Family Sugar Detox

So a few weeks back our family set out on a 21 Day Sugar Detox. It wasn't a huge adjustment because we eat pretty clean paleo as is. However we like our fruit, the boys like their cereal and muffins, but we don't overdo it. Charlie, the youngest, likes nuts for a snack pretty much daily. Oh and I can't leave out the fact that I prefer honey in my coffee, daily if I could.

Our goal was to cut back sugar where we didn't need it and to make other choices. During this time we also cut back on our starchy carbs and wanted to be more intentional about when and where we ate them. The goal was not perfection because that's where you'd loose us all. We aimed to improve a few areas that we can maintain when the detox was over.

One week in my son's friends mom dropped off an awesome Philippino rice / veggie dish for her birthday. It was a dish they made for good health and wanted to share with us. Ummmm yeah I'd never turn that down. We ate it and enjoyed it in good health. We also had a bit of goat cheese to use up so we made paleo pizza with goat cheese later that day. Might as well get it all in right?

At this point I was going to restart our detox but after talking to my husband we both agreed that we were doing this for long term change and at the end of the day we had eaten healthy. It's not like we had a drop in at DQ for the afternoon. So we continued on with the clock.

Later in week two there was a co-worker celebration at work which I have no issues avoiding as I've been doing it so long. I quite frankly don't want any of it anyway because of how it makes me feel. There was fresh fruit and that looked awesome so I took a bit. Then CRAP I realized I'd already had my piece of fruit for the day, according to the detox. Again moved on not resetting the clock as I'd eaten healthy.

The final straw came the week of Valentines. I had a workout one evening that week and early in the afternoon I was just feeling off. I had eaten a proper breakfast and lunch. I remembered I had an RxBar in my bag (always have one) so I caved and ate it in the interest of feeling better. Wow did I feel better. I am learning how to listen better to my body on what it needs and doesn't need. Like as much as I truly, truly, absolutly adore having honey in my coffee, and having 3 cups a day, my body does NOT like it. Cutting back to 1 cup per day and only honey once or twice on the weekends....my body likes that.

So on Valentine's Day we ended our detox 3 days early. For us and our goals it was successful. We found that we like green apples and green tipped bananas as a sweetner in our baked goods. We are ok with 1 or 2 pieces of fruit each day. Starchy carbs for us are better in moderation, and best when we use them before and after workouts. THat doesn't mean we won't have them other times, I'll just plan better.

So in the end it was a great 3 weeks for us with positive changes, which was our goal. Would I put my family through it again as a whole? Probably not. The reason why is we eat so healthy as is that sweets are truly kept to a minimun and through this process we learned more where the sugar was hiding and adjusted. Will I apply what we've learned and perhaps enfoce some stricter weeks if needed? Yes. But overall if we find that good balance and keep with it we shouldn't to do a a detox again.

Would I recommend others do one.....yes! This along with a Whole30 are great tools to reset when you get off track. This is the second sugar detox I've done. I've also done two Whole30's in the last two years. Again they are great tools to reset and tighten up when you get off track, come back from vacation, etc. But my believe overall is regardless of vacation, party, etc. we live / eat a paleo lifestyle so I tend not to stray to far from it even on special occassions because it will kick me in the head every time. So by staying on track and not straying too far we don't have a need to keep doing them.

-Yvonne