Three months ago a friend of mine posted some really disturbing youtube videos outlining the true nature of sugar and what it does to your body. Being that I am a total sugar junkie, and was left a little sick by watching the videos (I guess ignorance was really working for me). A few factors went into the decision to challenge myself to make some serious changes, these videos were a good start.
If you are interested google; Sugar: The Bitter Truth. It's about 90 mins and if you can make it through the sciencey part the rest will be smooth sailing.
Well I wouldn't exactly say that we have totally given up sugar in this house, but over the last 90 days we sure have made an extraordinary effort to slay the "white devil" from our diet. Mitch and I made the decision together that we were going to try the unthinkable, ditch refined carbs and eliminate sugar from our diet and see what happened. Good thing he was on board with me too, as there would be no way on this earth that I would be able to stick to avoiding all the delicious foods that were part of our everyday life. All I can say is three months down and 20 pounds lighter I feel great. Minus the little road bump that included a total "carb crash" that lasted for three days as my body went through withdrawal (that really sucked and I wish someone would have mentioned it as being a normal response to cutting out refined carbs) It's surprising how really good I feel and that I don't miss the loads of pastas, perogies, grilled cheese sandwiches, ext which were definitely a staples here. I'm not going to lie we joke almost every night on who is going to go pick up the blizzards... I guess once a sugar fiend always a sugar fiend. It's been amazing on all the products we have replaced in our house for a home-made version. Not only do they taste better, I know that they are better for us. Eating on the run or having us over for a BBQ has already proven to be a bit of a challenge, although I don't want people to worry about how difficult we actually are, making it work is causing us to be a little more creative when we are out with other people. While Mitch is out there shouting from the rooftops too everyone he talks to about the simplicity of eating a low carb diet, he forgets to mention how hard it actually is to stick to it sometimes. I'm glad that we found something that works for us both, and that with the incorporation of running three times a week it's a lifestyle that when we get off the program (oh yeah I know that we will eventually go off the wagon) that we can take some things from and we will keep in our regular everyday lives.
I guess the bottom line is we have to keep a careful watch over what we eat, and what we feed our families. I think the more you know the better decisions you can make for yourself. That being said, have a wonderful summer everyone enjoy everything that comes with the warm weather... just in moderation ;)
L
2 comments:
Quitter!
I love the sugar as well so I can relate. Dr. Oz and Andrew Weil have talked a lot over the years about refined carbs. There is starting to be a lot of talk about what these sugars can do to the cells in our bodies. Not the obvious, make us fat kind of things, but the addition of inflammations in our body, mutation of cells into things like M.S and cancer. Of course these are still in early stages of study but more and more people are acknowledging this as a viable idea.
A lot of people focus on the sweets as culprits but even white breads, rices, all of that are big contributors.
Its an interesting topic all the way around. You guys are looking great and if you feel good that is the most important thing. Even if you slip I think that's ok..its what we do the 80% of the time, not the 10 or 20.
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