It’s official. 21 days are over. 21 days, sugar free has finally come to an end. If you haven’t heard, I’ve been doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox by Balanced Bites. And I’ve loved it!! Which is sick and weird since that meant no sugar, including fruit. And if you know me, I LOVE sweets. Like, love love love them. BUT, sweets don’t love me. Not only do I gain 6lbs from eating 1 banana, but I feel bloated, I don’t have a ton of energy, and well, I crave even more sweets. And I found all of this out from not eating sweets. I had no idea I felt like that until I took these beloved foods out.
So let’s recap. Something else to remember that I have cut out of my diet is nuts. All nuts. One day, I just woke up and decided to not eat them because I was sick of feeling like sh*t all the time and wanted to know if they were the culprit to my bloated belly and stupid acne. I’m just such an all-or-none person. I have no middle ground, no sense of moderation. Just not how I roll. So I cut out nuts, then shortly after cut out fruit and sugar.
At first, this was pretty tough. My go-to night snack is anything sweet. Whether that’s eating Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips from the bag or chocolate covered mangos from Whole Foods, I wanted it all when the sun went down. So the first 3 days were kind of annoying, then the 4th day SUCKED. I mean, REALLY sucked. I was super light headed, really really dizzy, felt like I was blacking out half the day. It just sucked. So I went home, loaded up on sweet potatoes and sweet potato chips and instantly felt better the next day. I was just super low on carbs since I hadn’t really stocked up on vegetables in the first 3 days. After that, it was easy. I even made a couple sweet desserts and didn’t even taste them, just gave them to friends instead.
What I did find was that I craved something crunchy way more than I usually do. I really wanted sweet potato chips or Tyrrell’s vegetable chips on a regular basis. I day dreamed about them a lot. And I wanted to eat beets and carrots a ton more…probably because they are sweet. I ate more meat and more fat than I usually do, fat coming mostly in the form of coconut butter. I’ve stopped craving sweets most of the time, just once in a while I’ll get that.
So here were some of the things I ate while on the diet that aren’t entirely sugar free (but are acceptable in moderation on the sugar detox)
- Sweet Potatoes (mostly post workout)
- Green Apples (I had 3 over the course of 21 days)
- Tyrrell’s vegetable chips
- Coconut Butter
- Coconut Water (1 per day, if that)
- Kombucha (1 per day, if that)
- Alcohol (ok, that’s not allowed, but if you remember, I just couldn’t say no. 5 shots of Grey Goose were consumed)
So here’s what I think after 21 days. I think it’s awesome and everyone should try it. Yes, fruit is natural. I get it. But, if you’re anything like me, life sucks because even fruit makes you gain weight and feel bloated, so you may actually benefit from removing that excess sugar. After cutting out the treats, I felt WAY better and had more energy than ever. I also felt like my hormones were more in balance because I never felt like I was going through any mood swings. I felt like I was in a good mood almost every day.
So I was going to post photo results, but then I got scared and backed out. That’s just too frightening to me even though I’ve post half naked pictures of myself in the past. My bathing suit pictures is just serious. Sorry people, I’m lame.
What I can say is that even though my goal was not to lose weight or change anything body wise, I did feel like my body changed. I felt like my stomach got smaller, I felt a bit leaner, and I honestly thought my cellulite didn’t look quite as bad. I don’t think it’s anything that any of other person would notice, but I did and that’s all that really matters to me.
This is what I think. I think EVERYONE should try it at some point. We don’t really know how much sugar affects us until it is completely stripped of our diet. I, will probably not go back to eating sugar other than a once-a-week cheat, but Laura who wasn’t as greatly affected probably won’t be quite as strict as I am. So try it out yourself. Man up. If I can cut out sugar, anyone can. ANYONE.
Stop complaining. There will be a recipe tomorrow, ok? Geez.
You have inspired me to do this sugar detox thing….tomorrow, here goes….
Can everyone please read one book called ‘SweetPoison’ written by an Aussie solicitor named David Gillespie
Watch two shows one you can access on the web called “weight of a nation” – American – it raelly needs to cut to the chase – SUGAR is killing your country, you kids, your workers, your grand parents, your people
The other is a documentary called “Chronic Condition” it should make you all f……….g cry and ask Obama what are we doing
TAX – sugar – Coca Cola are committing th greatest crime on earth
Wow. Very inspiring. I may just have to try this out. I know it will be tough but I would like to maybe try a shorter version to start and then advance to 21 days. CONGRATS!!
I am a fruit addict (just bought a 4 lb tub of grapes at Costco I couldn’t resist & I will finish the whole thing) but I’m thinking i may need to try something like this. My skin has been breaking out, my tummy is usually bloated, & I looking to get a little leaner…I will try this…after I plow through my 4 lbs of grapes that is 😉
I just found your site and this was the first thing I read. I did 14 days and felt the way you described! Good for you for going the full 21!!
As a side note – I am hypoglycemic (someone mentioned it above). I use to have major sugar spikes and drops until I did this and then stuck to the Paleo. Now the only time I feel that classic “shake” from a sugar drop is if I drink sugar alcoholic drinks. The first week was WAY rough getting through the “sugar blues” but increasing my protein and fat REALLY helped. I ate a TON of carrots…I am pretty sure my skin was starting to look orangish.
I love your blog…it makes me laugh when occasionally I would like to cry about what I can’t eat anymore. Thanks for that! 🙂
Juli,
This is the 5th day for the detox, first 3 days were tough and rough! Quick question, did you cut out sugar free gum?
Michelle
I’m doing the Whole30 Challenge right now, and boy, that no sugar thing is hard. Yesterday was day 3 and possibly the worst day of my life. Like, worse than childbirth. What?
What?
Ok, no. I’m still crazy because of lack of sugar. But I’m excited to see how different I feel once the gross part passes 🙂
Congrats!
Juli-
Sugar and bad carbs are my drug. I had fallen of the Paleo wagon in a big way, hard, I mean concussion sustaining fall! I had gained 20 pounds in just over 2 months, so I started this detox thing 11 days ago.
The first 7 days were horrible for me. I had bad headaches, dizziness, mood swings, and extreme fatigue. I could not even go to CF for a week. However I stuck with it. I have lost 10 pounds already (I am sure 5 was just water weight) and feel really good. I extended the challenge for me to 30 days because I was in such bad shape, but can’t wait to see the final results.
Thanks for the inspiration!!!
Hey Juli!! LOVE,LOVE,LOVE this site! Thanks so much for all you do. Still a newbie to paleo after dabbling half-a**ed for about a year. I’m on day 6 of the 21 day detox and feeling great! It hasn’t been all that hard and I found some great new recipes here, can’t wait to add them! So far I’m down 3 lbs and can’t wait to see how I feel at the end. Maybe I can finally kick sugar to the curb for good (side note: never was much of a sugar junkie until I got pregnant twice) so I hope I can reset!
Hi Juli! I really enjoyed reading all the feedback on this detox. I have a big sweet tooth and I’ve been thinking I needed to do a detox for awhile now to kick the cravings so I think this should be great. One question…I am planning on starting the detox on October 1st but I am running my first ever full marathon on October 21st (the last day of the detox). Do you think that will be an issue to try and detox while preparing for such a challenging event? I also use “goo” and “chews” during my long runs for calorie replacement which have some sugar…have you heard any suggestions for non-sugar calorie replacements? Thanks so much!
I haven’t but you should look up the 21 day sugar detox on Facebook and ask Diane what she thinks about that!!