Last Sunday I wrapped up Week 5 of the 8 week detox and lost another 1.6 pounds, bringing my total weight loss up to 11.4 pounds. So thrilling! Before I started this detox, I set little weight loss goals for myself along the way to motivate me. For the first 10 pounds lost, I awarded myself a little shopping spree at one of my new favorite stores! That reward is a lot more fun than an ice cream binge, I can tell you that much!
Last Monday started Week 6 of the detox, and Sarah Wilson's plan advises "Adding Some Sweetness Back In." That's the actual title of the Week 6 chapter!
So what sugars can I add back in this week?
- Low-fructose fruit like blueberries and raspberries, plums, strawberries and oranges. No tropical fruits that are full of sugar are allowed just yet, so nope, not yet, bananas and pineapples!
- Stevia, the all natural sweetener, has no fructose, and is an acceptable sweetener. In fact, Stevia is Wilson's favorite overall sweetener, over honey and agave syrup.
- Coconut water, oil, flakes, cream, milk. Wilson devotes a full 3 pages in her book to the coconut. Her section is titled "9 Moments in Coconut Love." From coconut granola, made with coconut oil, flakes, almonds, and Stevia, to just drinking coconut water (free of added sugars of course), Wilson basically describes her love affair with the coconut.
- 85% Cocoa Chocolate. Sure, it may have tasted like baking chocolate before the detox, but Wilson swears it tastes pretty delicious after a couple months off of the sweet stuff.
I decided to add in fruit this week. On Tuesday, instead of a spoonful of almond butter for my 3:00 PM snack, I munched on an apple. I hadn't had fruit in 2 weeks! That first bite of apple tasted so sweet, so juicy, so perfect. Apples have now become my new favorite treat. Last spring, as one of their homeschool projects, the kids had to gather 2-3 apples of every variety at the store, then bring them home for a taste test, and come up with a chart, showing our family favorites by person. So let's just say I only buy Jazz and Cripps Pink apples.
Everyday this week, I've had a little something sweet just to see how I would react. My plan was that if I ate something sweet, and then experienced major cravings, I would know that I wasn't ready for that just yet. So one morning I made a strawberry, blueberry, greek yogurt, protein powder and spinach smoothie. No problems with that, I was back to sugar-free the rest of the day. Another morning, I added blueberries to my oatmeal, and even a dash of milk. Again, no problem.
Here's what didn't work: a Starbucks iced latte with skim milk and two pumps of sugar-free vanilla syrup. I was in El Centro, running around with the kids in the hot afternoon. And I needed a pick-me-up, and I'd forgotten to pack one of my handy-dandy snacks. So there was a Starbucks. And isn't there always a Starbucks? Everywhere you look almost? Anyway, I remembered, "hey, I can have sugar now, in fact, I can have fake sugar! Sarah Wilson said so!" So I ordered myself the grande latte described above. And it was glorious. So glorious that I wanted another one. Right away. Right then. I actually told myself, "it's ok, calm down, you can have another one tomorrow." And that's when it hit me. I can't order those anymore. At least, not for a while. That sugar-free latte triggered my cravings like nothing has in the last 6 weeks. So, sorry Starbucks. If you see me in your drive-through, it will be to order a bottle of water. And that's ok. The sugar addict in me actually recognizes that it is very unhealthy for me to again be planning out and scheming when I can next buy a sweet drink. So no thank you.
Also, just as added proof that the latte wasn't in my best interest, immediately after drinking it, I felt my stomach start to cramp. It hurt bad. My body didn't want that fake sugar in it. It was mad at me for reintroducing the fake sugars into my now fully cleansed, clean eating body. The natural sugars, the fruits I've added, haven't bothered me at all. I attribute it to the fact that God made our bodies to consume the things that He gave us to eat. Fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, etc. And I know that God gave us honey and agave, and other natural sugars too, but the fake sugars, like sugar-free syrups, are not the best for me personally.
Another weigh-in is just around the corner. And then on to Week 7! The detox is over in just 2 weeks. Hard to believe that I am so close. That first tough week feels like decades ago, it's only forward motion from here on out!
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