My Greatest Love

On the last Friday in July, I mentioned the sugar detox I’ve been struggling through, and some people expressed an interest. Bear with me, as it’s been a rocky road.

It’s my own fault that things went awry, and I got sick. I should’ve seen a dietician instead of doing this on my own. But, once the symptoms set in, I needed to look forward and do the right things to fix it.

I should mention that I am highly addicted to sugar. As the title of this blog says, it is my greatest love. I eat sugar from morning wake-up (starting with cereal, to sweet teas, candy, cookies, pasta, rice, bread, starches) to bedtime. And, when I’m not eating sugar, I’m craving it. I also wanted to fit more comfortably in my clothes because they were quite snug. I don’t use a scale, I go by how my clothes fit me.

My favorite movie candy, because it’s dark chocolate.

I read an article about a book with a 31 day sugar detox plan written by doctors. I downloaded it to my tablet in the kindle format. I won’t type out the title here, but you might be able to find it somewhere on this blog post. 😉

The first three days consisted of only meat and vegetables. The plan slowly adds natural sugars back into the body each day after the third day. I had no clue what I was about to get myself into. Within the first 36 hours, I was having heart palpitations, shaking, jittery, blinding headache and not enough strength to even drag myself out of bed. I was expecting some symptoms, but my heart would not slow down, and I considered heading to the ER.

I started adding natural sugars when the symptoms occurred, like fruits, plus whole grain breads and pastas. Here is where I’m at now, I’m on day 22 of what turned into my own version of the 31-day sugar detox. I haven’t taken a bite of any goodies. The only sugar I’ve eaten is fruits and whole grains. I get tired easily,  but my strength is back and the headaches are gone. Every morning I need to eat an orange, or some other sweet fruit in order to get my heart to beat at a normal pace. (No, I do not drink caffeine, never did.) For this to still be happening every morning has scared me. Did I throw off my sugar chemistry so badly that I made myself hypoglycemic, or worse?

I did not eat this kind of fruit on the diet (or off it really, I prefer chocolate).

I went to see my doctor and all she did was set me up for a battery of tests on my heart and thyroid. I already had all those things checked on my yearly check-up and they were fine. These symptoms didn’t start until the diet. She did check my glucose level though, and it was normal, which relieved me.

The authors of that sugar detox book laid out one set plan for everyone. This is dangerous, and I wish I would’ve known it sooner. They don’t say anything about each individual’s particular body, diet, chemistry, age, size, weight, etc. I’ve learned my lesson not to take on something of this nature by myself without the help of a professional. I’m no spring chicken, and who knows what might’ve happened. I know I should’ve done more research before diving into this horrible book’s diet plan. But, here I am, writing about it, so I think things will eventually balance themselves out. Hopefully no one else will get hurt by trying it.

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