Confessions of a Sugarholic

Hey everyone!  I'm back for another installment of My Adventures in Transferring to Paleo Eating.  I certainly have new observations to share.  It's kind of fun using myself as a "test subject." So, how Paleo am I at this point?  I'll say I'm not all the way there yet, and I don't know if I ever will be 100% Paleo.  There is a lot of discussion about certain foods some Paleo eaters say are ok, where others say they aren't.  I'm not going to worry too much on the controversy, and I'm going to focus on what foods make me feel the best and render the best performance in the gym.  What I will say is that I'm most focused on getting rid of grains, beans, seed oils, dairy, alcohol, and sugar.  I had a really good week.  Food preparation on the weekends takes a lot of time, energy and patience, but it really worked out well, and as the week continued I found that I stopped eating in between meals and ate three meals.  At times, I eve...

Long time no read, right?  I know.  I'm seriously absent and tardy from blogging.  I decided to take a much needed vacation from blogging (and a lot of other things).  Let me fill you in on what I've been up to since I've been away. In my last entry, I shared that I completed my first half marathon.  It was an amazing experience.  I'm so glad I did it, and I plan to do it again.  It was also mentally draining and physically exhausting.  After the marathon, I had two trips coming up - Minneapolis and Jamaica.  So, I decided to take a well deserved vacation from blogging.... and healthy eating. Yes, sir!  I was living la vida loca!  If I wanted it, I ate it.  I ate heaps of hot tamales and jelly bellies.  So much so that I'm surprised I didn't turn into either of those things.  It's funny how the candies I crave aren't loaded with fat. In fact, my favorites pride themselves on being fat free.  That's great, r...

Hey everyone!  Sorry I didn't post last week.  I didn't have the best weekend, and I felt completely out of it.  I also fell off the wagon.  Not completely, but it was enough for a wake up call.  I've been doing a lot of self-analysis over the last week to figure out what my next step needs to be.  It was very humbling.   Over the last year or so, I've been on a journey to change my life and improve my health. I was tired of sitting on the sidelines watching others enjoy life and wishing I could be them.  I've talked about this before in prior posts.  I wasn't living.  I was tired of eating my emotions, and food just wasn't filling the void anymore.   So I got off my unmotivated, lazy behind and got to work.  I started tracking my calories, working out and researching.  I wanted to know what I could do to keep my metabolism burning and get the weight off.  I had plans for what I would do when I was successful...

Hi everyone.  I was busy entertaining a high level VIP in my life so I wasn't able to post last week (wink).  I'm sure you guys missed me (yeah, right), so I'll get right down to it. My Whole 30 is over.  Monday, March 18th was my official last day.  Funny that I also had my physical that day at the doctor.  I had a fasting blood test, and I tried to get the results before posting, but I wasn't able to swing by the office and pick them up.  I'll make sure to include them next week. I'll admit I'm a bit anxious to find out what those results say about my diet changes.  I did notice a significant drop in my blood pressure.  I'm starting to keep track of it so I can provide my doctor with historical data.  That's probably the only way I'll be able to convince him that I'm ready to be weaned off.  Sadly, once you are on maintenance medication, you just can't stop it cold turkey.  It can dangerous, and I want to get rid of all t...

Hey everyone!  It's a beautiful day in NE Ohio.  I mean we are pushing 70 degrees here in Ashtabula.  The windows are open.  The sun is shining.  I'm Feeling Good .  Well, I am kind of feeling good.   I'm a bit sore. As you know, I'm training for the Cleveland Half Marathon on 5/19.  I'm planning on walk/running.  I hope to do a 5 minute run/1-2 minute walk interval hoping to finish before 2 hour 50 minutes.  I hold myself if I accomplish that goal, I'll get myself another Tiffany charm, and this one I'll get when I travel to NYC at the end of June.    Anyway, yesterday was my first outdoor run since last year.  Back then I was completing slow intervals, and the most I ran was 4 miles.  I usually finished 4 miles in one hour.  My training protocol has me running 3 times a week, Monday and Wednesday, with my long run on Saturday.  Right now, I'm practicing 3 min run/2 min walk, and I'm running at ...

Hey Folks.  I hope you all had a good week.  Mine was quite terrific, and a hell of a lot easier than last week. Yes, I am still in the thick of my Whole30 program.  I'm at the half-way point now, and I'm amazed at how quickly it's passing.  I haven't had any slip ups as far as I know, and although I still have cravings for sugar/artificial sweetener, it hasn't been too hard to get over it.  In the end, it's best that I really leave those things alone. As I mentioned above, I had a pretty awesome week.  Energy is up.  Sleep is beyond amazing and really restful.  Everything is ticking along like clockwork.  I've started to notice some physical changes too. When I was heavier, I had a lot problems with fluid pooling in my ankles.  Fluid retention is a very serious medical condition, and mine was brought on by high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes.  My left ankle would swell so badly that I would have trouble walking as...

Hey everyone.  Week one of the Whole30 Program is done, and I'm still alive.  I didn't die by eliminating added sugars, alcohol, grains, beans and whatnot from my diet.  But I will tell you one thing, this week was not easy.  Let me elaborate.The creators of the Whole9 state on their website that, "Whole9’s original program designed to change your life in 30 days. Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, calm systemic inflammation and put an end to unhealthy cravings, habits, and relationships with food."  In reading their book, I realized that I wasn't making the best choices for optimal mental and physical performance so I decided to give it a try.  I'm going to give you an idea of how my week went - feel free to skip through the days if you aren't interested. Sunday... I started.  It was fun playing in the kitchen and making some new dishes that were very health...

Hey Readers!  I hope you guys don't mind that I took a break last week.  I wasn't taking a vacation.  I had homework, research, and decisions to make.  Let me explain. I knew that losing weight by using calorie restriction would only get me so far.  Our bodies are very smart, and they adapt very quickly.  In my case, I have a tremendous amount of weight to lose.  So at the beginning, eating less and moving more was a no brainer.  The weight fell off quickly and steadily.  In that time, my body was most likely in shock thinking, "WTF does she think she's doing?  I can't keep up with what she's doing!"  But, eventually, it did. When your body adapts, the weight loss tends to taper off and stabilize - the dreaded plateaus.  I'm sure I would still be able to lose weight, but it would be slow-going and frustrating.  When this happens to a lot of people in my situation, they become despondent and start falling into da...