HEAL: 7 Day Sugar Detox Plan

If you read my blog, I do a ton of preaching about reducing fat and refined sugars; unfortunately, I need to take my own advice, especially as it pertains to sugar and sweet treats.  I recently realized that my previously in-control sugar problem had spun out of control...like widely out of control. What was previously a weekly splurge or a daily sweet alternative (peanut butter in yogurt, vitamix banana ice-cream, etc) turned into the consumption of indulgent treats on a daily basis...you know things are bad when you're embarrassed to admit to your significant other that you bear full responsibility for the empty bag of chocolate chip cookies...that was full yesterday. The worst part was my Pavlovian response to any mention of a sweet treat...salivating at the mention of a cupcake makes you really second guess how much control you have over your fatty tendencies.

I've been trying to talk myself out of reaching for sweets due to the negative health impacts of sugar, but have had little to no success. Fortunately, my vanity forced me to admit my problem, and plan a swift plan of attack.  After all, I work dang hard to fit into my size 2 jeans, and I don't plan on giving that up because I had one (or five too many) macarons. By the way, the picture featured here are the treats I had in the last 10 days...not good!

There's a great WebMD slideshow that talks about the body's relationship with sugar and resulting addictions - check it out to better understand the problem before diving unto my solution below:

1. I am eliminating all added sugars for the next 7 days
1. This includes honey, agave, stevia, etc, etc
2. I am reducing my fruit intake...slightly
1. I love, love, love fruit, but I plan on reducing my fruit to vegetable ratio  I'm thinking 4-5 servings vegetables to 2-3 servings of fruit (I know this sounds like alot of fruits and vegetables per day, but some pretty authoritative sources are recommending between 5-13 servings per day vs the old 5) during this detox
3. I am creating a "tolerance" plan for when my sugar cravings hit...and they will hit
1. I plan to drink plain green tea, drink a glass of water, do a few jumping jacks, and maybe even take a walk
2. I also plan to avoid situations that encourage social sweet consumption like frozen yogurt or cupcake outings with friends
4. If the cravings continue at day 7, I'm extending my detox and repeating steps 1-3 for another 7 days

Watch out for my blog posts over the next week; hopefully, I'll be able to contain my jitters for long enough to write them...