Have You Ever Done a Sugar Detox?

Have you ever done a sugar detox?

Today marks two days since finishing aka surviving a two week sugar “vacay” and it’s amazing how absence can make the heart grow fonder 😉  I’m kidding, as my dear friend Rhianne of @believeyourhealth did an incredible job leading this vacay and guiding our awesome community through any questions, cravings, withdrawal symptoms as well as delicious recipes, shopping lists, you name it.

Eliminating all natural and added sugars, as well as carbs the past two weeks was such an amazing reset for my health, body and mind and a powerful reminder about the importance of mindful eating – eating what my body truly needs, not wants, to satisfy my hunger and nutritional needs. I definitely felt better (less bloated for sure, albeit crankier at times, ha), slept better and ate better – no mindless and/or emotional eating of our Valentine’s Day treats – and realized how much more I love carbs than sugar, ha!

While this vacay definitely required thoughtful planning when it came to buying groceries, planning our meals and setting aside time to prep and cook, it was worth it and I loved all the extra self-love I gave our food, since I cooked almost all of our meals (although special shout-out to Chipotle’s new cauliflower rice, so good!).

It’s incredible though to know how deceiving sugar can be – not only its effects on our body, but also how it shows up on nutrition labels. The above image shows almost 100 names for hidden sugar and know there are so many more, so it’s really up to us to be label detectives when shopping for non-whole foods, but it shouldn’t be that hard! I especially loved having my daughter read the food labels along with me in disbelief about the amount of sugars in some of the foods we enjoy – it was eye-opening and sparked great conversations about why our special treats are just that, special and treats.

So, will there be big changes going forward?

• Not necessarily big changes, but I’m definitely going to pay better attention to even the “cleaner” brands I buy to see about added sugar, as well as “better” carb options, and look to make the necessary swaps (more to come on that!).

• When hungry between meals, I will make sure to have some water first, as I may just be dehydrated and not truly hungry – did you know you should drink half of your body weight in (ounces of) water a day?

• Prioritize meal prep (it’s definitely worth the effort when it comes to simplifying weekday lunches and dinners) and (try to) get out of our regular fruit and veggie comfort zone – this is a great way/excuse to better shop seasonally, too!

• Lastly, I will keep following my 80/20 rule and eating what I want and what my body needs because YOLO, amiright?!