This week I have been focusing a lot on the mental effects of cutting sugar. I was never someone who needed to lose weight, so why would I give up ice cream??? It was not until I realized that my struggles with contentment and communication stemmed from the effect of sugar on my mind. When that really hit me I finally stopped resisting giving up sugar and embraced this change. I was delighted at the effect it had on my health as well, but I wake up thankful every day that I no longer feel isolated. When I was on sugar I was always mystified that I could not get the emotional rants in my head to make any sense to my husband or anyone else. Now those rants are gone, and I struggle less with bitterness and resentment. I am not perfect, but I feel human and happy.

I’m linking to a blog here that shares some of my sentiments, and a celebrity testimony of cutting sugar.

Learn2Balance (old) Blog

By Lori Hanson

If you’ve heard me speak or attended in any of tele-classes, you know I’m always talking about the sugar train. I bring this issue up every chance I get and in most every speech because nutrition is the foundation of a happy, peaceful, healthy and balanced life. And the sugar train is sure to take you down the road that leads to dis-ease, discomfort, moodiness and chronic complaints about life.

I talk about the sugar train regularly even though it isn’t a popular thing to do because most people don’t realize how much sugar they’re consuming on a daily basis. Sugar is toxic, sugar is addictive, just like a drug…and some even call it a drug. Sugar is hidden in many foods you consume unless you’re cooking real, whole food at home. (To raise your awareness, start reading labels.) It takes guts to change your habits…

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Journal – It’s been a while since I’ve posted!

I woke up this morning feeling lighter, and although my weight has stayed the same for weeks now, I weighed myself.  It went down .7 lbs!  I know it doesn’t seem like much, but these last 10 pounds are very stubborn!  Any progress is progress.

I’ve been trying to use my juicer more often and have started poking around the Internet for recipes.  I’m learning a lot as I go.  Did you know that both grapefruit and kiwi help with weight loss?  So does green tea.  I also learned that beets help to detoxify the blood.  This is the juice I made yesterday afternoon, and had enough left for my husband and I to have a big glass with our breakfast.

 Apple-Carrot-Beet Juice

• 2 Green Apples
• 4 Carrots
• 1 Beet with leaves
• 6 -8 leaves of Kale
• 1” Ginger Root (1 tablespoon)

I also munched on some cucumbers with the skin because I love them and learned that there is something (I think silicon) in the skin that is helpful for hair and nails.  My nails need all the help they can get!

I’ll do some food journaling for today:

Breakfast – Apple-Carrot-Beet juice, 2 scrambled eggs, 2 sausage patties, one slice of whole grain toast with butter, organic coffee with unsweetened vanilla soy milk

Snack – cucumbers with skin

Lunch – leftover ground beef curry* with brown rice, Frosty Grapefruit Zinger juice (see previous post)

Snack – half of an apple with peanut butter (my kids ate the other half!), hot green tea with lemon

Dinner – still deciding on this, but Spaghetti Carbonara with whole wheat pasta sounds yummy to me right now.

I did about an hour of exercise this morning – mostly Wii Fit.  And I need to drink more water, but what else is new!

* the Ground Beef Curry recipe is from the More With Less cookbook, and was something my mom made on a regular basis when I was growing up – it’s my ultimate comfort food.  Here’s the recipe.

1 lb. ground beef

(Cook up the beef, then add)

2 – 2 1/2 cups of water

2 carrots

3 celery

1 green pepper

1/2 medium onion

1 t. salt

1/8 t. ground black pepper

1 T curry powder (but I always add 2 or 3)

1 c. tomato sauce (like Hunts in a can) 

(Simmer this for 45 minutes, then add)

1/3 c. milk with 2 T cornstarch mixed in it

Serve over rice!

I usually double it to ensure leftovers.

 

 

How to Lose Weight All Day Long

This is another great article with principles that can be applied to a encourage a successful sugar sensitive diet and lifestyle.

How to Lose Weight All Day Long | Vitality – Yahoo! Shine.

When you read it, do you notice anything that may be sabotaging your efforts to lose weight?  Any unhealthy habits that you were unaware of?

I have a constant struggle with my morning routine.  Getting up early or at the same time every day, getting moving, eating within an hour of getting up… these are all very hard for me.

What about you?

 

Fun, Sneaky Ways to Lose Weight – Yahoo!

Fun, Sneaky Ways to Lose Weight – Yahoo!.