Sunday, December 7, 2014

I Quit Sugar- For Good! [2 months later!]

This is the Second Blog Post in the Two Part Series of "I Quit Sugar- For Good". For the First part, i.e. the First Two Weeks of I Quit Sugar, click here.

As I'd explained in my earlier post, my main objective behind quitting sugar was reducing fatigue. I cannot really quantify fatigue. So I'm not sure how to compare notes- before and after quitting sugar. Perhaps because it hasn't made a huge impact.

...but...


I LOST WEIGHT! ALL my old pants and skirts (I.e. Pre-thyroid blowout clothes- that were neatly tucked away in the bottom shelf) now fit comfortably! Those are a lotta clothes! I have not verified the weight loss on a weighing machine- but I'm guessing it must be around 5 kilos.

I still don't understand how can eliminating ONE ITEM from your diet makes you LOSE weight. I know sugar has NO nutrient whatsoever - and there isn't anyone who will stand up and say "hey, you gotta have at least a little!" It's not like salt, or oil- which is bad in excess but you still gotta have some!  But how did the weight loss happen?


I DON'T trudge towards the bed during bedtime AND fall off to sleep pretty quickly! I'm wide awake, alert and I only go to bed cuz the clock says 11.30 p.m. Which is a big difference from my sugar days when I was zombied outta my mind by 10 p.m. yet took over an hour to actually fall off to sleep

If I feel sleepy in the afternoon - which I do more often than not- I nap! Perhaps only for a handful of minutes or perhaps only lying down for a coupla, but I don't fight it! Coffee doesn't drive the sleepiness away - since I don't mix in sugar. In fact caffeine has no such affect on me. MANY times I go off to sleep right after having a cuppa! I wonder about whether the effects of caffeine are a myth. Since it's clearly NOT doing it's job all alone. It's co-dependant on sugar! Without sugar it does squat. I experimented with skipping afternoon coffee altogether - and guess what ? I always felt a lot better after a teeny tiny nap - than coffee ever did!


I don't feel the hunger pangs too often. Inspite of an upside down schedule during vacation time - I was fine with whatever I got to eat whenever it was served. During my Sugar days I would've died of hunger if it were delayed by even an hour!

I'm taking this a step forward

By slowly reducing my white rice intake. I have been a major a white rice eater! Since white rice has similar impact on the body as sugar, I had to think of alternatives WITHOUT shifting to Wheat Rotis - i.e. without unnecessary uptake of the evil named Gluten. I don't intend to go gluten-free as I have gone sugar-free, but it just doesn't make sense to replace white rice with gluten.

So I have slowly started incorporating Brown Rice and Rotis made of Jowar and Bajra. Unlike the cold-turkey approach I'd taken with quitting Sugar, I'm doing this slowly and steadily. No rush! It Isn't wise to suddenly shift to a high-fiber diet. 



Brown Rice, Jowar and Bajra are not only gluten free, they are high in nutrition and are much better options than the stripped down white rice - which does nothing much than give you a boost of energy.

I started with mixing in white and brown rice. Well technically the one I'm having is Mountain Red Rice which takes five times the time and five times the water to cook compared to white. But it tastes good! And it's filling! So the quantity I serve myself is almost half!

Making rotis however requires a culinary expert- since not all cooks can make them nice and thin (Since it doesn't have Gluten!). The cook I presently have is really good- so yay! What I'll do after her is a question mark. But as nothing's changing in the near future, I'm not worrying about it.


But fatigue? Well that's a battle I'm still battling. Perhaps there have been improvements - perhaps it'll disappear a little later than sooner. But overall, quitting added sugar has been an eye opening experiment. I have to constantly read labels (even non sweet stuff contains sugar! Or whatever fancy name for sugar) and think for a second before eating anything new. I breezed through vacations, birthdays and festivals without sugar. There were some accidental intakes! But what mattered was I realised it.

Once I deliberately had a cup of sugared coffee. It tasted disgusting. Yeah! Sugar sucks people!!


For My Pinterest Board on Food for Thought:


4 comments:

  1. Interesting results on leaving out sugar. But like you, caffeine doesn't have the same affect on me that others says it has on them. Thank you for sharing your story at Monday's Musings.

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  2. Thank you so much for sharing your story at the Wonderful Wed. Blog Hop. It is fascinating and I'm SO impressed at your will power! You GO girl!!! I have made a resolve to cut back and have found a definite benefit. Thank you for linking through my site and can't wait to see what you bring to the party next week. Carrie, A Mother's Shadow

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  3. Hi, I am visiting from Katherine's Corner. Love your blog. This is so awesome you quit sugar and are back in your old clothes! I also love my coffee. A nice dark, organic cup in the morning whilst checking my emails is a delicious ritual!

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  4. It's amazing how the food we eat has such a huge effect on our bodies. It seems like common sense but it's like we all missed the memo or something. I really need to do this, but I'm not starting till after the Holiday season.

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