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Today is the last day of the 21-Day Sugar Detox. Tomorrow I go in for more blood work to see if my blood sugar has come down any further with this round of detoxing.
My initial goals this time were to learn how to manage stress without turning to junk food. My thought was that since I know when the stress is coming, why not plan for it? Why not take control of the situation instead of feeling like it controls me? I discovered that I can use the right kinds of proteins and carbs to manage stress and that it really wasn’t too difficult to do. It took a little planning and some deliberate inclusion of sweet potatoes into my diet at the most stressful times, but it worked very well. In fact, I was surprised at how well it worked. It’s definitely on my agenda for the next stressful period coming up at work.
Did it eliminate my stress? No. But using sweet potatoes instead of chocolate or sugar to manage my stress was far more effective. I felt so much better after eating the sweet potatoes than I’ve felt eating the junk in the past and the relaxed feeling lasted longer without a nasty crash several hours later. I call that a success.
I also discovered that it was a little easier this time than it was the first time I did the detox in January. I was worried that I had returned to so many of my bad habits during the month between the January detoxing and this round that it would be very difficult this time to stay clean during the detox. Honestly, it barely feels like I am detoxing. I think I miss a little bit of sweet in my coffee the most, but I am also managing without it so it can’t be all that bad.
There have been a few occasions where I wanted “something” to munch, like chips and salsa or other snacky foods or maybe a glass of wine. What I’ve learned from the detox is that I don’t really want the junk. What I’m wanting is something to manage the boredom I’m experiencing. Being able to recognize that is huge. Those are key behaviors that lead me to sabotage myself when I am trying to eat well.
Detoxing feels like I’ve broken the chains keeping me locked into patterns of destructive eating habits. That is the one big hope I had during both detoxes. I know now that I can do it. I know that it isn’t that hard to do once I set my mind to it. I also know that the more I do it, the easier it gets. Maintaining many of these healthier eating habits will not be as difficult as I once imagined months ago when I started this journey.
