Here’s the deal: I didn’t complete my sugar detox.
I figure I should come right out and say the truth.
The truth is that no matter how hard you know something is going to be, you never really know until you’re deep in the trenches of it.
The truth is that after an entire day of eating bland food, the thought of heating up more bland chicken and more bland veggies made me want to throw up.
The truth is that my body wasn’t ready for this.
The truth is that when I decided to quit and days after the decision, I felt no guilt or shame.
Maybe these are all excuses. You could tell me how it was “only one day” and “I didn’t give my body time to adjust” and I would completely agree with you. You are right. I didn’t give my body time to get used to foods that weren’t chock-full of sugar and butter and savory goodness. I’m sure my body would have adjusted, given time.
But is it worth it to be completely miserable?
I don’t think so.
Maybe to some people, it is. I didn’t even get to the detox part of the detox – headaches and nausea and shakes and exhaustion. I didn’t even detox. I was just miserable about the food itself and how tasteless it was to me. The thought of facing four more days of food I hated along with detox symptoms made me completely miserable.
Our eating habits are intensely personal to each and every one of us. Not everyone has to be low sugar, or vegetarian, or a runner to lose weight. (This is a point Nicole stresses a lot. And, for the record, this post is in no way a criticism of her program. I still think it’s fantastic. It was just too much for me right now.) For me, I seem to do best when I’m exercising regularly (usually a lot of cardio) and tracking my food intake. When I’m making more home-cooked meals and treating myself every now and then.
And right now, I’m not as concerned as recognizing hidden sugars in foods. The truth is, I’m not overweight because of the hidden sugars in my pasta sauce, bread, and cereals. I’m overweight because I eat too many sugary snacks and baked goods, drink soda too often, and eat more of my meals out than in. I need to get a handle on that first.
So I didn’t finish the sugar detox. By 7:00 on Friday night, I threw in the towel. Some may call me weak, some may say I failed but there was this weight lifted off my shoulders, this happiness that wasn’t there before when I made the decision. The entire weekend, I checked in with myself and realized that I felt no guilt or shame or self-loathing about quitting. And that’s when I knew I made the right decision. It was the right decision for me, at this point in my life.
Right now, I need to take baby steps toward a more healthy life. Things like making more home-cooked meals, eating out less, drinking more water, exercising, and limiting sugary treats. I realized I’ve been trying to do it all at once. Fix every single broken piece of me and then I can lose weight and then I can be happy.
Slippery slope.
Slippery, slippery slope.
There is nothing wrong with me because I’m overweight. My weight holds no bearing over who I am as a person. I am still just as charming and delightful as I would be fifty pounds lighter. It’s something I constantly have to remind myself about and recognize I want to eat healthy for other benefits, not simply for weight loss. To be able to sleep better and have more energy and feel good. To lessen long-term health problems and have more endurance with my workouts.
Maybe one day I can successfully complete a sugar detox and feel good about it. This was just not my time and I’m okay with that. I feel happy about my decision to quit and, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if I finish a hardcore sugar detox or lose tons of pounds. All that matters is how I feel and today, I can say that I feel good.
Stephany, I know that weight is all about how you feel about yourself but I cannot see you fifty pounds lighter. You and I are about the same weight (from your prior weight posts) and I just don’t see how you could lose that much weight. You are beautiful. Do you wonder if you are setting yourself up to fail with such a big goal?
And why was all the food so bland? I think I also don’t understand this. There are so many spices and herbs to liven your food up. I’m glad you are at peace with your decision to stop the sugar detox – I’m not questioning that, but I wonder if you explored your taste options, and that is a good question for you for the future of your goals of cooking more too. Let me know if you need help with recipes or ideas!
As I’m re-reading this comment I hope that you don’t think that I’m judging you – I’m right there with you with the sugar, and with needing to work out more, and with the weight loss! I just want you to be happy, and I love the line I am still just as charming and delightful … you are.
I agree with April. Your food doesn’t have to be bland and I think perhaps (this is just speculations…) that you didn’t prepare quite as well as you needed to make it through the Sugar Detox. When Erik and I did our Paleo challenge it was similar although we could eat fruit, but we weren’t allowed to make any kind of Paleo / gluten-free desserts or Paleo-ified junk food. But what we did was buy a Paleo cookbook that helped guide us in our food choices so we didn’t have to rely so much on creativity. If so, we definitely would have been stuck with grilled chicken and spinach salads every day and been completely miserable!
My suggestion is to invest in a good quality good book and start treating it like a menu at a restaurant. It doesn’t have to be Paleo (although I’m a huge fan of the cookbooks), but any healthy living (so not the Italian cookbooks!) would be a good option to get you in the kitchen and experimenting with food.
Another thing you can think about is simply replacements instead of elimination. One of my favorite desserts comes in the form of Larabars. They have this chocolate cookie dough flavored bar that’s incredibly healthy, but it tastes delicious. They also have Apple Pie and Cherry Pie, which are literally only made with the fruit, dates and nuts. So good and so healthy.
YES to Larabars! They are amazing! And I agree with the replacement advice. Being able to have a Larabar or a smoothie or some no-sugar-added juice helped immensely when I gave up sugar.
I am so proud of your honesty and that you stopped before you became miserable. I’m so proud of you for knowing that cutting back on the optionals (take out, sugary snacks, etc.) before completely detoxing is the best choice for you. I tapered off as well and while I still drink sugary drinks, that’s pretty much where most of my optional sugar intake is from. I don’t do candy as much as I used to and desserts is very rare unless I have a taste for some sorbet or a cookie. Otherwise, it’s mostly fruit, but I didn’t detox. I tapered off.
As for the chicken and vegetables, I can understand how you felt. When there wasn’t anything sugary in my house and I ate regular food, it felt like I didn’t get full enough and it didn’t help me with the craving. To me, food was bland, regardless of what I put in there. I needed the sugar. Maybe this is how you felt with the food you ate or not, but it’s easy to relate.
I believe that you can totally kick sugar for good and that you’re awesome no matter what you weigh, so keep doing you and thank you for your honesty.
I’m just going to chime in with the rest of the commenters – food that is good for your body can be delicious! I love to cook healthy food and I love to help other people learn how to also… is that something you’d be interested in? It’s so much easier to eat food that is good for your body when it also tastes good! Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
As Nicole said many, many times in the reading material: everyone’s experience in her course is highly personal and if what you got out of it for now is that you’re not ready for a 5-day sugar detox or not as concerned about hidden sugars, then THAT is what you got out of the class.
I think it was very honest of you to just quit after one day. While people might be right saying that you could have just tried a little harder or maybe even asked for advice on how to weather this, it was YOUR decision. And that all that matters. Maybe you attempt the sugar detox another time, maybe you don’t.
It’s important that you know what YOUR priorities are and attend to those first (like eating out less or cutting out sugary snacks!).
While I completed the detox and learned a lot, I also know that I don’t ever want to live completely sugar free, because a) my body seems to handle the sugar that I’ve been eating quite well and I don’t really react badly to it, and b) I don’t want to deny myself simple pleasures every now and then!
And yes, you’re charming and delightful… sugar-detoxed or not 😉
Try checking out sites like Paleo OMG and Elana’s Pantry. Instead of sugar detoxing try starting with cutting down on processed foods, all bread, and some grains and eating more lean protein with fresh veggies. Pink sea salt, garlic, smoked paprika and other spices as well as healthy marinades go a long way with making bland things like chicken breast taste better. Also add in some omega 3 supplements along w. some vitamin D daily and you’ll prob lose some weight just by doing that. I’ve also found hardcore weight training does a better job at overall body fat percentage than straight cardio. Good luck in your weight loss journey. Remember it’s a lifestyle not a diet.
I just wanna give you a big hug for this! It just wasn’t for you. Heck, it is DEFINITELY not for me. I respect the people who can do this kind of health kick without flinching, but I just don’t have it in me. I feel like every day is a possible battle with myself and my self-image because I love food too much to give any of the good stuff up, and I feel crappy when I eat crappy. WHATS A GIRL TO DO??
I have faith you’ll find your balance though, one day at a time, by figuring out what kind of healthy lifestyle works best for you. And you’re always a wonderful, charming, gorgeous gal, no matter your weight!
I will echo what the others have said in regards to exploring spices that will make healthy food more tasty! I think that might change you whole perspective about healthy eating. It takes time to shift to a different style of eating, but it’s so doable and it can still be delicious!
But yes, maybe cutting something out cold turkey isn’t for you. Maybe this is just a sign that no “fill in the blank” experiments are not for you?
HI, I DIDN’T FINISH EITHER. My goodness, it was way too much too fast. (Plus, I didn’t prepare as well as I should’ve.) Your experience sounds similar to mine – I *tried* to prepare and think of recipes, but I rarely cook for myself so I didn’t know what spices/seasonings to experiment with or even any good dishes other than “roast some veggies” or “make rice and beans.” When I came home after work on the first day and made my planned dinner, the best moment was covering all of my veggies/rice/beans with SO MUCH CHEESE because FINALLY something had flavor.
I thought I’d do okay until the next day when I basically felt like I had a hangover (and I’ve never even had one from drinking!). I had a headache, was exhausted, didn’t have an appetite, and was moody. I laid in bed all day. When it came time for dinner, I was obsessing because my mom offered to make a meal that had limited sugar and alter mine so it wouldn’t have any (it called for a bit of Dijon mustard, which has sugar). I came downstairs and was CRYING because I was so frustrated I couldn’t even have a spoonful of mustard in my meal. It was an ugly moment, haha.
That’s when I decided I couldn’t do a full sugar detox right now and I had not been honest with myself. I was so excited, actually, to do the detox. I figured five days wasn’t that long and that I’d be okay since I could still eat meat. But I should’ve realized that going from having two sugars in my coffee, handfuls of pretzels at work, white pasta for dinner, and lots of sugary snacks to NO SUGAR would be a disaster. Especially when I can’t even cook for myself.
What I would like to try, and maybe we could work on this together (if you’re at all interested), is doing a partial sugar detox. Five days (or more, or less) without eating any obviously sugary snacks like candy, cookies, sugary drinks, etc. I wouldn’t pay much attention to hidden sugars and would try to substitute fruit for my sugary snacks, which I feel is so much more do-able.
The thing is, I’m never going to give up sugary foods. My goal had been to detox my body from its addiction to sugar so I could “reset” how much I eat and bring it back down to sugar in my coffee and one small dessert after dinner (and whatever hidden sugars I eat). I think my hopes were just a little too high.
So basically, you’re not alone. I had thought about e-mailing you but didn’t want to derail you if you were doing well. I just knew we both eat a lot of sugar (whereas a fair number of people in the group were mostly targeting hidden sugars) so we’d be able to relate to each other.
I find your honesty refreshing. I will echo a few other commenters & say that healthy eating doesn’t equal boring — you can do so much with spices & it does jazz things up. I think investing in some flavorful spices really does help eating healthfully seem more fun. You’re right that you’re amazing no matter what. I hope you’re able to find your way to a manner of eating that makes you feel positive. That’s most important.
I’d love to hear more about your motivation to do the sugar detox, what goals you were hoping to achieve, etc. Weight loss? General health? Detoxes are in vogue? 🙂 Maybe this wasn’t the best approach for you right now, but there are probably other, less drastic ways for you to get where you want to be.
Getting and staying healthy is a life-long journey, so we all have to find things that are sustainable. Doesn’t mean they aren’t challenging, but they have to be doable.
I don’t blame you for not finishing; like one other commenter said, it’s too much too fast. I’m sure you’re perfectly capable of doing a sugar detox someday, but like you said, you need to take baby steps to get there first, like cutting out the sugary snacks, baked goods, soda, and take out. I’m glad you’re so self-aware about what you need!
I also have to agree with many of the commenters that healthy food doesn’t have to be bland. Roasting veggies with a little salt, pepper, and olive oil makes veggies 10x more delicious than they are raw. And guess what? No sugar! 😀
Let me know if you ever need any healthy recipe suggestions. 🙂
I think you have to know what works for you and if it’s not working for you it’s not working. Something that has really stuck with me when it comes to eating healthy, weight loss, working out etc. is that it’s not always comfortable and it’s not always SUPPOSED to be comfortable. Yup, you’re going to have cravings when trying to detox off of sugar or eating clean. There is going to be pain when pushing yourself to the limit in workouts, whatever those workouts may be. Getting healthy is not supposed to be comfortable and sometimes if you push through the uncomfortableness you’ll get somewhere really good. I know that the first week of my sugar detox back in January was hell but by week 2 I was feeling amazing and had SO MUCH energy.
Anyways, you know your body best so if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work! I just think it’s important to remember that it’s not necessarily SUPPOSED to feel good/taste good etc. Especially one day into something new!
This challenge did what it was supposed to; it let you know what your limits are and made you realize realistically what you need to do next. Like you said, you should work on the first things first and then if you still feel it’s necessary, THEN you can start to work on cutting out sugars.
Not to repeat what you have already heard, but healthy does NOT have to equal yucky! There are some delicious foods that are also very good for you! Try a bit of lemon or garlic or spices or herbs or salt! Experimenting with flavors is part of the fun! But again, this may be a step down the road for you, not something you need to do right away!