The 21 DSD is Complete

So, I did it!  I completed my 21 Day Sugar Detox last Sunday, January 24^th!  Doing this detox was exactly what my body needed.  For the past year I’ve been struggling with lack of sleep, but by the end of the first week, I noticed that I was sleeping more soundly.

Not only was I sleeping better, but I was having the craziest dreams.  I’ve had strange dreams before, but these dreams were so bizarre I couldn’t even describe them well to my husband.  Dreams like taking something similar to a pirate ship under the ocean to the other side of the world in order to take a plane.  What? What?  Where in the world did this dream come from?  I digress.  Anyways, I slept much better and woke up feeling more alert and refreshed.  A feeling I was not used to having and to be quite honest, I was so used to feeling bad upon waking that it took me a little bit to realize that I was feeling so much better in the mornings.  I wasn’t struggling getting myself awake to do devotions before work, and even felt…dare I say…energized?

As the days went by, my body began craving more protein and eating a green banana wasn’t so bad.  In fact, just like the Granny Smith apple, it started tasting sweeter.  One day I decided to make some pumpkin pancakes from the 21DSD recipe book because they looked so good.  I made them just like the picture and put them on my plate with a side of bacon and some vanilla coconut butter that I made.  Well, they were good but tasted nothing like I had imagined them to taste.  I had gotten so excited about a green apple tasting sweet, that I was expecting the pancakes to taste the same.  Unfortunately, the pancakes were not sweet at all.  The whole time I was eating them I was thinking of how much better they would taste with some maple syrup, even though I couldn’t remember how maple syrup tasted, I knew it tasted good.  LOL   I need to make them again and try them with some maple syrup or honey.  I say “knew it tasted good,” because for some reason I can’t really remember how something sweet tastes.  Which is a Gr-r-reat!  Mission accomplished.

As for reintroducing foods, so far this is what I have ate that’s different.   The first thing my husband wanted us to have different for dinner was pizza.  During the detox I did have some full fat dairy, like cheese and heavy cream for my coffee (I did level 1 w/modifications for my workouts), so the cheese wasn’t really different.  What was different was having the crust.  My first taste of a real carb with gluten.  Oh, it tasted wonderful.  I loved every minute while I was eating the slice of pizza.  Upon waking the next morning for work, I noticed right away that I didn’t want to get up at all, and when I did, I was miserable.  All day long I wanted to sleep and I felt like crap.  I knew it was the pizza.  Dang it!  I had suspected after my Whole30 earlier in the year that I might be sensitive to gluten, but I wasn’t sure.  Does this prove it?  Hmmmm?  I felt bad all day and then also woke up with bad stomach pains that night.  This makes me sad.  I love pizza.  Sigh.  Other than the pizza, I have introduced honey on some toast and some other types of fruit.  I have actually had no desire for any dessert treats.  Not saying I never will, but I just don’t want any right now.  After my fail with the pizza, I looked for some gluten free bread and bought some Canyon Bakehouse Mountain White bread and OMG it is so good!  I’ve tried gluten free bread before and didn’t think the taste was worth the cost, but Canyon GF bread is worth it.  It’s worth it because it tastes great, and because frankly, I am worth it.  I don’t want to feel like that again!   Today I made some toast, put a tablespoon of Barney Almond butter on it, added a banana, and then drizzled some honey.  It was the best thing I’ve had for breakfast in a long time.  The texture of the bread was just so darn good!  If there is any downside to the bread, it’s that the slices are small.  My friend at work actually said, “Where did you find tiny bread like that?”  LOL

So, now that my detox is over, I am going to try to stay the course and continue eating better with less sweets on my journey.   Although my reasons for doing the detox was not to necessarily lose weight (although I need to) I did lose 8 pounds.   I am happy about this of course, but I’m happier about my cravings being under control!

Here is a picture of my wonderful toast that I made today.