Sugar Detox Fail

 Going Mental  No Responses »
Sep 282016
 

Yep, that’s right. I barely made it a week of my attempt at the 21-day sugar detox. πŸ™

It was not due to cravings or massive desire for sugar, but rather a busy schedule that resulted in eating out more and not having time to shop for food that would distract me from sugary items. 

We did well until the networking event on Sunday. There was food. There were bubbly drinks. Then, there was dessert. What is a happy girl to do when faced with the question of sweets or self-restraint? πŸ˜›

So dessert it was. 

This led to a tasty cheesecake shared the next night…


So I finally had to admit defeat. 

I am not too disappointed given that we workout a lot and generally eat well. When we have normal life again, I will try to stick to another attempt. Though it may be tough if it isn’t before the holidays… πŸ˜‰

~T πŸ˜€

It’s All Relative

 Going Mental  No Responses »
Sep 202016
 

At the end of last week as I was visiting with a friend I could feel the skin around my mouth itching and a familiar tingle on the edge of my lip. Hoping that it was not what I thought it was, I tried to ignore it. Despite my attempts, the tingling got worse and by the end of my visit, the fever blisters had boiled up on my mouth. Usually I am home or carry around ointment with me to catch the outbreak before it goes into full blast, but sadly this time I was not able to do so.

Ever since I got really sick one year as a kid I have gotten fever blisters. Normally, they are a result of my body getting run down from sickness or from stress. Initially, I did think I was getting sick as many people are carrying around yucky bits with their kids going back to school and everyone’s immune systems going haywire trying to find balance from everything brought in from people’s trips around the world during the summer. However, (knock on wood) I have not yet been fully taken down by anything, which leaves stress as the remaining factor in causing my outbreak.

Now, I really do not like to admit to stress or sickness. Yet, it is obvious that there has been a lot of stress in our lives lately; therefore, there is no point in denying that it is there. I am just about at my wits-end with patience in our situation, but need to hang in there just a little bit longer. While I am okay with myself not admitting to stress or giving myself pep talks to stay positive, I am less keen to hear it from others.

So, the other day a friend of mine (who happens to be African-American) went on a monologue about how I had nothing to stress about; there are people dying and children starving who have REAL things to stress about; so I should relax and count my blessings. Obviously, I did not really want to hear this. Yes, of course, I know this reality and of course I am grateful for what we have despite our stressful inconveniences. In the grand scheme of the world, I really do not have anything to stress about or worry about. Still, it does not mean that my current feeling, physical response (look at my face!) and mental state should be de-valued or under-played because at the moment it is real for me.

After taking a bit of a step back from it and having another conversation with another African-American friend on another topic, I came to realize that it is a common theme for AAs to diminish the ‘suffering’ of others under the impression that no one has suffered like they have or do. While I am not devaluing the historical and origins of suffering for their community, I am contemplating the relativity of it along with the need to make others feel sure life could be worse ie. like theirs….

In any case, it has been good for the contemplation, if nothing else. πŸ˜€

~T πŸ˜€

Day 2 of the 21-day Sugar Detox meal was a repurposing of the meatballs from Day 1. Therefore, I used Fed & Fit’s Breakfast Salad as the base for dinner. So, instead of sausage balls, I used the leftover meatballs. Also, I added spinach as the salad base and left out the cilantro to make it a more hearty dinner salad.

M’s feedback was “I think this might be the best salad you have ever made!” πŸ˜€ And, I have made a lot of salads lately…. πŸ˜‰

Random Thoughts

 Going Mental  No Responses »
Sep 192016
 

Cannot quite decide on what topic to write about today, so will go with some jumbles.

First, as promised, here is my dinner from Day 1 of the 21-day Sugar Detox. It ended up being quite tasty though it could have used a bit more flavoring. Still, not a bad recipe for Spinach-Cilantro Meatballs. I could not bake, so I did a quick fry in a pan to brown the meat and then boiled them in beef broth. Also, I used a mix of ‘greens’ other than just spinach. πŸ™‚ There were plenty for dinner, some for lunch and I’ll be using the rest to add to tonight’s dinner. πŸ˜‰


In other news, trying to transfer money from overseas – more specifically the US – is a pain in the posterior. It takes a week for money to transfer…even though they say it may transfer sooner. Now, I understand why and how Western Union came to be and why and how they can charge so much for the wire transfers because if you want money fast it is the ONLY way. So, despite optimism trying to prevail, we are at the whim again of timing waiting for the transfer to go through before my visa processing can commence…. <deep and long breaths> πŸ˜›

Somehow, I have become a socializing networking machine! This past weekend I met up with people whom were mostly new to us every day!!! Yep, me! I do feel a bit exhausted from it and perhaps my fever blister break out is a sign of that, but it is all for the good. I am making new friends, staying active AND getting potential new clients. Gotta keep at it!

So, this is my update for today. Tomorrow, I will start earlier when my mind is fresh to write on something more ‘interesting’. πŸ˜€

~T πŸ˜€

A New 21-Days Starting Today

 Going Mental  No Responses »
Sep 182016
 

Day 1:

Just a couple of months ago I finally wrote up about _The 21-day Sugar Detox…_ book that I read. Just about a year ago, I also did a light version of the detox with a friend, though we both had cheat days for alcohol since our husbands are British and well, the Brits do not like to give up their booze. πŸ˜›

When we moved into our apartment, we said that once we got settled we would do a juice detox and reboot our eating and health habits. Since the ‘settling’ bit has gone a little haywire, our detoxing and rebooting has been a bit haphazard. We are both getting to the gym regularly (me less so the past week or so…) and M is seeing some massive results from that alone.

Also due to limitations in our cooking facilities, our eating has been generally good, though if we eat out more we tend to eat less well. M still has a bit of a ‘beer belly’ and does not yet want to admit that diet is 80% of weight loss; thus, he has plateaued a bit even though the muscles are forming and he is still burning off his calories.

So, I have been toying with the idea of doing the sugar detox again since the beginning of the month, but with Eid hitting I put it off. However, now that we are all through the long holidays for a couple of months, I thought this was as good a day as any to begin at last.

Therefore, yesterday I planned out our dinners for the week to ensure that we have a sugar-free meal. While I cannot control what M eats during the days at work, I can encourage him to eat well and hopefully offer him some leftovers to take to the office if he has time to eat (which he often does not).

I am also going to try to return to intermittent fasting dinner-to-dinner, but will probably just do one day a week instead of two as I did before because I am exercising a lot more than I was.

Hopefully, we will do well – though it is going to be hard to stay off the sugary tasty drinks for the next three weeks…. Wish us luck!

Here is my lunch today…the peanut butter still has some sugar in it….

Will take pics of dinner to post up on tomorrow. πŸ™‚

~T πŸ˜€

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)