21DSD: Day 10

My energy is still a little bit low as I near the halfway point. I was riding a high after making it through week one, and while I wouldn't say I'm feeling 'low' (my sleep quality is still good and my mood is still better overall), I guess I've been feeling reflective. I absolutely love to eat, and am an emotional eater to a tee.  As excited as I am about my progress, the thought of having to significantly restrict some of my favorite foods (pasta! pizza! cream cheese wantons! sammys!  ice cream! chocolate chip cookies! nachos! cheddar and sour cream potato chips! booze! so many oms and noms!)...it's kind of depressing.  Even if I can kill the physical addiction and cravings I experience, my emotional addiction to these comforting foods is separate issue I need to face.  

Yes, I realize it's all of those carby/sugary foods that have been making me feel awful and wreaking havoc on my body and mind for so long.  But...they've also made me feel good, they've been a part of happy memories, and they've been a crutch to help me get through hard times.  It's hard to say goodbye to these good friends, even if they are "toxic" friends. Still, I know that I can enjoy treats on occasion, but I also know I can easily turn an everyday thing into an "occasion",  and I will need to be very mindful of this. This detox is just one of many steps I need to improve my relationship with the foods I eat.

Here's the day 10 rundown--

Time Went to Bed Last night: 11:00 pm
Time I Got Up This Morning: 6:30 am 
How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor):  Good
General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor):  Good/good-fair.  Mood has been much  more on the "up" side than the "down" side.  My energy has been a little bit down though.  All I wanted to do today was eat Cookies & Cream Ice cream (my favorite flavor) -- I have not caved into that craving
Exercise (type/duration):  None.
Breakfast:  Coffee with cream, and 3 egg white muffins with spinach, sausage, and feta
Lunch:  I went to Chipotle today and got a salad - lettuce, steak, onions, peppers, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese.  Seriously, being able to have as much full fat dairy as I want on my detox, acceptable for level one, has been a life saver.  I'm thankful that I don't have a dairy intolerance.  I wonder if I could feel *even better* if I limited dairy....but that's for a different day.  Cutting out sugar/gluten/soy is a big step, and author Diane Sanfilippo advocates starting where you are - no need to be a daredevil or a hero!
Dinner:   Leftover Chicken with artichokes and olives, a recipe I found in the detox book.  Photo below.  I'm pleased with this dish.  B is more of the cook in our household, though I dabble a bit.  While sometimes I enjoy cooking and baking, it's not my favorite thing to do.  This detox is forcing me to spend a lot more time in the kitchen prepping food and actually cooking.  If my food choices seem a little bland, it's because I want to make sure I always have something to eat and don't starve as a result of getting over my head and failing to make something more complicated or time consuming than I realized.  Over time, I'm sure I will get better at this.  Again, it's important to "start where you are" - and I'm at a more basic level.  I'm motivated to keep experimenting as much as I can, so that I don't get bored and take a misstep as a result.  It's been tough, but I'll get there!
Snacks:  Apple, pumpkin seeds
Water Intake: 6 glasses

Chicken with artichokes and olives

21DSD: Day 9

Man, am I too pooped to party today.  My energy has been low all day, and I can't pinpoint why.  I woke up to a cat walking across my head, and generally feeling cranky.  Despite my low energy, I've stayed on track with the detox, and have actually had a very productive evening catching up on wedding details that I've been procrastinating on addressing, trying out a new recipe from the 21DSD for dinner, whipping up a few more egg white/spinach/sausage muffins (this time with feta!) to have for breakfast tomorrow, and tidying the kitchen.  It's 10p now, and I cannot wait to hit the sack.  Therefore, I'm going to get straight to the rundown.

Time Went to Bed Last night: 11:00 pm
Time I Got Up This Morning: 6:00 am 
How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor):  poor - super cranky and could have easily snoozed for 3 hours, if not for, you know, the need to earn a living.
General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor):  Good/Fair.  My mood improved thorughout the day, and my energy upped a little bit, but I felt tired pretty much all day.
Exercise (type/duration):  None.
Breakfast:  Coffee with cream, and 3 egg white muffins with spinach, onion and sausage.
Lunch:  Went to the Byerly's salad bar for lunch and made a big salad, packed with veggies, turkey, eggs and balsamic dressing.
Dinner:   Made a delicious recipe from the 21DSD, Chicken with artichokes and olives.  I took a photo, and will upload it tomorrow, since I'll likely be having the leftovers for dinner.  I found the exact recipe online here.  Though, I used chicken breasts instead of thighs, and included 100% kalamata instead of a mix of olives.
Snacks:  Banana; baby carrot sticks with cream cheese
Water Intake: 6 glasses

21DSD: Day 8

I'm now wrapping up Day 8 of the detox, or day 1 of week 2. I felt a bit of fatigue today, but I attribute that to the fact that it's Monday more than the detox. I went to yoga tonight, and that always leaves me feeling relaxed, so I may turn in pretty soon.  But, before I do, I thought I'd drop a little detox knowledge based on what I've learned in the 21DSD (and hopefully I've processed this all correctly)!

• The body has a limited ability to store carbs and sugars, but an unlimited ability to store fat.  Any carbs and sugar that can't be immediately used as fuel or stored in the muscles, liver or bloodstream, is converted into fat in the form of triglycerides (circulating blood fats), or adipos (body fat).

• Eating too much sugar puts our bodies in a constant state of stress.  Insulin works overtime trying to deal with the storage issue, which often results in sugar crashes...which ironically make us crave more sugar.  

• Cortisol, the "fight or flight' stress hormone, reacts to these crashes.  Thinking the body is in danger, cortisol levels spike.   If our bodies constantly produce cortisol, thinking we are in danger, other systems in turn start to slow down or shut down.  Reading that truth reminded me of the little that I know about hypothermia, and that under extreme cold your body only allows the absolutely necessary systems to sustain life to keep functioning, and everything else turns off.  I'd guess it's kind of like that. 

• Two of such body functions that get the ax are the thyroid, which controls your metabolism, and sex hormones, which impact everything from sexual drive, to dealing with PMS to impeding the ability to reproduce.

• In a nut shell, too much sugar gums up your whole system, throws your hormones out of whack, put a major dent in your immune system and make you susceptible to other illnesses as well.

• Sugar is a tricky sonofagun.  Sweets trigger dopamine, which is a chemical messenger (neurotransmitter) that sends our body messages of pleasure and reward. Who doesn't want to feel these things?!? It makes us crave these lovely feelings more and more. But don't be fooled! Don't forget about the old bait and switch -- you may THINK you're feeling the happy fuzzies...but what you're really getting is a gunked up system and the litany of issues mentioned above and plenty of others as well.

I'd say that's enough knowledge dropped for now.  Class dismissed!  For a little 'extra credit' Here's my Day 8 Rundown: 

Time Went to Bed Last night: 11:30 pm (but it took me a while to fall asleep)
Time I Got Up This Morning: 7:00 am
How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor):  good, ready to tackle the week.
General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor):  Excellent/Good
Exercise (type/duration):  An hour of yoga
Breakfast:  Coffee with cream, and 3 egg white muffins with spinach, onion and sausage.
Lunch:  Lettuce and spinach salad with veggies, feta cheese, and lemon pepper chicken I prepared the night before (marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, and lemon pepper chicken)
Dinner:   Tacos sans shell - ground beef with onions, pepper, salsa, tomatoes &  sour cream
Snacks:  Almonds; Baby carrots with cream cheese
Water Intake: 6 glasses

21DSD: Day 7 (I made it through the first week!)

Today is day 7 of the detox -- I'm getting ready for bed now, which means Holy crap, I made it through the first full week!  I'm now one-third of the way through! Weeee! I feel like a different person compared to a week ago.  It is truly astonishing how much my mood, energy and sleep have improved in just a week of low-sugar, gluten free eating.  Don't get me wrong, it has been a tough week, with plenty of cravings, temptation and self-doubt, especially during the first 4 days of the detox. But now my confidence is way up, and I feel extremely motivated to keep going.  

I am far from a nutrition expert (though I have an increasing interest and blooming passion for the topic). While I'm not the least healthy person on the planet, I'm far from the healthiest and have struggled significantly with my weight ever since my PCOS diagnosis back in 2006 (it was my extremely rapid, unexplained weight gain that lead me to several doctors and finally receive that diagnosis).  Given my limited subject matter expertise, I admit I was intimidated when I began researching this detox, especially with all the Paleo and athlete references and modifications.  I'm neither of those things, and I thought to myself, maybe I'm out of my league if this detox is being promoted to people who already lead healthy lives and regularly practice healthy behaviors.  Yet here I am, just an average chubby chick, and I feel like I'm doing pretty damn well at this! I still have two weeks to go, so I don't want to get too rah-rah and cocky yet...but still, I think a little yippeeee is ok  :-)

In terms of the highs/lows of the week - there were plenty of both, but the highs have it.

Low points:  Major withdrawal feelings on day 1 (shaky, hungry),  digestive issues on day 4; and dry living has been tough (not that I binge on alcohol, I don't at all, but I do enjoy a glass of wine in the evening, and I miss it!)

High points:  Vastly improved sleep! I knew my sleep quality pre-detox was not great, but I didn't realize just how bad it was until I started experiencing good sleep.  It is amazing and life changing.  Also, my energy levels throughout the day are noticeably better than in the past, and I feel more motivated and much 'perkier' than normal, so the detox is without a doubt helping me overcome the blahs of depression that typically tend to linger and lurk around the corners of my daily life. Is this what most people feel like all the time?  Is it possible I could feel this good all the time too? Because if that's the case, I am willing to make this dietary change for the long term.


And finally, here's my daily run down for day 7:

Time Went to Bed Last night: 10:30pm
Time I Got Up This Morning: 8:30 am.  Another nice long sleep! 
How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor):  good - felt energized and like I got deep sleep. I am amazed at how well my sleep is now -- since the 3rd night of the detox, the quality my sleep has been incredible!
General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor):  Excellent/Good
Exercise (type/duration):  None.  Next week is a new week, and the weather is supposed to be better.  I got in *a* workout this past week (yoga), so for the coming week, I'll aim for 2. 
Brunch:  Coffee with cream, omelette with bacon, peppers, cheddar cheese, onion, and field greens with grape fruit (we went to Pizza Luce for our usual Sunday brunch)
Dinner:  homemade jalapeno poppers (recipe here - but sans the puff pastry wrap)
Snacks:  Almonds; Colby Jack cheese
Water Intake: 8 glasses at least

21DSD: Day 6

Yesterday (Saturday) marked detox Day 6 -- almost a week completed!  I felt pretty good yesterday, and spent time grocery shopping and meal planning for the week ahead. The hardest part about Day 6 was no alcohol.  We went out for Mexican food with friends and I really wanted a margarita. Instead, I had lemon in my water. Not the same. Prior to that, we were with said friends painting ceramics at a place called Paint Your Plate in Edina, and while we had a blast, it would have been great to enjoy some wine alongside our friends and our art projects. That said, I'm proud I stayed on track.  Here's the Day 6 recap.

Time Went to Bed Last night: 11 pm 
Time I Got Up This Morning: 8:30 am.  A nice long sleep!  (the perks of a kid-free life...)
How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor):  good - felt energized and like I got deep sleep.  That said, it took me a while to fall asleep, and I got up 3 times during the night.  Thankfully, I did not dream about space! (we watched Gravity on Friday night - intense!)
General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor):  Good/Good
Exercise (type/duration):  None. I get it.  I've worked out once this week.  My priority right now is getting the food portion of the equation right.  Then I'll worry about exercise.
Breakfast:  Coffee with cream, scrambled eggs and bacon.
Lunch:   Steak salad at Lyndale Taphouse
Dinner:  Guacamole with veggies and grilled Shrimp, veggies and quinoa at Barrio.
Snacks:  None
Water Intake: 6 glasses at least

21DSD: Day 5

One workweek down, and now I'm into the weekend!

At this point, My headaches have subsided, and I feel pretty energized when I wake up in the morning. Waking up on Day 5, I felt great, especially considering that when I went to bed the evening before, I experienced the dreaded digestive issues that the book warned about. At first, I thought it was a "no go" situation. But right before I went to bed, circumstances changed and became a "go go go" situation. In all my travels, I've never experienced Montezuma's revenge...but now I think I know how it must feel. That is a LOT of personal, TMI info I just shared...but I don't feel ashamed, everyone on the planet has been there (if you haven't, well, you're lying!).  While I'm now feeling a-okay, I'm considering adding L-Glutamine supplements to my diet. L-Glutamine is an amino acid found in protein rich foods, and helps repair the intestines and improve digestion - not to mention help with cravings.  I'll be hitting up Whole  Foods this weekend for a grocery re-load and will check it out.

Each night, I'm re-reading different portions of the book to help internalize all that I'm learning so that it will "stick" once the detox ends, and last night I realized I have inadvertently cheated twice on my diet. I made a delicious and healthy Greek dip with a hummus base, only to discover that garbanzo beans (chick peas) in Hummus are NOT on the approved grain/legume list!  Oops!  I missed that fine print in my initial planning, but realized it when I was re-reading last night. I probably missed it because Garbanzo beans on their own  are acceptable - but for some reason, in Hummus form it's bad. 

So, why aren't garbanzo beans allowed?  Unless I missed it, the book doesn't seem to explain this. As an aside, the book DOES explain why peanuts and cashews aren't allowed (though other nuts, like Almonds, are fine) - and it's because cashews trigger a sweet taste which can then trigger cravings while peanuts can be carriers of a toxin/mold called aflatoxin, and eating toxins is counterintuitive to a detox. But, back to the hummus.  A brand of hummus I like is Holy Land, which is not only made right here in Minneapolis (yay local!), but the ingredient list is 100% pronounceable.  The only thing I can think is that the potassium sorbate additive to preserve freshness  could be an issue.  It is a synthetic additive, so maybe that's the author's beef with Hummus....Regardless, I definitely don't think it's a big deal, and my misstep could have been MUCH worse. I'm not going to beat myself up about eating some hummus - but will comply and cut it out for the remainder of the detox, and I look forward to adding this tasty treat back into my diet post-cleanse.

Time Went to Bed Last night: 10:30 pm 

Time I Got Up This Morning: 7 am

How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor):  good - felt energized and like I got deep sleep.  BUT, how I felt when I went to bed was a different story.  Last night I experienced the dreaded digestive issues that the book warned about (as discussed above)

General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor):  Good/Good

Exercise (type/duration):  Does watching a movie count as exercise? No?  Then no.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cream, 3 egg white muffins

Lunch:   Went to the Byerly's salad bar and made a salad.  Lettuce & Spinach with veggies, turkey, bacon, eggs, blue cheese crumbles and balsamic vinaigrette. 
Dinner:  Spicy Garlic Shrimp - one of B's specialties and it is delicious!  (Recipe here)

Snacks:  Green Apple; baby carrots and 1/2 cup hummus dip topped with sliced cucumber, kalamata, red pepper and feta (though per note above, I won't be eating hummus again while on the detox due to the fact that it's on the "no" list - but I personally don't think it's a big deal)

Water Intake: 6 glasses

21DSD: Day 4

Another milestone - I'm over halfway through the first week!

I'm tired, so I'm going to laze out of this one and let the run down speak for itself today -- 

Time Went to Bed Last night: 10:30 pm 

Time I Got Up This Morning: 6:45 am.  I only got up to pee twice!  

How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor):  good - felt like my sleep was deeper than in the past.  Funny, I dreamed about avocados last night - maybe because I had so much guac that yesterday!  (which means I'll probably dream about avocados again tonight)!

General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor):  Another good day mood and energy wise, though I slumped a bit energy wise around 3pm and noshing on almonds wasn't really helping

Exercise (type/duration):  This is getting embarrassing - I did not exercise.  I had a saxophone lesson after work, and was feeling pretty drained after that.   I will try to get more exercise in next week, this week I feel like it's ok to focus on succeeding in my detox.

Breakfast:  Coffee with cream, 3 egg white muffins

Lunch:   Leftover steak salad with lots of guac and carrot sticks

Dinner:  More guac, summer sausage and cheese

Snacks:  Almonds. I'm getting kind of sick of almonds...

Water Intake: 6 glasses