Day Eleven
So I exaggerate its true. Eleven and twelve are not half way to thirty (days). Please humour me; I have had no sugars or fruit sugars or any type of sugar as far as is humanly possible for 12 days now and quite frankly its a right bore. It is the longest I have ever gone in my whole human life without sugar. I yearn for cool fruit drinks and ice lollies. Time for yet another herbal tea......
Yesterday I was tired, however I had worked a 28 hour weekend so it is hard to apportion what is down to diet and how much is down to work. I felt very grumpy again and quite frustrated.
Meal wise it would be easier if I had a long term settled base to work from and could plan all my meals in advance. It is certainly costing me more to buy what I perceive to be more luxury food items such as nut butters, coconut oil, a variety of nuts and other things. I navigate the day like I am on a hand driven pedalo; going forwards after a fashion unable to travel significant distances.
Day Twelve
Getting up over the last couple of months has been periodically hard, I have been feeling tireder than when I went to bed. This morning was like this. I always find it odd that I don't leap out of bed when the sun shines in the summer but its all part of the process I feel
I visit my osteopath near Park Street and get suddenly hungry afterwards. Go in to Tesco Extra Rubbish Stores as there is nowhere else around except wheat-sugar-caffeine temples (cafes). Pick over all the options. Small box of sushi, surely OK as its just rice and vegetables and fish right? WRONG. The sushi is cooked with sugar so its out. There's nowt else except veggies and plain crisps which are OK. Mutter and purchase standard pot of houmous. Later on and nearer to home in Easton I go to the Sweet Mart and spy a gluten free "Clive's Pie", just one left. Huzzah! At the last moment I do an ingredients check.....so far....so good.....until......reading with one eye open as I can't bear to look........sugar......utter bollox.
So my newly created word just for this special occasion is tedioso. An ongoing kind of tedium with no immediate end. Well 18 days if I am honest, it just feels like a life time. Mercifully I have no significant bashes or weddings to attend until the end of the detox. I would have to shun the meal and party on sparkling water. Wild times.
My "helpful" top tip for today is - don't try to live long term in this country without gluten, dairy and sugar you may just go mad. This isn't to say sugar doesn't rule the world but we are obsessed with wheat and dairy products. I remember moving to Cornwall, land of the cream tea, pasty and pint and wringing my hands assuming that on every corner there would be a handy fisherman peddling mackerel. Yet fresh fish was damn hard to get hold of alot of the time. As the Kernow boys would say "What's occurrin?'"
Supermarkets are not helpful. In Sainsbury's last night I noticed the extent of the problem. Sugary Booze - 1 aisle, Fizzy Drinks - 1 aisle, Chocolate and Biscuits - 1 aisle, Crisps - at least 1/2 aisle, Sugar and sugar themed baking goods - 1 aisle, Environmentally Damaging Cleaning Products - 1 aisle.........."World foods" (what things like rice you can actually eat) 3/4 aisle. It beggars belief. We are a nation of junk food eaters. Another whole aisle was probably bad frozen meals and ice cream but I stopped counting. Yes that start with a vegetable aisle to convince you it is a good wholesome healthy store. I hereby set you all a challenge. When next in a supermarket (we all do it) go straight to the booze aisle.....and drink all the gin. No seriously, go to the booze aisle first and work backwards finishing with the veg and fruit. Firstly you will probably spend less. Secondly you too will be wowed by the plethora of rubbish you don't want to eat. Thirdly you may want to shop elsewhere.
For sugar free go to whole food shops all the way if you can. One challenge with these is that the meat is extremely expensive in them and protein is a must. However you will find whole foods. Get together with your friends and bulk buy from Essential. Good quality food is surely a basic right for us in this day and age yet we are presented with endless rubbish. I am not the junk food police, I love a Snickers with the best of them. I just believe the way we think, feel and behave is deeply affected by this stuff and our long term health suffers. Who wants to be ill? We hopefully all want to live long productive lives and see our grandkids emerge. I feel like some kind of sugar detective, mystery shopping for uncontaminated items, but they are literally everywhere. How and when and why did sugar end up in everything that we are eating? Is this OK?
So I exaggerate its true. Eleven and twelve are not half way to thirty (days). Please humour me; I have had no sugars or fruit sugars or any type of sugar as far as is humanly possible for 12 days now and quite frankly its a right bore. It is the longest I have ever gone in my whole human life without sugar. I yearn for cool fruit drinks and ice lollies. Time for yet another herbal tea......
Yesterday I was tired, however I had worked a 28 hour weekend so it is hard to apportion what is down to diet and how much is down to work. I felt very grumpy again and quite frustrated.
Meal wise it would be easier if I had a long term settled base to work from and could plan all my meals in advance. It is certainly costing me more to buy what I perceive to be more luxury food items such as nut butters, coconut oil, a variety of nuts and other things. I navigate the day like I am on a hand driven pedalo; going forwards after a fashion unable to travel significant distances.
Day Twelve
Getting up over the last couple of months has been periodically hard, I have been feeling tireder than when I went to bed. This morning was like this. I always find it odd that I don't leap out of bed when the sun shines in the summer but its all part of the process I feel
I visit my osteopath near Park Street and get suddenly hungry afterwards. Go in to Tesco Extra Rubbish Stores as there is nowhere else around except wheat-sugar-caffeine temples (cafes). Pick over all the options. Small box of sushi, surely OK as its just rice and vegetables and fish right? WRONG. The sushi is cooked with sugar so its out. There's nowt else except veggies and plain crisps which are OK. Mutter and purchase standard pot of houmous. Later on and nearer to home in Easton I go to the Sweet Mart and spy a gluten free "Clive's Pie", just one left. Huzzah! At the last moment I do an ingredients check.....so far....so good.....until......reading with one eye open as I can't bear to look........sugar......utter bollox.
So my newly created word just for this special occasion is tedioso. An ongoing kind of tedium with no immediate end. Well 18 days if I am honest, it just feels like a life time. Mercifully I have no significant bashes or weddings to attend until the end of the detox. I would have to shun the meal and party on sparkling water. Wild times.
My "helpful" top tip for today is - don't try to live long term in this country without gluten, dairy and sugar you may just go mad. This isn't to say sugar doesn't rule the world but we are obsessed with wheat and dairy products. I remember moving to Cornwall, land of the cream tea, pasty and pint and wringing my hands assuming that on every corner there would be a handy fisherman peddling mackerel. Yet fresh fish was damn hard to get hold of alot of the time. As the Kernow boys would say "What's occurrin?'"
Supermarkets are not helpful. In Sainsbury's last night I noticed the extent of the problem. Sugary Booze - 1 aisle, Fizzy Drinks - 1 aisle, Chocolate and Biscuits - 1 aisle, Crisps - at least 1/2 aisle, Sugar and sugar themed baking goods - 1 aisle, Environmentally Damaging Cleaning Products - 1 aisle.........."World foods" (what things like rice you can actually eat) 3/4 aisle. It beggars belief. We are a nation of junk food eaters. Another whole aisle was probably bad frozen meals and ice cream but I stopped counting. Yes that start with a vegetable aisle to convince you it is a good wholesome healthy store. I hereby set you all a challenge. When next in a supermarket (we all do it) go straight to the booze aisle.....and drink all the gin. No seriously, go to the booze aisle first and work backwards finishing with the veg and fruit. Firstly you will probably spend less. Secondly you too will be wowed by the plethora of rubbish you don't want to eat. Thirdly you may want to shop elsewhere.
For sugar free go to whole food shops all the way if you can. One challenge with these is that the meat is extremely expensive in them and protein is a must. However you will find whole foods. Get together with your friends and bulk buy from Essential. Good quality food is surely a basic right for us in this day and age yet we are presented with endless rubbish. I am not the junk food police, I love a Snickers with the best of them. I just believe the way we think, feel and behave is deeply affected by this stuff and our long term health suffers. Who wants to be ill? We hopefully all want to live long productive lives and see our grandkids emerge. I feel like some kind of sugar detective, mystery shopping for uncontaminated items, but they are literally everywhere. How and when and why did sugar end up in everything that we are eating? Is this OK?
Hey Mely, well dne on getting where you have. Remember years back I had to give up sugar (and wheat, dairy, tomatoes and yeast) for 2 months? It was meat n two veg all the way and very boring! I did find a natural peanut butter that had no sugar that gave me a sweet hit plus try Ricola sweets. You can get them from a chemist or bigger supermarkets in the multipack chewing gum area. They are sugar free and taste pretty good! Also google sugar free maple syrup - you could have it with free from pancakes! Keep going. Thaistick xx
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