Day 20

The experiment is leaking into my dreams. The last two nights I have dreamed that I forgot about the whole no sugar thing and accidentally ate some. In my dream last night, I ate chocolate. It tasted SO sweet and suddenly, I was ravenously craving more more more! And then I started panicking. What does that mean?

By way of confession, I ate a couple bites of naan last night at The Bombay House. I was on a date and the whole strict no flour thing can be hard on a date. The thing is, it wasn't even worth it because I've caught this terrible head cold and can't taste a thing. Boo.

Day 17

It continues. I still feel awesome. I feel happier and more level. The biggest obstacle I run into is not taking enough time to cook good food ahead of time. So then I find myself starving by the time the school day is over and needing to figure out something fast. A couple of times I've gone to cafe rio and gotten a pork salad with a whole wheat tortilla. There could be sugar in the pork or dressing, but I decided not to stress about it. And that tortilla tastes pretty awesome, having not eaten much flour lately. Yesterday when I was at Diva's with my poetry group, I had a sandwich. They make the most delicious sandwiches on whole wheat bread. Seriously, if you're ever in Salt Lake, stop by. Yum. Any other ideas? I feel pretty trapped to salads when I eat out. That might not be a bad thing. And neither is eating out less, like I've been doing.

What I need to do is spend an evening or two actually cooking.
Next post: another book share.

Day 13. Wow.

I feel amazing.

I don't know how else to say it. The cravings have mostly subsided, and it doesn't feel like a constant fight to withstand. Physically, I feel more level and more consistent. I can tell a difference between the sugar swings I was constantly experiencing before and this fairly constant feeling I have. My body doesn't feel like it's constantly compensating for the crap I just put in it. And emotionally, I'm feeling awesome. I don't know if I can give the no sugar experiment any or all credit, but for example: Last week I taught the first week of school which is notoriously tiring. Normally by Friday I'm wiped and especially expected that THIS Friday (yesterday) because I had 4 classes with 35-43 students. (Go Utah education. Grrr.) Y'all - throughout the week, I was liking my job and by Friday, I felt energetic, happy, and all around awesome. WEIRDED OUT.

very. very. weirded. out.

I really didn't expect this. I don't know what I expected. I think the only thing I expected was a constant month of torture. This world of feeling in control and feeling good? I don't even have words about it.

PS. Those Fuhrman books are pretty cool. If you're a healing/nutrition/food nerd the way I am, check them out.

Days 5-8

I went home for the weekend. I really loved being with my fam. And even though I was surrounded by rolls, cake, and M & Ms, I didn't partake. And the school year has started once again. There have been donuts, cookies, and those small hershey chocolate bars. People. Are you getting the full picture here?

Actually, it does seem to be getting easier. The cravings seem to be decreasing. And now that I've decided I'm really going to do this, I just don't eat it. It's weirding me out that I'm not constantly jonesing. My energy seems to be more level. I do feel better. As long as I eat consistently enough (an ongoing problem to solve).

Anyway, today is a book share. I got these in the mail this very day. They are Eat for Health by Joel Fuhrman. The absolute truth is... I know next to nothing about what is in these books. I ordered them because Alanis Morissette recommended them (Go look under her recommends --> books). She's sort of my Buddha. *sheepishly avoiding eye contact* I'm actually of the opinion that eating and nutrition doesn't need two books worth of attention (more on that in a book share another day). But my discipleship got the best of me. I had to see why she loves the Fuhrman so much. I'll let you know if it's worth looking at.

(This picture is probably as close as I'll ever come to touching Alanis.)

Don't judge me.

Suddenly busy....

School has started, and I've been busy. So - just know that I survived the weekend and the first day of school. I have officially been sugar free one day longer than I ever have been. I will post more later today.

Day 5

Eating out is a bit of an issue. I love eating out; it's really one of my favorite things to do. I love finding hidden away places with great food. I have 2 issues I'm coming up against under my present circumstances. First, I love bread and sweets. (Obviously.) So yesterday when I tagged along with a couple of colleagues to Paradise Bakery which is simply brimming over with simple carbs (they make those divine cookies with margarine. I asked once.), it was a bit of a trial. I had to do my best not to think about it....while constantly thinking about it. I had eaten not too long before, so I wasn't ordering anything. I was able to just sit there and face the temptation. Victoriously.

Then later I went with a friend to Zupas. I loooove Zupas (all my favorite foods! soup, salad, and sandwiches) and only recently discovered this much-closer-than-Utah-county one. Anyway, along with avoiding my pitfall foods, it's also difficult to know what is in the little things you kind of forget might have sugar. You have to assume yes, but I didn't really think about it until it was too late. Like the dressing on the salad I ordered probably had some sugar. I ordered it on the side and didn't eat much of it (a really good salad doesn't need much/any dressing anyway), but still. There's sugar in most sauces and condiments. Also, they put "cinnamon almonds" on my salad. Sugar? Who knows? And there could be sugar in the soup. How do you know? Different places are different about posting nutritional info. I need to be really aware of that or decide if I care about being that vigilant. I think I do though.

I ended the day with raspberries and cream. (Real cream. I love cream. Thanks for that, Mom and Dad.) A nice indulgence, but one I'd better not get carried away with.

Another day down. I'm heading home again this weekend (where I was when I decided this was imperative in the first place). Wish me luck.

Day 4

I got my CSA! And what was in it, you ask? Spinach, Red Leaf lettuce, 2 leeks, Red potatoes, Green beans, apples, tomatoes, green peppers, and yellow watermelon. Yummy yumminess.

Today I was walking through whole foods and I walked by the shelf that has all the cookies and such. Y'all, I was jonesing baaaaaaad.

And, if you've been curious, here are some articles I found about baking without sugar.

This one has a great table about how substitutes and how much to use.

This one discusses many of the different substitutes and their pros and cons.

This one discusses a bit more of they why behind someone would want to eliminate sugar.

Now, if you don't mind. I'm gonna go play with the cutest niece in the whole world.

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Tonight was hard. It was. I was too hungry, which is my fault. Anyway, without knowing this blog was waiting for me, I totally would have given in. But I didn't. And my super duper, amazing, beautiful sister-in-law brought me manna. Or, manna bread. No flour. No sugar. I'm pretty excited to try it. I've been missing bread.