Happy Monday friends! Where have I been you ask? It’s been a very eventful few weeks over here at our house, but mostly I’ve been busy whipping up some fantastic food in the kitchen! I love cooking and it’s nothing new to me, but making my own jerky, almond milk, ghee, and bone broth is totally uncharted territory. Those are staple items I usually buy, but since embarking on the 21 Day Sugar Detox (#21DSD), I’ve been getting a little bit more crafty in the kitchen. I never realized how much sugar they put in EVERYTHING! I could not find one single pasta sauce at Target that did not have added sugar. Cuh-razy!
So what is the 21DSD? It’s a program designed by nutritionist and New York Times best-selling author Diane Sanfilippo, BS, NC. It is, in her own words: “A clear-cut, effective, whole-foods-based nutrition action plan that will reset your body and your habits!” She starts the book off telling about her story and her relationship with sugar, then moves into why sugar is a problem (the refined, nutrient-poor carbs that cary calories but are totally void of nutrition) and how it effects a person’s body. I felt like I was reading an A&P book that actually made sense to me without having to really think about it. The program offers 3 different levels with modifications for athletes, pregnant/nursing moms, pescetarians, and people with autoimmune conditions. Based off of the results from the quiz that I took, I was best suited for level 3 with an energy modification. This meant no grains whatsoever and no dairy.
What in the Why?!? Why would I ever think to do a sugar detox? Overall, I’m a fairly healthy eater. I try to eat as clean and whole-foods-based as possible and feed my family the same way. I ventured into the world of Paleo eating at the beginning of the summer and it worked out great for me. My skin cleared up without the help of topical solution, I had more energy, I leaned out, and I felt better overall. I kept it up pretty well, until I started logging very long marathon training miles and I thought I needed to “carb load” to keep me going. Initially, it started out only eating grains the night before long runs. I ran my marathon in October, celebrated with a deep dish pizza and beer, and since then I’ve gained back about 5 to 7 solid pounds. My mind knew that I couldn’t keep eating as much as I did while I was training, but my appetite was still in marathon mode. Then the holidays came around and I was consuming cocktails and cookies like nobody’s business.
HASHTAG, EatAllTheSugar.
The Prep. The key to a successful detox. After reading the guide and looking at the yes/no foods list, I got busy ridding our kitchen of any of the “NO” foods on the list.
I kept Madelyn’s snacks but threw out anything that we weren’t supposed to eat. I ended up tossing a lot but it felt great to purge all the food that needed to go. I looked through the 21DSD guide and the cookbook and got busy planning meals for the week. For the first and second week I planned out every single meal. Normally, I plan out what we’re going to eat for dinner each week and that’s it. It’s normally fend for yourself for breakfast & lunch, but I knew that if I was going to keep this up and be successful I had to prep some other breakfast items besides just hardboiled eggs.
On the first Saturday before starting the detox, I cooked up a storm and prepped all breakfast items for the week. The egg muffins are so easy to make a freeze. Pop them into the microwave when you’re ready to eat. I made broth, beef jerky, almond milk, and buffalo chicken egg muffins.
I went through the cookbook and picked out the easiest/quickest meals to make for the week and saved the more time consuming recipes for the weekend. Who knew my oven could even make dinner on Friday nights? I also purchased some beef jerky from Steve’s Paleo Goods and can’t wait to buy some more paleo treats from them. The jerky was delicious and part of the proceeds go toward a wonderful cause. You can read about it here. I love supporting businesses with this kind of mission.
Another thing I did was purchase in bulk. In our first week, we went through so many nuts! The second week we went to Costco and purchased them in bulk and they have lasted us past the detox. So definitely get to a Sam’s or Costco and stock up! It will save you a lot of money and random trips to the grocery store.
I always had a snack with me at work so that when temptation hit, especially the first week coming back from the holidays, I was able to stick with the plan.
The Food. The food was nothing short of amazing. There was ONE recipe that sticks out in my mind that I wasn’t a huge fan of, but I think it may have been user error. I purchased The 21 Day Sugar Detox Guide along with cookbook. The cookbook wasn’t necessary to complete the program but I’m glad I purchased it because it came with recipes like this:
SUNBUTTER BROWNIES for the WIN!
I only made two desserts in the whole 21 days and both were delicious. I’m looking forward to trying more, especially the macaroons. If you want to see more foodie pics, you can head over to my Instagram feed, I took a lot of them.
Eating Out. I ate out three times in the past three weeks. All three times have been for dinner and I planned out what I was going to eat ahead of time. The first Friday, my in-laws came in from out of town and wanted to go to a German restaurant called, Cafe Bavaria. I asked for the gluten-free menu and ordered from there. I had a bunless burger with all the toppings and asked for a side of sautéed asparagus instead of the salad. Luckily, hubs had to work that night, so he couldn’t have a beer even if he wanted one. The second time we ate out was the following Friday. I ordered my standard chicken salad with all the guac, no rice and no beans.
My final meal out was our girls night dinner on Saturday. Just 1 day left before the detox ended, and I wanted a cocktail very badly with my friends. I ended up drinking club soda with muddled mint which was actually very refreshing and ordering a scallops entree and asking for a garlic butter sauce instead of the wine sauce that they originally had come with. I found that at all the restaurants, the waitstaff were very accommodating and really friendly about any questions or requests I had. Don’t be scared to eat out on the detox! Just look at the menu, plan ahead and stick to it. If you’re going to a place that has a bread basket, think of how you’re going to avoid it or better yet, just ask whoever you’re with if it’s okay that they don’t bring it. My in-laws ordered a giant pretzel when we were out and neither of us were even tempted to have any.
The Support. Everyday, I received an e-mail from Diane Sanfilippo with advice, motivation and a recipe to make if you weren’t following the book plan to a T. The 21DSD also offers online support for an additional purchase. I may look into next time around. There is also a Facebook group that goes along with every detox group. I was in the January 2015 group and the people in there were awesome. Anytime I had a question about something, I resorted to the group if I couldn’t find the answer in the book and someone there had it. I was one of the lucky ones who also had her husband along for the ride. I felt bad for so many women who had such unsupportive spouses and families. My mom and my sister also participated and we motivated each other along the way. They were ultra supportive when times got stressful and all I wanted to do was sit on my couch with a glass of wine and my feet up. Madelyn ended up having to do an impromptu overnight stay at Children’s hospital and my lovely sister brought me all sorts of 21DSD snacks and meals I could eat while I was there. She’s pretty amazing.
Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY! And I would recommend it to anyone looking to eat better and feel better overall. Diane goes through a list of short term and long term side effects of sugar in her book and it’s astounding (memory loss, fatigue, mood swings, PCOS, infertility!). Today was 1 day post detox and I ate pretty much like I would have if I were still doing the detox. I did have a handful of animal crackers while I was giving Madelyn her snack today. Not a ton of sugar in the serving, but my stomach hated me afterward anyway. I’m guessing it was the gluten. I had some ginger tea and I felt a little better. Definitely not worth it, especially for animal crackers.
The detox is NOT A WEIGHT-LOSS plan!! It’s clearly meant to reset your body, habits and taste-buds. With that being said, I was hoping that I’d lose some weight along with inches, especially with how much I work out. I lost 8lbs and an inch and a half off my waist. Hubs lost 7 pounds. But overall, I feel great. For the first time in forever, I haven’t had to snooze my alarm clock which is huge for me! I used to be that girl that would have to set her alarm early just so I could get out of bed on time. I still set it for the same time, now I just have more time to get myself together in the morning instead of feeling rushed. I’ve decided to get back to a more paleo way of eating with the exception of my few glasses of wine per week. I feel great eating real food and it’s the first eating plan where I lost weight naturally. I love it and I feel great! I high recommend doing the 21DSD, it will change your body and the way you think about food.
Real Foodie Runner 