Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Sugar and Spice - wait, no sugar? WHAT?

So after a very fun filled weekend that included a Wegmans Avenger cake, a soccer ball cake, chocolate cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies for Reedster's 5th birthday celebrations, I felt it was time for me to start another round of a Sugar Detox.

Before you roll your eyes at yet another blog post on the internet about doing a detox to lose weight - STOP.  Here are a few things that I want to share.
  • I'm not doing this to lose weight.  I'm doing this to get me back on the healthy eating train.  The last time I did the detox, I did lose about 5 lbs, but I attribute most of that to losing bloat.  My scale is broken right now so I cannot comment on my start weight right now but I'd imagine that I'm up 2-3 lbs from my lowest, which is when I finished the detox in March. 
  • This isn't your "typical" detox, or at least what I thought a detox was before researching this one.  There are no shakes, or weird drinks (lemon water with cayenne - WHAT?) to consume. I'm eating real food, all day, every day - just NOT eating any processed foods and not eating as much fruit as I normally would. 
  • I wouldn't recommend doing this type of thing if you haven't already in the past made changes toward a healthier lifestyle.  I think, if you are currently eating mostly or a lot of processed foods, starting with this is setting yourself up for failure.  Thankfully, I began looking more at what I'm consuming 3 years ago, so I've made baby steps toward this type of lifestyle and this wasn't a huge jump for me.  I started with tracking my food intake and exercise using myfitnesspal and a heart rate monitor.  I even continued throughout my entire pregnancy with G.  Laugh if you want, but I attribute my successful VBAC and getting back to pre-pregnancy weight mucho fast to eating healthfully and exercising nonstop!  Yes, I was the crazy prego woman in Booty Bounce the night I went into labor.  WHAT?  I was TRAINING for labor.  Guess what?  It worked!
  • This detox REALLY works.  I completed the first round in March.  I had the support of a few people who did the detox with me.  This time, it's just two of us.  The things I noticed after the first round was done?  
    • Increased energy.
    • WAY improved mood - as in, I felt giddy.  
    • Less cravings for sugar filled foods.
So, what DO I eat while on this 21 day sugar detox?  Here are some of the foods I've been eating this week:

(If you follow me on instagram, you can keep up with me.  I'll try to post at least one food picture a day.  My breakfast meals tend to be the same, and my lunches are similar ingredients during the week, so they can get repetitive.)

Breakfast: 2 organic eggs scrambled with organic chicken sausage, diced red bell peppers with some shredded cheddar cheese, coffee - either black, or plain milk or heavy cream

Lunches: Organic romaine lettuce, avocado, baked rosemary balsamic chicken, cherry tomatoes, yellow bell peppers - or today I left out the lettuce and ate some goat cheese with the rest of the ingredients

Dinners this week so far: Greek salad from Wegmans with olive oil and red wine vinegar for dressing, italian sausage link, red peppers, steamed broccoli and roasted cinnamon carrots, zucchini "spaghetti" with organic marinara sauce and leftover sausage and/or chicken 

Snacks: baby carrots or a cut up apple with my fave almond butter, veggies, almonds, pecans, cheese

I'm doing a combination of Level 1 and 2 and since this is my second round, I am being a little more lenient with cheese.  And I'm going to admit right now that I've been asked to do wedding cake taste testing with my middle sis this weekend and you better bet I'll be there.  I just plan on getting back on the detox train right after.  :)

So, is the detox something you would try?  What would be hard to give up?







Friday, May 10, 2013

Happy birthday Reedster!


I had the BEST morning today with my birthday boy.  Way better than the morning 5 years ago spent recovering from an unexpected c-section after a night of labor and 3 hours of pushing.  :)  After a super healthy breakfast of a mickey mouse chocolate chip pancake with syrup, chocolate ice cream and bacon, (eggs benedict for me), we headed to party city to get goodies for his party bags, and then to the mall where we bought him some new sneakers.



I dropped him off at school for some fun with friends and cake for their snack and I kid you not, every single kid yelled, "happy birthday" when we walked in the door.  Reed was in HEAVEN as everyone in his class gave him hugs and I teared up thinking of how grown up my little man is.





Before getting pregnant with Reed, I never really gave much thought to having a son.  Growing up with two sisters, it never really even dawned on me that I would have a boy.  When he was born, my heart was immediately taken by him.  I used to yell at EMX telling him that we had too many matchbox cars, but I often found myself in the car aisle at Target, or even Wegmans looking for cars that we didn't have yet.  I found myself buying 3 matchbox cars at Wegmans just today in fact.  It's a disease apparently.

So tough

We like to make weird faces.  WHAT?  


I know someday Reed won't want to give me hugs and kisses like he does now.  So any time he asks for ONE MORE hug and kiss, I never decline that request.  It won't be long before he's in Kindergarten, riding the school bus, and then going to elementary, middle and then, GULP, high school.

Someday they will hate me for this pic.


So for now, I'm going to enjoy every single hug and kiss from my "baby" boy, every snuggle, every "I love you mommy."  And right THIS second, I'm going to reminisce and look at pictures of Reedster from his early birthdays.  :)

2008
2008

2009
2010