A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I decided to give up carbs and sugar—for three weeks. My husband has done this before; I never have.
It’s now been two weeks, and I’m still off the sugar and the carbs. The first week was difficult as I had a hard time figuring out what to eat when I was hungry (plus every cracker and cookie I saw looked good to me—even ones I wouldn’t normally eat.) But once I went to the grocery store and got some nuts and a few other things to have on hand, it was easier.
I’ve also been really focusing on eating only when I’m hungry, and stopping eating when I feel full.
I’ve been surprised by many things this past two weeks.
- I don’t need as much food as I thought I did to feel full. Sometimes an apple and peanut butter is all I need, other times I need more. I ran 5 miles this morning, and after I cooled down I ate two scrambled eggs and two slices of bacon. One afternoon I was late to a meeting so I grabbed a slice of deli ham and some pistachios, thinking I would eat a real dinner after the meeting. I wasn’t hungry after the meeting, so I didn’t eat any more that night.
- I was addicted to carbs and sugar. (I don’t know why this was such a surprise!) I get a lot of headaches but since I’ve been off the sugar and carbs, I’ve only had one headache.
- It’s much easier to pass on desserts or any kind of sweet when I’ve made the decision ahead of time. I don’t have to put any mental energy into “resisting” the cake or the cookies. It’s off my radar.
Now that I’m into the third week without carbs and sugar, I need to decide what I’m going to do when the three weeks are up. I know I don’t want to go back to eating carbs and sugar the way I was, but I want to try to add a little back to my diet and see how it goes.
I have a friend who says fruit doesn’t agree with her, that she doesn’t feel good after she eats it—so she doesn’t.
If I eat pasta and get a headache soon after, I’ll know to stop eating pasta.
But I will most likely have a piece a cake at my son’s next birthday party. And I will eat at least a few bites of Parmesan risotto the next time I go out for a celebratory dinner with my husband.
I don’t want to make up arbitrary rules about what I can and can’t eat.
I do want to pay attention to what foods help me feel good and what foods make me feel tired or give me a headache. I want to know when I’m hungry and when I’m full.
I want to be awake and aware with regard to my food. It’s all part of being awake and aware in general.
Where in your life do you need to be a little more awake and aware?