Feeling foggy and fatigued? Do your moods and energy levels feel like a roller coaster? Do you often crave sweets? Have you been meaning to cut back but keep putting it off? Perhaps now is a good time.
Monday I am starting a two-week Spring sugar cleanse and I invite you to join me!
I once tried phase one of the South Beach Diet in an effort to eliminate sugar cravings and it didn’t really work out. One night, several days in, my husband woke up to me licking his shoulder. No, it was not a sensual move. I was hungry. So insanely hungry that I contemplated eating my hand at a Braves game! True story.
After a great experience at the beginning of the year, I am sold on the cleanse developed by The Nourishing Gourmet. Her plan is backed with wisdom, challenging, yet very doable. Take a moment to read this eye-opening post about improving mood and overcoming depression by cutting sugar and white flour from the diet.
There are three options. Refined sweeteners and flours are not allowed on any plan.
Category 1: No refined sugar or flour (this includes white flour, white sugar, corn syrup and agave syrup.) Honey, maple syrup, molasses and other unrefined sweeteners are allowed.
Category 2: No refined flour and very limited amounts of unrefined sweeteners. This level allows for 2 tsp. at a time, up to 2 Tbsp. of unrefined sweeteners.
Category 3: No sweeteners of any kind and no refined flours. Fruit and stevia are allowed.
Here are some things that helped me through:
1) Eating plenty of protein and vegetables
2) Simple homemade soups and broth
3) Natural sweets – bananas, sweet potatoes and raisins are especially good for satisfying a sweet tooth. Medjool dates are a luxurious dessert!
4) Plenty of rich & fatty foods like avocados and nut butters
5) Herbal tea in the evening – I bought one called Bengel Spice by Celestial Seasonings. It was almost obnoxiously cinnamon-y and had a slight herbal sweetness to it. I brewed a cup every night and put a bit of half & half in it. It really helped me through those post-dinner cravings!
If you will be joining, leave a comment with your name and which level you choose. “Like” An Appetite For Joy on Facebook to get tips and support throughout the two weeks.
I will be doing Category 3 this time.
I did something similar a couple years ago and had tremendous results in all possible categories. It was excellent and something my body really needed. Since then I’ve totally fallen off the wagon, and am more “addicted” than ever to sugar– I know I’d benefit from resetting my system. Here are the main disincentives for me: the amount of focus, time, effort you have to put into redesigning your habits and eating the right foods so as to not go insanely hungry is prohibitive (it requires a complete overhaul from my normal diet)… and the few days of withdrawal fatigue are incredibly daunting at a time when I cannot spare the time to be completely unproductive and exhausted. (I know: whine, whine, whine. excuses, excuses, excuses.) That said, I have a strong appreciation for you advocating this, and will try to cut out the excess treats. (I’ll call it Category 4: Transition for the Weak-hearted.
) Furthermore, I promise that in a couple weeks when we join Sean in NY and I don’t have all this house stuff and single-parenting jazz going on, I will take that blank slate, empty fridge, and freedom from a thousand responsibilities to start making the right choices. At which point I’ll do the category 3 with a conscious limiting of white flour too. That’ll be a good time to start on it; otherwise all those Italian bakeries will balloon my baby up to a 15 pounder– not to mention the effect on me! 
Best of luck on your next couple weeks! — Oh and if I haven’t commented yet on this blog, I need to say that I’m loving it. It’s very informative!
Jenny thanks for the input! I agree. It’s a bit more complicated than just cutting sweets. You DO have to revamp your diet and it does take some planning. For me it meant really focusing on substantial balanced meals and often eating seconds. Avocados, broth, sprouted toast with butter and meat for snacks. The cinnamon tea w/ cream helped a lot too. I’m in the process of putting together a creamy, date-sweetened smoothie to help when the urge for something sweet really hits. Thanks for the well wishes! And also for noticing I had left off refined flours from category 3
oh rats– I didn’t know you left it off! I was thinking maybe it was a slightly easier category because it only focused on the sugars. Sooooo I’ll be making up my own category again.
I’ve got to set a goal I can actually achieve or I give up altogether.
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Count me in. Category 3. But do note that I have binging the past few days on ice cream and my favorite coffee drinks, etc.
You are not alone there my friend
I’m in for category 1, but with a stretch goal of category 3.
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I have to say that I faithfully did category 3- actually I did no sugar and no processed food at all for 2 wks. I just ate whole “clean” foods. HOWEVER- I did cheat every day for my coffee as I cannot live without my flavored creamer. So, after my coffee…. I was good. It was much easier than I thought and after a day or two I didn’t even crave dates for my ‘sweet treat.’ I gained so much energy and I actually lost 6 lbs which was a very nice benefit. I am back to eating pretzels and m&m’s and to be honest I’m feeling crappy. Not sure if it’s psychological but it’s enough to make me really try and stay with the category 3 long term. Thanks for the invitation to do this- I wouldn’t have done it otherwise!
That’s great about the cleanse, Kendra! I agree – honey in coffee is the first thing I added back in. Hope you get your energy back soon. If these kids would just stop getting in the way, maybe we could get a little R&R!!!