Sugar Eradication

Father's Day was not a proud day for my eating habits. Despite my best attempts, over the course of the day I ended up devouring 4 donuts, a brownie and an ice cream cone. Healthy choice fail. Add another sugar binge to my list of shameful moments. And every item after that first one I felt guilty and ashamed about eating. Every bite. My weight has crept back up a little bit lately, and though I have toned up a lot getting back into working out, that still makes me unhappy. And I know I have been eating too much sugar, although I have done a great job of decreasing my carb intake in general, and replacing processed carbs with complex ones. Soooo, with a really fancy wedding (Ryan's cousin Jason) on July 6th, I decided it was the perfect time to go on a sugar elimination diet for a few weeks.

Can I just say how much happier I am? Its not as hard as you think it would be. Resolution actually makes the process easier. Knowing that I have decided not to eat any sugar is freeing. I don't have to decide if I "can" have something or not, or how much to have, or how fast I can eat it while trying to enjoy it instead of gorge it... The decision has been made, so its not a debate for me. And now, a little over a week in, I don't think about sweets like I used to. I would randomly have a craving for some treat several times a day, and I don't have it anymore. Moreover, white carbs don't taste as amazing as they used to. I stop when I am "full". I don't have the urge to eat past my satiety. And if there is not enough protein or veggies in a meal, it tastes too heavy and pasty for me - I actually crave the good stuff. Yeah I know that sounds like a cliche.

In fact, it is going so well I have been thinking about cutting out sugar forever... how strange that option seems... How realistic is that? Of course the ideal solution would be to get to a point where I could have a bite or two here and there and be satisfied. But I don't know that I can do that. Will I fall off the bandwagon with just one bite? Is my sugar addiction like it is for alcoholics or druggies? Because one drink or one hit for them is NOT an option.

I don't know. At this point I'm just going to take it one day at a time, and see how it goes.The wedding is still a week away and I want to be really good on the carbs this week to get as cute as I can for the wedding.

Not So Fast...

So I thought my shin had healed... not so much. Or at least, not entirely. I started slowly. I was walking only. Then adding in some exercises. Then slow running. And it was there, a dull ache. But it wasn't painful, so I thought I just needed to stretch it out a little as I got back into it. And since then I have added on everything I could look up to help with them. I'm taping them with Rock Tape. I'm taking ibuprofen (anti-inflammatory). I'm doing specific exercises like leg lifts to strengthen my muscles. I got a foam exercise roller to massage my legs. All that was just keeping it at a dull ache while running, so I think I have finally realized that I need to do all of that AND rest for a bit longer to let them fully heal.

The bright side is that I get to enjoy this amazing San Diego weather and start a new book to read on my lunch breaks!

On a side note, I completed my first 5K in a decade. And I was pretty pleased - I only added a minute and a half to my total time, at about 9:30 per mile, not too shabby. If I can just get this damn shin healed I know I  can blow that out of the water with some real workouts!