Saying that I have a sweet tooth is an understatement. Dessert if life.
I’m not just one of those people who needs a bit of something sweet to tickle their palette after a nice meal. I’m one of those girls who come straight home, throw off my heels, set down by briefcase and whip up a batch of homemade cookies all in a silk and ruffled blouse. Dinner comes second to my batch of homemade cookies. Grain free and dairy free chocolate chip cookies are my staple. And although they are void of any processed or fake ingredients, too much of anything can be a bad thing. Plus it’s not really healthy to depend on cookies to get through the days. It’s a coping skill a developed in my youth that my skin, physique, nor psyche will embrace.
When I initially started on this Dairy-free/ grain free journey although for a totally unrelated reason my weight just fell off. So much so I had to add temporarily add Dairy back in order to pick up some weight I didn’t want to lose. I did again eventually cut dairy out, but I believe my body has reached its homeostasis point in regards to my drastic dietary changes. Meaning my body is used to the changes and therefore it no longer has any significant influence. Because I initially lost so much weight so fast I figured I could eat whatever, and however much I wanted without gaining weight. Now I’ve realized after my body got used to the drastic changes that it will not be so easy to maintain my overall health goals without continuing to be conscious of portions and content. This is why for the past year I’ve been completing sugar “cleanses”. Whenever I feel like I’m obsessing about having fruit snacks available, or spending time at work planning my trip to the store to get my preferred vanilla for the chocolate chip cookies I “need” to bake, I just have to pull it back and cut the sugar. Since moving to another state, I’ve been obsessing about locating the stores that carry MY favorite brand/flavor of dairy free ice cream, allergy free gummy worms, and quality baking ingredients. It was only my second week here and I was taking a few hours everyday after work driving around to find the specialty stores around the city with my favorite ingredients, and sweet products. Now that I’m a bit more settled, I decided to detox for a few weeks. Adding only natural non-processed sugar back to my palette after 2 weeks. For the first 4 days I cut all sugar including fruit. The first two days are the hardest but after that I’m usually no longer craving sugar. I’m on week two at the moment and I’m already feeling much better. My skin is looking recovered and well, and my workouts are getting much easier. I’m back to eating fruit and even came up with a clever way to make carrot cake with dates for sweetness. I cut the small sugar-free carrot cake into about 12 pieces placed each in a zip lock bag and allowing myself 1 every other day for lunch. SO I’m maintain pretty well, and allowing some wiggle room.
Some of my internet friends had mentioned interest in avoiding sugar as well. I would like to have a support area on my Facebook page which would be encouraging to each other. If you are at all interested in such a thing please click here to like my Facebook page and the No Sugar post. Depending on the amount of interest I will make space and time to engage and share support with eliminating sugar.
Any bad habits you’d want to reduce or eliminate from your lifestyle?
Hey there Christina! we watched this great documentary called “Sugar Coated” that really brought it home how much sugar we eat on a daily basis. Thanks for the great reminder and I hope we get to see some of your sugar free recipes! Where did you move to?
Tracey @ saltysweetlife.com recently posted…Easy Gatherings with Uncommon Goods
Hey Tracey, we moved to Charlotte, NC! Not much different from our old home but I’m excited to get out and see what new. I’ll have to check out “Sugar Coated”.