Must sleep. All day.

Day 6

I woke up this morning at 02:30am.  Wide awake and unable to go back to sleep, I got up and came downstairs.  I made myself a cup of green tea (I would have preferred a cup of ceylon tea with a teaspoon sugar) and settled down to watch this video.  What a sobering moment for me.  As I was watching I realised that, before I quit, I was probably very close to some kind of sugar related disease, such as Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease - sugar is also linked to Cancer!  I don't think I could have maintained eating the way I was without some severe consequences.  I was/am already experiencing consequences, such as Adrenal Burnout a few years back and my current battle with these withdrawals, but things sure could have been a lot worse.  I am so grateful they're not.

I had such a horrible day on Sunday (Day 5).  After church we went for coffee and then came home and although I have loads of packing to do for our move, I just couldn't get together the energy to do anything.  I lay outside in the sun (delicious on a winter's day) and slept for a while and then came inside and did the same.  I felt exhausted.  I decided to eat a mandarin (similar to a naartjie), thinking the bit of natural sugar would pick me up a bit - and boy did it!  I felt so much better.  It's not ideal, I know.  I am trying to cut out most fruits for now too (I'll have berries in a smoothie), but I felt quite desperate.  It was very telling to feel the difference after ingesting that bit of natural sugar.

Although fruit contains Fructose which is globally being seen as the enemy of good health (sugar, or Sucrose is made up of 50% Fructose and 50% Glucose), the fiber content of fruit changes how your body deals with the sugars.  So although there are many experts who are suggesting avoiding fruit completely in an effort to regulate blood sugar levels and lose weight, I feel more moderate about it.  I will continue to enjoy one or two pieces of fruit a day.  Maybe not initially while I'm doing this detox but certainly in the future.

Day 7 - 8

I woke up feeling very good this morning and staying that way all day.  Really full of energy and buoyant.  I headed off to gym in the morning after dropping Megs at school and imagine my surprise and delight when I hopped on the scale at gym and discovered this.

I have lost an entire kg in just 1 week just through cutting out sugar and alcohol!  I need to point out that I have been eating really well (by well I mean a lot).  Losing a kg in 1 week is not that hard for me (I lose weight quickly AND pick it up quickly) when I drastically cut down on my calorie intake, which is what I've done in the past in my efforts to lose weight.  However, now I'm focussing on my health but cutting out sugar, alcohol and junk and the weight came off without effort and without it being my focus.  I ate plenty good fats like olive oil, nuts, coconut oil, greek yoghurt etc as well as generous lashing of butter on my bread and to cook my eggs in.  I am quite amazed.

So I found this recipe for bread which I wanted to share.  It's called "Life Changing Bread".  Quite a lofty claim for a loaf of bread and so I was thoroughly intrigued and had to give it a go.  It contains only nuts, seeds, psyllium husks and rolled oats.  The recipe calls for you to leave all the ingredients intact but with the option of grinding it to make the ingredients more of a flour consistency.  I chose to do that, thinking my daughter would be more likely to eat it.  She wasn't.  Andrew and I are enjoying it although it didn't seem to cook properly in the middle.  It remained a bit moist but this can easily be fixed by toasting it.  It is delicious toasted.  I'll try it again, next time leaving the ingredients intact, but I don't think it's a practical "family" option.  It does freeze well so in future I'll slice it and freeze individual slices, using them as I need.  Here is the recipe below.

Life Changing Loaf of Bread

I'll keep searching for the family loaf that will suit our entire family so watch this space.  

Day 8 brought with it a severe energy dip this morning.  I am struggling to get going and feel thoroughly exhausted.  I am disappointed since yesterday was such a good day.  On the upside, I am sleeping way better than I did for the first few days.  I'm sleeping through the night and without my alarm, I'm waking just after 05:00.  That's a good time for me. 

I have lots to do today so I need to find a pick-me-up or I'll just have to suffer through.  I'll let you know how I get on.