a.m. My weight from March 29 to June 14 only decreased by 4.5 lbs. By most standards, that isn't anything to really celebrate. And, while I was disappointed at the time, I look back at the past 3 months and I'm absolutely amazed by everything I've been through and not once did I turn to sugar. I have remained completely sugar free for 7 whole months now. That is amazing! Sugar is my drug of choice. For 22 years I turned to food for comfort. I used food to calm my nerves when anxious, to quiet my anger, to reward victories, to celebrate happiness, to sooth my aching heart, and every other emotion that came my way. I prided myself for years for never turning to drugs, alcohol or tobacco. I'm repeating myself from previous posts, but sugar is absolutely my crutch. My go to when life starts to get tough.
To say the past 7 months has been easy, would be a joke. There have been very stressful times over the past 7 months. Times that easily would have been dealt with in the past by a package of Oreos, a bag of M&M's, a carton of Ben and Jerry's, a bag of Hershey minis, a pound of Tootsie Rolls. To say that I didn't want to run to the store and buy my fix, would be a lie. But not once did I do it. My mind wrestled with the stresses and the old habits of turning to food by waking me up in a cold sweat from nightmares. Nightmares that consisted of chocolate that subconsciously would be consumed. My latest one was while I was in Massachusetts on holiday. In my dream I was making trail mix and I unknowingly popped two M&M's in my mouth. In my dream I could taste the chocolate and feel the crunch of the candy coating. I immediately went into a panic attack and started to slap the chocolate out of my mouth. I woke up sweating and a bit upset. My face hurt too because I literally was slapping my mouth in my sleep. LOL. In reality, I'm not paranoid about eating chocolate. I'm not afraid that I'll let something slip by. I read labels for sugar content. I make good conscious decisions. In my dreams, the chocolate or cookies always slip by. In my dreams, I turn to my drug of choice to cope with my emotions. It's always a subconscious action that gets the sugar past my lips. I wonder if other people who struggle with any type of addiction and who are in recovery experience nightmares about their drug of choice whether it's food, alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.
So I see the past 7 months as an enormous victory. I feel like I can beat this disease of the mind. But I also know that I can never, ever have just one bite. I have to face the stresses from day to day head on. I can't and won't turn to food to escape the fears, anxiety, anger, sadness, or celebrate the pure joys and elation's or achievements. I pray each and every morning that I don't relapse. Some people might find my view on this completely out there because we don't really take food addiction seriously. But for me, my success so far is due to the fact that I finally see sugar for what it is to me, and me alone. It is my fix. And because I see it for what it is, I'm more confident than ever that I will beat this addiction. I will live a healthy and long life filled with a healthy relationship with the foods that are good for all of us. Fresh fruits and veggies, nuts, berries, quinoa, buckwheat, seafood, meat, poultry and eggs (beaters in my case) - as much organic and grass-fed as possible. Almond milk. Water, lots and lots of water. Limited dairy (only in the form of cheese - used sparingly, and Greek yogurt (once or twice a week). All of these eaten when the body says it's hungry, not because of emotions. So, for those of you who have been wondering, I'm still going strong. If you need any help, feel free to call, text or message me. I'll be more than happy to talk. Goodness knows I can talk forever about this journey.
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Sunday, March 22, 2015
A tell-all nightmare and a brief check-in
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve checked in here. I am doing great and haven’t had any
slips since this journey started in January. I weighed in this morning at 210.0, so that’s a total of
18.6 pounds in 2 months. Other
than being sick with a stomach / chest / head cold this past week, I have felt
great. I’m working out 3 to 4 days
a week (other than when I was sick).
I prefer strength training and do that in the mornings. I LOVE Les Mills Pump. I can’t say that enough J. I love that I don’t have to go to a gym
and work out in front of a ton of other people.
The kids are doing really well too. They love grocery shopping and picking
out their favorite healthy snacks.
I let them pick their own fruits and veggies and this has really made
them eager to eat what they pick out.
We have minimal food waste, if any. Joe and the kids also started building a garden today so
that we can grow a ton of our own fresh, organic, non-GMO produce. The kids are packing lunch every day
for school. And when I give them
the choices of various main meals they choose salad with a protein 4 out of 5
times. When we first started they
would take a salad maybe twice a week.
Now, they are choosing to take a salad 4 or 5 days a week. That gives me a happy heart.
I did have a very upsetting dream the other night. You’ll probably laugh, but it was
actually really upsetting to me. I
don’t remember all the details, but basically I was in my house by myself and I
ate a half container of Costco’s chocolate chip cookies. I was hiding and stuffing myself until
I was sick. How ridiculous is that? And, how ridiculous is it that I was
upset about this dream? In the
dream I was so sad that I was eating the cookies, but I couldn’t stop myself. I felt so defeated and depressed, but I
didn’t care and I just kept eating them.
In my dream, I knew it was the end of it all. I knew I had “relapsed” and had failed once again. I woke up and was a little sad
that I had lost all control of myself.
There was no such thing as just having one cookie. It was a total binge-eating feast. I had to reassure myself that it was
just a dream.
I think the dream came about because of all the Easter candy
around. I have to share a dirty
little secret. My all-time
favorite candies are out at Easter.
Cadbury mini eggs and malted candy coated Robin Eggs are my ultimate
weakness. A bag of either one of
those didn’t stand a chance.
They’d be gone in a day. I
was in Wal-Mart the other day and I passed by the Easter candy aisle and saw
all those delicious chocolates.
They caught my eye and I thought to myself how addicted I was to those
candies. I remember in years past
swearing that I’d start my diet after Easter just so I could eat Robin Eggs and
mini eggs. I would practically
gorge myself until I was sick eating those. I’d stop on my way home from work and would buy a bag. I’d eat half the bag and would be
stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey.
I’d hide the bag in my purse so Joe and the kids didn’t see that I ate
half a bag. This put me in a bad
position because then I’d have to eat the rest of the bag myself because I
still didn’t want them to know that I ate the other half. I’d eat the other half the next day or
whenever else I’d have a chance. But,
then I’d eat dinner because I felt guilty and didn’t want anyone to know that I
had just stuffed my face with chocolates.
Screwed up isn’t even the proper term for this behavior. This is another clear example of a
person who has a true sugar addiction.
This behavior doesn’t match the hard-working, well-educated person that
I am. This behavior matches an
addict. An addict whose choice of
drug is sugar, not any of the other drugs what are associated with
addiction. Addicts are ashamed of
what they do. They know it’s wrong
to use, but they just can’t stop themselves. They try to hide it from their loved ones, but it’s near
impossible to hide for too long, especially when it’s other drugs. However, I think it’s pretty easy to
hide a sugar addiction. Heck, I
hid it from myself for 22 freaking years.
I didn’t even know that what I was doing was caused by an actual
addiction. I thought I was just a lazy,
fat slob that liked candy and carbs a lot.
I’m so grateful that God answered my prayers. I just wished I started praying about
it years ago. I pray every day for
God to give me the strength to get through another day. So far, so good. Our God is an amazing God. He hasn’t let me down yet, nor has He
ever.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Gluten-free processed foods aren't necessarily the healthier alternative....
I haven’t posted in a week because to be quite frank, I felt
like a broken record. I don’t want
to bore people with the same old stuff day in and day out. I’m going to do a weekly check-in for
now on, unless I learn something totally worthwhile and need to share it with
you. I didn’t have much time to
read this week, so I didn’t learn anything new as far as research, but I did
learn some more about gluten-free foods and what they do to me. I had a four day weekend because of two
snow days. I’m not ashamed to
admit that I literally spent all day Thursday and all day Friday watching the
first two seasons of Downton Abbey.
I’m completely addicted to it.
If you like a ton of plot lines, witty humor, and scandalous events,
you’ll love it. I personally also
find it spellbinding to see how the aristocrats lived back in the day. Growing up near Newport, RI and
visiting the mansions regularly one of our many hobbies growing up was going to
the Breakers, Marble House, Rose-cliffe and more. There I go, digressing again.
Here’s a recap of last week. I ate well, most of the week. I did not have any sugar or gluten and only a slice of
cheese here and there throughout the week. I say that I ate well most of the week because we splurged
on some gluten-free junk food (no sugar was in any of these foods). On Friday, the snow day, Molly made a
homemade lasagna using GF noodles.
I’ve never ever made a lasagna before. This sucker was the BOMB! I’m totally bragging, but this daughter of mine is mind
boggling. That kid is so ambitious
and nothing gets in her way (besides her smart ass mouth once in a while). Anyhow, she made the lasagna because
it’s her brother’s all time favorite food. It was excellent, and you’d never have known that the
noodles were GF. They sell them at
Walmart in the GF section if you are interested in trying them.
On Saturday Maggie had a friend sleep over, her first since
moving to Virginia. It was super
sweet. She was going to be here
for dinner, so I wanted to get some kid friendly food. I didn’t want to make the kid never
want to come back J I found some Perdue Select GF chicken
tenders. They were freaking
delicious! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM
even if you or your kids are not GF.
On Sunday I was super busy around the house and wanted a
quick and easy meal to make for dinner.
Molly made a salad and I threw in one of the frozen GF pizza’s I found
last week at Costco. I don’t know
what brand it was, but again, it was excellent. I also had GF toast Sunday morning with my eggs.
Now that you know what some of the food I ate over the past
three days, let me tell you how I felt.
I was a little lethargic during the days. I also had cravings and seemed to be hungry throughout the
days, especially on Saturday and Sunday.
I was a bit “off” and didn’t feel like working out even though the
weather was gorgeous. I did force
myself to go for a walk on Saturday and walked 2 miles. But, that was primarily because
Maggie’s friend was coming over and I wanted to take my ankle biting, child
biting 10-pound rat for a walk. He
was going to be in solitary confinement while her friend was over. It took me forever to get
motivated yesterday and I worked super slow. I got hungry about every 2 hours and found myself snacking
on various foods (none of which were fruits or veggies). Instead. I ate almonds (more than I
should have), corn chips, veggie sticks, etc… I ate a lot of processed foods (aside from the
almonds.) It happened again this
morning. For the past 7 weeks I
have eaten breakfast by 7 a.m. I
then grab a snack (fruit) at 11 and eat lunch at 12:30. Well, by 9:30 today I was
starving. I had to eat
something and at my plum. At 11 I
ate my apple. The rest of the day
was normal and I didn’t have any crazy cravings and such.
So, I started wondering why on Earth did I feel sluggish and
had these cravings all weekend. My
appetite just seemed off and I kept wanted to shove something else in my mouth. I wondered if the GF pasta, breading,
pizza and bread had something to do with it. I called my all knowing cousin to find out if GF starch /
carb foods break down the same as their non-GF “white” foods (breads, cereals,
pasta, etc…). Turns out they
do. They skyrocket your blood
sugar and then you have that inevitable crash a short time later. It’s an endless cycle and your body
keeps telling you to eat more after that crash. I did additional research online and found a few more sites
that verified with what my cousin told me. Here’s one of the articles that explains this phenomenon.
Here’s another really quick and easy read too:
It basically boils down to that I was having some of the
same side affects I was having when I was eating refined carbs and sugars. My cousin said she treats those GF
processed carb products like treats that are eaten sparingly. They are not eaten three days in row L. Bummer, but now that I learned this
about them and PAYED attention to my body this weekend, I won’t be indulging on
these products again for a while and if and when I do, I will have them
sparingly. The kids have already
been taught this and they understand that those things will be eaten few and
far between.
So, lesson learned.
Not all GF food is created equal.
It can still wreck havoc on a sugar addict’s system and send you back
into the downward addiction spiral.
The never ending cravings, the laziness, and the brain fog. I will stick to my whole foods that God
put on this earth for us to eat with the least amount of processing. This includes fresh fruits, veggies,
berries, meats, fish, eggs, nuts, and beans.
****Pardon me for any
errors in this blog. I’m so ready
for bed and don’t have the energy to proofread. But, I want to post it now for the sake that I don’t know
when I’ll have time to do it.********
**************************************************
This past Thursday’s weigh-in was a success. I weighed in at 213.6 for a total of
15.2 lbs in 7 weeks. I’ll be happy
to keep up an average of 1.5 lbs lost in a week.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Lesson learned.....don't skip lunch and then think it's safe to go to Dollar Tree
The past few days have been a whirlwind. I literally spent the entire weekend
working on school work. Thank
goodness my kids love going to school with me. They get to play on the computers and since they don’t get
to do that at home, they are always happy to go to school with me. We ate great the past 4 days. It’s been the normal plan of no sugar,
no gluten, and lots of fresh wholesome food. Monday night was hectic and I had a hunkering for a hot
dog. I went to the market
and found an Oscar Meyer beef hot dog without any preservatives or nitrates or
any kind of sugar added to them.
The kids loved them. I also
found sweet potato fries to go with them.
Since we had the potatoes we skipped out on finding gluten free hot dog
buns. We also had carrots and
hummus with it. It was a “junk”
food night J.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Deciphering nutrition labels and what we aren't being told - A MUST READ ARTICLE FOR ALL!
Do you read the nutrition labels found on food? I do. I have for years and years and years. When I’m not making healthy choices, I
ignore the nutrition labels because I don’t care about the calories, the fat,
the sodium, or the sugar.
Actually, I think to say that I don’t care is a fallacy. The reason why I don’t read the labels
is because I’m in denial. I
pretend that the amount of those things don’t really have an effect on my
body. I’d think, “Why does it
matter? I’m already fat. I just gain all the weight back after I
lose it anyhow, so why bother reading them anymore?” I may be the only person out there that feels that way when
I’m choosing to not follow a healthy lifestyle or when I’m in the throws of a
binge-eating episode. But, one
question has always remained about nutrition labels. Everything listed on the label has a percentage that
reflects what the daily recommended amount is for a standard 2,000 calorie diet
which is for an average adult who is in their healthy BMI range and who gets
regular exercise. However, two
items do not have a percentage next to them. Sugar and protein.
Have you ever wondered why, too?
So, I did some research. I
went on the USDA website and researched how to understand nutrition
labels. The site directed me to
the Food and Drug Administration website.
Here is what I found.
Protein: A %DV is required to be listed if a claim is made for
protein, such as “high in protein.”
Otherwise, unless the food is meant for use by infants and children
under 4 years old, none is needed.
Current scientific evidence indicates that protein intake is not a
public health concern for adults and children over 4 years of age.
Here is what the USDA says about
sugar on nutrition labels. The
site directs you to the Food and Drug Administration website:
Sugars: No daily reference value has been
established for sugars because no recommendations have been made for the total
amount to eat in a day. Keep in mind, the sugars listed on the Nutrition Facts
label include naturally occurring sugars (like those in fruit and milk) as well
as those added to a food or drink. Check the ingredient list for specifics on
added sugars. If you are concerned
about your intake of sugars, make sure that added sugars are not listed as one
of the first few ingredients.
Other names for added sugars include: corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice
concentrate, maltose, dextrose, sucrose, honey, and maple sugar.
Here is the link to
their page that you can find this information on: http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/LabelingNutrition/ucm274593.htm
I find this
alarming because of what we knowing about sugar. Sugar has no nutritional value, especially those those that
are added to anything. Naturally
occurring sugar in fruits are a different story. It’s the added sugars that the public need to be cautious
of. When sugar is processed in the
body, the pancreas releases insulin (a hormone) and the insulin stores sugar as
fat. Our body needs some sugar,
but it doesn’t need it from added sugar.
We can get what we need from natural foods. Fructose, found in fruit, is different also because whole fruit is filled with a rich
mixture of fiber, vitamins and minerals that help our bodies process the
fructose differently.
So, I continued to
do more research and found that the World Health Organization has made a
recommendation. In March 2014, WHO
dropped their daily sugar intake recommendation from 10 percent of your daily
calorie intake to 5 percent. The
American Heart Association uses the WHO recommendations and they state that women
should have no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day and men no more than 9
teaspoons of sugar per day.
Preschoolers shouldn’t consume more than 4 teaspoons per day. Children between the ages of 4 – 8
shouldn’t consume more than 3 teaspoons per day. (In order to accommodate all the nutritional requirements
for this age group, there are fewer calories available for discretionary
allowances like sugar.) This
information I obtained from the Family Education website in an article
titled: Are We Too Sweet? Our
kids’ Addiction to Sugar by Lindsay Hutton. It’s an excellent article and is a must read if you want to
know more about sugar addiction in children.
So, how do you
figure out how to convert grams of sugar found on nutrition labels to
teaspoons? It’s quite simple. 4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon of sugar. So, it’s recommended that women not
consume more than 24 grams of sugar and men shouldn’t consume more than 36
grams per day. Preschoolers
shouldn’t have more than 16 grams per day and children between 4 and 8
shouldn’t have more than 12 grams.
So, because I care
about my friends, family, and children I went to the market last night and
started looking at some food labels of popular foods. I wanted to show just how much sugar in terms of teaspoons
are in prepackaged foods. Here are
some of the sugar values converted to teaspoons.
Smart Candy Sour Gummy Flavored fruit snacks: 8 g sugar = 2 tsp sugar. The ingredients were: glucose syrup, sugar, water, citric
acid, sodium citrate, and pectin
(Before realizing that added sugar was toxic
and how it was essentially causing most of our health problems, I would have
bought these snacks for my kids. Very
smart advertising, lots of fancy health claims)
Capri Sun Roarin’ Waters: 8 grams sugar = 2 tsp sugar. Ingredients: water, high-fructose corn
syrup, sucralose. (I use to buy
these too, because, heck it’s just flavored water, right?! wrong!)
Honest Kids juice boxes: 9 grams sugar = 2 ¼ tsp sugar (100% natural juice doesn’t contain all
of the richness in fiber, nutrients, vitamins and minerals that a real apple,
or an orange, or whatever other fruit it is. Just stick to real fruit. Your body processes the real fruit over the juice from the
fruit better and more efficiently.)
Good 2 Grow 100% juice: 25 grams sugar = 6 ¼ tsp sugar. Ingredients: concentrated apple, pear, and grape juice and water. Serving size = 8 fluid ounces. (Say what!!!!!! Sure that’s good 2 grow all right! Maybe around my kids’ waistlines!)
Arizona Green Tea single serve box: 12 grams sugar = 3
tsp sugar
Hi-C Juice pouch: 22 grams sugar = 5 ½ tsp sugar
(Contains High-fructose corn syrup, and syrup)
Honey Maid Graham Crackers: 8 grams sugar = 2 tsp sugar (But, I thought graham crackers were a
great afternoon snack for my kids.
Considering my 8 year old is only supposed to get 3 tsp of sugar a day,
I realize these weren’t the healthier choice)
V-Fusion Refreshers: 24 grams sugar = 6 tsp (But it’s V8!)
Del Monte Diced Peaches individual serving cups: 5 grams sugar = 1
¼ tsp sugar Ingredients: natural flavors, monk fruit concentrate, ascorbic
acid, and citric acid.
Advertised as “Yellow cling peaches in
water. Artificially
sweetened. No sugar added” (Not bad, and a better choice than
juice. However, I’m not sold on
monk fruit yet. It sky rocket’s a
diabetic’s blood sugar, so it’s doing that to everyone. I’ll pass and not take my chances)
Apple and Eve 100% juice – no sugar added: 30 grams sugar = 7
½ tsp sugar (Are you freaking
kidding me?!!!! I honestly use to
buy this all the time for my guys.
This is what I always packed in their lunches. This is crazy!)
Are you surprised by any of these numbers? I was when I found out what the daily
recommended allowance was for children and adults.
Okay, so let me just put this out there. This is what a typical day of meals use
to look like in my house. All of
these teaspoon counts are based off a single serving. I’ll tell you though that we’d fill our bowls with
cereal. We wouldn’t measure it
out. We didn’t measure much of
anything out. But for the sake of
this example, I’m going to pretend that we only ate a serving for each food
item listed below. And, this is
for all of us because on any given day, any one of us in our house may have had
an identical meal.
Breakfast: Cinnamon
Toast Crunch cereal 10 grams = 2.5 teaspoons
1%
milk 12.7 grams = 3 teaspoons
2nd
glass of milk to wash down the cereal = 3
teaspoons
A.M. Snack: Rice
krispy treat : 8 grams = 2 teaspoons
Adam
and Eve juice box to wash down the rice krispy treat = 7.5 tsp.
Lunch: Peanut
butter and jelly sandwich (potato bread) = 4.75
tsp.
bag
of BBQ potato chips = .5
tsp
cup
of mandarin oranges in jello = 5.5 teaspoons
Adam
and Eve juice box = 7.5 teaspoons
package
of fruit snacks for dessert = 2.5 teaspoons
Afternoon Snack: banana = 3.5
teaspoons
glass
of milk = 3 teaspoons
Dinner: Spaghetti
with Hunts tomato sauce = 1.8 teaspoons
(But, remember
refined carbs like pasta break down in the body and are
processed j ust
like sugar. Insulin stores refined
carbs as fat.)
Italian
sausage = 0 teaspoons
garlic
bread = .25 teaspoons (But, remember
what I said about
spaghetti)
glass
of milk = 3 teaspoons
At Practice: 20
oz. bottle of Gatorade = 8.75 teaspoons
Evening Snack: Weight
Watchers Peanut Butter Cup Sundae = 3.25
teaspoons
The total amount of
teaspoons of sugar for this day would be:
62.3 teaspoons of sugar!
There are 120 teaspoons of sugar in 1 pound!!! So, on any typical day of the week, I or
my family, would consume a ½ pound of sugar. And, remember WHO recommends we only get 6 teaspoons of
sugar per day for women, 9 teaspoons of sugar for men, 3 teaspoons of sugar for
kids 4 – 8 and 4 teaspoons of sugar for preschoolers. Can you just imagine if the FDA required food companies to
put the percentage of sugar on nutrition labels. I’d bet it start to wake up a hell of a lot of people,
especially parents to young children.
Well, now I know
exactly why I have been fat for so long.
Now, I know why my daughters have always carried around so much extra
weight in their waists. Fat from
sugar typically is stored around the mid-section of people. Now, I know why my husband has a “beer”
belly even though he doesn’t drink.
I’m so thankful to
my mom and my cousin and some very smart friends who have been telling me about
the dangers of sugar all these years.
But, I’m most thankful to God for knocking me on my thick skull enough
to awaken my mind to this addiction.
I encourage all of
you who read this to keep a food diary of a typical day or a week. Don’t go crazy with reading and
documenting every part of the nutrition label. Just write down what you or your kids ate for a day. Ignore the portion size if that’s what
you typically do. At the end of
the week or the day, look up the grams of sugar for each of the items. Divide the grams by 4 to get the number
of teaspoons, then add up all your numbers. Compare it to the recommended daily allowance. Will you be just as horrified as I
was?
connectivity issues :(
I am having an issue with my Internet and have an article written for today, but I can't upload it. It's about the reading nutrition labels and the percentages of Daily Allowances recommended by the USDA. I think it's very helpful for friends and family. Hopefully I can get the issues worked out asap.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Celebrating family birthdays and the hidden sugar problem
There are so many things that I want to share today. It might skip around a bit, but just
stay with me.
13 years ago today I became a mom. Our son was born on my husband’s 30th
birthday. It was a spectacular
present for Joe, but we cut it really close. With 13 minutes to spare on the 26th of February,
I popped out the cutest, squishiest, most inquisitive boy in the world. I know I’m totally partial, but all
parents are. I would have felt
like a failure if I didn’t get the bugger out on Joe’s birthday. So, in planning for today, I made some
conscious decisions. I went
to the market last night to find a dessert for the boys. I can’t tell you why I felt the need to
buy them a real dessert. I really
don’t know why. Do I feel like I’m
depriving them of things? Do I
feel guilty because they only have healthy choices at home. Do I feel like they deserve a food
reward for doing so well over the past 5 weeks? I can’t answer these questions. But, what I do know is, I felt a bit ashamed for buying it. I felt like a hypocrite. There was definitely the good girl on
one shoulder whispering in my ear “Buy some fresh fruit and Cool Whip, they
will be happy with that.” Then
there was the naughty girl on the other shoulder whispering, “They deserve
it. Come on, it’s their
birthday. They have to have cake
on their birthday. How can you
celebrate their birthday without cake?”
In the end, I bought the cake.
It was a single layer 7 inch round chocolate and peanut butter
creation. I did not plan on eating
it myself, and for the record, I did not eat it. But, Joe and the kids each had a piece. Ben was excited and happy. Joe thought we were going to have a
fruit bowl. However, he still
enjoyed his slice. The girls were
very happy to have some cake too. We
left the remaining cake at the restaurant, so it didn’t come home. I must sound like a nut. I don’t want to deprive my kids or my
husband, but at the same time, I feel just as guilty about giving them a food
that may as well be a bottle of arsenic.
There is not one redeeming quality about desserts and I feel bad if I
serve it to my family because it’s just that bad for you. I’m not losing sleep over it. It’s all fine and good, but I just
wanted to share my struggle. (The
kids enjoyed their pieces, but they all agreed it was too sweet. Joe didn’t even finish his piece; he
said it was way too sweet for him.)
We celebrated their birthdays at our favorite Thai
restaurant. My kids love Pad Thai
and since it’s made with rice noodles, it can be fully gluten free if you ask
them to make it without the soy sauce.
It’s a safe food if you are gluten sensitive. Joe and I split a plate of beef Pad Thai, and I ordered it
gluten-free and egg-free. The
servings are enormous and 1 plate for the two of us is more than plenty. The girls split a GF shrimp Pad Thai
and Bennett got his own order of GF shrimp Pad Thai. We enjoyed our dinner and I brought the leftover cake up to
the owner. I told him we didn’t
want to take it home. He said he
had been eyeing it since we sat down J. Too funny! Anyhow, I told him we had gone sugar free, gluten free about
6 weeks ago. I told him we knew
Pad Thai would be perfect because it is GF. But, then I asked him about the flavoring. He said the main ingredients are
tamarind and sugar L. I knew it was too good to be true. This explains why I have a pain in my
right side. I feel like someone
punched me on the side of my stomach, below my ribs. It’s painful to bend over or move much. And it hurts to take a deep
breath in. It’s 3 hours after we
ate and this pain came on about 2 hours ago and has grown steadily worse. This is another one of those
inflammation symptoms caused by sugar that I had a lot before going SF. It’s back with a vengeance
tonight.
On an entirely different note, I have some statistics to
share. When I decided to start the
family on this GF, SF, DF plan, I explained to the kids that it was all about
health. It was about making our
bodies feel better and making our brains happier. It had nothing to do with a number on a scale. My girls use to weigh themselves
frequently. I told them we would
only weigh them once a month. I
weighed them the first time on this plan on February 4th in the
morning when they got up. I
recorded their weight. We had a snow
day today and it was my weigh-in day.
I weigh myself weekly on Thursdays. Maggie saw me pull out the scale and asked if she could be
weighed today. It’s close enough
to the end of the month, so I told her to get on. This kid lost 8 pounds in 3 weeks! Molly weighed herself and she lost 9 pounds in 3 weeks! I was shocked, but at the same time not
that surprised. They are eating
like champs. They LOVE picking out
their own fruits and veggies. They
LOVE eating fresh fish, nuts, eggs, chicken, turkey, venison and beef. They LOVE making new recipes. But, as hard as I try to focus on the
health benefits of eating this way, Maggie said, “I can’t wait to buy all those
cute little clothes. I don’t ever
fit in the cute little clothes and now I can.” This is the girl who is obsessed with shoes and dresses and
all things girly girly. I don’t
know where she came from. Poor kid
has the least fashion-sensed mom in the world.
******************************************************
7 a.m. wake-up.
Weigh-in day. Today’s
weight is 214.8! For a total of
13.8 lbs in 6 weeks.
9 a.m. breakfast:
½ cup egg beaters, 1 slice cheese, 1 tbsp salsa, 1 cup almond milk, 1
orange
9:30 a.m.: workout: 30 minutes of Total Body by 21 Day Fix
11:30:
snack: 1 serving veggie
sticks
1:30 lunch:
salad, ¾ cup chicken, ¼ cup raisins, 1 tbsp sunflower seeds, 1 cup
quinoa
6:30 dinner: ½ plate
of beef Pad Thai. I’m thinking it
was no more than 2 cups that I ate.
HOLY Mackerel !!!!!! I can't believe I experienced this today and it's only been 6 weeks!!!!
So I got a message from an old high school friend of mine
yesterday. She responded to my
blog and she read the article that I had put a link to. The article talks about the dangers of
sugar and how it is an addiction.
I’ve already shared on my blog about the symptoms I had from sugar
addiction. Everything from mood
swings to irritability to inflammation.
But, I left something out and it wasn’t until I read Nicole’s comment
that I remembered another issue that I suffered from.
Last January I started experiencing pain every time I
swallowed. This wasn’t something
that was new. I had issues in the
past, but it came and went. But,
each time it lasted about 2 months.
It probably started about 5 or 6 years ago and it occurred maybe 3 or 4
times. The pain was
horrendous. It didn’t matter how
soft the food was, everything except liquids would cause a painful muscle spasm
at the end of my esophagus when the food passed through and entered my stomach. It was super scary because I honestly
thought I’d choke to death. I
feared the muscle would just stop letting food pass and the food would stay
lodged. It was incredibly
painful. Last February I went for
an endoscopy and the doctor said I had a hiatal hernia, but that it wouldn’t
cause the pain I was experiencing.
He sent me on my way with some medicine. It was a heavy duty Prilosec. I stopped taking it because of some nasty side effects. The pain eventually subsided on it’s
own. I had another bout of it a
few months ago, but it didn’t get as severe and just went away without
progressing to the point where I needed to go back to the doctors. It lasted about 2 weeks. Since the doctor didn’t really have a
good explanation of what it was or what caused the issue in the first place, I
just assumed it was some bizarre muscle spasm.
Well, check out what my friend Nicole wrote last night:
Nicole Rakoski-Calvin Tiffany Moyer, I agree
that sugar is so addicting! I was wondering why my body was craving pure sugar
for about 4-5 months last year. it finally ended up that I was having a hard
time swallowing any food. I was literally gagging and having food caught in my
esophagus. it turned out that I had a huge overgrowth of yeast in my entire
digestive track, to the point that it narrowed my throat. once I started on a
nystatin mouth wash that I drank, my cravings for sugar began to slow down.
sugar is dangerous.
I couldn’t believe it when I read this. It shocked me! I wonder if this is what caused my
swallowing problems all along. I
never put it together, but it could very well be one of my other symptoms of
sugar addiction. I do know that
whenever the issue started happening, I was not eating healthy. Now, I have no idea if infact my
swallowing issues were caused by the same issue as Nicole, but I find it
fascinating that sugar was the root of her issue.
******************************************************
On a totally different note, something huge happened
at work today. I was writing on
the board and my pants were uncomfortable. I was irritated with them because they stretched out so much
during the day, they felt like they were going to fall off. Now, this may not sound huge to other
folks, but I just about fell over when I realized what this meant. These pants are one of the 4 pairs that
I had left that I could squeeze my butt into 6 weeks ago. When I put them on in the morning my
body literally stretched them to their maximum potential. Normally pants loosen up as you wear
them throughout the day. 6 weeks
ago, my pants never loosened up.
When I would get home from work, I couldn’t wait to rip them off so I
could wear my oh’ so comfortable yoga pants. I have a secret love affair with yoga pants. If you ever drop by unannounced, you’ll
find me in my bleached stained yoga pants and a super soft, ugly as hell, red
and white striped, super warm, Goodwill special pull-over. I look like Where’s Wanda, Where’s
Waldo’s sister. When I’d rip off
my workpants I’d have red marks around my stomach from the waistband pressing
so hard into my gut. Well, today
these pants were practically falling off.
I probably have 2 full inches of loose fabric on the waist and they were
completely loose throughout the thighs and hips. They probably looked quite terrible, but for the opposite
reason. They no longer show my
cellulite pock marks, instead they look ridiculous because they are 2 sizes too
big. Now, I’m not saying I want to
wear pants that hug my butt and thighs, but these were a bit too loose. I cannot wait to weigh myself in the
morning. I have a feeling good
things are going to come!
**********************************************************
5 a.m. Les
Mills Pump (I feel soooooo much better when I get up early and work out. I have a huge amount of energy
throughout the day and I feel happy)
7 a.m.
Breakfast: ½ cup egg
beaters, ¾ oz. of Cooper cheese, 1 tbsp salsa, 1 cup u/s almond milk
11 a.m.
Snack: ½ grapefruit
1 p.m. Snack /
lunch: I was supposed to eat
lunch, but I was caught up with getting ready for my afternoon class. I grabbed my lunch and ate the other
snacks. I ate 1 cup of carrots, 1
serving of guacamole, and an apple.
4 p.m. Late
lunch: I ate my salad while I was
driving the kids to the library. I
used my fingers and it didn’t have salad dressing on it. I ate: ¾ cup chicken, 2 cups salad,
6 pm.
Dinner: We had our
Wednesday night church dinner tonight.
I brought my own salad again and surprise, surprise it was grilled
chicken over salad greens J but, for this one I added ¼ cup raisins
and 2 tbsp sunflower seeds.
I left church to do some errands. Bennett and Joe’s birthdays are tomorrow and I wanted to pick
up some surprises for Ben. Joe
already got his birthday present / anniversary present over the weekend. When I got home I was a tad bit hungry
and ate a serving of popcorn. I
don’t remember the brand, I think it’s called Skinny Pop or something of the
sort. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s
weigh-in J
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Additional proof to what sugar does to you....it is most definitely a drug!
My cousin, the one who has the genetic marker for Celiac Disease and who subsequently is gluten-free, sent me an article about sugar addiction. Here is the link. It's an excellent article and provides proof to what I already found out on my own in regards to sugar addiction. It's a must read. Sugar came up in a conversation today with a coworker. She was training me on the Smart Board (which is wicked freaking awesome!) and it was about 11 a.m. I was getting hungry so I started snacking on my carrots. I offered her some and she politely declined. Then she started talking about a friend of hers who is eating clean and is trying to get her to eat clean as well. She said her friend gave up sugar, but she says she could never live without it. I told her I had done the same and I feel better now in the last 6 weeks than I have in years. I'm like a new person. I no longer have the aches and pains, the mood swings, the cravings, the fog brain. It's amazing. I truly have no desire to eat again, even if it looks good. I was at a training this afternoon and as a reward they were passing out chocolate minis. I declined them, of course. But, I have to admit, I was a little wistful. However, it doesn't last long at all because the benefits I feel physically and emotionally outweigh any amount of direct craving.
****************Here's a recap of today's meals and activities******************
5 a.m. woke up from a terrible night sleep. I had nightmares all night long and tossed and turned. I couldn't shake them. I had a lot of stress yesterday and it wrecks havoc on my brain. I stayed in bed for 40 minutes checking my phone for a delayed opening. Pathetic, I know. To my dismay there was no delayed opening, so I missed my workout. I promised myself I'd workout out this afternoon since Maggie couldn't go to swim practice because of her ear infection.
7 a.m. Breakfast: 1/2 cup egg beaters, 3/4 oz. of Cooper cheese - which was one slice (wicked good cheese - I'm allowing myself just a tad bit of dairy in the form of cheese, but no other dairy), 1 tbsp salsa, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
8 a.m. Bought a large black tea at DD for the day
11 a.m. Snack: 1 cup baby carrots
12:15 p.m. Lunch: 2 cups salad, 3/4 cup chicken breast, 1/4 cup raisins in the salad, 2 tbsp dried sunflower seeds, 1 cup mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries)
5:00 p.m. Snack: unsalted almonds. I don't know how many I ate. They came in a container of mixed nuts and dried fruit. Sugar was the 2nd ingredient on the container because of all the dried fruit. I tried a banana chip and was turned off by the overload of sweetness. My taste buds are definitely changing! Amen! But, I did pick out the almonds and only a couple of cashews. I didn't have a measuring cup in my classroom, but I should for the sake of when I'm there late.
8:45 pm. Dinner: 3/4 cup chicken, 3/4 cup cooked quinoa, 1 cup green beans and broccoli. I ate super late because I stayed at work to work on some Smart Board activities and lesson plans. I have to admit that in the past, when I've stayed late, I would grab fast food on my way home. I'd scoff it down and conveniently put the back in the garage trash can when I'd get home. Then, I'd feel ashamed when Joe would say he left my dinner plate in the microwave for me to reheat. I'd eat a second dinner just so I didn't have to tell him I ate fast food too. How screwed up is that?! Am I the only person that ever does that or did that?
No workout today :(. I really did not intend on staying so late at work. I was prepared to go grocery shopping this afternoon and get my workout in, but I got totally excited about the Smart Board and couldn't wait to get started on creating work. I can't wait for school tomorrow, so I can teach my students using the board. I'm a nerd and I'm proud of it. I WILL get up at 5 a.m. in the morning to workout without any excuses tomorrow even though it's 10:15 pm. right now and about an hour past my bedtime. Wish me luck that I stick to my plan in them morning. xoxo
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