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