#21DSD ~ Day 21: "Turning 21 days into a lifetime."

Reader beware, this will be a long one.

I’m writing this on day 22.  While I would have liked to finish this blog last evening, my schedule has been hectic and time did not permit.  However, I think it was a blessing in disguise as I woke up this morning to the very sure realization that I want to implement this form of eating for a lifetime.  Let me preface this with the fact that the sugar detox is also a Paleo diet sans sugar and when I talk about this “form of eating” I’m referring to Paleo.  I dabbled in Paleo before this detox, slowly evolving my eating habits to a less processed format.  I was never fully committed to the plan other than my 30-day challenge which involved some cheating here and there.

At this point, you might be thinking "what’s different now?"  For one, the 21 day detox forced me to be fully committed, by the book, no cheating.  My eyes were finally opened to how much better I feel when I’m eating this way.  Granted, I was detoxing from sugar so I was also experiencing sugar withdrawals, but aside from that my digestion was improved, my skin improved and I just felt better overall.  The second reason for this decision and what I call the icing on the cake was a little indulgence I allowed myself in celebration of the final day on the detox:  crackers and cheese and wine.  So as not to go completely off the rails, I had my homemade, gluten free crackers.  The cheese and wine tasted good last night but it totally wrecked me this morning.  I didn’t even eat that much cheese and my body was feeling it.  On my way to work this morning, I promised myself I will not be doing that again and I recommitted myself to Paleo.  So, how will I be proceeding post-detox?  Here’s my plan:

(1)     Within reason and without stressing, I’m going to move to a more strict Paleo diet.  I now have a total of four great cookbooks with amazing recipes to choose from.  One of my recent faves is Against All Grain by Danielle Walker.  Since I’m a working mom and finding time to cook is incredibly challenging, I will be working over the next couple weeks to develop a list of “go to” recipes that are great for freezing and/or quick and easy to make after a long day’s work.  I’m sure there will be loads of Crockpot recipes on this dinner cheat sheet.

(2)     Next on my list:  water!  Water is the drink for me.  No more soda, diet or otherwise.  It’s easy to understand why 21 days is such a great time frame for this detox.  They say it takes 21 days to form a habit.  Now that I’ve spent three whole weeks without soda, it seems natural to keep saying no to it.  Now let’s not get too crazy here, beer and wine will still be allowed, just not as frequently.  And I’m not ready to kick coffee to the curb, but it is a thought and I’ll continue to let that one simmer in my mind.  Maybe if I keep drinking my herbal tea it will eventually take the place of my coffee. 

(3)    Grass-fed and unpasteurized.  I’ll be looking for these key terms on any meat and dairy products I choose.  Dairy is technically not Paleo, however, soft unpasteurized cheese like goat cheese is easy on my system so I’ll likely keep that as a special treat here and there.

(4)    Liver….some how, some way I would like to sneak liver into my diet.  This food is packed with good nutrients.  Since I can’t stomach eating it straight-up, I’ll be looking for meals to hide it in.

(5)    Take control!  I’m going to take control of my health and do the research.  We’ve been told a lot of myths about food and what’s good for us and what’s not.  Instead of listening to the media, the government, strangers who think they know best and the likes, I will be doing the research myself.  There are a lot of great resources out there and I love to read and learn.  I’ll be starting with this new book.

(6)    Over the next few days, I will slowly introduce sugar back into my diet, but overall, I would like to maintain a fairly low sugar diet.

Now, for those of you who would like to know how the meals went for the day, here goes:

Day 21 (0 days left!)

Breakfast – Leftover oatmeal.  Delicious as always.

Lunch – Portobello mushroom cap with roasted red peppers and a side of vegetables.

Snack – Green apple and baby carrots.

Dinner – Two handfuls of homemade crackers, habanero jack cheese and red wine.  (And I snuck in a few M&M’s from my kids goody bag)

And that’s a wrap!

Thanks to my readers for all of your support through this.