Yesterday’s sugar detox update was so very long. I promise to make this short and sweet!

What I Ate

Yesterday I made pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. Yes, they are 21-Day-Detox friendly and Paleo as well. I had made these before, after ordering Diane’s first book, Practical Paleo. They really hit the spot. I omitted the maple syrup, given my experience on Friday with just a few sips of a smoothie, and I used a mashed banana in the recipe instead. (She makes this suggestion in the cookbook.)

That added just enough sweetness and also allowed the batter to go a bit further. It made just enough for three of us to have a satisfying breakfast. (My older two won’t touch my Paleo baked goods, but my youngest will try ANYTHING. I love that about her. I think it’s because I started eating real food when she was still little. The older two didn’t have the same foundation, which is a shame, but what can you do . . .)

My daughter put maple syrup on hers, but I just slathered mine with Kerrygold grassfed butter. After 12 days with no sugar to speak of, they were plenty sweet for me.

For lunch, we reheated leftover Friday night dinner, my chicken and spinach stuffed sweet potatoes.

For dinner we made burgers on the grill, braised kale (I used chicken stock rather than vinegar), and this loaded cauliflower mash I’ve been wanting to try. Everyone LOVED the cauliflower. Sorry, I took no photos, I was too busy enjoying my dinner.

Paul and I also had a glass of red wine since that infamous bottle was still open, and I love red wine with burgers. I definitely do not care for this brand of pinot noir, but the experience of having wine with my dinner was lovely. We all ate more slowly, enjoyed our food more and visited longer. That’s how it should be, honestly.

I did not desire anther glass after dinner. I usually don’t with red. If I have white wine around during the summertime, I could drink it all night. I have to pay attention so I don’t overdo it. With red, I am happy with one glass. I know that red is also healthier, and going into winter, I plan to be drinking primarily red.

I also had a few slices of cheese and Mary’s Gone Crackers as I was cooking dinner. I wasn’t really hungry (lunch had been fairly heavy) and I realize that I was falling back on old habits that I do not want to pick up again. I should only allow myself to snack when I’m sitting down and enjoying it, not while I’m cooking dinner (or watching TV or working at the computer). Mindless eating will always cause me to over-indulge. The scale was also up a bit this morning. No biggie, I know weight fluctuates, but I think that it is the result of the heavy snacking before dinner on top of a heavy lunch. It’s a good reminder that even eating Paleo, if I over-do it, my weight CAN creep up again.

How I Feel

I feel great this morning. I woke up feeling perky at 5:30 with no alarm. My body has naturally reverted to this familiar rhythm while being on the sugar detox. (Much of this summer, I was sleeping later, for some reason. I figured it was b/c I didn’t NEED to get up to run before my husband left for work, as I did last summer, but I also was missing that early morning me-time. Now I have it back, and without even needing an alarm clock!)

I did feel slightly headachy when I woke up, but it went away with my morning coffee. Probably a result of the wine?

Today is Day 13, and I’m planning to stick closely to the Sugar Detox program so as to make sure I stay on track. I don’t feel like I’ve fallen off the wagon or anything, but I do want to make it through the 21 days feeling like I was successful so I plan to stick pretty close to the program from here on out. We shall see if that actually happens . . . LOL!!!

For those just tuning in, the program I’m doing is The 21-Day Sugar Detox by Diane Sanfilippo and you can see all my updates here.

Till next time!