sugar freedom: day one

(click here for the first post in my sugar freedom story)

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April 30, Monday

[from my post on MOMYS]

Well, last night I had my first nightly potato (a half, actually, fried with onions).  Slept well, dreamy as usual, but woke up very sweaty on my chest and back! Is that related to the potato?!  Journaling my food for day two of Operation Sugar Elimination.

I'm also trying to think through what kind of sugar-free life I want to live, and how much label-checking I want to do.  At the beginning of the year, I went through The Lord's Table free online course and found it to be soooo good.  The course reminded me to turn to God for my emotional needs instead of turning to food, and to focus on God (worship, enjoying his presence, living in the Spirit) instead of focusing on food (reading labels, counting calories, demonizing certain food groups, etc.).  Now, I realize that in this thread we are talking about having a unique sensitivity to sugar, and it looks like I might have that, but I want to keep my focus on God's goodness in my life, learning to eat wisely so that I can live fully for God.

Off to start my day with a protein-y breakfast!

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So started the first week of sugar freedom!  My Farmer is joining me, much to my relief.  I can be pretty stubborn, but I don't know how long I could hold out for sugarfree living if he was eating chocolate-chip cookies in front of me.  Having him making changes alongside of me is an enormous encouragement!

We started on Sunday by having cottage cheese, whole wheat toast and almonds for breakfast instead of granola.  No sugar in the coffee.  We did opt, however, to keep our tradition of having a square (or two, or three) of chocolate with our after-breakfast coffee.  (Now you know - yes, we did eat chocolate for breakfast.)

The big change is going to be in the afternoons, when Sugar, Spice, Everything Nice, and Lil' Snip are all resting (or reading) upstairs, and I am ready for my traditional big sigh of relief accompanied by some good old chocolate.  Or cookies.  Or chips.  Or brownies.  (Now you know - yes, I was in the habit of snacking on mostly junk food many afternoons.)

The rest of the day looked pretty healthy:  almonds and lentil sprouts for a snack, ham and swiss on whole wheat for lunch, turkey frankfurter (I think "frankfurter" sounds healthier than "hot dog", don't you?), popcorn and apple for supper.

And then the potato for a bedtime snack.

According to my food journal, I didn't feel too extraordinary that first day, yet.  I felt heavy-eyed mid-morning (as usual) and needed Zyrtec to keep allergies at bay (I'm sure you don't want a list of my allergy symptoms, but I'm going to give it to you anyway, because it makes their disappearance look all the more spectacular:  sandy, gunky eyes; ferocious sneezing; itchy rash on face, neck, inner elbows & knees; congestion and a drippy nose).  

I did sleep well that night.  Is the potato helping??

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