Sugar Detox – Day 3

I’m feeling fine, except…I woke up today (the last day of the 3-day detox) dreaming of chocolate peanut butter cups.

Tomorrow begins Week 1 of the detox. For the next seven days, I will be adding each day: 1 apple (not just any fruit — apples are recommended because they are relatively low sugar and high fiber); 1 serving of dairy like (1 oz cheese, 5 oz yogurt, 1/2 cup cottage cheese/whole or 2% milk/milk alternative); 1 serving high fiber cracker (there is a list of approved brands in the book, but the only brand I recognize is Triscuit Whole Wheat); 1 5oz glass of red wine up to 3x week.

If exercise was taken down a notch during the 3-day, it can resume normally starting week 1.

All that starts tomorrow. For today — last day of 3-day detox!

 

Sugar Detox : Day 1

If you want to eat healthier, it usually means cooking more. It’s the “high maintenance” aspect of any kind of program, whether it be paleo, Whole 30, Weight Watchers, AIP or whatever. Unless you are willing to pay top dollar to have quality food made for you (there are now many food delivery services that cater to special diets) or be willing to eat the same boring foods all the time (Trader Joe’s turkey burgers, anyone?), you have to cook.

I went to the library and checked out a book by the author of one of my favorite paleo cooking sites, Nomnom Paleo and a second book that looked interesting.

For the first day of the sugar detox, I had

Man, that’s a lot of protein! Other than that very obvious observation, I will note that the large, protein-intensive breakfast kept me full for a long time. Both the spicy pork stir fry and the beef chili were quite good and very easy to make.

Tomorrow, I will try and eat more veggies. I’m used to relying on fruit as both a snack and a source of fiber. I think I have to ramp up my green veggie game.

Sugar Detox – Preparation

Tomorrow (July 1) is the start of our one-month sugar detox. Are you ready?

Remember, the first three days of the detox are the most rigid. What you can eat:

  • Up to 6oz protein per meal
  • up to 1 oz nuts – 2x day
  • up to 1/2 avocado per day
  • unlimited non-starchy veggies like arugula, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, kale, peppers, zucchini
  • up to one cup black coffee
  • unlimited unsweetened tea
  • vinegar, spices, oil for cooking

On the “No” list

  • added sugar (obviously)
  • artificial sweetener
  • alcohol
  • dairy
  • fruit (except lemon/lime for add to water)
  • starches: pasta, cereal, rice, quinoa, etc

Eating from such a restricted list of foods means stocking up on foods that I normally wouldn’t buy, but I find that having some convenient stuff on hand is really helpful. In my fridge, cauliflower and broccoli “rice” from Trader Joes and turkey burgers. I’ll also stock up on pre-washed kale and eggs. Lots of eggs.

May the odds ever be in our favor!

 

 

Midyear Reset: One Month Sugar Detox

As far as detoxes go, this one in this article featuring Dr. Robert Lustig seems reasonable and challenging, but not TOO hard. It’s designed to help you break up with sugar. You basically do a low carb diet for the first three days, then slowly add in other stuff.

Wes read Dr. Lustig’s book, Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease a while back and became convinced of the toxic impact of all the added sugar in our diet. We’ve also had friends with some pretty tricky autoimmune issues who have been vastly helped as they’ve eliminated added sugar.

But sugar is everywhere and very hard to avoid. Also, it tastes really good.

That’s where intentionality and structure can be really helpful.

The first three days of the detox are fairly simple:

Days 1- 3: no added sugars — but also no fruits, no starchy vegetables (such as corn, peas, sweet potatoes and butternut squash), no dairy, no grains and no alcohol. No artificial sweeteners.

“For example, breakfast can include three eggs, any style; lunch can include up to 6 ounces of poultry, fish or tofu and a green salad, and dinner is basically a larger version of lunch, though steamed vegetables such as broccoli, kale and spinach can be eaten in place of salad. Snacks include an ounce of nuts and sliced peppers with hummus. Beverages include water, unsweetened tea and black coffee.”

For many of you, a sugar detox does not make sense right now. You are on vacation. You are on a pilgrimage. But for the rest of us, why not a midyear health reset? Who wants to do this with me?

Detox starts on July 1.

Leave a note in the comments or shoot me an email. If you don’t know my email address, you can reach me via this contact form

By the way, the photo is of some almonds on my desk at work. I’m planning to eat more than that on this detox.