Sweet Surrender.

So, this no sugar gig. I thought I would write a bit about how it's all going but be warned, I am posting on about 2 hours sleep in the past 48 hours so forgive me if I start speaking in tongues. I should add for those who haven't seen the link I posted, it's fructose I'm giving up here. Fructose is one half of table sugar, the evil half and it's added to almost everything we eat. It can only be digested by the liver and is about as poison to you as alcohol is. So, when I say I'm giving up sugar, I actually mean fructose.

First of all I want to talk a bit about the symptoms of sugar withdrawal that I experienced. Even on the first morning, when I didn't have my usual hot beverage with its 2 heaped sugars I could feel the withdrawal setting in. I was dizzy, light headed and felt like you do when you've inhaled too much oxygen, kind of like when you've blown up a dozen balloons.

Day 2-4 were ok and I just had to remember that I wasn't eating sugar any more. I had to make a birthday cake for my 4yo (see totally awesome spidercake from previous entry :D) and I lost count of how many times I instinctively went to taste the batter and the icing mix. Being off sugar means just that, you're off it, no taste testing, nothing at all! So, I pretty much went through hell on these days. My symptoms were;

Extreme lethargy
Brain fog
Tiredness
Irritability
Headache
Apathy
Mild depression
Mild anxiety
Confusion

Now, I didn't give up all sugar, only fructose so when the cravings hit hard I had glucose, mostly in tea. Glucose is a sugar that can be easily digested. My enemey here was fructose which is half of table sugar, glucose being the other half. Problem is, almost everything is sweetened with table sugar and/or fructose. It really does pay to watch that link I provided in my last post to get a better understanding of what I'm banging on about here lol.

When the cravings were at their very worst I ate fruit, lots and lots of fruit, particularly nectarines and peaches (If you're going to give up sugar do it now while these babies are still in season!). My worst time was in the afternoon, which is when the symptoms seemed to hit ten fold so this is when I consumed most of the fruit. I also drank tea with glucose instead of table sugar. Now, glucose is not as sweet tasting as table sugar so you do need quite a bit of it but it's harmless and much easier to cut down on once the cravings are gone.

Day four to about day ten I can only describe as pure hell. I actually don't remember a lot of it thank God but I presume that's because my brain was so shitty at me for giving up its beloved sugar that it partially shut down. During the worst of it I was eating 6-8 pieces of fruit a day and drinking anywhere up to 6 cups of tea. It was the only thing that got me through the cravings. It just goes to show how addictive sugar is. Problem is, we never know we're addicted because it's in so many things that we're eating it every day and are unaware we're doing it. It's not until we give it up that we begin to feel the effects of sugar withdrawal.

Day 11 came around and I realised the fog had lifted. I was no longer craving the sweet stuff and my afternoon slump never happened. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Day 12, again I crashed and it felt just as bad as before. I knew though that like any other addiction my brain was just screaming out for a fix but that it would soon give up once it realised no fix was coming. Day 13 and 14, again, great days and on day 15 I realised I hadn't eaten a piece of fruit all day. I was now over the worst of it. And thank GOD for that!

I remember one day I was craving chocolate, really really badly. I wasn't about to eat any, I didn't actually have any to eat, but I really wanted some. So, I improvised and made choc milk instead. I simply got a cup of milk, added about a heaped teaspoon of cocoa to it and a level tablespoon of glucose, stuck it all in one of my protein shakers and let rip. It tasted lovely! Just like choc milk only no fructose.

I've been eating a lot of whole foods, unprocessed things like fruit and vegetable. I eat a lot of eggs now as well as fish, chicken, beef and nuts.I still have that problem of needing to nibble on something now and then, whereas before I'd reach for something like a biscuit, these days I eat nuts and dried chick peas. They have a lovely crunch to them! I also eat chopped carrot and celery with some chopped cheese. For a sweet treat get some greek yoghurt (full fat) with no sugar and add some fresh or frozen berries and a teaspoon of glucose powder and mix it together. very yum and much better for you than store bought sugar laden yoghurt with pretend fruit.

If you don't think you are addicted to sugar and that it's not playing a big role in your diet, try quitting it for a week and see how you go. You will need to check lables very carefully, and you're not allowed to substitute for artificial sweetners, they are an evil all unto their own! I pretty much stick to unprocessed foods all the way but I do eat tinned corn and sometimes tinned tomato in things like chilli con carne.

So, in a nutshell that's my journey so far on giving up sugar. There's so much more I'd like to bang on about but there's no need because I'm sure you've all checked out that link by now.....;)

Haven't you???

Nothing Sweet About Me.

Hmmm...that reminds me of a song!

On January 2nd 2010 I made the momentous decision to give up sugar. Yes, that's right Give.up.sugar! I mean all sugar too, well, wherever possible.

For years I've had issues with sugar. About 15 years ago I started getting terrible hypoglycaemic attacks where I would feel dizzy, shakey, confused, rapid heart rate, sweat, and I would need an instant carb hit to get me back to 'normal'. My endocrinologist told me that it was my pancreas chugging to a halt, a bit like a car engine that chugs and putters along before finally going kaput!

My last two pregnancies resulted in me having gestational diabetes which never did come under control and I was injecting insulin 4 times a day. Between pregnancies I was also diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Hardly surprising given the history.

As most know, about 15 months ago I joined a gym so began to get some very regular and very intense exercise. Since then I have literally reversed the effects of the diabetes and can no longer really call myself a diabetic. My 3 monthly HbA1c blood tests have all been around the 5.4 mark for the past 12 months since I started exercising. Exercise does good things!

But, I stil felt something wasn't quite right and I knew there was a lot more to learn with regard to what I was eating. I went on a bit of a quest to see what I could learn and more and more, the damaging effects of sugar kept popping up in the results of my google search.

Then one day, I saw this....

(couldn't embed clip. See link below)

Please, I urge you to watch it. It does go for an hour and a half but I guarantee you it will captivate you as an audience. For me it was life changing, but then again, I was looking to change something, you might not be!

I will be back to post my progress. I did mean to post as I went along but with a house full of visitors and then a broken computer, that just didn't happen! I'm on day 16 now and I remember the worst of it (sorry but sugar withdrawal is a bitch) so will blog about how I'm doing and the crafty ways I have managed to get sugar hits when I most desperately needed them!!

Watch this...

Sugar:The Bitter Truth


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The Jones Boy

...^^^ that's what my Mother calls him lol. When she came to visit she would pick Jonah up, swing him around and sing a song with the lyrics "Have you heard about the Jones boy?"...so it kinda stuck lol. I have no idea what the name of the song was (Probably 'The Jones Boy'!) but now poor Jonah has had another nickname added to his many monikers.

So far he's called (and please don't ask why..I don't know!)

Jdude
Jman
Joe
Joe Buster
Jones
Jonesy
Jones Boy
Punk
Punky
Punk-a-lunk
Jmiester
J-fizz
J-fizzle (<---they are from big brother Reecey)

and I'm sure there are many others!

Anyhoo, once again he's got me all worried and in a tiz. He's now 18 moths old (yes, you can pick yourself up off the floor now, I found it hard to believe too lol) but he's very very far behind in his milestones. I mean, really really far behind. He's actually ticking almost all of the 'Signs you should be worried' boxes :(

Yes I know he will catch up, all in his own good time and honestly I'm not panicking or crying into my weetbix, I'm just sad for him. Life has been a struggle for him since long before he took his first breath and it seems it's not letting up any time soon.

We have more blood tests and paed/gastro appointments coming up in the next month so hopefully we can start some early intervention sooner rather than later.

I knew all that behavioral therapy training would come in handy again!!

Christmas pics.

As you can see, this years theme was red and white. It was a smaller table this year as some of our guests from last year were spending Christmas with others. Once again, it was a magical day. I can't wait for Jonah to be old enough to understand what it's all about. Luke and Sam were just about to explode by Christmas eve they were SO exctited lol.

This years turkey was done with an almond and tarragon stuffing. It was the biggest bird I had ever cooked as we left our run a little late to buy it and that's all that was left. 5.8kg, it didn't fit in my convection oven so I had to cook him in the standard oven with its uneven temperature!

It turned out lovely though and it all got eaten so I was happy!

This Christmas we also had my eldest son and his girlfriend visiting so once again, all five of my boys were together. This was only the second time this has happened and it was their first Christmas together. I was a very happy Mama <3

For those of you who don't have me on FB. Here are the pics of Christmas 2009.

Sam's 4th birthday.

Some pics of Sam's 4th birthday. Can you believe he's 4??!!!

Moving House Again!

Blogger sucks. Seriously, I can't do anything! can't paste, can't follow anyone can't add widgets, nothing! And Blogger still won't unlock my other blog :(

So I'm moving to wordpress.

I'm still figuring out how to use it but hopefully I will be able to post pics and links over there.

Come find me here...

http://fiveby40.wordpress.com

See you there!! xxx

Ok, so...I suck!

Yes once again I admit, I suck at blogging. I guess my heart just isn't in it since they tore down fiveby40. But, alas I am no quitter so I am aiming to resume as soon and as regularly as possible.

It still sucks bigtime that I can't paste anything in here. Does anyone know why? Nothing pastes at all so I can't put pics in here.

Anyhoo, quick rundown of life so far in 2010.

Christmas: Was awesome. Jdude was sick, poor little bear but Firstborn and his darling gf were here to share it with us so that made it a great day. Everything went off without a hitch. If you want to see pics send me a request on facebook. Just let me know your name so I can add you.

New year: Again, prefect! We had two lovely sets of friends over and partied on until after midnight as much as one my age can! Actually I think I stayed up until about 1.30am so that was good.

2010: The year so far. We've had my IL's visiting us for the past week. They came to celebrate Sam's 4th birthday as they had never had a chance to see him for his birthday before now. Sam had a great party and if I could I'd post a pic of his awesome spider cake, made by moi! Yes, blowing own trumpet once again but when no one else will, what can you do?!?!

My newest venture this year is going sugar free...Yep, cutting out all sugar and that means in everything processed as well. Did you know peanut butter has about as much sugar added to it as coke? True. Frightening but true.

Sugar withdrawal is nasty. I've been off it for 12 days now and I intended to blog about it every day but this thing called life got in the way and well, you know how it goes.

Ok, off to try and see if I can fix this pasting problem. In the mean time I think I will just add a bunch of pics from the album via "Add image" and let you all sort through them.

Back soon! I promise ;)