Ups and downs.

Well here we are, into our 4th week, sugar free.  

On the up side

• I have found a cordial sweetened with stevia to keep the boys happy
• We had chocolate cake out at a birthday lunch.  1 slice between 6 of us, and no one liked it except for my sugar-addicted 4 year old 
• i've been offered some casual work with my previous employer
• i've finally arranged to catch up with an old friend  -  catching up with people was on my personal plan

On the down side

• exercise has slackened off this week between weather and migraines
• i'm still not getting to bed on time 
• the 4-year old talks about sugar constantly.  How much he loves lollies.  How much he loves birthday cakes.   However he is accepting when I tell him no. 

Focus points for the next week 

• Bedtime routine 
• Exercise 

End of Week One - Reflections

Today is the end of Week One without sugar.  

Overview

On the whole, it has been easier quitting sugar than I thought it would be.   Things have gone smoothly except for the chocolate frog incident and yesterday at the shopping centre where I bought sushi for lunch and was  dying for a peach ice tea to go with it.  I didn't get iced tea. 

I have got used to my morning coffee being sugarless.   A slurp of Coke Zero on Thursday tasted sickly and horrible.  

I survived a migraine on Tuesday without Tim Tams.   Miracle. 

Observations

• The first few days I was very nibbly.  A vague hungry feeling, and all I wanted to do was eat. 
• By Saturday that nibbly feeling was gone 
• I MUST eat breakfast.  It seems that teaspoon of sugar in my morning coffee was giving me just enough energy to get through to lunchtime.  I cannot get through to lunchtime without breakfast now without feeling ill.  
• I have increased my vegetable intake - eating carrot, celery and cucumber with a bit of hummus for morning and afternoon tea.  
• I have discovered Vital Rooibos Vanilla tea is a good substitute for hot chocolate and has NO SUGAR!  
• I am eating too much cheese.  
• I want to do exercise every day.  I am enjoying my walking and feel better having done it.  The non-exercise days have not felt good, so when I realised that, I fixed the problem by heading out for a walk. 
• Building better structure into my day has been a good thing.  Feeling more together, and productive and can finish the day knowing I got some stuff done.  And that feels good 
• Doing my yoga has been great.  Sleeping much better (although still getting to bed too late). 
• Acupuncture rocks.  First session yesterday and today my puffy sinus face is better, my nose actually runs and I have not even the vaguest niggling headache this morning.  I never feel like this. 

Goals for Week 2

• Exercise every day and ramp up the speed a bit.  Start using Runkeeper to keep tabs on how I am going day to day 
• Incorporate some weights and resistance training into my exercise. 
• Continue with my Daily Plan so I  build my routines and get stuff done every day
• Bake some sugar free snack foods, and reduce my reliance on biscuits and cheese.  
• Increase my water intake  - use my Waterlogger app properly. 

Thank You Jennables!

I've had a crap few days. 

A migraine yesterday and today either  a left over bits of migraine hanging around or sugar withdrawal headache.  Who knows? 

Its been 3 whole days and no sugar.  I have decided I like my coffee with no sugar.  Really. 

But I haven't managed to get moving today.  I put on my make-up, cleaned the kitchen and did a load of washing, and flaked out about the house. 

I was feeling pretty down by the time Steve got home and we had dinner (a chicken stir fry with soy sauce and basil).  

So I decided maybe a walk would cheer me up.  

I put on my shoes and went down to Jennie's and said "Wanna come for a walk with me?" 

She looked at me like I had grown another head.  Or three.  

"NO." 

Oh. 

"I've spent 4 hours walking the Geelong Foreshore in the freezing cold and  rain herding a bunch of kids around.  I hurt all over.  I don't want to fo for a walk with you.  I am not doing anything tonight". 

Oh. 

But she is a trooper, my Jen.   She picked herself up and booted herself out the door. 

"We're not walking fast.  Just a stroll in the fresh air.  Just one lap." she said. 

We did 4 laps at not much slower than we usually do. 

And I came home feeling human again. 

Best friends are just the best. 

Really. 

And we get another gold star on the calendar :) 

Day 2. On not kissing frogs.

Yesterday I was a cranky bitch.  There's no way to soften that. There's no hiding from the truth here. 

I was in a foul mood.  Screeching at the children, and picking fights with my darling Steve.  Although some of my gripes were legitimate, they were fired up by my innate crankiness.  

In fairness I did tell everyone in the morning, and reminded them calmly throughout the day that I was cranky but not a one of them was smart enough to keep his head down and out of the line of fire.  

It was tempting to put this down to not having sugar in my morning coffee, but with 20-20 hindsight and a blazing migraine today, I suspect that I was actually suffering from Prodrome - some thing I used to get with my migraines, but was softened until recently.  The past couple of migraines definitely appear to be preceded by violent mood swings.  Which could be useful  to know as I can instigate medication earlier, and reduce or prevent the pain. 


But back to sugar now.  One of the difficulties on embarking on sugar-free life is  how to explain these changes to a 4 year old.   As a parent I control my children's access to food, and choose what is right for them.   And my youngest has demonstrated to me the addictiveness of sugar from the day he had his first Easter egg.  Which was his first taste of the sweet stuff outside of fruit.  C goes nuts for sugar.  Even before our recent discussions about sugar, he would ask me specifically for sugar. "I want lollies - I want sugar".  He will gorge himself and then ask for more.    We've spoken over the years about sugar being a sometimes food.  He knows its  "not good for you".  We all know that.  We know those lollies and chocolates are not good for us.  But I want him to understand that sugar damages our bodies.  That a muesli bar is more than  "not good for us"  but rather  that a muesli bar hurts us.   

C has just started kindergarten this year.  Instead of birthday cakes, the kids are expected to provide lolly bags for the class.  As parents we can choose whether our child is allowed to take one.  It seems like every week its some kids birthday.   I'm struggling with this, because I don't want him to feel he can't participate in the birthday, or that he is different from everyone else.    Our temporary solution was to say  that he can choose ONE lolly from the bag and the rest go in the bin.   Yesterday, as fate would have it there was a birthday.  And there was a a lolly bag.   C chose his lolly.  And Steve threw the rest of the lollies in the bin.  

Just like that.   

All hell broke loose.  

C started wailing.  

My insides were wailing too.  

I WANTED that Freddo frog.  I wanted to lick that chocolatiness.  Or if not the Freddo, then just one Freckle. 

It was a gut-wrenching physical reaction inside myself. I am amazed I wasn't wailing right along with the 4 year old. It was like I'd  thrown out my first-born.   (My first-born was sitting at his computer watching the second-born scream, with a look of confusion on his face.  All this fuss over a Freddo frog????) 

Pam Young of the Slob Sisters would say that was my tiny inner child screaming.  Maybe she is right.  Pam was written a fantastic book called  "The Mouthtrap - the butt stops here"  where she worked with her inner child "Nellie" to examine their attitude to food. Pam's philosophy towards life is that we can't let our inner child run the show.  But we do need to acknowledge that that childish part of us exists, and find ways to be kind to that part of us.   We all need rewards. We all want what we can't have some of the time.  Sometimes we buy what we can't have just to prove we can and that is letting the inner child take control.    I am a lot like Nellie.  Or  maybe my inner child is.  Certainly my inner 4 year old was in full tilt yesterday. 

I hadn't been tempted when the lolly bag was on the bench.  I hadn't looked at them. Wasn't interested.  But once they were in the bin.  Oh my God.   

I was shocked at this reaction within myself.   I wasn't prepared to feel this way over a Freddo Frog.  

But I was in control.  I didn't fish the Freddo out of the bin.  I didn't go hunting for chocolate elsewhere (I have yet to purge the house of sugar so in theory I could have baked a chocolate cake, or made a hot chocolate). 

Instead I took a deep breath.  And I have moved on.  It only hurts a little bit to think of that frog in my rubbish bin.  

I am looking forward to the day when I can look Freddo in the face and say  "I don't want to kiss you at all." 

Introducing the Hedwacks

We are the Hedwacks.  Two families, best friends, and we live on the same street 4 houses apart.   We have been best friends for 15 years, and  in 2011, following a terrible storm,  our two families (4 adults, 5 sons, 4 cats and a dog) lived together for 4 months, bonded, blended and became one.

We are the Hedwacks.

Family J

• Spouse 1  -  Doug, and his inner Lemming
• Spouse 4  - Jennie - the inexorable Force of Nuture
• BoyChild 1 - G
• BoyChild 3 - N
• BoyChild 4 - O

Family E

• Spouse 2  - Steve 
• Spouse 3 - Sophie 
• BoyChild 2 - T
• Boychild 5 - C

This year we are wanting to make some changes in our lives.  We want to be:

• more active
• enjoy our children and our families,
•  organise our lives and homes, and 
• improve our health. 

To achieve these goals we are 

• starting an exercise program loosely based on the Couch to 5 K running program. 
• quitting sugar  (fructose). 
• planning family nights, Hedwack days (where we take the kids out) and date nights -  some joint and some with just our own families, to nuture our relationships. 

These are our adventures,  brought to you by Sophie and Jennie.  

Stay Happy. 

S

xx