Sugar free: Day 29

Second last day of no sugar. AWSOME.

It's been up and down. Hard, but not impossible. Knowing that the day would come when I could have it again and that it wasn't forever has helped me keep the spirits up. This last week I've actually not thought that much about it, which has been nice but also resulted in some accidental fails...

List of fails
1. Ice cream dinner (emo breakdown)
2. Giffel
3. One slice of white bread
4. Lingonberry jam that I thought was sugar free but that wasn't
5. Mum's home made müesli which contains syrup
6. The white bread on a falafel, it was impossible to eat only the content

And I am completely fine with this. Actually, this is sort of how I would like my life to be. (You see an attitude change here? Psychologists say behaviour change attitude). Maybe have a dessert or something nice now and then, but not every day and not feeling bad about it when I do. My skin has gotten a lot better, and I can eat heaps without gaining weight since your body can't take up fat if you don't eat sugar (that's how Atkins work too). And an occasional glass of wine or beer, even though I've managed very well without too.

So everyone, try this. I really mean it. It's so worth it!

Next 30 day challenge then? I have decided to go for Creative Writing: 30 min per day. I want to boost my poetry writing and work on a scene project I'm putting up for May. Woop!

Sugar free: Day 22

So just above three weeks have past and only one week left to go! It feels pretty amazing, it was so hard in the beginning and every day of no sugar was a great challenge. Now it is part of my everyday life to say no.

How long did it take me to get rid of the cravings? Well, I would say maybe five days to get rid of the worst, then maybe two weeks to not get random cravings regularly. I mean, I can still feel the desire to eat something, but the thought of it is not overwhelming. One very good thing to do is to sort all the sweet thinks out of reach. I have a little stock of hidden goods, but it's a bit complicated to reach them... I saw the importance of that today when I decided to have a little "giffel" (mini-cinnamon roll) just because I had bought them (to bribe others) and there were some left. It was good, but not that good. And no desire to have more than one, which I feel immensely relieved by.

I have gone through an emotionally pretty rough period, which means that I otherwise would have comforted myself with heap loads of chocolate. Now I know there is sugar free chocolate, but I think that would just make me eat heap loads of that so I ruled that out too. One evening I felt completely miserable and had ice cream for dinner. I actually didn't feel too bad about it, maybe my stomach wasn't too satisfied but I had no wish to go back to my prior diet.

Alcohol then. Yes, I miss having wine sometimes (had a dinner out where I really missed it) but as for the partying, I had a great night out and saved quite a lot of money. This has never really been an issue to me, but I will definitely drink more carefully after this challenge.

So, where do I see myself after this? I understand the people who decide to live like this always, but I choose not to. I will really try hard to keep my sugar intake restricted, maybe something like only weekends, or twice a week. I have done that earlier (2008) and it worked out fine. When it comes to my weight it really hasn't changed, which I interpret as I have more or less my ideal weight. I was happy with it before, and it is great if I can maintain it.

Today I had a weird mishmash of fruit, oats, hemp protein and tahini for breakfast, a few cups of coffee, a root vegetable/bean stew in coconut milk for lunch, some cereals with yoghurt in the afternoon, stir-fried veggies with whole grain pasta for dinner and topped up with some raspberries for dessert. Ok I would say.

Martin just wrote to me and asked me for new 30 day challenges. Now I would really like to do a vegan challenge, but I think I would need a week of normality to have the energy to do that. I have a new, very encouraging friend to help me out with motivation there, but I think that's a little over the top for Martin (you gotta be able to live somewhat normally, and I'm just saying this would require a lot of work, not that he wouldn't be able to). Another one I would really need is the no caffeine one, which I think would be all right since I could just replace everything with tea.

Other ideas...
Draw something everyday to boost creativity.
Write a poem every day.
Take a picture every day.
Write with my right hand (I am left handed) for 5 min every day.
Live only of dumpster dived food (hardcore...)
Practice yoga/tai chi/whatever every day.
Write emails or letters to friends you struggle to stay in touch with, for example 10 letters in 30 days (maybe hard to do as it requires some time).
Brush your teeth with your "wrong" hand.
Write down something you are happy about and something you could have done better/differently every day.
Keep a dream diary.

What do you think, Martin?

Sugar free: Day 6

This is what my breakfast smoothie looks like. Given its funky colour by the super food Spiroulina, an algae!

Food of today:

09:00 Breakfast	11:00 Fika	15:00 Lunch	20:30 Dinner	Other
Smoothie: Banana, apple, oat flakes, spiroulina, oat milk	Whole grain bun 2 cups of coffee	Tofu fried with sprouts, millet and salad	Buckwheat porridge and a hard bread sandwich with cream cheese	Mate Crisps

Sugar free: Day 5

No more night mares but I am unfortunately getting a cold. My second this year! What have I done? So I take Kan jang, a natural medicine, make tea from fresh ginger and press lemon into it, and eat raw garlic. Its not so bad since I can't taste the garlic. Have spent some time in a café studying, will be doing much of that this week so should try to write some reviews. Today my flatmate had a chocolate cookie while at the café and I didn't get a craving. Yes, I think I have it under control. Tomorrow will be another test though, as it is Fettisdagen!

Today's food:

09:00 Breakfast	15:00 Lunch	19:30 Dinner	Other
Smoothie: Banana, pear, spiroulina, oat milk hard bread with cheese	Millet salad with blue cheese, avocado, fresh spinach, tomato and sprouts	Omelette with mushrooms and salad Fruit salad	Tea (fresh ginger) 2 cups of coffee

There is a lot of cheese in my diet right now, which is only because I managed to dumpster dive a lot of cheese last week...

Sugar free: Day 4

Lunch!

Tonight I dreamt that I accidentally ate sugar, which reminds me of when I became a vegetarian and used to have night mares about eating meat. But, then I went to a café (in real life, that is) and sat next to families having cup cakes, mud cake, etc etc. And I felt that yes it would have been nice, but I can do without it. Yes! Sugar cravings definitely going away, which feels awesome. But I still don't think I would want to live my entire life like this. There is something so nice and social about most foods and especially alcohol. I'm so glad I can still have coffee, but maybe that should be another 30 day challenge...

Food of today:

10:00 Breakfast	14:00 Lunch	19:30 Dinner	Other
Smoothie: Banana, orange, oat flakes, spiroulina, oat milk hard bread with cream cheese	pasta with tofu, tomatoes and fresh spinach bread with cream cheese	Buckwheat porridge and a cheese sandwich Fruit salad	Tea 2 cups of coffee A mandarin

Sugar free: Day 3

Lunch! Sorry for the crappy picture, Iphone camera in my kitchen...

Definitely less sugar cravings already. Went to yoga class today, since I had gained ½ kilo in those two days. Guess it's just natural variation, and I'm not worried at all about it.

Food of today:

10:00 Breakfast	14:00 Lunch	17:00 Snack	18:30 Dinner	Other
Smoothie: Banana, orange, oat flakes, spiroulina, oat milk yoghurt and müesli	Mashed potatoes with brussel sprouts, beans and carrot	Fruit salad	Buckwheat porridge and a hard bread sandwich with cream cheese	tea, some glasses of water

Sugar free: Day 2

How do I feel then? Cravings? Oh yes, but I can handle them. They make me understand that I need this detox, that I want to find a balance between an occasional treat and the every day sugar overdose. I so hope I can find that.

Food intake of today then:

7:30 Breakfast	12:30 Lunch	16:00 Snack	18:30 Dinner	32:00 Nearly midnight snack
Smoothie: Banana, apple, oat flakes, spiroulina, oat milk whole grain bread with cream cheese	Bulgur with tofu, beans and sprouts	Some avocado and bean sprouts	Mashed potatoes with brussel sprouts and a cheese sandwich (yes, whole grain)	Müesli with yoghurt

Doing fine! No coffee today either, which was good for me.

Sugar free: Day 1

Stumbled out of bed early this morning and got my body onto the scale. For a dietary experiment, controlling my weight seems like a good idea. I am very happy about the digits on the display, but I would like for my body to have a little more muscles and a little less fat. Let's see where this month will take me.

So, my food intake of today has looked like this:

7:30 Breakfast	12:30 Lunch	16:00 Snack	18:30 Dinner	Other
Smoothie: Banana, kiwi, oat flakes, spiroulina, oat milk Knäckebröd with cream cheese and tomato black coffee	Veggie stew with coconut milk	Whole grain bread with mozzarella cheese and tomato Walnuts	Bulgur with panfried vegetables (broccoli, zuccini...) in soy sauce	two apples, ½ litre of water, more coffee and tea

So far, so good, I would say. I have had some slight sugar cravings, but I'm pretty sure they arise because I know I'm not allowed to. I need to stock up on berries! (after defrosting the freezer...) I saw another Ted Talk the other day about keeping your goals to yourself, since talking about them apparently made you less likely to fulfil them. In this case I think they are wrong! Another Ted Talk was more into the same thinking as I am, that sharing the updates of his challenge gives him supportive pier pressure. Let's do that!

And how is Martin doing? Check out HERE