Okay, so for those of you counting at home, which I’m sure is everyone no one, it’s now been approximately 36 hours and 12 minutes since I had sugar.
As you can see from this incredibly flattering picture: NO BOILS. My skin is not burning off, nor do I seem to have any rashes or other unsightly blemishes.
Apparently people did exist before there was sugar! THE ARCHEOLOGISTS WERE RIGHT, YO! Man, science really is our friend.
I’m drinking a blueberry and banana smoothie, with rice milk and some vegetable protein powder (no soy).
Here’s what’s going on with me on Day 2:
Mental:
I haven’t had any anxiety medication since the night before Day 1. This is very unusual for me, especially lately. I’d been taking my “as needed” medication almost twice a day for nearly two weeks. The anxiety had been getting very bad, but now I’m wondering if many of the physical symptoms I had wasn’t anxiety at all, but just from something I was eating. Since I got up yesterday morning, I haven’t had those symptoms, and so haven’t taken the meds.
The thing about this though, is that I think my body is physically addicted to the medication, because I feel like I’m having some withdrawal symptoms. I might take some today just to help with that a little bit, but does this mean that if I figure out what foods to eat, I might not need to take it at all, or nearly as much? I sure hope so. Not so much because the meds are that bad, but the symptoms that make me take them are awful. I also have to keep in mind the “three day effect”, where any big change in my life/diet seems to have the effect of stalling anxiety for about three days. If I’m still not feeling like I need meds on Day 5 or Day 10, I’ll be more interested in this data point.
Physical:
I feel strange. I slept horribly last night, in part I think because I hadn’t taken any meds, which usually knock me out and let me sleep deeply. I kept waking up, and then I was really awake at 7:15am when the kids got up. I feel like I need to eat, like my body wants to be FULL of something, but the fruits aren’t helping, and the meat doesn’t help, and the rice doesn’t help. I just want WHEAT. I’m craving a big stack of toast, or muffins, or something like that. The only thing that seems to help a little bit are smoothies, because I can suck them down – everything else, that I have to chew, just doesn’t sound that appealing.
I also feel…..I’m not sure how to describe it….tight. Maybe that’s dehydration? I’ll try to remember to drink a lot of water today. I lost about a pound overnight, but that isn’t a lot of water weight. I feel tired and wired at the same time, which, going from past experience, will likely lead to anxiety later. I’ve felt this way before when I’m not getting enough food, but I don’t think I’m starving here.
Should I start posting what I eat?
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, you are one hard core lady, lol. I’ve been on a modified Diabetic diet and it’s really worked for me even though I’m not technically diabetic so I see the benefit of reduced sugar for sure :0)
Oh gosh, call me hardcore if I last another week. Or heck, another few hours. :)
The minute I cut something out of my diet I spend three days being incredibly grumpy and craving it 300x more than I ever wanted it before. But it passes. Here’s hoping it gets easier for you, too.
Your skin in that photo actually looks phenomenal. When you’re done with this photo series, I am going to need a full-color flip book, by the way.
Keep on truckin’, pretty girl! You are doing great!
Keep on keepin’ on! Good news so far!
The tired/wired might be related to the absence of wheat (our friend the serotonin booster)… or you might need *more protein*. If I went wheat-free, by 3 days I’d be veryveryvery anxious, and by 7 days I’d be nonfunctional.
So no sugar, and have you still eliminated all the other things on your elimination diet? I think posting what you eat would be great! Then you can look at the record of how you feel along with the what you ate, and then in a few months when you have 3 slices of pizza and 4 cookies, you’ll go “Ohhhhhhh, riiiiiiight.”
*ducking*
Oh, and…
Remember that your goal here is to do this as an elimination diet–i.e. get your system cleaned out and then add things one at a time to discover what’s up–and NOT to be hardcore as long as possible and then have a fantastic orgiastic meal of everything you’ve been missing. Because if you do that without finishing the experiment, you won’t have the knowledge you seek–and if you just change your diet to exclude all these things, you won’t know which are the ones to avoid. Except of course for what you already know/suspect about sugar & dairy.
Let me know any time I’m being a mean old bitch. I’m having a bad day so no tact, and very little compassion. At least I can tell you I’m being way meaner to myself than I am to anyone else.
I was ravenous for a few weeks after I stopped eating gluten…I’d eat and eat and eat, filling foods like rice pasta and quinoa and beans and cheese and nuts and and and…I could just eat forever. For me, I think it was my body making up for lost time nutritionally speaking, because the gluten was preventing my body from absorbing nutrients efficiently…I have no idea if this is the case for you though.
Hi Angie! *waves*
Yeah, I hope it gets easier. I have a good attitude about it. I’m assuming it will get easier.
Meg – Dude, you are SPOILING ME ROTTEN! I’m going to send you a flip book just to mess with you, and when I visit if I don’t see it prominently displayed, I’ll say something.
Jojo – You aren’t being a mean old bitch, but you are telling me what I already know, and I’m not sure why you’re telling me. :) I’ve no intention of stopping. It hurts too much – I’m not willing to quit and then wonder what would have happened if I’d stuck with it, you know?
I got some hemp protein powder today, which I love, so I’ll be using that too, and making protein shakes a couple times a day. I’m also eating a small (but I think adequate) amount of meat. I’ll start posting what I’m eating.
Natasha – have you ever been diagnosed with a gluten problem? Or did you arrive at this from your own dietary testing? I’m just curious. Yeah, it sounds like your body was starving for nutrients! I feel hungry and like I need food, but nothing sounds particularly good except, you know, AN ENTIRE PIZZA.
Mmm…an entire pizza.
So, I was tested for celiac disease and it came back negative. I’d been avoiding gluten for the most part after being tested while waiting for the results, anticipating that they would be positive – so the day after I got the results back, I ate seitan for dinner (pretty much the most gluten-heavy food item out there.) Within two hours of eating, I had awful stomach cramps. The next morning I woke up with an itchy rash on my face and forearms. I was bloated with bad digestion for two days. So I just thought, regardless of the test results, obviously gluten does not agree with my system, and stopped eating it. I can’t believe how much better I’ve felt since then, in so many ways.
Recently I’ve read that many people can have negative blood tests but still have celiac. It would fit with my family history – I’m of Irish descent, and celiac is very common in people of Irish ancestry – and both my grandmother and my mom have health problems often associated with celiac. It fits my symptoms, also…but I’m still not sure if its celiac or just a severe intolerance, or what. The only way to know for sure would be to eat a lot of gluten for several weeks and have an intestinal biopsy…and my lack of health insurance somewhat precludes that option!
I figured out why I was telling you not to stop! It was because you said to call you hardcore if you lasted another week, or even another few hours…. :) My antennae went up and said “uh oh! what if this means you are thinking about quitting…” which is a thing I do that I am trying not to do. You know how that goes.
Anyway, sorry for stating the obvious, except for I’m now going to state some more obvious: go Hollie! go Hollie! I adore you and support you!!!