Wednesday, January 9, 2013

First Challenge: Physical Withdrawal Symptoms

Holy schnikes, it's been quite a day.

I realize this blog is all over the place. I've actually had a dream for quite some time to create a blog that is devoted to a whole foods approach to living. It will have tons of information about food and its relationship to your overall health, delicious recipes paired with beautiful pictures and helpful cooking tips, and planning tools and ingredient lists to help anyone in any stage of his/her life begin to eat better foods. So many plans that require some organization and research. This is what I hope this blog will become some day. But for now, it's mostly a diary of what I'm going through with my sugar-free challenge.

So something I know I haven't really gone into are the actual withdrawal symptoms people experience when they quit sugar. Every body is different and we all have different sensitivity levels to sugar so it will vary person to person. And the length of time it takes for your body to recover from the withdrawal varies as well. For most, it's not a fun process:

Headache
Fatigue
Acne
Congestion
Anxiety
Mood Swings
Impatience
Depression
Indigestion
Increased Hunger
PMS type mood stuff times 10

Sounds like fun, right? But trust me, the end result is so worth it.

This is my third real attempt to live sugar-free. The first time I did it I was seeing a chiropractor and taking a lot of supplements that I had never heard of before. I remember the first four days being really challenging, the next seven showing some improvement, and feeling better than I EVER have before around Day 14. I don't know how much of an impact the supplements had on me.

The second time I did OK for the first day or two, then by day 3 the full-blown withdrawal hit and I felt bad for about a week or so. I think it took me about three to four weeks to lose the dull headache for good and feel more energized.

This time around I actually felt pretty good the first 5-6 days, then started feeling some cravings and it appears the "fun" part of the withdrawal is hitting me later, around day 8. And what, you may ask, do I actually feel like?

CRAP!

Yesterday I had a killer, killer headache. But that was nothing compared to today. The headache has been replaced with irritibility. I am so cranky and ticked off at everything right now. And I am tired. So very, very tired. Now every time I have tried to do this it's been a little more challenging. The first time I did it I was childless, working a cushy job, could nap whenever I wanted to, and got great sleep at night. The second time I tried I had a 6 month old baby. Big difference. But I could crash during his naps. And he had been sleeping well at night for about 2 months so I was fairly rested when I started.

This go around...I now have two little ones sucking the life out of me. I get maybe 50 minutes a day to myself, and my precious baby girl still wakes up screaming around 3:30 at night every few nights. Needless to say, this is not the zen atmosphere one might need to handle these first few weeks. All the books I read said you should make sure your life isn't too stressful before you go sugar-free. The first two to four weeks are extremely taxing on your body and you shouldn't have too much else going on. This is why I have pushed it off until now (the last 7 months have been draining to say the least). I knew if I followed the books guidance I wouldn't be starting this challenge until 2030 so I decided to take my chances and take a stab at it now.

I have to keep reminding myself that I am doing this so that I can be a better mom in the future with more energy, a calmer demeanor, and better overall health. Hopefully my kids will understand this as I curse the buttons on their stupid onesies and roll my eyes at their every request. Not winning any mommy awards today!


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