Ugh. It’s the evening of our first day of Whole30. I am literally detoxing from sugar, and I’ve had the shakes for about 5 hours now. Ignoring the fact that I would kill to engage in my ritual of having a sweet treat after lunch/after dinner, I find it pretty alarming that I am having such a strong reaction on just the first day.
Breakfast was good. It was satisfying and delicious…and I don’t have chocolate daily after breakfast. So, cool.
I went on a 2.5 mile run, did some laundry, swept the floors, grilled and cut up a few pounds of chicken, and ate my crock pot lunch of sweet potato chili. Delicious!
But then, I couldn’t have a piece of chocolate after lunch. I have been having chocolate after lunch/dinner meals FOR YEARS. Literally.
For years.
Years, I tell you!
My body is so accustomed to this infusion of artificial sugar right after a meal that I went into craving mode almost immediately. I kept doing chores and watching Netflix to distract myself, but it was gnawing at me in the back of my mind. I reached out to the Whole30 Facebook Group and to my GroupMe chat for support. After a few hours, I ate some almonds to figure out if I was hungry, or if I really was craving this quickly into the program.
I was craving this quickly into the program.
Sad, right?
Finally, I cooked dinner.
Now, dinner is complete, and I am sitting on my couch as I type this, still shaking, slightly breathless, chewing madly on a straw, forcing down water, pushing away dizziness, and thinking how incredibly ridiculous it is that I am having this reaction because I haven’t had artificial sugar all day.
I’m not hungry. The idea of seconds doesn’t sound appealing.
What does sound appealing is…[sigh] chocolate.
BUT!…The fact that I feel this way is absolutely insane to me. It is even more confirming that I need to do this. My body has built up such a dependency on artificial sugar, and I am on a road to major health conditions if I don’t get it together.
I feel like I did when I quit smoking cigarettes 5 years ago. The hardest smoke to quite was the one that I had after my meals. This is literally happening again, but with chocolate.
I moved past that. I can move past this.
Update on Anthony: my beautifully prepped lunches weren’t enough food for him today. He’s had a few random complaints here and there about “starving to death”. Some of it is sarcasm, but I took a look at what the lunches I used to pack him contained: a turkey sandwich, crackers, a cheese stick, carrots, celery, and a banana. I may throw a few other goodies in there, but that was usually all he ate. He almost always had remaining snacks in the bag. Like I mentioned in my last blog, he now has a hamburger patty, carrots, celery with almond butter, olives, grapes, boiled eggs, and almonds. It’s basically a similar amount to what he had before, but he is still hungry? That’s because I removed the unnecessary carbs and added healthy fats and protein.
Similarly, if you look at our dinner plate above, it wasn’t lacking sustenance. But he made a comment about still feeling hungry. Normally, we’d have a side of pasta or rice added onto that plate. While I am detoxing from sugar, his body is trying to figure out how to feel full from items that are not carbs or dairy. (PS. I’m not a terrible wife…I never intended him to do this program with me, but he decided he wanted to…I’ve told him multiple times he can drop out if he wants and return to the land of sandwich lunches…I’ll keep you posted if he takes me up on that…honestly, the lack of wine might crack him first!).
Anyway, those two interesting notions tell me that we are in for a bumpy ride until our bodies adjust. And they tell me that this is a ride we really need to take.
Back to my craving, I go…
The Fit Doc Student 