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Now What?
So now what? The detox is officially over and I can resume my regularly scheduled eating habits… if I want to. But do I want to? Not really. I miss the nightly glass of wine, but I don’t miss the way it made me feel or how I felt hung over most mornings even after just one glass the night before. I’ve found myself doing a bit more with my evenings now that I’m not pleasantly numb from the alcohol. I’m headed into the most stressful time of the year at work so I’m finding it a struggle not to want a glass of wine. But I did well without it, and I think I will continue to abstain for the time being.
Another reason that I am abstaining from alcohol along with dairy, grains, and most sugar is that I really, really, really want to see some significant healing this year. After the detox in August 2014, I maintained a lifestyle fairly close to the detox for nearly five months. It was around month three that I began to lose weight. It wasn’t much by others’ standards, but it was a big deal to me after gaining so consistently for so many years. I derailed my progress when I had dairy and a dessert at a work function in November. It’s almost February and I’m still not back where I was before I dipped into the baked brie.
I’d like to get myself to a point where I could start seeing a little bit of weight loss again. I need to give my body time to heal before that can happen though. It seems, for me at least, that the longer I am free from certain foods that add to the inflammation, the more I see positive changes in the right direction. I think in my case it is a matter of time, and a lot of it. I have faith that I will see the changes I’m hoping for, but it is going to take patience on my part to let the healing happen in however long it needs to happen.
Reintroducing foods can be a challenge. The 21-Day Sugar Detox book recommends introducing one thing at a time. Give it a few days, up to a week, to see if you have a reaction before introducing anything else. Check the book for more details on how to go about reintroducing foods.
The problem is that so many of us get overwhelmed by all the options on day 22 that we go around eating all the things. That's a recipe for disaster. It's hard to pinpoint which food is a trigger for symptoms if you are adding too many back in at once. This is where you have to maintain the discipline and focus on your health and not go crazy. Some things will be fine to add back in, like fruit or sweet potatoes. Some things you may need to avoid temporarily until you heal or maybe even permanently. In my case, grains are out permanently. Dairy is out for the time being. I'm hoping I can reintroduce dairy at some time in the future, but I'm not holding my breath.
When I’m faced with the choice to have something that I didn’t have on the detox, I plan to ask myself, “Will this heal me or hurt me?” With that mindset, I think I can live in this lifestyle for some time and, hopefully, experience some significant healing this year.
