So, I failed the 2 week sugar challenge. Not that I was ever 100% - I gave myself a little slack. But I've come to learn that the body gets what the body wants, one way or another. And for the most part it is out of your control-your body may even revert to auto-pilot and when you come to you realize there was mutiny on the ship and you are no longer the captain. Whether it's passing out when you least expect it after hours of insomnia, somehow driving to the park instead of your intended destination of Bed, Bath & Beyond or last night returning to Grand Central in an excited frenzy- influenced by 2 pitchers of "Razorback Ale" and celebrating your home town 1600 miles away from it - and grabbing a Peanut Butter Cliff Bar for the ride home it's bound to happen one way or another. Granted this is a small slip up. But after another autopilot incident on Friday involving an inhuman amount of questionable peanut butter from the coffee shop across the street I'm going to go ahead and call it. But it's okay, I'm still going to finish out as planned through Tuesday and I can definitely say I learned some valuable things by focusing on this challenge over the past week and a half:
1. I can survive without sugar or sweets - in fact I don't even seem to crave it (except when I saw this delight)
2. I no longer chew gum 24/7 at work
3. Eating fruit throughout the day keeps your blood sugar and energy at a steady level. Which is important for me as I lose focus pretty easily.
4. Green breakfast smoothies are awesome
5. I think when my body is deprived of sugar it just craves bread 50X more - but this could be a fall/winter thing too
6. When life becomes busy it's much harder to focus on treating yourself well. The last week work has brought on some late nights and stress and suffice it to say I have neglected treating myself well, cooking and posting updates to this blog
It's a beautiful Sunday morning -a 60 degree sunny fall blessing. I took it slow this morning and enjoyed a delicious bowl of banana, almond oats with an egg white & almond milk on the side. I was supposed to go on a bike ride, but when you get out of the habit of riding it's much harder to get the gear together and out the door. I did the next best thing and ran 3.2 miles (a PB since the IT Band struck in the Spring) watching locals take Sunday strolls and make stops at the local bakery. Now if I can just peel myself out of this chair and into the shower I'm going to stroll on over to the local coffee shop myself. I do love sunny Sunday mornings :)
Don't give up the gum! I just read a research article that says that chewing gum improves short and long term memory by 35%. That's pretty cool. It might also be linked to stress reduction. I would do more of it, but it hurts my jaw. And don't get down on yourself for peanut butter splurges. That's WAY healthier than say, ice cream.
ReplyDeleteThat article: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_13_18/ai_84804845/
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